ANTIGUATODAY!
WHO .-.WHEN - WHY
AntiguaToday! was founded by international artist, Star Wars veteran & EMMY nominee Nick Maley, aka Antigua's YodaGuy, who has lived in Antigua with his wife Gloria since 1985. It began as the AntiguaNews page which went online on Tue, 29 Sept 1998 with the aim of providing post hurricane Georges news & information about the twin Caribbean islands of Antigua & Barbuda, (just two days after he got his telephone lines back and discovered how misleading reports of devastation in Antigua were).
It is predominantly funded through the support of Island Arts Galleries, Antigua.
Contacts:
CEO - Editor in chief - webmaster - Nick Maley
Contributing Editor - Gloria Maley
Administrative assistant - Linda FrancisOffices: Aiton Place, Hodges Bay, Antigua, West Indies.
Tel 268 461 6324 * Fax 268 462 1480 * email YodaGuy(at)IslandArtsAntigua.com
Snail mail: P. O. Box 1405, St. John's, Antigua, West Indies.
History:
Of the circumstances that lead to the formation of AntiguaToday! Nick Maley says:
"The major problem that I faced as I tried to redress the misinformation spread by irresponsible reports in the press, was the difficulty of reaching my target audience. It can take as long as 3 months to get pages into the major search engines in order to publicize a site, and I hadn't previously foreseen the need to set up a page for emergency conditions. Consequently, it was difficult for surfers to find my pages when the need arose. If it hadn't been for the support of Gert van Dijken at The Caribbean Hurricane Page I would still be struggling in my effort to get the word out that Antigua is still a worth while holiday destination."
"Most visitors to the AntiguaNews pages were tourists and tour guides who really wanted to visit the Caribbean, but were confused by the conflicting reports. They didn't want to hear how we suffered through the storm (save that for the bar later), they wanted to know if their holiday would be wrecked. To that end, most of the info comprised of reports from individuals and businesses on about how the storm affected them and what visitors to the island can honestly expect to find."
"As the island's recovery became more evident I considered the possibility of registering a Hurricane Hotline for Antigua.... a page designed specifically for emergency situations. I realized that between my then massive AntiguaLinks page, the Community Notice Board (now shut down) and a small virtual tour of Antigua at my main site CineSecrets.com, I already had the nucleus of a substantial Antiguan web entity that, once registered, could be used to provide updates about events and conditions on the island. As a result I have redesigned these pages to become part of a much bigger permanent site..... AntiguaToday. Next disaster looms..... we will be ready for action. But in the mean time we shall strive to compile a valuable resource of tourism related information and will continue to regularly send newsletters to our subscribers."
