A New Face!

Dear Neighbors,

As you may already be aware, the German Village Society’s website – www.germanvillage.com is nearing the final stages of a complete overhaul.  Before we explain all of the new features, gadgets, and gizmos of the new site, let us take a minute and explain when this all began and why.  This way, the end product will hopefully have much more meaning and significance to everyone in the Village.

Approximately one year ago, we thought it was important for the German Village Society to step up to the plate of modern networking capabilities, engage more of our community members via the internet, and remain an attractive site for visitors searching online for tourist destinations.  The four short-term goals we established were to improve the visibility of the GVS, revolutionize the sense of community, increase community participation in society sponsored events, as well as possibly survey the membership regarding the desires/concerns, etc. of the members.  Unfortunately, our old website was exactly that – old and outdated.  Aside from issues of not having the capability of modifying the site on our own, but also the platform upon which the site was built was outdated and unable to accommodate software upgrades easily.

After searching a number of website design firms, we solicited proposals and eventually selected Orbit Design to collaborate with as we built the new website.  Of course it should go without saying that all of this was accomplished with the full support of the Board of Trustees and office staff.  Amongst the numerous reasons for choosing Orbit Design was their experience in working with organizations such as ours and their inherent understanding of what we were trying to create – a website that becomes the homepage of every member of our community.

In keeping with this driving force, you will notice features on the page dedicated to each of us – the members of the GVS – that speak to everyday life here; you’ll find the weather, current headlines of the German Village Gazette, as well as any safety alerts posted appropriately to keep everyone ‘in the know’.  You’ll notice a calendar with GVS related events posted as well as current Tweets sent out by our neighborhood tweeter ‘germanvillage’.  From this page you will be able to login to the members-only side of the website where you can enjoy the ability of staying connected and appreciate the wonderful sense of community the German Village Society embodies.  The various committees and interest groups will each have their own web page which can be easily updated to include meeting minutes, current topics of conversation, list of members, etc.  If you have a lost pet, there will be a page where this can be posted so folks know where to go when they find a furry friend.

Of course it would be ideal if all of the aspects we have envisioned for the site will be ‘full go’ from the start.  However, we anticipate that it may take a full year or more to complete the various phases of the entire project – other phases include the opportunity to archive the history of the Society as well as each home’s history via photos and articles.  One major aspect of the site which we will have up and running will be related to the membership drive.  When you establish your login for the site you may pay your member dues via a safe and secure connection utilizing PayPal.  You will also be directed to completing your member profile – yet another way to help us stay connected with you and learn what particular interests you have so that we may help serve you better.

In terms of being able to find out who our membership is more clearly, you’ll notice there maybe occasions when a random poll/survey/question may be posted on the site – take the few seconds and give us your feedback, this will only help the Society better address the needs and concerns of the membership, ultimately adding an enormous benefit to Society members.

Lastly, as everyone may imagine, this will be an exciting transition for the Society and its members. However, if there are aspects of the site that you feel are missing or could be modified – shoot us an email and let’s work on it together.  We are certainly open to feedback, we ask that you help us and explore the site, become familiar with it and of course, it would be the best compliment to our dedicated work if you made www.germanvillage.com your homepage (you can do this by simply clicking on the link).

We hope you enjoy the new site!

- GVS Website Committee

• Roy Bieber
• Brian Santin
• Crystal Seamon

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1. 

   Adelaida Keat says:

   February 4, 2010 at 1:06 pm

   Very good article. I’ve found your blog via Yahoo and I’m really happy about the information you provide in your articles. Keep up the good work!
2. 

   Susan Altan says:

   January 28, 2010 at 11:27 pm

   Thank you all for the hard work that went into this new site — it’s wonderful!
3. 

   Petra says:

   January 22, 2010 at 1:57 pm

   Love the new site. I think the interactive nature of this new site will benefit everyone. Great job!
4. 

   Connie Swain says:

   January 21, 2010 at 7:31 am

   Thank you Roy, Brian, Crystal and the Board of Trustees of the German Village Society. This new site is a tremendous contribution to our community.