The time has come for Isthmus to take another step into the digital dimension, this time engaging that much touted advance to civilization called "interactivity." We do this, of course, on our website, TheDailyPage.com (TDP), and we are curious to discover how our readers adapt to it.
We have turned on the comment capability of our website with regard to material posted from the weekly print paper (i.e. the one in your hands), which means you can now react online to stories in the paper.
For years, only parts of Isthmus were reproduced online. Then, when we launched the redesigned site a year and a half ago, we began posting all the content from the paper, except for syndicated material such as cartoons. Articles from the paper appear in the section of the site labeled, appropriately, "The Paper," whereas original online material appears in "The Daily" section. You have been able to make comment at the end of "The Daily" articles for some time. You could not, until now, comment on articles from the paper on TDP.
Let me use this week's cover story, "Wedding Ache," as an example. The article is a critical look at the wedding industry by Melissa Faliveno, occasioned by the upcoming (Jan. 12-13) Wedding Planner & Guide Bridal Show at the Alliant Energy Center Exhibition Hall. You may agree with Faliveno's acerbic judgment of the wedding establishment or you may not, in which case you can always write a letter to the editor. Or, once the article is posted to TDP on Sunday, as is the case with most of our cover stories, you can comment at the end of the article.
In order to do this you will have to register, giving a modicum of information about yourself. We require this in the hopes that comments will be productive, reasoned responses to the article. Further explanation is available on the registration page. The registration process for comments is a little different than for posting on Forum, which allows anonymous posts. That is a more open venue meant for direct communication among posters.
Comments posted on TDP will not appear in the letters department in Isthmus. You'll still have to write to The Editor or email edit@isthmus.com to communicate with the paper audience. But you folks who live online can now enlighten each other through comments and, we hope, we'll all be the better for it.
