October 27, 1999
As previously announced, during this school term the IHSA expects to unveil several new features on this Web site and on its companion Web site at illinois.iHigh.com. The sequence of events depends on a lot of factors, and as a service to our viewers, we’ve decided to establish this "Technology Update" page in order to chart the progress in the different areas.
Illinois.iHigh.com
Illinois.iHigh.com is the new Web site designed to promote IHSA events and features of interest to students and fans.
School Home Pages
Purpose: To allow all 755 IHSA member schools to input their schedules, results, standings, and rosters, and allow Web users to view statewide results and stats. Schools may also sell advertising space on their pages and keep the revenue.
Status: iHigh is now ready to work with your school to set up your iHigh pages. About 60 Illinois high schools have signed up so far. The first active homepage, for Dunbar High School in Kentucky, is now available at www.kentucky.ihigh.com/dunbar. If you are interested in becoming one of the first Illinois schools with an outpost on iHigh.com, please contact Betsy Ward (betsy.ward@ihigh.com) at 800-711-8220.
IHSA Sports and Activity Pages
Purpose: To report on IHSA state tournament events.
Status: iHigh.com is posting material in parallel to the information currently posted on IHSA.org. The new site will post frequent updates throughout the day from the IHSA fall tournaments, just as IHSA.org has done in the past (and will continue to do, at least during the fall).
Webcasts
Purpose: To provide live cybercasts (a mix of computer scoring, audio, and still video) of certain IHSA state tournament events.
Status: Right now the plan is to provide cybercasts from the 2000 girls and boys basketball tournaments.
IHSA Feature Pages
Purpose: To promote special IHSA features.
Status: iHigh.com has digitized the IHSA Sports Report, our three-times-a-week roundup of Illinois high school sports news, and posted it on the web at illinois.ihigh.com/sportsreport.html. Other special features will follow.
IHSA Store/Merchandise Pages
Purpose: To offer IHSA publications and merchandise for purchase online.
Status: Still in development.
IHSA.org
IHSA.org is the traditional (since 1996!) IHSA Web site. During this school term, as Illinois.iHigh.com begins to assume responsibility for more and more of our tournament reporting functions, we begin to shift our emphasis to providing our officials and officials with new interactive services.
"Officials Center"
Purpose: To allow IHSA licensed officials to view and edit their data on record at the IHSA Office, and submit ratings and reports.
Status: We’re still awaiting physical changes in the IHSA Office, including the final testing of the high-speed T1 line, which was installed last month. Because the fall tournaments are now upon us, testing may be further delayed. Right now it appears the system will probably not be deployed until January.
"Schools Center"
Purpose: To allow personnel at IHSA member schools to view and edit their data on record at the IHSA Office, track eligibility cases, view officials ratings, enter state tournament series, and submit ratings and reports.
Status: This is a Phase 2 project. Once the Officials Center is in place and working, development will begin in this area.
IHSA Centennial
Purpose: To celebrate the IHSA Centennial during the Year 2000.
Status: If our server and your computer are still working on January 1, you’ll be able to view the first installment in our IHSA Centennial series.
MarchMadness.org
Purpose: To promote March Madness (our girls and boys basketball tournaments) and the March Madness Experience, and to provide a repository for photos and records relating to March Madness.
Status: We’ll be redesigning the site for 2000 to make it more interactive and even more fun. Stay tuned.
AddATude.org
Purpose: To promote Add A. Tude and the IHSA’s sportsmanship program.
Status: Look for this new site in the coming months.