Starting today, Talk of the Sound is being reorganized into Sections more like a traditional newspaper. The new sections are nested within Groups: Press Releases, Hot Topics, Sections, Government, Identities, Back Burner Topics, Talk of the Sound. These groups include 2 that are categories unto themselves (Press Release, Talk of the Sound). The other four groups contain within them 50 categories (sometimes known as “tags” or “keywords”).
When a contributor posts a story they are now REQUIRED to pick at least one topic and can pick multiple topics but there is no longer any “Free Tagging”. If the contributor does not see a category they like on the list they would have to ASK to have it added (most likely we would point them to an existing category). However, from time to time, some new issue will come up and that will be added as a Hot Topic.
By assigning a category or categories to an article, that article will automatically be assigned to one of the 50 sections. A reader wishing to see all stories of a particular type can click a link and see only those stories. RSS users can subscribe to a feed for a specific category.
The Press Release tag must be used for press releases and other forms of official announcements from organizations or politicians. Elected officials must also select their level of government (City Hall, Westchester County, New York State, Federal).
The Talk of the Sound is reserved for official/technical announcements by Talk of the Sound.
The Sections tags (News, Sports, Politics, Medicine, Education, etc.) are to be used in a manner similar to a traditional newspaper except for government-related tags have been given their own group (City Hall, BID, Police & Fire Blogger, Westchester County, New York State, Federal, etc.)
The Hot Topic and Back Burner Topic are tags for popular “discussion topics”, broken down into “hot” and “cold”. So, for example, “Capelli LeCount Square” is now a “hot topic”; “Thanksgiving Day Parade” was a “hop topic” but was demoted to a “back burner topic. At some point in the future, “Capelli LeCount Square” will become a back burner topic; the Thanksgiving Day Parade will be promoted to a hot topic in the fall and then get demoted again afterwards.
This organizational structure will be tweaked a bit in the coming days but here is the initial structure:
Hot Topics
— 2010 U.S. Census
— Avalon & Hartz Mountain
— Capelli LeCount Square Deal
— Capelli Target-Kohls Deal
— Downtown Parking Fees
— Forest City Echo Bay & Armory
— GreeNR
— Lincoln Desegregation 50th Anniversary
— North-South Divide
— Open Government
— Taxes
Sections
— Amusing News
— Arts & Entertainment
— Community Groups
— Economics & Finance
— Education
— Environment
— Local History
— Media
— Medicine
— Obituaries
— Opinion
— Politics
— Religion
— Sports
— Traffic & Parking
— Youth Sports
Government
— Business Improvement District (BID)
— City Hall
— Federal Government
— Library
— New York State
— Police & Fire Blotter
— Westchester County
Identities
— African-American
— Latino
— LGBT
— Senior Citizens
— Veterans
Back Burner Topics
— Christmas
— City Budget
— Firefighter Layoffs
— Memorial Day Parade
— North Avenue Rezoning
— Thanksgiving Day Parade
— Ward Acres
— Westchester Desegregation