Why a Web Site?   Here are a few reasons...

It's a resource library and information communication center.
The Internet Web provides another, powerful means of communicating information to readers. However, it is not just a new way to distribute information from author to reader. The Web, from the beginning, was designed to provide an information superhighway which could communicate information, stored in Web sites, over a network of connections called the Internet, in any direction, to anyone connected to the Internet. As the name Internet Web implies, Web pages within a Web site, and Web sites themselves can be interconnected via a system of links which enable the reader to "jump" from one page to another, or from one site to another. (Our Region's Web site home page and several other pages - especially the Fun Links page, have many links to other Web sites.) With this new medium we also have the ability to read the most current information available, and immediately provide feedback to, or ask questions of, those providing the information.

The National Ski Patrol national office, every Division, many Regions, and even some Patrols have together created a vast network of Web sites providing patrollers with the essential, useful, and even fun information relating to ski patrolling. Our Region's Web site is an extension of our newsletter, The Western Region Patroller; it's not a replacement of that essential newsletter. As mentioned above, two of the major goals have been to develop our Region's Web site as an information resource library, and to provide a convenient way for people to ask questions of, and receive answers from, our Region's advisors and administrators.
 
It's cheap.
Even with all of the information stored in this site, our Region's Web site costs very little to operate. The programming and development time is volunteered.
 
It's current and easy to maintain.
New material, updates, corrections, and changes are easy to put in. Just seconds after the information is entered, our Web site will display the revised information.
 
The Web is good for the environment.
This medium provides an alternative to millions of tree-killing publications. Within organizations, voluminous publications - directories, manuals, agendas, reports, bulletins, calendars, rosters, revisions to any of these - are being put into Web sites.
 
It may even bring us all a little closer together.
Folks at the Region, Division and National levels of the Ski Patrol system are just like you and I. They're dedicated patrollers, helping our organization to succeed in providing the best it can for our membership and the skiing public. Got a question or concern? Getting in touch with our advisors and administrators couldn't be more convenient; it is as easy as a little web navigating and a couple of clicks of the mouse.
 

Interested? Check out the "Put Your Patrol on the Web" workshop.

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