PORT ANGELES — The Peninsula Daily News has given its readers another way to vent about issues of the day beyond its letters to the editor column. It’s called Peninsula Soapbox.
It’s a new feature — an Internet audio forum.
The daily newspaper is working with Matt Ready, president of Vaestro, a software development company that works out of the Clallam County Economic Development Council’s incubator program at Lincoln Center in Port Angeles.
Ready, 33, built the software. It’s like interactive talk radio but takes Internet bulletin boards and online news groups to another level — recorded voice.
“The stuff out there is kind of similar, but I don’t believe any other newspaper has an audio forum set up like this,” he said.
The Soapbox is accessible in 50 seconds with a few clicks on the newspaper’s Web site, www.peninsuladailynews.com.
You can enter the discussion, hear comments others submit, and replay your own comments for review.
Here’s how the audio forum works:
1. Go to www.peninsuladailynews.com.
2. Click on the soapbox icon on the left side of our page, right below “PDN FAQ.”
This week, the question is: “How will I-933 affect you?”
That’s the statewide ballot measure that would require governments to compensate landowners for the value lost to the land because of land use regulations or require the government to waive the regulation.
3. Click on the question under the heading, “This Month’s Featured Topic,” which loads the Soapbox software and starts playing the audio comments for that topic.
The page includes a list of respondents and a theme for each respondent’s comments.
It’s very similar to Windows Media Player or other audio software.
4. You can sit and listen to your heart’s content, or you can use your mouse to skip to individual speakers and listen to their statements.
5. At any time, you can hit “reply” and record your own comment or observation.
6. Finish recording, and listen to what you said by clicking play.
7. If you like it, click approve, and your comments will be added to the Soapbox.
8. If you have second thoughts about your comments, cancel it by clicking “start recording” and you will automatically record over it.
Or hit cancel, and your comments will be erased.
9. There is no time limit on how long you can talk.
If someone wants to talk for 10 minutes, they can.
The PDN polices the responses for name-calling and other inappropriate comments.
Want updates on new Soapbox topics?
Register an account with your e-mail at the bottom of the Web page, and you’ll get e-mail notifications when a new topic is posted.
Your e-mail remains confidential.
“You can just listen, or you can comment,” Ready said.
“It has all the virtues of a radio show or town forum, except for with a town forum, you are restricted by time and whether you can get there, and how long you can talk.”
Ready is developing a rating system under which he and the PDN will pull out the most interesting and insightful comments.
“This will be very interesting when the discussion has 100 or 200 comments,” he said.
“This could end up being five hours of content for people who really want get into it.
“For someone who wants to hear all those points of view, they can.”
You do need speakers, and a headset microphone, which costs about $15 to $30 at any store that sells computers or electronic accessories.
The audio forum works best with a high-speed Internet connection. Dial-up works fine, but takes a little longer.
For further information, e-mail the PDN’s Commentary page editor, paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com, or call him at 360-417-3536.
Ready can be contacted at vaestro@gmail.com, or call him at 360-565-2068.
Peninsula Daily News publishes Sunday through Friday, with average circulation of 19,500 in Clallam and Jefferson counties on the North Olympic Peninsula in Washington state.
The PDN also publishes a new weekly newspaper, Sequim This Week, with an all-mail circulation of 10,500.
The PDN’s parent company is Horvitz Newspapers, which also owns The Daily Times in Maryville, Tenn., the King County Journal and nine non-dailies serving Puget Sound-area communities.
The King County Journal and the non-dailies are currently for sale.
