LOS ANGELES — On February 4, the Manzanar Committee, sponsors of the annual Manzanar Pilgrimage since 1969, the accompanying Manzanar At Dusk program since 1997, and the new project targeting college students, Katari, announced the launch of their new web site, https://manzanarcommittee.org.
The new web site combines their obsolete web site and their blog into a single, modern site that will provide historical and educational information about the Manzanar Committee, as well as news about current Committee activities, articles, statements on current issues, along with the annual Manzanar Pilgrimage and Manzanar At Dusk program.
“We had two, separate presences on the World Wide Web,” said Gann Matsuda, Director, Communications and Social Media/Web Editor, Manzanar Committee. “While our blog had all of our updated information about the Manzanar Pilgrimage, Manzanar At Dusk, our Katari project, our Student Awards Program, statements about issues affecting our community and a lot more, it was not our main web site, which continued to be where many people looked first for information. Many didn’t know our blog existed. In any case, our web site was old and difficult to keep updated. We never really had the resources or time to update it, let alone modernize it, until recently.”
Matsuda noted that the Committee got a lot of complaints each year, especially in the weeks approaching the annual Manzanar Pilgrimage.
“Because of the difficulties with our aging web site, people often complained about not being able to find the information they needed, especially about the Pilgrimage,” Matsuda added. “Our new web site, with its modern-day underpinnings, is easy to update and maintain, not to mention easy to navigate, and it’s mobile-friendly, too. We believe visitors to our web site will be able to easily find the information they need, whether they’re using a computer, tablet or smartphone.”
Eventually, the new web site will include historical and educational material from the old web site that dealt with Japanese American Incarceration.
“We’re in the process of reviewing, editing and updating much of the historical, educational and literary material from our old web site,” Matsuda noted. “That’ll take time, but once that project is completed, it’ll be easy to add that content to the new site, and it’ll be easy for visitors to find.”
In addition to manzanarcommittee.org, www.manzanarcommittee.org and blog.manzanarcommittee.org will continue to work and will take visitors to the new web site. Visitors may need to empty their browser cache before the new site is available.
For more information, contact the Manzanar Committee by phone at (323) 662-5102 or by e-mail at info@manzanarcommittee.org.
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The Manzanar Committee is dedicated to educating and raising public awareness about the incarceration and violation of civil rights of persons of Japanese ancestry during World War II and to the continuing struggle of all peoples when Constitutional rights are in danger. A non-profit organization that has sponsored the annual Manzanar Pilgrimage since 1969, along with other educational programs, the Manzanar Committee has also played a key role in the establishment and continued development of the Manzanar National Historic Site. For more information, check out our web site at https://manzanarcommittee.org, call us at (323) 662-5102, and e-mail us at info@manzanarcommittee.org. You can also follow the Manzanar Commitee on Facebook, on Twitter at @manzanarcomm, on Instagram at @manzanarcommittee, on Pinterest and on YouTube.
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