Happy New Year to Greenbelters everywhere! (Some who live here, many more who share the Greenbelt spirit.) And please welcome your shiny new community website – Greenbelt Online! It’s also the new home of the former Greenbelt Live Blog.
Here’s how Greenbelt Online came about, what’s on it, how you can get involved and a bit about Greenbelt’s history of community websites and other online services, from the About Greenbelt Online page.
Greenbelt’s 1st Community Website ,1996 – 2006
Way back in 1996, Greenbelt welcomed its first community website, Greenbelt.com, which served as a directory of all things Greenbelt and offered web space for local organizations and even private citizens. It also made email addresses available to member for a nominal fee, and over 100 people took advantage of that deal, with addresses like John@Greenbelt.com.
All those services were provided under the auspices of the Greenbelt Internet Access Cooperative, which sadly dissolved in 2006, after which time the site was no longer updated. Lovers of Greenbelt history are pleased that the site remains online, however, and continues to provide email accounts to a few of its former members.
Greenbelt Online, Starting in 2017
In early 2016, Greenbelt MakerSpace founder George Boyce called a meeting to discuss Greenbelt’s need for a community website and other digital services. On January 1, 2017, Greenbelt Online launched as the first product of that meeting. It contains:
- Community Directory of all things Greenbelt that are on the Internet.
- Business Directory, coming soon, after consulting Greenbelt’s business owners.
- Greenbelt Blog, covering happenings, people, how-to information just for locals, think pieces, and much more. 250 articles that were published on the Greenbelt Live blog between 2012 and 2016 have been moved to the new Greenbelt Blog on this site (and Greenbelt Live is no longer).
- Photo Galleries of curated shots taken in Greenbelt and documenting life here.
- Videos about life in Greenbelt (also curated), which can be found, as well, on the new Greenbelt Maryland YouTube Channel.
- More coming, and your suggestions are welcome!
Greenbelt Online is available to design and host web pages for Greenbelt businesses and organizations that aren’t already online.
Get Involved!
- Write for the Greenbelt Blog, just once or more often. The editorial team will help with editing, illustrating and layout for the web, and you’ll have a link to your article to share and put on your portfolio.
- Submit your photos and videos for inclusion on the site.
- Help curate others’ photos and videos for this site and our Youtube channel. The (unpaid) jobs of Photo Editor and Video Editor are waiting to be filled.
- Tell us if your organization is missing from the directory, or if the link is bad. Help make the site all-inclusive and error-free!
- Help promote Greenbelt Online (and therefore Greenbelt itself).
- What else? We’re excited to hear your ideas.
The Team
Greenbelt Online was designed and developed by Tanya Amaya and Bethany Gresser of the firm Analytic Design working from the Greenbelt MakerSpace offices in Roosevelt Center.
Greenbelt Online’s editorial team, responsible for its content, is composed of Susan Harris, Anna Socrates and Julie Winters. They also set policies for the Greenbelt Blog.
Greenbelt Blog Policies
We encourage Greenbelters to share their stories and opinions on the Greenbelt Blog. The editorial team will help with editing, layout and illustrations. Blog posts must be about Greenbelt; authors may live anywhere. Language used on the site is family-friendly.
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