Early in the morning when ah just wake up…. says Mad Dog in his big tune for Crop Over 2008. Its been mashing up the fetes here so far.
Yesterday morning though, I found myself previewing the official Crop Over website soft launched on a brand new domain www.CropOverBarbados.com.
I know what ya thinking! That’s ridiculous Crop over is just over a month away and the site only now launching!! West Indian people boi!
Let me try and save the NCF (National Cultural Foundation) before the public criticisms have them singing ” Hard Times hit we, Hard Time hit we, we gine and drink something now.”
Its was only after the Barbados General Election on January 15th, that the NCF were once again commissioned the responsibility to produce Corey Over 2008. I’m going to leave it at that. I not writing ah calypso. This is just a new blog post.
Right so I found myself wearing my “Web 2.0 / Entertainment Blogger hat” looking over the new and improved Crop Over website. The site was engineered and constructed by the same web architect behind this blog and www.coreykgraham.com. Stan Armstrong of Amitage. Stan is the Man.
In his words,
Honestly, I hope I play my part in enhancing the festival experience to all who the site touches
Overall the site is good, I like the way things have been arranged and alot more information available from the website.
Stan boi, you got real props for the inclusion of a “festival blog” into the site! As a blogger its good to see that the governing body of a major Caribbean carnival is going to blogging. Yeah i all for that! Blog and wuck up. Hmmm, that sound like a good hook for a Crop 2008 tunes. lol,. right so I am all for the the festival blog. Its a godo way to get information out on the festival and there is the opportunity to build a relationship with Crop Over fans worldwide.
(read my recent post on why start a blog? To learn more the whole notion of blogging).
I think it would be even better if the rss feed has the body or the articles in it, then it will be a winner, well at least in CG 2.0 book,
Before I go on you can to take a look at the old site here – Old CropOver Site
The new site is definitely more eye catching and also easy to use. Most of the info on the site you can get to easily directly from the homepage. The homepage also has a summary of the latest news, latest photos, latest announcements and even streaming audio of the latest Crop Over tracks. ITs impressive stuff. NCF Launches its own online Radio station? And listen pod for new tracks?
This is interesting though as Bajantube.com now the new hot spot online for anyone wanting to listen to Crop Over 2008 music, in fact BajanTune is boosting of being #1 Bajan website accordiing to Alexa. Check it out here
I don’t want to say too much on the actual content. As I understand there is still much to be added, as the site starts to take shape. However based on what I am seeing I am wondering if NCF would be able to keep up getting all these articles, photos and video on the site. Time will tell.
Based on what I am seeing now, the content seems a little bit more of a general entertainment site, than that of a governing body for a festival
- Media accreditation forms
- Rules for competitions, application forms for artiste
- Press Releases
- Prominent Links directing persons to book tickets and reserve their accommodation
The press releases and media accreditation are the bigest ones for for me, because
you want to get the maximum exposure for the festival.
Having the press releases available on site would make it easier for journalists around to work to write compelling and accurate news articles on the Crop Over Festival.
Having a clear media accreditation process outlined,is an open invitation for media companies to and cover Crop Over 2008. The more media entities that come to cover Crop Over, then the more exposure the festival will get.
All in all the site is looking good do far, with some the fine tuning and more relavant content, I think it will be a bit hit.
Corey Graham 2.0
www.coreykgraham.com/blog
I agree with most of your comments on the proposed improvements of the site. You know it’s always interesting when this happens – I was checking out the new site and then I saw the old one (ouch) and this one is definitely easier to read and use. The multiple NCF logos on the corporate page don’t stir me, but I love the video intros! Good stuff. Amitage working for its money! That’s all we (working people) ever hope for the use of statutory funds.
I agree with most of your comments on the proposed improvements of the site. You know it’s always interesting when this happens – I was checking out the new site and then I saw the old one (ouch) and this one is definitely easier to read and use. The multiple NCF logos on the corporate page don’t stir me, but I love the video intros! Good stuff. Amitage working for its money! That’s all we (working people) ever hope for the use of statutory funds.