Obviously, this blog will cover stuff related to Altona and Seaholme but I will leave the coverage flexible as:

  • Altona North and Altona Meadows are historically and geographically linked, all 3 being part of the City of Altona formed in 1968.
  • Altona is an important part of the City of Hobsons Bay and it is where the City Council Offices are located.
  • Altona is a suburb of Melbourne, within the fastest growth corridor in Australia.
  • The people of Greater Altona and VictoriaClipart - Spectacles will inevitably have increased interest in knowing what happens nationally due to the linkage with Julia Gillard, the first female Prime Minister of Australia.

Visions and Objectives of the Altona Blog

  1. To foster community spirit and to build a sense of identity, belonging and pride within the Altona community.
  2. To promote Altona as a hub for sports & recreation, arts & culture, education & learning, tourism, shopping, dining and community activities in Melbourne’s western suburbs.
  3. To preserve the natural, environmental and cultural heritage and assets of Altona.
  4. To work towards the vision of developing Altona as the most liveable and sustainable suburb in Melbourne’s west.
  5. To showcase the attractiveness of Altona to both people within and outside Greater Altona, to increase the profile of Altona among those people who have not heard of or not familiar with this suburb and to dispel the misunderstandings and prejudices of some people towards this suburb.
  6. To raise the awareness of the Altona community to external factors, developments and issues that will affect Altona either directly or indirectly.
Features of this Blog, Facebook Page and its linked Social Media
  1. Centralized, one-stop online portal for seeking information on Greater Altona.
  2. Linking all the community groups of Greater Altona together – platform for them to publicize their activities and events.
  3. Content is rich, diverse, varied and will appeal to a wide spectrum of audience.
  4. Content is fresh and constantly updated. Hope to seek direct participation by having collaborators/co-authors to the Blog.
  5. Highly interactive and visually-appealing, with lots of spectacular photos, videos, maps and links.
  6. Makes use of online social networking and new media to reach out to more people and to engage them.
  7. Flexible and versatile as audience can access the blog and Facebook page anytime, any place and not constrained by their availabilities and schedules.

Milestones

Date Item/Event
01/05/2008 Wikipedia Entry on Cherry Lake
10/05/2008 Wikipedia Entry on Altona Coastal Park
20/05/2009 Wikipedia Entry on Truganina Coastal Parklands
11/07/2010 “Beautiful Altona” Blog
13/07/2010 “Attractions in Altona” Google Satellite Map
29/07/2010 “I Love Altona” Facebook Page
03/08/2010 Interview on Altona Laverton Star
29/08/2010 “Picturesque Altona” Youtube Video
29/09/2010 Interview on Hobsons Bay Leader
28/09/2010 Interview on 774 ABC Radio
01/10/2010 “Picturesque Altona (Chinese version)” Video loaded to tudou.com
10/10/2010 Wikitravel Entry on Altona
29/11/2010 Presentation to Altona City Rotary Club
14/12/2010 Presentation to Altona Laverton Historical Society

Beyond this Blog

My vision is not to stop with Altona but to create a blog for every single place in Victoria. These blogs will be linked to each other to form a spiderweb of interconnected blogs. They will also be intricately linked to social media such as Facebook, Youtube, Wikipedia, Twitter and so on.

I foresee many benefits to this comprehensive network. It can serve as a valuable reference resource for education, learning, research and information-seeking purposes. It will help to promote intra and inter-regional tourism. Most importantly, these Community Blogs can help to foster community spirit and to build local identity and sense of belonging. They can be used to promote arts and cultural events, sports and recreational activities, hobbies and interest groups, volunteer and social activities, etc.

However, the achievement of this vision will require a lot of time, energy, commitment and resources. This vision can only be realized if there are any people or organizations willing to employ me on a full-time, ongoing position to work towards this vision. Otherwise, this vision will remain a dream. If anyone can lead me to people who will be interested and capable of helping me fulfil this vision, I will greatly appreciate your help and please contact me (my email is anton.ang@gmail.com).