What You Need in a Computer System (Mac or PC)

A start-up Web publisher faces many computing hardware choices. You could buy a single powerful computer to handle your writing, coding and designing needs, but it probably makes more sense to have several computers. Each can serve different functions as your site grows.

Can You Upgrade or Do You Need a New Machine?

For less computer-intensive tasks, consider upgrading an older machine. 

Digital Cameras

If you’re encouraging readers to submit photos, your community reporters will need a digital camera to snap photos of local stories and events.  We advise against using a film camera. There are many reasons to shoot with film, but the speed and flexibility of digital cameras make them ideal for a fast-paced community news site.

Audio Recording Equipment

Just like photography, digital technology has changed forever the practice of audio recording. Options stretch from dirt cheap to very high-end.

Backing Up

To avoid losing all your hard work in a random hard-drive crash, it’s important to make copies of all your important files. In computing, these are generally known as “backups.”

Software Solutions

A computer without software is like a kitchen without pots and pans. To run a community media site, you’ll need several types of software. We’ll suggest some first-class industry standards in each category, then point out more basic alternatives that might also fit your needs.