While the city of Lawrence continues to expand to the south and west of town, the idea of a GPS map of the city and crime report on tv.ku.edu seems to be unnecessary to me. While every newsroom strives to have a cutting edge persona and welcome innovative ideas, a virtual map seems a little out of the question for the sleepy town of Lawrence.
I would be naive to ignore the increase in crime rate, but for our website to maintain an adequate report would be difficult given the cities report is already a maze to decipher. Yes, the city commission does give numbers, but how up-to-date they are remains debatable. I found out first hand how difficult, check that, impossible it is to find someone at the city commission who can give you a solid answer.
I'm not trying to dog the idea of having a crime report, but with how frustrating it is to work with the Lawrence police department, it may be easier to work alongside the campus police department. I know we're trying to provide a newscast and website that serves the entire community, but it may be better to test this idea with a smaller demographic and a department that may be more willing to give their time to help a fellow university service.
With regards to the virtual map of Lawrence, I feel this would create more traffic on the website but for the wrong reasons. People love using GPS maps to pass time and look for their house, not for news stories. Plus, I don't feel Lawrence is large enough to justify investing the time and money into the map. First and foremost, I would need to know the dollar issues before I would recommend something that intense. In my mind, a GPS map and crime report make more sense for a New York or Chicago where murder is a daily occurance.
Maybe it's just that I don't want to think of Lawrence as a big town with big problems. That doesn't mean we can't look to other websites as a template for the future, but to me a virtual map and crime report seems a little further down the road for the KUJH website.
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