Blanca Jackson
Communications Specialist
and
James Dean Palmer
Student Worker
Texas A&M University Agricultural Communications

Background
The number one goal of the news team is to deliver breaking news and provide an archive of products for Texas media. Traditionally, the team used print-based distribution and maintained an internal "morgue" of stories available by reporter request. This method had obvious shortcomings. Print distribution created a gap of several days between release and delivery of a story. An internal archive inaccessible to reporters discouraged research. The arrival of faxes and email made immediate delivery viable, but did not address archival needs.

In 1994, we realized the potential of the web as a delivery vehicle and decided to join the unit in building a comprehensive website. Through a survey done jointly with the Texas Daily Newspaper Association and Texas Press Association shortly after that, we discovered that the Texas media were headed toward web-based delivery as well. To be a player in the news world, we had to create a content-rich site that would contain both breaking news and a searchable archive of all products.

The nature of such a site would demand daily attention, which would translate to additional work for the news team. Faced with more work than our team could handle and a budget that would not allow the hiring of additional personnel, we decided that automation was a necessity rather than a luxury for a viable news site. Unfortunately, we encountered several limitations with the existing departmental server. Immediate updates were not an option, which meant our site would never serve "breaking news." As well, software to execute selected tasks was not available for the existing server platform. Our student technician recommended switching to a Linux-based web server to enable us to perform instant updates and automated tasks.

Linux is a free, Unix-like operating system that has been actively developed by thousands of people across the world since its original release by Linus Torvalds in 1991. Many people associate "free" with "unreliable," but Linux is actually more reliable and feature-rich than many commercial operating systems. In addition to being a powerful operating system, it also has a lot of powerful software. Free web servers, robust databases, network applications, compilers, and scripting languages come with most distributions of Linux.

When using commercial web servers, it is easy to get trapped into a cycle of buying more and more software to add search capabilities, dynamic content and other popular services to your site. Since the news team has a finite budget, the idea of using free software alternatives that could be tailored to specific needs was an attractive feature of this new plan.

Methodology

With approval from the unit head to launch a Linux webserver for the news team, we upgraded a PC that was no longer in use and installed Linux. The immediate advantage to this solution, was that everyone could update different pages on the server at the same time from their own PCs, using Fetch and Telnet. We also could run several "web sites" from one computer, by using a feature called "virtual hosting." This allows operations of websites like "http://agnews.tamu.edu" and "http://agprogram.tamu.edu" on the same computer, using completely different content. A bonus of this feature is that the long, complex urls could be dropped. Another advantage to the new system was the ease with which we could add web-based programs (often called cgi scripts).

The first project for the AgNews server was a script that automated the posting of news articles to the AgNews web site. The AGNMORE editor maintains a listserv that delivers all of the team's news stories electronically. In previous years, a student worker would convert these stories "by hand" to html and then link them to the website so they could be online the next day. Using a scripting language called Perl, the student technician wrote a script that does this task automatically. Now a story is released through AGNMORE and within seconds is converted to html and placed into the appropriate topical folder. The story is also linked to the "What's New" page, the appropriate archive page and the top page if indicated. All of this occurs automatically and instantaneously, thereby freeing the news team to pursue other endeavors.

A number of other Perl scripts developed since then have made the AgNews website even more original. These scripts include an interactive story designed for National Agriculture Week, a sitewide search interface that mimics familiar interfaces such as Altavista, a hometown news release form and several interactive calendar and information databases.

The interactive story for National Agriculture Week 1997 (http://agweek.tamu.edu) is an example of how the news team is using automation to enhance educational efforts. We wanted to create a fun environment for the children of Texas (and anyone else who visits the site) to learn about agriculture. We also wanted to use some interactivity to capture the attention and imagination of youth. We decided to create "My Agri-Spring Break," an adventurous story about a visit to the country.

At the National Agriculture Week website, the viewer can choose the "Young Writer's Corner" from the top page, and then "Write an interactive story" from the following page. This brings up a form with some fill-in-the-blanks for biographical data and fifteen multiple-choice questions. After filling in the data and answering the questions, the viewer submits the form. Immediately, he is taken to a new page which is a story featuring him as the star and the author.

A simple html form using text blocks and radio buttons is used for the questions page. Automation takes care of three tasks once a form is submitted. First, a log file of the biographical data is generated so we can maintain demographics for the "authors." Second, the viewer's answers to the fifteen questions are written into a customized text, with the answers acting as links to the original news releases. Third, the stories are saved onto the "Published Stories" page in alphabetical order so viewers can come back at a later date to view their story.

Results

Initial labor has paid off with continuing dividends. Automation has enabled the news team to create a dynamic, growing website without an additional workload. The site is updated several times a week, and sometimes several times a day. Texas media professionals have responded favorably to the AgNews website. The webmaster for the online edition of the Dallas Morning News considers the AgNews website to be a leader in the field. Our audience has reached far beyond the boundaries of Texas; AgNews has become a global delivery tool for residents in more than 100 countries. Monthly hits have increased from just over 4,171 hits for the month of November 1996 (launch month) to more than 96,540 hits for the month of November 1997--an increase of 2,300%.

Conclusion

Automation on a Linux platform has enabled the news team to expand web efforts far beyond original limitations. Breaking news, growing archives and interactivity have drawn Texas media, and indeed a world-wide audience, to our corner of the globe. The news team is no longer limited by a budget, but rather by what we can imagine.

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