Melissa Babcock

Norwich and Colchester Pages Are Here!

2008-06-27T13:35:49Z

In an effort to expand our coverage area and take advantage of Zip06's ability to more easily go where our print editions don't, we have added Norwich and Colchester pages to the mix. They are linked to the Thames River Times and the Lyme Times, respectively.

The "News from theday.com" sections on these pages will pull anything from The Day's site that refers to those towns and display it on the town's page, just like the rest of the site.

I'll be looking into how to place those of you who live in these towns and had to select "Other" for your location when you registered. Contact me with any questions.

Governor Rell Announces $10,000 Rewards Offered in Hartford, New Haven Hit-and-Run Crashes

2008-06-06T16:43:09Z

Governor Reviewing Facts in Third Unsolved Hit-Skip Case from Montville

Governor M. Jodi Rell today announced she is offering rewards of $10,000 each for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individuals responsible for two recent hit-and-run crashes that left a 78-year-old man paralyzed in Hartford and an 11-year-old girl dead in New Haven.

Governor Rell said she is also reviewing the facts of a third hit-and-run, an April 14 crash on Route 32 in Montville in which 59-year-old Fu Quan Liu of New York was struck and killed by a speeding car that had just run a red light.

“These terrible crimes cannot be allowed to go unsolved,” Governor Rell said. “The sorrow and anguish of the families is compounded by the fact that so far no one has taken responsibility for their actions. We will not allow our society – in our cities or anywhere else – to descend into a lonely and desperate place where the injured lie untended and violent criminals roam unrestrained.”

Governor Rell spoke by telephone today to the families of Angel Arce Torres, who was struck in Hartford on May 30, and Gabrielle Lee, who was killed in New Haven on Wednesday night.

“I was pleased to learn that the disturbing video of the Hartford crash scene, which seemed to show passers-by ignoring Mr. Torres, does not tell the full story,” the Governor said. “Several people in the area immediately dialed 911 to seek medical attention for the injured man. Now I am calling on anyone who may be able to provide more information on the cars, the drivers or the events that led up the crash to come forward.

“In New Haven, police are seeking information about a late-model Volkswagen Jetta with probable front-end damage and possible windshield damage,” Governor Rell said. “Any information that could be helpful should be turned over to police as soon as possible. A bright young child, a student at Elm City College Prep charter school, has been lost and her family and classmates left to grieve.”

In the Montville crash, video shows a dark sedan speeding through the T-shaped intersection of Route 32 and Sandy Desert Road. After the light changes, Mr. Liu begins to cross Route 32 when the sedan strikes him. State Police say the case remains under investigation and say they are seeking any information available.

The rewards are offered under Section 54-48 of the Connecticut General Statutes. Under the law the Governor, after a request from the state’s attorney in the jurisdiction where the crime occurred, may authorize rewards of up to $50,000.

“I am strongly urging anyone with information about these incidents – or about any violent crime – to call police,” Governor Rell said. “You may not have all of the pieces, but every bit of information can help as police build their cases.”

- From the Governor's office

Zip06: Extreme Makeover

2008-05-16T15:34:47Z

Ok, so maybe it's not "extreme."

But today we've unveiled a fresh look to our still-relatively-new community websites, which now display more character and less of a "plain template" look and feel.

Each town now features its corresponding Times paper logo and color, and we've added a few cosmetic tweaks to, we hope, make the site stronger, more appealing, and more user-friendly.

The general layout remains the same--our goal was to strengthen the link between our eight weekly print papers and their interactive, online presence.

As your site evolves, look for more contests and ways to get involved, coming soon.

Melissa Babcock
Interactive Desk Chief

Header Images...Courtesy of YOU

2008-04-10T15:48:05Z

Submit Your Photo!

The rotating photos at the top of the site, called header images, have been placed to help create a sense of place for the communities of zip06. As you navigate the site, you will notice that the header images randomly change with each page you visit.

These images are a mix of staff photos taken by the photographers working for the Times Community newspapers and zip06 members. If you would like contribute header images to the site, all you need to do is register and add images to your member photo gallery. Our Interactive Desk staff is always reviewing member galleries looking for appropriate images to add to our rotation of header images.

We have provided some basic guidelines to help you when thinking about images that might work as header images on zip06.

1. Photos with a horizontal orientation work best.
The photos displayed as header images on the site are all 431 pixels wide by 114 pixels tall. Due to this constraint, we select member images that can be cropped and still look good. Generally these are images that have more of a horizontal orientation, like an outdoor panorama. Here is an example of an image that works well as a zip06 header image.

When this image is cropped, we can cut-out the background and just include the girls on the ice. The next image shows how this photo will be cropped to appear on zip06. You can crop your photos to fit the header image dimensions (431 pixels by 114 pixels) before loading to your gallery, or just load the original photo and we will edit it to properly fit as a header image.

Here is the final image as it has been loaded into our header image system.

2. Capture a moment in time or a scenic image of your community.
We want to place header images that capture unique pieces of the communities of zip06. These might include photos taken during a local community event, a scenic landmark, natural settings, or just friends having fun in the area. Basically, we will be looking for images that help capture the people, places, events and beauty of the area.

3. Load your photos to your member gallery.
Just load your photos and we will do the rest. We will review the photos you have uploaded to your gallery and select images that will work best as header images. If you have a particular image you would like us to consider, please e-mail us with a link to the image in your gallery, and include "Header Image" in your email subject line.

Putting a Face to the Name

2008-04-08T18:33:46Z

Jon Marien of Waterford (zip06 user JM Photo) is the winner of zip06's first contest.

Marien poses in the photo at right with Interactive Desk Chief Melissa Babcock at the Times offices in New London with his prize, a Sony Cybershot digital camera.

