City Lights News - Press Clippings 3

City Lights News
Press Clippings

Article from the Prince Albert Daily Herald
Monday, December 2, 1996
Article by Darren Oleksyn

City Lights News shining
for world in cyberspace

Virtual P.A.
being created
on the Internet
City Lights News is taking over the Internet. The monthly free distribution news sheet, which was started in 1993 by Prince Albert's Stephen and Cora Serenelli, has a growing directory on the information highway. Stephen Serenelli began putting the information from his paper news sheet on a Bulletin Board System in 1994. Then last year he began posting editions on the Internet. Since then City Lights' presence on the Net has been expanding rapidly. What started out as a listing of current issues and an archive of past editions is being transformed into a "virtual city" by Serenelli. The desktop publisher has created City Lights News Net, located at CityLightsNews.com. Aside from putting out the paper and cyber editions of City Lights, Serenelli has also designed web pages for numerous businesses and community organizations in Prince Albert.
"They all have a personality. That's what I really love, the graphical and creative aspects of it," said Serenelli. "We're absolutely on the edge in terms of look and feel." The businesses pay a monthly rental fee to have their web pages created and maintained on the World Wide Web. If the particular business is hooked up to the Internet itself an e-mail link can be added to the the web page, allowing the viewer to directly contact the business. The City Lights web directory is attracting attention. In the last 10 months 40,000 people have browsed the pages. Serenelli added community organization pages, photographs of prominent Prince Albert buildings and sites, maps of the area and an alphabetized directory of local email contacts to give Internet users from around the world a complete view of what the city has to offer. "A city is not just businesses it's entertainment, community groups," said Serenelli, who came to Prince Albert, his wife's home, from his home in Milan, Italy five years ago. He became a Canadian citizen on Oct. 18. Serenelli came to Canada to get away from his hectic life as the manager of an advertising agency. He and Cora started City Lights from scratch and have kept it consistent since the beginning although the focus has changed somewhat. Initially the news sheet was aimed at tourists but now it focuses on local groups and events. The news sheet has not changed much in appearance since it began. Serenelli said the number of advertisements published has changed little because they produce the issue to inform and entertain, not to make money. While the new Internet location may be the wave of the future, Serenelli has no plans to quit producing the paper version of city Lights. "I Think the Internet works beautifully with paper support. They need each other." Although he spends 12 to 16 hours a day in front of his computers, Serenelli isn't complaining. he loves the job and feels the service he and his wife are providing is appreciated. While he does the design, layout, delivery and advertising sales, she provides the content used in the issues.

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All rights reserved. For reprint permission or for more information about this article, please contact: Prince Albert Daily Herald

Copyright © 1993 Serenelli Desktop Publishing. All Rights Reserved.


	Article from the Prince Albert Daily Herald Monday, December 2, 1996 Article by Darren Oleksyn
	City Lights News shining for world in cyberspace


Virtual P.A. being created on the Internet City Lights News is taking over the Internet. The monthly free distribution news sheet, which was started in 1993 by Prince Albert's Stephen and Cora Serenelli, has a growing directory on the information highway. Stephen Serenelli began putting the information from his paper news sheet on a Bulletin Board System in 1994. Then last year he began posting editions on the Internet. Since then City Lights' presence on the Net has been expanding rapidly. What started out as a listing of current issues and an archive of past editions is being transformed into a "virtual city" by Serenelli. The desktop publisher has created City Lights News Net, located at CityLightsNews.com. Aside from putting out the paper and cyber editions of City Lights, Serenelli has also designed web pages for numerous businesses and community organizations in Prince Albert.	"They all have a personality. That's what I really love, the graphical and creative aspects of it," said Serenelli. "We're absolutely on the edge in terms of look and feel." The businesses pay a monthly rental fee to have their web pages created and maintained on the World Wide Web. If the particular business is hooked up to the Internet itself an e-mail link can be added to the the web page, allowing the viewer to directly contact the business. The City Lights web directory is attracting attention. In the last 10 months 40,000 people have browsed the pages. Serenelli added community organization pages, photographs of prominent Prince Albert buildings and sites, maps of the area and an alphabetized directory of local email contacts to give Internet users from around the world a complete view of what the city has to offer. "A city is not just businesses it's entertainment, community groups," said Serenelli, who came to Prince Albert, his wife's home, from his home in Milan, Italy five years ago. He became a Canadian citizen on Oct. 18. Serenelli came to Canada to	get away from his hectic life as the manager of an advertising agency. He and Cora started City Lights from scratch and have kept it consistent since the beginning although the focus has changed somewhat. Initially the news sheet was aimed at tourists but now it focuses on local groups and events. The news sheet has not changed much in appearance since it began. Serenelli said the number of advertisements published has changed little because they produce the issue to inform and entertain, not to make money. While the new Internet location may be the wave of the future, Serenelli has no plans to quit producing the paper version of city Lights. "I Think the Internet works beautifully with paper support. They need each other." Although he spends 12 to 16 hours a day in front of his computers, Serenelli isn't complaining. he loves the job and feels the service he and his wife are providing is appreciated. While he does the design, layout, delivery and advertising sales, she provides the content used in the issues.

go to more Press Clippings or Main Page