Are you working on a World Wide Web site that presents materials dealing with film, television, video, or related media? If so, read on. Have you ever spent hours perfecting a Web page and then discovered that someone else has already done the same exact thing and done it better? Does the amount of redundancy on the Web annoy/depress you? Do you feel that the Web's collaborative potential has been sadly underdeveloped? If so, consider joining MediaWeb. MediaWeb is a loose coalition of film/TV/video webmasters that seeks to foster collaboration and to minimize the redundancy of materials on film/TV/video sites. MediaWeb is open to all, but it is not really intended for the users of these sites. Rather, it aims to assist film/TV/video webmasters so that they might better coordinate their efforts. MediaWeb is not a cartel aiming to restrict competition among Web sites. It's inevitable, for instance, that several sites will offer film/TV/video 'zines that compete for users' attention. MediaWeb is more like a trade association--offering a method for webmasters to support one another. If, for instance, one site creates a comprehensive listing of film schools, there's no reason for three other sites to attempt the same thing. Membership in MediaWeb is free and bears few responsibilities. The only "requirements" of its members are (1) that their sites pertain somehow to film/TV/video/related media and (2) that they ought to acknowledge their participation in MediaWeb on those sites. Typically, a MediaWeb member should put a link to the MediaWeb homepage somewhere on their site. MediaWeb is just now lurching into being and its final form will depend largely on what its participants find useful. Two immediately implemented components of it, however, are: 1. A MediaWeb discussion list. Such a list may be used to share information about resources on individual sites and development plans (to the extent that members feel comfortable doing so), to form strategies for effective page construction, to coordinate activities across several sites so that hypertextual connections may be maximized, to publicize new film/TV/video Web discoveries, and so on. One does *not* have to be an "official" member of MediaWeb or even a webmaster in order to join this discussion group. To join MediaWeb's discussion list, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] and put the following in the first line of your message. SUBSCRIBE MediaWeb YourName, YourSite Replace YourName with your name as you'd like it to appear on the list and, optionally, replace YourSite with the name of your Web Site. For example: SUBSCRIBE MediaWeb Cal Pryluck, SCREENsite Contact Cal Pryluck ([log in to unmask]) for further information about this discussion list. 2. A MediaWeb home page: http://www.sa.ua.edu/tcf/mediaweb.htm This page consists of information about MediaWeb and an alphabetical listing of MediaWeb member sites--with two line descriptions of the sites and hypertext links to them. To qualify for this listing, a MediaWeb member should place a link to MediaWeb close to the top of the hierarchy of pages at his/her Web site. To be added to this page, contact Jeremy Butler ([log in to unmask]). FURTHER INFORMATION: MediaWeb is coordinated by Jeremy Butler. Send membership requests, questions, and comments to [log in to unmask], or contact him at: Telecommunication and Film Dept. P.O. Box 870152 University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0152 voice: 205.348.6350 fax: 205.348.2754 MediaWeb is supported by the University of Alabama's Division of Student Affairs and Telecommunication and Film Department; and the computer centers at the University of Alabama and Temple University. ===================================================================== Jeremy Butler * [log in to unmask] * [log in to unmask] SCREENsite -- a Film/TV-studies site on the World Wide Web: http://www.sa.ua.edu/TCF/welcome.htm Telecommunication & Film Dept. * University of Alabama * Tuscaloosa =====================================================================