Busy with the Beehive
by HoldTheFrontPage staff

The Northcliffe Newspaper Group is helping clubs, schools, charities and voluntary organisations become part of a digital community through its innnovative Beehive project.

The Beehive makes it possible for non-profit-making groups to build their own websites without needing HTML skills or additional software.

The project was first launched in December, 1999, through the websites of two Northcliffe daily newspapers – the Derby Evening Telegraph www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk and the Leicester Mercury www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk – and is being rolled out to the remaining 16 “This is…” sites attached to daily Northcliffe titles. Twelve are currently set up, with the remainder due to be running by the end of summer.

To see Derby or Leicester’s Beehive sites, click on one of the blue links above and then click on The Beehive tab on the home page.

By yesterday (June 7), the Derby Evening Telegraph’s community publishing manager Bimmy Rai had seen 106 community groups go online with ThisIsDerbyshire’s Beehive network, which is sponsored by the Derbyshire Building Society.

Each Northcliffe centre has adopted its own strategy for targeting groups to join the Beehive community. Derby concentrated mainly on schools and the voluntary sector. Leicester focused on amateur football clubs and Essex went for charity organisations.

Ms Rai said: “From the start there was an element of partnership. We worked closely with the Council for Voluntary Service to help us get the Beehive message across to community groups.”

Groups which join the Beehive get their own home pages which they can link to up to 10 pages of additional news and photos. The home page also has links to the day’s local and national news and sport. There is a contact book and an events calendar. A search facility allows you to put in keywords to find different interest groups.

All the software which makes the Beehive network possible was created in-house, and all the tools needed to build a site are online.

Response to the Beehive has been positive, and the network currently receives about 112,000 page impressions across the group as a combined weekly total.

Ms Rai said: “I think it’s a fantastic resource for non-profit-making sectors. The potential is great for community groups to be able to network with each other through the Beehive and to be part of a digital community. Groups are seeing the benefits and they have really embraced it positively.”

In her role as community publishing manager, Ms Rai will be speaking at a national workshop in Derby on July 10 aimed at promoting race equality in rural areas. She will be explaining how an innovation like the Beehive can overcome isolation and bring communities together.

To visit any of Northcliffe’s “This is…” sites, click on the links below:

thisiscornwall
thisisderbyshire
thisisessex
thisisexeter
thisisgloucestershire
thisisgrimsby
thisishull
thisiskentandeastsussex
thisisleicestershire
thisislincolnshire
thisisnorthdevon
thisisnorthscotland
thisisnottingham
thisisplymouth
thisisscunthorpe
thisissouthdevon
thisissouthwales
thisisstaffordshire

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