Commentary: We need your help

Wrapping my mind around all the ins and outs of a complicated computer program to put things on the web site is daunting. Putting things on the old web site was relatively easy compared with the new one but our new site will be much more professional.

We transferred all of the stories from the old web site (from 1992 to 2007, when the web site went down) and put on the past two issues. We should be able to get the rest of the issues we published during the three-year hiatus (from January 2007 to October 2009) within a month.

You will immediately be able to search for any story we have run in the past 18 years. You will also be able to get the things we had on the old web site, but we did not have space to run in the magazine, such as the fiction, poetry, features, ordinances and demographic information.

It will take us some time though, to go through the stories and fix the typographical errors that have crept into the stories in the transfer process.

We are also resurrecting our press releases page. On it we will give you what nonprofits are saying about their programs and events by running their press releases with little editing.

If you are a nonprofit, send your press releases to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and we will consider running them.

(We only accept text that can be edited. No lists of things or flyers, only standard press releases.)

But even though the web site will have a wealth of text, it will be a work in progress for several months.

It will take us some time the do a couple of other things. First is the pictures.

We will have a few recent pictures, but the 2,500 or so pictures we have run since 1976 will have to be put on individually again. It may take two to six months to get them all on the site. You can see about 600 of the first pictures on the Facebook group page, "East Village Magazine."

A new feature will take even longer. We want to scan and put on the site every page we have published - all 5,734 pages as of now. It should be an invaluable resource. You will be able to look at every magazine from your home.

Finally, we want to get all of the stories on the web site done before 1992 when we went electronic. This could take many months because it will have go though a process of scanning, running the scans though an optical character recognition program, editing and then entering them on the web site.

Then you will be able to search for any story we have run on your computer.

(Soon, you will be able to search bound copies of the magazine with an index from the Flint Public Library if you prefer dealing with noncomputerized copies of the magazine.)

So how can you help? It depends on your skills.

If you are a computer whiz, you can help by donating time and expertise to advise us. (For example, I need help with Adobe Acrobat.)

You could take on part of getting the text from the old magazines converted and put on the web.

You could search for the typos in the copy we already have on the computer that occurred during the translation process.

There are many other things to be done by someone, maybe you.

Then, there is always the cost. (Isn't there always?)

The web site was costly and will continue to cost a sizeable amount of cash to become as effective as possible.

The basic web design cost was $1,700 and the continuing costs will be an estimated  $1,000 to $1,500 a year.

You could contribute part of the cost.

But why should you?

Because we are unique. We are a nonprofit, all volunteer organization that has told you about the things that affect you and your neighbors for almost 34 years - absolutely free unless you cared to contribute.

We are not a commercial publication whose primary goal is to make money.

We are not supported by government or an arm of another organization.

We exist only to provide you some of the information you need to get along in an increasingly complex world and we are solely dependent  on you for support.

We are not a new group promising you some benefit.

We have a 33-year track record of giving you news about the good things and the bad things that threaten your neighborhood.

We have made you think with features such as Jan Worth-Nelson's "Village life."

We have helped you see Flint in a different way through Edwin Custer's photography.

We are a unique organization in the true meaning of the word - "one of a kind."

We think we deserve your support.

Look at the web site when we get it up. If you agree, consider contributing your time and skills on the magazine or web site or contributing  money to help pay the bills.

G.P.C.