[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/EandJ.jpg” caption=”Elissa Siroonian and Justin Kominar”]McMaster will usher in the new millennium with a daily news Web site.

In January, the Office of Public Relations and Computing & Information Services will launch McMaster News Daily.

Visitors to the site will find daily news of University events and activities, news from the wider post-secondary education sector, hotlinks to frequently accessed news, university and government Web sites, and a comprehensive listing of current events.

The site has been constructed as a portal page with links to sections on the University’s Homepage and to other resources, such as job opportunities at the University, sports, and arts & entertainment.

The site will be launched in two phases. Phase one, which goes live next month, will include fresh news and information daily about McMaster, its people, programs, and research and educational initiatives.

The site will also carry short summaries of McMaster faculty, staff, students and alumni in the news, both locally and nationally. News from the broader post-secondary community will also be posted, with links where applicable.

In February, as part of phase two, a comprehensive calendar of events will be added to the site.

“When completed, McMaster News Daily will be interactive with a fully searchable news database and a unique submission feature that will enable members of the University community, either on or off campus, to submit an item for posting onto the site, says Gillian Howard, director of public relations. We hope University staff, faculty and students will start their day with the daily news.

“Our goal is to provide members of the University community with what might be best described as a one-stop information centre on the Web where they can find out what is happening at McMaster and in the broader post-secondary sector,” says Kelly Curwin, publications/communications co-ordinator, OPR, who is responsible for the site content and development.

The site will provide the Office of Public Relations with another communications tool to convey information to stakeholder groups. It also serves as a means to bring the internal community, which has a population the size of a small town, closer together and provides a new link to external audiences such as alumni, prospective students, and the media.

The logo and artwork for the site were created by Illeana Grimm, a McMaster graduate and artist who is well-known for her Canadiana T-shirts. Contributors to the project include Justin Kominar, Muriel McKay, and Heather Grigg of CIS, and Elissa Siroonian, public relations.

Funding for the site ($50,000), which is being launched as a pilot project, has been provided through the University’s Reallocation Pool.

The site will be maintained by the Office of Public Relations, which also produces and publishes the McMaster Courier and the McMaster Times. CIS will continue to provide technical support for the project.