1996 - 2006: American Rivers Online

Wow, here’s a little history worth exploring:

Planning for the Web: American Rivers
A large river conservation organization shares the process they went through to develop a new Web site designed to help them achieve their mission of saving America's waterways.

Not sure how I stumbled upon this little nugget, but very interesting. This article was from April 2000, which by web standards dates it to B.C. Not to bore you, but American Rivers launched their first website in 1996. To put that in perspective, my first official ‘surf’ wasn’t until 1998 when I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Guyana (strange I know).

I like when Rebecca Wodder, President of America Rivers, said, “the site definitely grew out of the recognition that [the Web] is an important force at work in the world and we can either harness it, or get run over by it.” Amen, applies to today too.

Have we been run over? It's possible, but who hasn't blinked, coughed, or got distracted with something else and missed some aspect of the technology boat? Fortunately, there's a pretty big sweet spot to easily reengage.

And how will we look to launch our new site? I'm thinking we shoot to unveil our new website the same time of year as before. April, in conjunction with American Rivers' annual announcement of the "Most Endangered Rivers" list, would be a perfect time to 'wow' our audience and um, hopefully the staff.

You heard it here, April 2007! Who wants to place a bet on that?