HPR Online

HPR’s online calendar launches this week. Granted, it’s not yet the final result by any means, but it is the beginning of a new era for us online.

hpr1.com is a constantly evolving medium. We have been working out some glitches in the transition from print to web. Eventually, it will be seamless.

If you are reading the hard copy of HPR, you will see that our calendar spans eight days, from Thursday through Thursday. Online, that limitation does not exist. Rather than a Thursday-to-Thursday mindset, we can run the virtual calendar online out into the future. As events get booked, they will get plugged into hpr1.com’s cultural schedule.

Another shift we are facing affects content. As we expand our database, we can readily input that information into our calendar of events with much more accuracy and ease - in theory. But we are getting closer to that each day and each time we work with it.

This week’s calendar online is our first attempt at a real life trial run. We take pride in our position in the arts and entertainment world and we’ll develop further in that direction.

You’ll notice that we got a good start on Fargo-Moorhead venues in the HPR online calendar this week.  That list will of course expand to the Grand Forks-East Grand Forks region immediately.

And please help us: though we will eventually have a system in place for readers to input directly into our calendar of events section, at the moment we invite you to help us build our database from the ground up and with accurate information.

Email that information to us. If you have events of any kind that fit into HPR’s calendar, send that info to . Give us the event information, time, cost, location, phone number and web site.

We have the special talent of Becca Mellem to spearhead the major transition from print-only to web-and-print publishing of our calendar of events. It’s a yeoman’s task and one that will bear fruit for thousands of people wanting easily found, solid information on events happening in our own backyards every day of the week.

HPR’s website is going through a constant metamorphosis. Please take a look. One of the most recent additions to hpr1.com is our cover art gallery. You can now look at HPR cover graphics online and see them as a group, and more of them as new covers appear each week.

We’ve also added a photo gallery for events and concerts. So far, we have pictures from the Hives show and from Wilco.

That’s just the beginning of change. With the web, we needed to reinvent our product to be positioned for the future.

Community is our watchword as we expand our reach into the virtual and global world via the web. With that will come more interaction with our extended community members: blogs, commentaries, contributions, debate.

While we lost some traction in the months it took to revamp our website, we are confident that we now have a foundation sufficiently flexible for future needs. Our web designer, Phil Leitch, at Unwound Design, has not let us down.

The site is simple, elegant, and growing daily, somewhat different every time we use it.

HPR serves as a bridge between north and south Red River Valley activities and people. Our web presence will link our region to other peoples around the planet.

Please give us your feedback as we strive to improve our product and deliver the most stable, longest-running, and most dependable alternative source of information in the region.