Mississippi on the Web

Mapping the Web in Mississippi

If you take your favorite browser and point it to the word "Mississippi", you will in a few seconds ring up something on the order of 100,000 to 400,000 references, depending on your choice of browser. Now we realize of course that Mississippi is a big state and that an awful lot is happening here, but it would be hard for us in good conscience to point anyone to all those sites for their edification. They are a mixed lot.

Fortunately though, as always happens with the Net, there is a lot of deadwood out there, so the task of slimming this down to something manageable is not nearly so onerous as it may at first seem. Once you clear out all the links that no longer work, the stuff which is clearly personal or involves somebody's marketing efforts, sports, gambling or other such specialized interests, you are down to something which begins to be more manageable. On Lycos, for example, if you narrow the search a bit to, say, "Mississippi AND xxx", here are the sort of numbers you get…

Of course those numbers still strike one as uselessly large, but once you begin to sort through the first of the batch which the browsers give somewhat higher priority (for better and for worse), some clear patterns begin to emerge… and really quite quickly. This is what we have done, and in the following we have identified several handfuls of Web sites that in our view offer among the best place to start out for the purposes that bring us all here. Back to top

Starting Points

What you have here is of course work in progress. We can anticipate that it will change and improve steadily as you feed back your ideas and suggestions in the months ahead. On the other hand, you have to start somewhere.

Web Sites in Mississippi provides perhaps as good place to begin as any, if your point of departure is the Web itself. This site is sponsored and maintained by the Mississippi State University, and offers broad coverage of sites of commercial organizations as well as of communities, government agencies, schools, online publications, radio & television stations, religious organizations, research centers, universities and community colleges, and other. A few minutes with this site will give you a good feeling for the kind and extent of Web use in the state. (In fact, we find this map so useful by way of overview that we have decided to key it into the navigation bar at the top and bottom of each page on the site. Where you see there the legend "MSUWebMap", you can click and it will take you directly there. To get back to this site, you can just click the "back" command on your browser.)

WWW Map of Mississippi Cities and Counties has been developed by Mr. John Allred to provide a means for people to search for the Web for information geographically. He provides information for each county in the state, plus links to Web sites for towns, cities, subdivisions, counties, regions, and for institutions of higher learning across the state.

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General Introductory Sites

For outsiders who are starting from scratch and wish to know something about the state, State Facts on Mississippi offers in a few pages a reasonably good first overview of the state's history, transportation, tourism, agriculture, economy, government, communications, sports and recreation, historical sites, cultural sites, education, population, natural resources, climate, and geography. For valuable statistical background go to the Mississippi County Profiles page of the US Bureau of the Census at http://www.census.gov/datamap/www/28.html Useful maps at a wide range of varieties of detail, right down to city street maps, are available through the Tiger Mapping Service of the US Census at http://tiger.census.gov/cgi-bin/mapbrowser. People less familiar with our state may also want to drop into The Sites of Mississippi which offers a bit of a tour through the "Magnolia State". And if tourism is their interest, well they may wish to stop in at the State Tourist Office.

Since we are from North-East Mississippi, we have what we hope is an understandable weakness for the region's first online newspaper, The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal Online. Set up by the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, both print and electronic editions express concern with the economic, social and spiritual level of our home region, initiating and participating in worthwhile community projects. The Biloxi Herald On-Line edition at http://www.sunherald.com/ is also useful. A dozen other electronic journals and media can be identified through the MSU Web Sites in Mississippi.

You will also find a number of Web sites set up by towns, cities (close to 50 already) and counties (about 10 a of this date). And while they vary wildly in their extent, quality and interest, what is perhaps most interesting about them is that since they are already on the Web they are going to be easy to improve and upgrade. One of our favorites of these town sites is the Oxford page. We also have to confess a weakness for the little site at our close-by town of Aberdeen . Again more of these pages can be accessed through the MSU Web map. (And watch out for the new cooperative site that we hope to develop for Amory and which we hope will become a model of its sort.)

What does the world know or think about Mississippi? Is it a lot? not much? more or less right? whatever? Have a look at the Washington Post's Mississippi page at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/50states/ms.htm

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Some First Education/Learning Sites

On the educational side, the Mississippi Department of Education has set up an Office of Educational Technology. They state that they intend to become "a leader and an active participant in the creation of an educational environment where all citizens can take full advantage of technological resources to develop the lifelong learning skills necessary to be productive in an information-driven, globally competitive society. Our mission: to provide leadership, support and service to students, school personnel and school communities in planning, coordinating, directing and supporting state, regional and local technology initiatives and programs."

You will be able to get an overview of what is going on in this area in the state via their page Mississippi Technology News On The Net.

Another more specialized educational site has been set up at http://stallion.jsums.edu?~sst/conso1.html, by a Science Consortium formed in 1983 by Jackson State University, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and Ana G. Mendez University. Supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, its objectives are: (i) "To expand and strengthen undergraduate and graduate academic/research training programs; (ii) To increase the number of minorities entering Ph.D. programs; and (iii) To develop centers of scientific excellence. The Consortium has been actively involved in faculty development, student development, curriculum development, and research. Summer programs, seminars and workshops are held regularly by the Consortium."

For some historical background, you may note that in 1994 the Mississippi Legislature passed landmark educational legislation entitled the Mississippi Technology Enhancement Act. This bill called for development of a Mississippi Master Plan for Educational Technology. This plan established the Council for Education Technology (CET) as the advisory group which, in cooperation with the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE), was charged with the responsibility of creating the Mississippi Master Plan for Educational Technology.

To close out this section for now, The Mississippi Council for Education Technology is sponsoring Mississippi Ed Tech '98, the third annual Trade Show for Educational Technology. Over 125 vendors and exhibitors offering educational technology products and services for K - adults will be present. Have a look at their site for details.

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Some Other Sites and Programs

Information on the Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services (ITS) can be found at http://www.its.state.ms.us/ The ITS is charged with improving long-range planning coordination and establishing a central point responsible for the fiscal management of data processing functions in state agencies, institutions of higher learning, and community colleges. ITS came about as a result of a reorganization in FY95 and FY96 that changed CDPA to ITS.

You also may wish to have a look at Mississippi Careers Online, a resource center for people seeking information concerning employment, entrepreneurial, career and education related issues. A visit to their site will help you to understand better the strengths and maybe some of the limitations of this sort of approach to the jobs and work issues which are so critical for our state.

Another, this time a for-profit private sector site, Mississippi on Line is maybe worth a visit. Interesting idea. Rather funky layout and apparently ambitious plans. Not sure though how alive it actually is. Back to top

Personal Web Pages - A Reflection

A quick closing word on the thousands of personal Web pages that one runs into from people all over Mississippi. It is all too easy just to run by them and regard them as no more than just one more aberration or irritant of this new information age. But I think there is more to it than that. To my mind they represent a reaching out. An indication of competence. And of availability. These thousands of people who are doing their own Web pages are real resources for our state and our communities. It will be interesting to see if we can find some ways to get to them and harness their knowledge, skills and enthusiasm for the broader social and economic objectives which have brought you and me to this ephemeral but perhaps not trivial page.

Feedback and Views

You are invited to review the draft materials that you see here, and to share with us your critical comments and suggestions either by email at postmaster@ecoplan.org or more directly via any of the routes that are set out in the Contact Point.

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Updated 23 January 1999