"Unofficial"
Web site still
online
What began with a shrug of the shoulders and a
internet server stuffed in a downstairs closet has
evolved into a Web site with more than 500 pages.
Indeed, Needhamonline has come a long way since
its inception in 1996, and with the official town
site (http://www.town.needham.ma.us.com/)
coming online this year, needhamonline doesn’t
plan on going away. Nor, in fact, will it be doing
anything differently. Site Web masters Lee and Amy Levitt actually
never envisioned needhamonline as an official site
linked to Town Hall, but rather a site for the
community, by the community, which is what they
expect to continue. " I’d like to think the sites are complimentary
to each other, not competitive in any form, " said
Amy Levitt. " Nor would we want it to be. " In 1995, the couple built Amy’s business,
Amydoodles a Web site, and Lee remembers the
software engineers telling him it was possible to
put more than one site on a single domain server.
So, he figured he’d give it a whirl. " I said, what should we do? And we figured why
not do something about Needham, " said Lee. Hence, Needhamonline was born. From the womb, the site was basic and slowly
grew to incorporate different parts of Needham
life. Initially, the Levitts were spending between
five and 20 hours a week building the site. " We’d put the kids to bed and then come down
here for two or three hours and build Web pages, "
said Levitt. Additionally, Lee went around town with his 35
mm camera and took various photographs, scanned
them in and posted them on the Web. This was
before the technology invented the digital
camera. But since its inception, the site has grown and
now includes information on traffic coalitions in
town, links with the library and a plethora of
other information. And as town groups get together
and continue to want information posted, the
Levitts are more than willing to fill that
need. The site has even been immortalized in a
Microsoft text book as it won an award given out
by the software giant for Web sites using the
specific software. " We didn’t even know about it, " said Amy,
flipping to the five-page section describing the
site. The site includes a message board, which the
Levitts talk about as if it were a pet. There are
stories of people from paces like Brazil and
Argentina, contacting the Levitts through the
message board. In one instance, the message board
spawned a long distance friendship. " A man from Argentina contacted us and told us
he was coming up here and wanted to know more
about the town, " said Amy, who speaks fluent
Spanish and was excited to be able to utilize the
skill. " We ended up meeting at Needham Harvest
Fair. " Amy said one of the biggest compliments ever
paid to the site were ex-Needham residents who had
moved away and left notes on the message boards.
" They would say that it was like coming back
home, " said Amy. Brian Falla can be reached at bfalla@cnc.com
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