Blog on Family Media
Total cost of project including all sources of funding:
$50,000Expected amount of time to complete project:
Six months to get the blog up and running, two years for profitability, five years for full magazine.YourFamilyViewer is a blog/web magazine for parents trying to make sense of and use a media landscape that is exploding exponentially. The goals are to provide information on and point to programming, particularly on television, that families can enjoy together, and to provide parents with the tools they need to help teach their children how to make their own decisions about media.
The blog focuses as a "What's On" feature. Eventually, the hope is to create a magazine, as well, with some celebrity features and a searchable database of reviews. Television is the primary focus of the site right now, since the emphasis of the site is on media that the family can enjoy together. DVDs, films and games will come on as I can afford to expand and hire additional writers. I also hope to cver Internet videos, but that will remain less of an issue until that coming day when it becomes easy to hook your computer up to your TV set.
0 commentsHow will your project improve the way news and information are delivered to geographic communities?
Setting up Area-Specific Database.
What I would really like to do is set up a database where the reader punches in their zip code and provider and in the blog, the exact channel and time for their area and set-top box will pop up.
For example, say I'm covering the upcoming PBS American Masters documentary, You Must Remember This, airing Tuesday, September 23 at 8 p.m. Well, that's when it should air if the local PBS station is following the national plan. However, local stations are free to re-schedule any PBS programming and sometimes do. With the database set up, I can use a placeholder in the blog, but if someone in Mesa, Arizona puts in their information, then it will read with their local information, including the channel number the cable provider uses for the local PBS station.
This will make it a lot easier for parents to find programs they want to be watching, especially when I feature shows on some of the more obscure cable networks, such as Veria or DIY.
Which is why I really need a web designer - one I cannot now afford.
0 commentsHow is your idea innovative? (New or different from what already exists.)
Because It's All About Families Watching Together
While there are sites that can warn about shows to avoid and others which provide good information on shows, there really isn't anything out there that says - "Hey - this is something you want to watch!"
Of my two main competitors, Parents Television Council is extremely negative and takes the attitude that if they don't like it, no one should be able to watch it, at least, they come off that way. CommonSenseMedia.org provides tons of information and allows parents to make up their own minds, but they can't really do one-offs, such as a Hallmark special on CBS or talk about a specific special episode of a series, such as Everybody Hates Chris. They're the place you go when you want to find out about a show. I'm the place you go when you want to know what's on.
Also, while there are sites that will show you the channel line-up for your area, there is no site that will pop up schedule information within the context of a specific blog post, so you're still stuck doing awkward searches on your DVR or thumbing through listings pages.
0 commentsWhat experience do you or your organization have to successfully develop this project?
My Experience
I have been writing about television and parenting for over 10 years, now. I've done weekly columns for a local paper and have done monthly columns on this topic for two different magazines.
I'm also a parent who has raised a child successfully - well, she has graduated from college, has a job and lives on her own, and still talks to me voluntarily.
Finally, the blog is up and running - not as well as I'd like, but it's there and it is updated almost every day at www.yourfamilyviewer.com. I'm a little weak on the tech side, but I'm learning every day.
0 comments
