I published the first edition of Eyewitness in Manchester on the 18th of January 1997. It was the first regularly updated news service from Manchester until Manchester Online was launched in Autumn 1997.
Originally conceived as a concise weekly news page with one photograph, it soon grew in size and scope, and gained a large number of readers in many countries around the world.
On July 24th 1997, Eyewitness in Manchester was featured on the BBC 1 tv's local magazine programme, Northwest Tonight.
By January 1998, it had clocked up over 14000 hits.
In Spring 1998, I moved to doing several small updates during the week instead of one big update on Monday night. This made updating a lot easier and led to a doubling of the hit rate.
Eyewitness in Manchester received little or no funding until it became part of Manchester Online on the 1st of June 1998. The website continues as an independent publication, within the pages of Manchester Online. Manchester Online is run by Diverse Media Ltd, part of the Guardian Media Group, publishers of the Manchester Evening News, City Life and the Guardian.
To co-incide with the move to Manchester Online, I reorganised the Image Collection, and added the Manchester People feature, which will grow to form a "Who's Who" of Manchester. All new features and reports appear on the page and are then archived. Further Eyewitness in Manchester "mini-websites" on Manchester-related subjects will appear through the year.
I use a Nikon FM camera (pictured above on the masthead), with 24mm, 35-105mm and 75-300mm Nikon lenses. I also use a panoramic camera, and occasionally a Fujica STX 1. I scan negative film (usually Agfa 200 ASA) using my Nikon Coolscan film scanner, and manipulate the pictures with Adobe Photoshop on a Power Macintosh Computer. In July 1998, I bought a 'bottom of the range' Kodak DC20 digital camera (also pictured above), and obtain quite good results.
Future development of Eyewitness in Manchester will see a diversification of media: As well as the written news items, still photographs and QTVR panoramas that appear at present, Eyewitness in Manchester will carry sound files, QTVR objects and video clips. As well as sound equipment, I will need to purchase a digital camera capable of capturing both still and moving images.
Please keep visiting Eyewitness in Manchester and Manchester Online - As the new technology develops, the online experience will come closer and closer to the real thing!
Design, words & pictures by Aidan O'Rourke aidan@anamaria.u-net.com
The news items featured in Eyewitness in Manchester are abstracted from local and national media reports. While I make every effort to ensure the information is as accurate as possible, I assume no responsibility for errors, whether on my part or on the part of the media sources. Please notify me of any inaccuracies, and I will correct them immediately.