Georgia County Government-August 2008

Feature Discover the New Georgia Encyclopedia By Kelly Caudle Project Director, Managing Editor, New Georgia Encyclopedia re you constantly fielding questions about your county’s history or about why Georgia has so many counties? Are you curious about the stories behind some of our state’s most popular tourist destinations, such as Fort Pulaski, Jekyll Island or Amicalola Falls? Could you use a refresher on the historical roots of the Georgia constitution? Learn about all of these topics on the New Georgia Encyclopedia (NGE) Web site (www.georgiaencyclopedia.org). The NGE is a free online resource with authoritative entries in 26 subject categories covering Georgia’s history and culture — including county histories, geography and natural resources, historic preservation and architecture, and government. Nearly 2,000 articles are supplemented with thousands of photographs and video and audio clips. Updates to the site are made weekly, and new entries are still being added. The site is easy to navigate, and there are different ways to find content: by using the search box, browsing the tree of categories, viewing the alphabetical index of article titles, or scrolling through the “Most Popular Articles” list. If, for example, you want to read the entry on Oconee County, just type “oconee county” into the search box on the left side of the page and and click “go” next to the box or hit “enter” on your keyboard. From the list of results, click on the Oconee County article. In addition to the story of the county’s founding and subsequent growth over the 20th century, the entry contains many opportunities for a user to click for more information. Click the small graphic of the state of Georgia, with the county of Oconee highlighted, for example, and the resulting pop-up box provides, at a glance, such information as the date 36 GEORGIA COUNTY GOVERNMENT A of Oconee’s founding, incorporated towns in the county, current population, and state legislature districts representing the county. Returning to the main article, you can follow other links within the text. For instance, clicking on the hyperlinked term “railroad” will take you to the article on the overview of railroads in the state. (The first rails were built in the 1830s.) Likewise, clicking on “shopping centers” or “rising traffic” will take you, respectively, to articles on shopping center architecture and on the problem of urban sprawl. Clicking on “Franklin D. Roosevelt” takes you to an entry on the president and his time in Georgia, and there you will find, in the right-hand column, a historic video clip of FDR at Warm Springs. Other links in the county article will take you to entries on the Georgia General Assembly, Jeannette Rankin, Watkinsville, and the New Deal, among others. Each image is “clickable,” and clicking will bring up the image and its caption in a new window. For instance, in the Oconee County entry, clicking on the photograph of the county courthouse brings up a larger image and a caption that explains that the structure was built in the Stripped Classical style by the WPA in the 1930s. For further information from other Web sites, look at the column on the right side, under the heading “Related Web Sites.” Here, you can go directly to the site for the Oconee County government or to the Association County Commissioners of Georgia site. Each related site appears in a new window, so you can return to the New Georgia Encyclopedia if you wish. Another easy way to find articles in the NGE is to use the category tree on the left side of the site. You can choose a category, let’s say “The Arts,” and click on it. You will then see an outline of the major sections under this category. You can click on the “open all” button just above the sections, and a list of every entry in this category will appear, arranged in outline form. If you scroll down under the “Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Historic Preservation” heading, you will find a subhead titled “Heritage Tourism and Education.” Beneath that, you can click on the “Heritage Tourism” article and read about the topic as it relates to Georgia. Other interesting features on the encyclopedia site include “Quick Facts,” a compilation of important statistics about our state, such as a list of the largest counties by population; “Destinations,” collections of articles related to traveling within the state, such as the “Seven Natural Wonders of Georgia”; “Galleries,” collections of images and video and audio recordings from museums, archives and other institutions; and “Features,” collections of articles organized around a theme, such as “Black Leaders of the Civil Rights Movement.” Each one of these special sections can be reached by clicking on one of the buttons atop the banner on the home page. The NGE has received several awards, including “Best Reference Source on the Web” from Library Journal; History in the Media Award, from the Georgia Historical Society; “Excellence in Documenting Georgia’s History,” from the Georgia Historical Records Advisory Board; and Leadership in History Award, from the American Association for State and Local History. The NGE is a project of the Georgia Humanities Council, in partnership with GALILEO/University System of Georgia, the University of Georgia Press, the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education and the Office of ■ the Governor. http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Georgia County Government-August 2008

Georgia County Government- August 2008 Contents President’s Message County Matters Georgia’s Transportation Issues More Critical to Counties than Ever Expanding Rural Airports: Partnering for Economic Development in Upson County Meet DOT Commissioner Gena Abraham Bridge Infrastructure and Risk Counties and the Law: Georgia’s Fair Employment Practices Act Georgia’s Grand Old Courthouses: Coffee County Extension News: Infrastructure Investments Save County Funds Research Corner: Getting the Most Out of Your Research Discover the New Georgia Encyclopedia NACo News Staff News County Parade Index of Advertisers

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