The Lamp was set up with considerable help from the Voluntary Department of the college, and with the good will of the Vice Chancellor and the always willing helping hands of both the Print Room staff and the University Computing Service staff. For the last five years, we've been cruising along merrily - more 19th than 20th Century really!

Then along comes Steve Newby who has decided in his infinite wisdom to drag us kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Well to be fair - there was no kicking or screaming -just the occasional moments of sheer panic.

What's the panic been about? Yes, you might have guessed by now - Steve came along to design a website for us. He's been very patient with our lack of technical understanding - and we think he's done a great job of our website. By the time you read this article, we hope that you will be able to access our website on www.thelamp.info.

The Lamp will remain a community magazine. We think (you see we've already progressed from simply hoping) that our website will add to the service that the magazine already tries to offer our readers.

Now I have to tell you that Steve has been a dream to work with - he has a good understanding of the Lamp's ethos and how we perceive our role within the community. The way he has designed our website reflects his understanding. It is (we hope) easy to negotiate - you won't need a degree in Computer Web Design to get around our site. If you do encounter any problems, do let us know - so we can remedy any errors. If you have any (constructive) notions of how the site can be improved - get in touch! We thrive on feedback and (gentle) criticism.

For you who think that a computer is something the Chinese invented thousands of years ago (you know, an abacus), don't worry, The Lamp magazine is alive and kicking and will remain roughly in its current format - let's face it, you can read the magazine in your bath - if you try to go on the internet during a long and luxurious soak, you are likely to electrocute yourself! To all you post modernists out there (are there still post modernists out there?) the written word is not dead - long live the novel AND our little magazine!

Anyway, we hope (back to hoping again...) that our website will be of some use to you and that it does enhance our little magazine. What was that address again? It's www.thelamp.info."

Written by Elsie Dafis, editor of The Lamp.

The article was first published in the magazine version of The Lamp in May 2006.