A boondoggle dies with barely a whimper. See:
- this comment from October 2003:
it is a product of bureaucrats who were charged with creating the sort of project — a “regional portal” — that hasn’t been warmly received by the web intelligentsia for 5 or 6 years. TownSquare.ca is ugly and poorly organized because nobody with any sense would spend any time on a project which, in the end, doesn’t actually make any sense in the first place;
- an Industry Canada critique of the project:
...Post project agreements will need to more thoroughly address the issues of portal ownership and operational responsibilities. The Town Square portal operating today is generating revenues from sources that weren't part of the original plan (e.g. microsites hosting and export of the portal product) and is on the road to sustainability.
I was unaware of any period when the micro-sites was not a key part of the proposal.LESSONS LEARNED
Contingency plans should allow sufficient time for a portal to reach sustainability. "This may involve clear commitments from project partners beyond the term of one-time government project funding." says Hendricken. "It may also include additional or interim funding sources."
Comments
Arthur - May 20, 2005 4:12 PM
I'm all confused. Was it a success or not? [particularly the note saying: "is on the road to sustainability."]
Alan - May 20, 2005 4:20 PM
Success in the sense that a desert is a success, in the sense that the great airless void of outer space is a success?
Arthur - May 20, 2005 6:23 PM
Success in the sense that a desert is a success
I agree, it was a kind of a crappy looking for the millions spent on a portal.
Alan - May 20, 2005 6:24 PM
Not a million. Millions.
Derek - May 21, 2005 7:09 AM
The whole boondooggle cost $9 million, which included computers in the city council chambers so that the councillors can vote (what's wrong with a show of hands?), a page to pay your parking ticket online (ok, I have used this once), and a page to book a ball field (I think most people still call the Recreation dept.) $4.5 mill. came from Industry Canada, the rest came from the city, the neighboring towns of Cornwall and Stratford, the local university and college, the city's chamber of commerce and development commission. According to the CBC, the actual retail price of the portal part of the project was $3.3 million, more than Cornwall is planning to spend to build a new (non-virtual) town hall!
I'm all for IT projects, but I think the money could have been better spent on building infrastructure, such as high speed internet for the Charlottetown suburbs (many neighboring communities such as Mount Herbert and Frenchfort, both a mere 10 minutes away, are still on dialup), rather than a portal to existing web pages, particularly in this age of Google Local, and considering the fact that a number of local portals e.g. madeinpei.com, peiinfo.com, webpei.com etc. already existed at the time. I, too, thought that the microsite idea was part of the original proposal, and was the strategy they were using to provide the project with longterm sustainability. Unfortunately the microsite idea was about five years too late, as those who wanted websites already had them in place by the time the project was launched, and there was already a large contingent of web developers in town willing to build and host much better looking websites for a similar price.
As well, it purported to be a web listing of local businesses and services, but there was no way for a local business who already had a website to get a link to their website included without either building a "shadow" microsite, or buying a pricey banner ad.
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with this project. Anyone similarly-named person who may have been affiliated with this project is someone else!
robert Paterson - May 22, 2005 6:11 PM
What a total mess.
Imagine if 9 million had been invested in say High speed?
Alan - May 23, 2005 6:59 PM
Or heart healthcare or foster care or an elementary school in my old village without a bar in it.