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It certainly appears as if the prospect of working full time on this site to increase its scope and depth may well be viable. It also appears that there's a fair to moderate chance that I may be able to live on "gifts" rather than have to apply for some kind of government assistance.

Clearly the IRD are not likely to be best-pleased with such an arrangement -- but that doesn't exactly bring tears to my eyes.

I should also mention at this stage that, if things go to plan, I also intend to announce another very significant activity I'll be involved in over the next few months.

This will once again focus the spotlight on NZ in a very positive way and it does involve jet engines.

I already have a primary sponsor for this project and, if I can raise some more interest, it will start in earnest sometime before the end of the month.

As a teaser -- I can say that it is related to what I was doing when I appeared on Scrapheap Challenge recently.

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So what will the new-look Aardvark contain?

Clearly discussion forums are pretty important. As I've always said, the Net is very much a two-way medium and one of its biggest advantages over TV or print is that the audience can directly participate in the production of content and the direction in which it moves.

To this end I'm looking around for suitable software -- although I'd like something that was a little more integrated into the formal content side of things than most existing forums/BBS software is. Perhaps I'll have to dust off my code-cutting hat and create some of this code myself.

As for content, you can expect to see a lot more in the way of news stories that are copyrighted to Aardvark and plenty of what provisionally call "geek and guy stuff". Think along the lines of the old Popular Science magazines for an indication of the breadth and depth of some of the feature material. Of course there will also be as much "general" content as I can muster or convince others to contribute so just about anyone who visits should find something to capture their attention.

I'll also be focusing quite strongly on the media itself. Part of this will be a universal online TV programme guide which can be easily customised into a format suitable for use with PVRs is high on my list of priorities. If this can be constructed then perhaps it'll be worth importing a TiVo.

Unlike the "every waking hour" regimen I used with 7am.com, I'll only be committing 8 hours a day to this so I will be calling on others to contribute content and do some of the administrative donkey-work.

Hopefully, within six months the new site will become a significantly trafficked part of the NZ webscape (is that a new word?).

As I have discussed, I very much hope to be able to live on gifts and my goal for these gifts is around $1,000 per month. If 1200 of my friends cough up $10 a year (that's 20c a week) then it will work.

As for other costs such as hosting, domain names and other critical items -- I'm happy to use up "spare resource" that anyone might have.

I'll be talking with iHug today and hope to convince them that the value associated with being the site's primary sponsor will be greatly increased by this move and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this will encourage them to continue the existing arrangement.

Rest assured that the daily internet commentary and news aggregation will continue -- but it may offer visitors more customisation and flexibility. As part of this there will be a daily audio bulletin in MP3 format. Don't expect too much though -- I have the perfect face for radio and the perfect voice for print -- but you'll just have to live with that :-)

Of course there will also be the usual "smart marketing" strategies for which I've become so well known :-) The site *will* generate a lot of traffic and everyone will benefit from this.

It's not my intention to step on the toes of any existing content-rich sites such as NZCity or others -- in fact I will likely be making a significant proportion of this site's content available for free syndication to others offering similar material. If there's anyone who wants to talk about some synergy -- just drop me a line -- remember I'm not charging anyone anything for this.

Note that the existing EzBoard forums expire this week (I paid for six months worth back in July) so some I'll be working on the replacement as my first priority.

If you're happy with this plan then drop into the existing forums while they're still up and say so. And, my door is always open to receive new ideas and suggestions.

If any Aardvark readers want to share an opinion on today's column or add something, you're invited to chip in and have your say in The Aardvark Forums or, if you prefer, you can contact me directly.

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