Knights in Interaction turns 1

January 31, 2008 — Knights in Interaction has now made it through its first year. It’s not out of diapers yet, but it’s starting to climb the stairs.

It started off as the official newsletter of the Wyoming State Council on January 26, 2007. Its audience quickly outgrew the state’s borders, and the interactive publication adapted accordingly. Over 1,800 people have now visited the site; over 90% are from outside Wyoming, and about 10% of those are from outside the United States.

In September of 2007, Wyoming launched a new state newsletter, the Cowboy Bulletin, which was designed to focus on the information needs of the in-state audience. Recently, Knights in Interaction was placed into the hands of University of Wyoming Council 10773, where it continues to draw visitors from around the world.

The multimedia site has received widespread use by visitors from every continent (well, except Antarctica) and from every U.S. state and Canadian province, as well as from every country in which the Order currently resides (with the exception, so far, of Cuba).

Over the past 12 months, your suggestions have led to many improvements. Links now open in new windows; more features promote input and interaction; material of interest to Knights everywhere has been added; articles in French, Polish, Spanish, and Tagalog are now included; and all browsers and operating systems are apparently well served. Visitors increasingly return for multiple visits.

The mission of this newsletter remains the same as it always has been: to encourage interaction among Knights. It’s designed to help us to accomplish our charitable and fraternal goals through cooperation and communication; it’s designed to promote participation, to build fraternity, to carry out our founder’s vision; it’s designed to build unity in answer to Jesus’ prayer that his disciples be “one.” And it tries to stay relevant and contemporary without sacrificing our Order’s historical roots. As mentioned in the first blog entry a year ago, “keeping up with the times has always been one of the great traditions of the Knights of Columbus.”

Thank you for supporting this college-council project through your participation in it. We’ve enjoyed your presence over the past year and are looking forward to interacting with you even more in the years ahead.

— Editor