Introduction to the Toolkit

Over the last ten years, the Integrated Media Association has provided a forum for leadership in the expanding field of "multi-platform publishing."  We use this awkward term, because a fair assessment of IMA's work--and the work that most readers of this toolkit take on each day--is not entirely "internet service" in the truest sense.  Instead, we work in the space between two media.

On the one side, we have public radio, which has continued to provide a remarkably vibrant and important service to the American people.  Even our most vocal critics (inside the industry) cannot ignore the resiliance of public radio in the face of such strong challengs from commercial media and new form of "public media," in cable and online.

On the other side, we think, is the most important piece of our industry's future, that is, "online services" of all stripes and sorts.  For the most part, even our web staff don't focus too much of this part of the multi-media world.  Instead, our multi--platform publishing is primarily a matter of taking the things we produce and the things we do well on-air and finding a way to extend the value of those products and services through the Internet.  

We tried to recognize this "radio-centric" view as we wrote this toolkit.  In most sections, we took a very pragmatic approach, generally focusing on the management of online services within a radio station and only occasionally stretching out to the broader issues of online services that are not part of a "companion website." 

In two important areas of work, overall site design and email marketing, we felt that stations would be better served by referring to other toolkits that have already been developed:

1. Best Practices for PBS Member Station websites, developed by Adaptive Path, a San Francisco-based web consulting firm. and found at the PBS Station
Remote Control resources center.

2. E-mail Practices for Public Radio and the Web Marketing Toolkit, written by Betsy Harman, as part of the IMA-sponsored "New Basics Project," supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.