Maine Coastal Program launches online version of Maine Coastline newsletter

May 2010 - The Maine Coastal Program launched the new edition of its Maine Coastline newsletter. This edition marks the first step in a phased approach to move the Coastal Program's newsletter to the web. This edition's theme is on the significant aesthetic qualities of the Maine coast.



Plans are being made to evaluate and implement other web features in upcoming editions and updates, including social media and outreach tools, like Twitter, Facebook, places for user input and photo galleries... and more. Stay tuned!



Content for this new online edition of Maine Coastline was developed by Nancy Griffin at Word Association. Graphic design was provided by Gordon Holman of Slickfish Studios. Theresa Torrent-Ellis, Kathleen Leyden and others at Maine State Planning office provided great feedback on the new edition. (Thanks!) All other technical assistance, planning and work was done by James Cradock of Yellahoose.

Links:

Maine Coastline & Maine Coastal Program
http://www.maine.gov/spo/coastal/
http://www.maine.gov/spo/coastal/coastline/

Creative Portland Corp launches LiveWorkPortland built by LEDA, LuDesign, Slickfish Studios and Yellahoose

May 2010 - Creative Portland Corporation launched LiveWorkPortland, a web resource showcasing Portland, Maine's vibrant creative professional community.



LiveWorkPortland presents Portland residents and those thinking about relocating to the area a picture of the city, and of the region, as a great place to live and work and do business. The site showcases great creative professionals calling Portland "home", with biographical sketches and multimedia slideshows. It hilights the city's culture, economy and other amenities adding to Portland's quality of life.



The web site was designed and built and content was developed by a team of professionals from the area: LEDA, LuDesign, Slickfish Studios, Wing and Ko. and Yellahoose. Yellahoose's role:

• We configured the web, database and email servers, helped move DNS and update zone records, set up back up routines, and basically set up the site shell.
• We installed and configured WordPress, the software Creative Portland identified as its preferred CMS.
• Design requirements were tricky! No canned template would do, so we built one specifically for the site.
• As content developers and web designers, Wing and Ko. and Slickfish Studios, built out the design and content, we supported them by debugging issues, resolving (or helping to resolve) them, and we provided a second set of eyes as things went online.
• Meanwhile, we integrated the site with Constant Contact, using their developer API, and we search engine optimized and set up analytics tools (Google Analytics and AWstats) for the site.
• We launched LiveWorkPortland.org from its staging location to its "live" site, moved the launched version to source control (we use Subversion), and prepared for the future by creating a project management site (in Trac) for the team.

LiveWorkPortland is hosted by Packawhallop.

Check out LiveWorkPortland.org!

Links:

LiveWork Portland
http://www.liveworkportland.org/

Create Portland Corporation
http://www.portlandmaine.gov/creativeportlandcorp.htm

LEDA
http://www.ledadesign.com/

LuDesign
http://www.ludesignstudios.com/

Slickfish Studios
http://www.slickfishstudios.com/

Wing and Ko.
http://www.wingandko.com/

Packawhallop
http://www. packawhallop.com/

UMRLAC water quality monitoring program site gets Yellahoose-powered update

April 2010 - The website for the Upper Merrimack River Local Advisory Committee's river water quality monitoring site got some modest but value-added and really neat updates this month, thanks to program and sampling managers and Yellahoose.



First step was databasing existing monitoring location and E. coli sampling data. Yellahoose built a simple relational database in MySQL on the UMRLAC server and populated it with data provided by UMMP Sampling Supervisor Steve Landry.



Building an entirely new user interface was out-of-scope and budget for this round of revisions, but updating the existing UI to make use of the database, and to add great new features, like enhanced mapping and interactive charting using Google APIs, was an easy set of tasks for Yellahoose.



Finally, Yellahoose developed more user-friendly tools to the UI using Dojo -- and, last but not least, reCAPTCHA was added to newsletter and listserv sign-up forms.

Links:

Upper Merrimack River Local Advisory Committee UMMP sites and FaceBook page
http://www.merrimackriver.org/
http://www.merrimackriver.org/programs/ummp.php
http://www.facebook.com/UpperMerrimackRiver

Google visualization tools
http://code.google.com/apis/maps/
http://code.google.com/apis/charttools/

The Dojo toolkit
http://www.dojotoolkit.org/

KnowledgeBase gets face lift

March 2010 - KnowledgeBase, an online repository of bibliographic records and data related to the environment in Maine and northern New England, got a face lift this month.

Yellahoose planned and managed the graphic design redo. Project partner Gordon Holman of SlickFish Studios produced the new art work. After review by Dr. Peter Vaux and team at the Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research, and some minor tweaks, Yellahoose implemented the new skin on the existing website.



