June 19th, 2004, 11:02 am

Altweeklies.com

The AAN (Association of Alternative Newsweeklies) sent out a notice in its listserv today: Altweeklies.com, the much vaunted compilation site of alt-weekly content, is up and running. The email didn’t include a link to the site, a bad first sign. The site mirrors the AAN site’s style. The homepage features a selection of stories from alts across the AAN universe — but at press time, it was loaded with stories from the Austin Chronicle and Cityview. A search for articles from the Current revealed that only one article has currently been posted — an April CD review by a freelancer. I’m not sure how the articles are being posted, or what role the individual papers play in providing content. At any rate, this is intended as a story-sharing tool for the industry — advanced searches make it easy to find a 800 word story with art and a sidebar. A login reveals the price of purchasing such a story. No doubt, this is a good tool, but I have to wonder why the industry is focusing its efforts on making the duplication of copy easier, versus developing tools that would help alts compete with the big boys.