A few words from the editor
It’s been hard for me, a “paper” guy, to get excited about websites. I’ve had a love affair with magazines, newspapers, and books my whole life. More than that, I’ve been fortunate to work in all three media for the last 45 years.
But finally it has gotten through my thick skull that a good website can be just as challenging, just as creative, and just as much fun to work on as Bloom itself. In magazines, I love the way the words, photography, and design can come together to make something beautiful. I’ve learned that a website can be made just as appealing, but in different ways. Websites can also do things that newspapers and magazines cannot.
These realizations have come to me in the past several months as the Bloom staff has put together our totally revamped website www.magbloom.com. I am as excited about its potential as I was about the launch of Bloom Magazine six years ago.
Here’s why. We are making www.magbloom.com the one place where residents and visitors alike can go to get a ton of information about our town.
Take for instance our Events Calendar. For years I’d heard people say we need one events calendar that covers everything that is going on. It seemed to be a monumental task that no entity was willing to take on. When graduate accounting students from the IU Kelley School of Business conducted a survey for us, the more than 2,000 respondents confirmed what I had been hearing. More than anything else, a comprehensive events calendar was what they wanted. Take a look at ours. You will find hundreds of entries, including quite a bit of detail. You can search by the day or by 22 event categories, including entertainment, children, exhibits, films, sports, and health.
You can also put up your own organization’s events on the calendar.
Our Dining Guide is similarly comprehensive. It covers our vast array of local restaurants, with detailed information about their offerings and many ways to search—by price, location, and 47 types of cuisine.
There are also stories galore about south- central Indiana, both gleaned from the magazine and created specifically for the website, plus photo galleries, videos, and much more. New content is uploaded several times a week.
So check out www.magbloom.com. This is just the beginning.
Malcolm Abrams
editor and publisher