The new graphic design is meant to be flexible -- more easily accommodating new data portals, themes features being working on now for implementation later this year. (Stay tuned for these!)

We like the look of the new site a lot!

Links:

KnowledgeBase
http://www.gulfofmaine.org/kb/

Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research
http://www.umaine.edu/waterresearch/

SlickFish Studios
http://www.slickfishstudios.com/

Yellahoose chosen to build data visualization tools for Upper Merrimack River Local Advisory Committee

March 2010 - The Upper Merrimack River Local Advisory Committee (UMRLAC) has chosen Yellahoose to build database management, web mapping and data visualization tools for its volunteer river monitoring program.

Since 1995 UMRLAC's Upper Merrimack Monitoring Program (UMMP) has monitored bacteria (E.coli), insects and other indicators in eleven sampling sites throughout the Merrimack River watershed, including on the Pemigewasset, Winnipesaukee, Contoocook and Merrimack Rivers, to gauge and track long-term trends in water quality in the watershed. Volunteers collecting site data are trained by NH Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) and Merrimack River Watershed Council (MWRC).

These new data, mapping and visualization tools will be launched on the www.MerrimackRiver.org in spring 2010.

Links:

Upper Merrimack River Local Advisory Committee
http://www.merrimackriver.org/

NH Department of Environmental Services
http://des.nh.gov/

Yellahoose helps Crossroads, Gulf of Maine Council (ESIP, Times, Restoration), PDT Architects, Shannondell, HolzCreative and Cradock Woodworking

February 2010 - February was a busy one for Yellahoose and its current and new customers!

Crossroads for Women began billing from its new clinical tracking software, implemented in 2009, with Yellahoose's help customizing claims and tweaking claim data for the Agency's specific needs. Remote computer management solutions were also rolled-out in the Agency's Kennebunk, Windham, Portland (Back Cove and Old Port) locations.

The Gulf of Maine Times published monthly updates to the online newspaper. These include news about Nova Scotia's recently published state of the coast report as well as a study on climate change and its measured affect on Casco Bay.

Ecosystem Indicator Partnership published its March/April 2010 journal.

Gulf of Maine Council's Habitat restoration program (in partnership with NOAA and Maine State Planning Office) made significant updates to and launched its online grant application tool on March 1.

PDT Architects, the Portland, Maine-based community-focused architecture and design firm, relocated its web presence to Yellahoose partner Packawhallop's servers... with Yellahoose help managing the technical aspects of the uneventful relocation.

Yellahoose helped Atlanta, Georgia-based King & Moore and HolzCreative move, make necessary programming and database updates and relaunch the Shannondell at Valley Forge website.

And Boston, Massachusetts-based Kevin Cradock Woodworking moved its website, including database and CMS systems, with Yellahoose's expert analysis and assistance.

Links:

Crossroads for Women
http://www.crossroadsforwomen.org

Gulf of Maine Times
http://www.gulfofmaine.org/gomt/

ESIP (Ecosystem Indicator Partnership)
http://www.gulfofmaine.org/esip/

Gulf of Maine Council's Habitat Restoration Subcommittee
http://www.gulfofmaine.org/habitat-restoration/

National Marine Fisheries Service's Community-based Restoration Program
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/habitat/restoration/projects_programs/crp/

PDT Architects
http://www.pdtarch.com/

Shannondell at Valley Forge
http://www.shannondell.com

HolzCreative
http://www.holzcreative.com/cory/

Kevin Cradock Woodworking
http://www.cradockwoodworking.com

Northeast Aquatic Nuisance Species Panel launches Yellahoose-built online guide

February 2010 - The Northeast Aquatic Nuisance Species (NEANS) Panel has launched its online invasive species guide. Built by Yellahoose, NEANS' guide allows website users to search for species, view imagery and effects, and create online and PDF-based guides to download or share online with others.



The NEANS Panel is a U.S./Canadian focuses issues and research on freshwater and marine resources in member jurisdictions, including: Maine, Massachusetts, New Hamnpshire, Vermont, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick Quebec. Panel members represent state, provincial, and federal governments, academia, commercial and recreational fishing interests, recreational boaters, commercial shipping, power and water utilities, environmental organizations, aquaculture, nursery and aquarium trades; tribal concerns; lake associations, and the bait industry.



The guide, built by Yellahoose with project partners Waterview Consulting and Slickfish Studios, features search, content management, on-the-fly PDF creation, and a number of innovative features. Twenty priority species were initially defined for launch of the product, with additional species and more information for species in the system to be added by the NEANS Panel's members on an on-going basis.

Links:

Northeast Aquatic Nuisance Species Panel (NEANS)
http://www.northeastans.org/
http://www.northeastans.org/online-guide

Waterview Consulting
http://www.waterviewconsulting.com/

Slickfish Studios
http://www.slickfishstudios.com/