February 20, 1998

One year ago (well, minus a month or so) The Slant ran a story surveying the width and breadth of Orlando Web media, entitled "Stop the Presses, Fire Up the Browsers!" Now, a year later, this quiet little city has transformed into a dynamic, exploding cyberscape - quickly becoming one of the hottest spots in the entire Southeast. It's time to take another look.

1997 saw the beginning of the Amazing Orlando City Guide War, heralded by an article in Editor and Publisher Magazine (September 12, 1997). It began with the April launch of Digital City Orlando, co-owned by America Online and Tribune Company (mostly Tribune, who also fronts The Orlando Sentinel Online site). Several months later, Cox Interactive Media threw their hat into the ring with the launch of Inside Central Florida.com. Both of these media giants have strong assets in the area (The Orlando Sentinel and a 24-hour news station for Tribune, and six radio stations and a TV station for Cox) and both vie for both local and tourist traffic, using a combination of news, information, and interactive features.

And through it all, the menacing shadow of Microsoft's Sidewalk has loomed on the horizon. Rumors (that's right, rumors) circulated late in '97 that the company had acquired office space in Lake Mary, and later Web-community gossip spoke of discreet advertising personnel recruiting efforts. Recent developments, however, have cast the former certainty into doubt. Mixed signals leave it unclear at this time what Orlando can expect from Sidewalk in 98.

The Orlando Sentinel and The Orlando Business Journal, both launched in '97, have continued to deliver content direct from their printed versions. Subscription-based, they both must contend with the prospect of loosing paying readers to their self-competing online products. We'll have to wait and see what 1998 and beyond hold for this species.

While the giants have been claiming the attention, the Orlando publishing community as a whole has made genuine progress embracing the Web. In 1997, you could find a decent amount of Web content, including Impact Press, 11 Magazine (now defunct), and Axis Magazine. Most of the Orlando print heavies had not yet joined the cyber-fray. However, that has all changed now, and by April of this year, nearly every major Orlando zine will have a functioning site. New players (in order of launch date) include Ink Nineteen, Jam, The Central Florida Future, and The Orlando Weekly. This is where it gets interesting, folks. I sent a set of questions (yes, by email - this is a Web story, after all) to each of the new entrants to get a feel for how they see Web as a part of their publishing mission.

As a member of this Orlando Web community, I have some pretty strong opinions about what makes for a good Website, but, as you'll find reading what these people have to say about their sites, opinions vary widely. Instead of judging, my purpose in describing these sites is to introduce you to the rich Web cyberscape available right here in Orlando. It's up to you to listen to what the producers have to say, decide if you agree, and then judge for yourself how well the sites accomplish those strategies as they develop.

Dan Leeds I may have broken the dreaded 30 threshold, but internally I still feel like I stopped getting older some time around 25 or so. Yea, I've become more responsible and maybe even a little more ambitious, but not so much that I've lost track of my guiding ideals or my ability to play. While getting older may be inevitable, aging is much more relative. What else is there? :) Other Articles I've Written