Marien's submitted photo of the Clydesdale horses, a highlight of the recent Mystic Irish Parade, was judged by the Times' art director, Laura Rush, as the contest's best member-submitted photo.

It's getting warmer, so watch for more announcements calling for reader-submitted event photos to zip06.com.

And the Winner is...

2008-04-04T16:16:14Z

...JM Photo, for a photo of the Clydesdale horses, which was also featured in our photo spread in the Mystic Times and can be currently seen as the header on the top of zip06.

JM Photo wins a free Sony Cybershot digital camera.

Keep an eye out for calls for submissions from future events! You could be our next winner.

Stay tuned to find out more on how your submission can be the next zip06 header photo!

Zip06's First Contest

2008-04-02T14:21:27Z

Thank you to everyone who attended the 5th annual Mystic Irish Parade and posted their photos from the event. The winner of the Sony Cybershot digital camera will be announced here on the site Friday at noon. He or she will be contacted and arrangements to claim the prize will be discussed.

In the meantime, please go to the member galleries and have a look through the dozens of submitted photos. If you didn't have a chance to attend the parade, you'll feel like you did. If you attended, you'll be able to see parts of the parade from different angles and viewpoints.

Look for our photo spread in the April 3 Mystic Times, a festive collection of staff photos and member photos.

Please forward any questions to me at m.babcock@theday.com or call me at 440-1023.

Call for Submissions!

2008-03-25T16:43:51Z

What are you doing this weekend? Want a free digital camera?

Our staff photographer, Cheryl Albaine, will be at Mystic Seaport this weekend taking photos of their 5th annual St. Patrick's Day parade, scheduled to take place Sunday, March 30 at 1:00.

According to a release from the Mystic Irish Parade Foundation, more than 100 marching units and fourteen marching bands will perform along the parade route from Mystic Seaport Museum to the Mystic Art Association. This year’s parade will be the host to no less than 12 Pipe Bands, more than any other parade in the state. In addition to these excellent musicians, we’re expecting more than 1,000 marchers including Irish Step Dancers, Fife & Drum Units, Military Drill Teams, Honor Guard Units from several local organizations, Drum & Bugle Corps, and high school marching bands. In addition to the musical units, the parade will also feature Classic Antique Cars, High-Tech Firefighting Equipment, Police Units, Scout Troops, and colorful floats designed and fabricated by area businesses. The Grand Marshal this year will be John Hewes, a local resident and businessman who is well known throughout the community.

There will be numerous photo opportunities along the parade route starting at the Seaport at 1:00 and continuing south on Route 27 through downtown Mystic finishing at the Mystic Arts Center on Willow Street. You can also photograph the hundred other parade floats, bands, and bagpipers that will populate the parade. In short, the Mystic St. Patrick’s Parade will offer a tremendous variety of photo opportunities.

The Parade Committee will be distributing zip06 cards throughout the parade route.

Look for The Day’s special supplement on the Mystic St. Patrick’s Parade in Friday’s paper. The exact parade route and a listing of all parade participants are included in the 8-page tab along with other info on the event.

According to a release from the Mystic Seaport, the world-famous Budweiser Clydesdales will be at the Seaport the whole weekend, Friday through Sunday, March 28 to 30. Members and children will be admitted free.

You can see the Clydesdales up close during their stable viewings from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. Watch as the team of horses are groomed and taken out for their daily exercises. On Saturday, see the Clydesdales give a special performance when they parade through the Museum's village from noon to 3 p.m.

On Sunday, the Clydesdales will finish their weekend in Mystic by bringing the St. Patrick's Day parade to a spectacular close.

If you attend this event, take photos and submit them to your member gallery on zip06.com. If we receive your photos by Monday, March 31, we may publish them in our April 3 Mystic Times paper! The photographer of the best reader-submitted photo will win a free digital camera.

Otherwise, your photo submissions will remain active on zip06.com.

If you have any questions, please call me or send me a message.

Melissa Babcock
Interactive Desk Chief
440-1023, m.babcock@theday.com

Welcome to zip06

2008-02-28T16:27:53Z

It's February 28--the launch date of zip06.com.

We hope you've seen the announcements and ads in your Times paper and found your way here.

While the original Times Community site provided an online outlet for our articles, it didn’t truly expand the reach of our weekly publications and was more of a static, digital version of the pages in our papers. The new sites are developed to resemble TheDay.com in content, pictures, audio, and blogs and are marketed as zip06.com, referring to the first two numbers of every zip code in Connecticut, as you probably recognized.

The zip06 site has been created as a dynamic extension of our publications, granting greater access to the communities of southeastern Connecticut, and, like our department title, they provide a means for community members to interact and connect with one another.

As Interactive Department Director Derek Anderson mentioned in his announcement on page 4 of all the Times papers last week, the new community site will still feature the in-depth, town-specific articles found in our weekly papers but will also offer a widely expanded and very interactive forum for you to create a free membership profile and submit photos, news, and post comments to the articles written by your town reporter.

Select submissions will be further explored by our editors and reporters for possible development into stories for our weekly papers. If you have information that you want to share with your neighbors and friends, we want to provide a customized, convenient forum for you to do so within the information categories—member blogs, event listings, and photo galleries—featured on zip06.

Today is the official release date. Ultimately, these sites will be defined by their users, while our roles will be largely centered on moderating and facilitating. We invite you to make a profile and become acquainted with your new community Web sites. We’re approaching the initial release as a work in development, with the final tweaks to be added by you, the public, in the spirit of participatory architecture.

Contact me with any questions at m.babcock@theday.com or 440-1023.

Melissa Babcock
Interactive Desk Chief
The Times Community News Group