This is not as difficult as it might seem. Websites are merely publications in a different media than, say, clan newsletters. Remember, this is the information which you prepare for the public. Your clan brochure is an excellent place to start, for it contains those key nutshells of clan material you have already compiled to invite fellow clansfolk to come join your society.
A perusal of your newsletters over the past years will yield much more information suitable for the public, on the website. This could be poetry, general articles about clan matters -- castles in Scotland, unveiling of a clan cairn, an important event or acquisition of the clan in past years, etc. etc. and etc. These clan newsletters are virtual goldmines of information for your homepages.
The material for the website can come from a wide variety of sources, and is extremely flexible in its opportunity to get clan information out to all corners of the globe.
The tales of the origin of your clan, the battles, the successes, the folklore, the clansfolk of early time, a description of the area or communities where your clan once lived, military endeavours, tales of the early years when your clan pioneers came to Nova Scotia, tales of their experiences now, details of your clan society (membership info, aims and objectives, history, etc.).
We appreciate having an e-mail address contact for each clan; failing that, a postal address which we can pass along to any person who wishes to be in contact with your clan. We will not, under any circumstances, put home addresses on the website. This is for the personal security of the individual at that address, and we will not consider it. Don't ask.
The various activities a specific clan hosts during the year is a crucial item on the website. John MacWhoever, living somewhere else in Canada, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, or wherever, may be planning a vacation in Nova Scotia. and want to meet clansfolk of his own clan while here. Through one of the dozen or more internet search engines, he can learn what clan events are happening during his visit ... or plan his visit to include some of the events of Clan MacWhoever. A general net search for Nova Scotia brings up our website for his perusal, which can make him aware for the first time that Clan MacWhoever is hosting functions. So, he gets the idea to come along and schedule time to join MacWhoever at that event. Using the corporate buzz word of the 90s, this is a "win- win" situation for the Clan MacWhoever and John MacWhoever; it gets them together.
Note on our main menu, first page in from the tartan frontspiece, there is a link to an extensive roster of Scottish events in Nova Scotia. This roster is still in the early stages of development. Your clan events will go here, and be presented in a much more efficient format as time allows. Clan events are important; get them to us, so we can put them on the website.
A perusal of the homepages already being developed by various clan societies and interested clansfolk is an excellent way of generating ideas what might be appropriate for your own clan. No clan homepage will ever be complete; these developing clan homepages, as yours will be, are in ongoing stages of growth.
It might be helpful to share what we have on the Clan MacKay homepages, not to in any way claim superiority, for there are excellent websites of other clans on this site that are equal or better than the Clan MacKay homepages. But, if assuming administration of this website on behalf of the Scottish Clans within Nova Scotia, dictates that Clan MacKay should attempt the onerous responsibility of setting an example, lets see what we have done in that regard. I hope that it is as least helpful to others, for we too are constantly expanding our Clan MacKay homepages
We do hesitate to put detailed personal information including home addresses on the web. Remember, anyone can and is reading this, for a wide variety of purposes, mostly entirely honourable and innocent. But, all it takes is one person, perhaps hoping to enter Canada illegally, to create a lot of pain and trouble for that individual. Please, let us avoid exposing any of our clansfolk to that. The Public Archives will not release vital statistics until they are 100 years old. Let us use that as a cautionary guide, though it may not be necessary to follow it strictly to the 100 years in each circumstance. Tread wisely, with caution.
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