Client: UNEP/GRID-Arendal
Services Provided: Site planning, application development, Engine21 hosted service
Way back in 1999, a group of Norwegian journalists began compiling environmental news stories from local online media sources, publishing these article references every weekday morning on a site they called Miljønytt — Norwegian for "Environment Network." Though the site design was somewhat primitive and the maintenance laborious, Miljønytt carved out a niche for itself as a dependable clipping service focused on Nordic environmental news.
In early 2001, I was asked to collaborate with project leader Lars Haltbrekken in reconceiving Miljønytt. Our principal goals were to make the service easier to manage, less expensive to replicate in other languages and regions, and more robust in terms of functionality.
To make site management simpler for editors, I developed a content management system that enabled them to perform all administrative functions through a browser. With the aid of special scripts, we were able to put all of the legacy data (thousands of archived articles) into the new, normalized database that was the new repository for the article references.
We have also worked hard to make EarthWire available through multiple channels. Registered users can subscribe to an email version of the service, which delivers headlines, abstracts, and links to their in-box according to regional and topical preferences. JavaScript and RSS feeds are available for direct integration into external websites. These feeds were a popular option during the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, when organizations such as Worldwatch and the World Wildlife Federation all used the EarthWire news feed on their sites.
EarthWire has had an impact, keeping stakeholders informed about environmental issues in their region. Børge Brende, the former Norwegian Minister of Environment, was a frequent user while he was in office. "I use EarthWire every morning to keep updated about environmental news in Norway," he said. "The website is very useful to me in my work as Environment Minister."
EarthWire has continued to evolve. Its library of over 100,000 articles is now managed through WaldenStreet's Engine21 service. Engine21 automates much of the work of compiling articles, and offers flexible publishing options with its toolset of APIs, feeds, and widgets.
Visit the EarthWire/Norway site at http://www.miljonytt.no.