MOST OF THE MATERIAL on the CMWDT web site is information - what we do, how we do it, where to find us, what facilities are available, the different groups within CMWDT, and so on. While - obviously - everyone might want to be involved in making decisions on these things, they're really all about how to run the CMWDT, and sensibly have to be decided by the Proper Authorities. They make the decisions carefully, and usually expect them to last for some time.

The Proper Authorities might then decide to pass on their decisons to someone who can present them as web pages for us all to read, and that's how the CMWDT web site comes to be.

THE NEWS PAGES are about happenings - what's going to happen, what did happen, how it happened, and such. These are different : they involve all of us much more directly, and they change faster. Because of that, the material comes from people of all sorts.

Therefore, WE WANT YOUR NEWS ! - or your ideas, or your comments, or anything that will keep us all in touch with what's going on.

(Well, not quite anything, perhaps) : for obvious reasons, there are just a few rules, just to keep everything orderly :

1. the material has to be quite closely connected with some CMWDT activity which is going to happen or which has recently happened.
2. the material must not be offensive.
3. we must know who sent it.
4. we don't display telephone numbers (to avoid pestering callers).

- but you wouldn't send things that would break the rules, would you? 

Here's how you can get it to us, and some other useful bits and pieces :

For New information - text and/or pictures :

It's probably best to begin by getting in touch with whoever or whatever group is directly concerned, as they'll be able to judge what's best to do with your offering, but if you can't do that for any reason then you're welcome to send it to us. If that's what you decide to do, then -

• The BEST way is to send it electronically, to: info@cmwdt.org.nz
  Straight E-mail text is easiest; if formatting is important, send Word or Appleworks, or Rich Text Format (.rtf) files. If you want to use any other format, get in touch with us and ask.

  PICTURES are probably acceptable in any common electronic format; smallish files are preferred. If you prefer a specific recommendation, JPEG (.jpg) files are good.

• The SECOND BEST way is to send printed copy to us:
  CMWDT
  PO Box 13-322,
  Onehunga.
  AUCKLAND
  Clear printed text is best; all being well, We can read printed text automatically using a scanner. PICTURES should be of as good quality as possible, and no bigger than A4 in size. Any picture will do in principle - photograph, hand-drawn, black-and-white, coloured - but the quality never increases during processing, so they should be as good as you can manage.
  
• The THIRD BEST is handwritten text. It has to be readable. Such material has to be typed, which takes longer.
• The WORST is material you want to give us, but haven't sent.

Please notice that the the first, second, and third best judgments are ONLY about our convenience - they're not about the value of your contribution. The better it is for us, the quicker it's likely to happen, but WHATEVER you send we'll do our best to get it there somehow. Remember -

How to organise it :

Suppose you send us a nice photograph, with a note saying, "Here's a picture of Ermyntrude last Wednesday". we are (naturally) overjoyed to receive your delightful photograph - but what are we to do with it?

We could just plonk it down somewhere in the web site and hope that someone interested would find it. Well, We'd be disappointed - because no one will find it unless it either appears on one of the pages, or there's a link to it. And you haven't told us enough to work out which page to use, either for the photograph or a link.

THEREFORE, please also tell us AT LEAST enough to make that sort of decision. If you know the exact place where it should go, tell us; if not, tell us something helpful - who's Ermyntrude ? what was the occasion ? which part (or parts) of CMWDT does it concern? - and anything else that might be useful.

Of course, the same goes for anything you send - news, notes, comments, observations, jokes, prayers .... Everything has to be put somewhere, and the more information we have the easier it is to decide where.

Other information might be useful too. For example : Should it be linked to anything else ? Does it replace something or just add on to the end ? Was anyone else involved ? - and so on.

DESCRIBING PICTURES : Pictures are - obviously - a special problem for people with limited, or no, vision. If you send a picture, it is helpful to send with it a fairly detailed description of the picture in words. It should be a lot more detailed than an ordinary caption (which is quite independent - you might want to add that too), and give enough information for someone to understand the important facts about the picture without seeing it. This can be attached to the picture (as "alt text"); it isn't displayed by ordinary browsers, but it's available for use if required, and "screen readers" can use it to speak the description instead of displaying the picture.

If you don't send a description, we will try to make one up, but it might be at the level of "Thirteen people in what might be a church hall doing something. Playing a game, perhaps?". That's not really very helpful - you know the circumstances, and could certainly do a lot better.

Old information :

We have to know if things are to be deleted. Generally, this is important only if things must be deleted, as most old information eventually becomes history, and might even be interesting. However, we don't want to have information which is wrong or offensive or otherwise damaging. Just tell us.