Editorial describing functionality of the new Munich Found website.
Computer enthusiasts liken cyberspace, that ethereal realm of electronic information, to a stretch of real estate endlessly under construction. Munich Found is staking its claim in this bit-based landscape with a new website designed to inform, enlighten, and connect Munich’s English-speaking population. Visit our new location on the World Wide Web at www.munichfound.com to find out how a print magazine that succeeds at the newsstands can keep you even more in the know by using the latest technology. As a Munich Found subscriber or regular reader, you may want to know why the new website is necessary. Many of you were fans of our old website, and, as we know from reader letters, no one wants to give up the printed issues in favor of an on-screen, online publication. Our sophisticated new website boasts a wealth of useful information, but is by no means an attempt to replace the printed magazine. Instead, it serves to fill information gaps the printed magazine cannot cover. The most exciting feature of the new website is an electronic version of one of the most popular sections of our print edition – the calendar. The website offers a database of Munich events searchable by subject and date. For example, if you want to know what’s on at the opera this weekend, just click through to our events page and choose opera. The calendar is updated daily, which allows us to provide up-to-date information about events unavailable when our magazine goes to print. Visitors to the website will also be able to submit reviews of events and places and share their recommendations with others. In addition, our cultural calendar will be online giving viewers an overview of activities for 1999. If you cannot recall which issue contained a favorite Idiomatics column or a travel tip worth passing on to friends, then our online archive, which is currently under construction and will be available in January 1999, should be able to help. In seconds you will have the information from our columns and features at your fingertips without having to search through stacks of magazines. Munich Found is dedicated to giving tourists, business travelers, and residents important information about visiting or living in Bavaria. In this spirit, we have developed online city guides with the needs of each of these groups in mind. By constantly updating handy “news-you-can-use” items online, we have ensured that the guides are not only user friendly, but useful, as well. In addition to city guides, you will also find restaurant and nightlife guides that supply reviews and recommendations of places to dance and dine. When it comes to having fun, the new website keeps you abreast of events throughout the year: ice skating at the Nymphenburg Castle in winter, hitting the flea markets in spring and the beer gardens in the summer, the Oktoberfest festivities in fall, and the warm glow of Christmas markets in December. Our front page will change periodically to give visitors tips about seasonal activities complete with lists of times and locations. For those looking to get out of town, our excursion guide provides hints for longer getaways as well as day trips to popular Bavarian tourist sites. Hyperlinks on our site steer you to sites useful for planning a successful and care-free trip. Munich Found online offers an added dimension to our magazine, and we invite you to dial it up and check it out. We hope you will enjoy using the site as a home port for embarking on electronic journeys to Munich sites and beyond. We are excited about the interactivity our site offers and encourage your e-mail responses. Join us in exploring this new frontier, and in building a cyberbridge to bring the magazine and the readers it serves closer. <<<