Clarkson students help out magazine

POTSDAM — An Adirondack magazine based at Saranac Lake is doing more to help backpackers and hikers enjoy the state park, with some help from Clarkson University.

A group of students from a Web design class created a blueprint for a section of the Adirondack Explorer website last fall, and one of them went on to create the site independently over the spring and summer.

"There's nobody on their staff that can do this," said Johndan Johnson-Eilola, a communications professor at the university. "This system is basically a point-and-click. The person developing this doesn't have to worry about code."

The bimonthly, nonprofit magazine has a staff of five, one of whom is part-time.

The class, Information Architecture, often runs like a consulting company, designing and organizing a proposed site. The students do not actually create the site during the class; they create flowcharts to determine what Web users will see as they navigate from page to page, Mr. Johnson-Eilola said.

Daniel P. Mandle, a student in the class who has since graduated, decided to finish the website and make it a reality for the small magazine, which aims to increase awareness about conservation and the recreational opportunities available in the Adirondack Park.

"We were hoping for a picture of our site; we were hoping for a plan. He just took it to the next step," magazine Editor Thomas L. Woodman said. "We're ahead of where we thought we'd be at this point. We don't consider it done. We still have some information we want to get up there."

The class often works with nonprofit or local organizations, but it does not design the website as part of the curriculum. Because it is an upper-level class, several students in it probably could go on to create a website, Mr. Johnson-Eilola said.

The new pages, titled Adventure Planner, list specific trips people can take in the park, breaking them down by category. So far, about 100 trips are listed on the site, but there are at least 100 more that still have to be added, Mr. Woodman said.

"We've got actual trips up, but we could expand the information about lodging and that kind of thing," he said. "It never really comes to an end."

ON THE NET

Adirondack Explorer Adventure Planner:

adirondackexplorer.org/

adventure-planner/