Osage, IA is on Jubon
By Co-Founder & software developer: Juliana Korver

In the last journal we announced that Nashua was going to be "the next Juboned community". Nashua is still in the works and we hope it will go live within the next month, but we were premature in saying that it would be the next community because that honor now goes to Osage, IA.

Osage, the City of Maples, is a North Central Iowa community of nearly 3500 located in Mitchell County. Our administrator for Osage is the Osage Chamber of Commerce namely Wendy Heuton, the Executive Director of the Chamber. A week ago, Jubon had a conference call with the Osage Board of Directors that Wendy facilitated. Though the meeting went well, we didn't expect that we would be moving forward immediately as it is Jubon's policy to wait until there are 10 businesses or organizations on each new community's map before showing the map on jubon.biz. But it took merely a few days for Wendy to find not only 10 but 14 businesses who wanted to be placed on the new map.

Welcome, Osage. It has already been a pleasure working with Wendy and we look forward to adding many more Osage businesses to the Osage map.

Of course you can access Osage through the drop down box on the front page of jubon.biz, or you can go directly to the Osage start page with the following link: http://jubon.biz/IA/Osage/

New Functionality with Directories and Coupon Lists
By Co-Founder & software developer: Juliana Korver

Over the past month I have been learning to use Flex 3, an open source framework for building and maintaining interactive web applications. Though the initial intent was not to switch any of the current Jubon site over to this exciting technology, I can't help but play with some of the possibilities. In doing so, I may from time to time change little parts of the current Jubon site to utilize some of what Flex offers.

The first items that I've modified using Flex are the business directories and the coupon lists. The directory was and still is a simple list of businesses, their addresses and phone numbers. Each Juboned community has their own directory for a quick reference. From a brief look at the new directory, you may not be able to tell that anything has changed, but once you pass your mouse over any part of the new directory, you will see one of the new features. That is the rollover effect that helps you keep your place while looking through the directory. Also, if you click on one of the column headings, you will sort the entire list based on that column.

All in all, the changes may seem very minor, but on the back end they are quite large and exciting and will make future additions to the directories and the coupon lists much simplier and quicker.

Go directly to one of the new directories: http://jubon.biz/IA/OrangeCity/more/directory.php

Jubon to Attend ICCE
By Co-Founder: Bonnie Meier

The Iowa Chamber of Commerce Executives (ICCE) is a professional, statewide organization for Chamber management people in Iowa. Membership includes men and women who manage Chambers of Commerce in more than 100 Iowa communities. The ICCE sponsors two conferences each year, one in February and one in September. New concepts are presented at the conferences.

Jubon will have a presence at the next conference, which will be held September 9 – 11 at the Holiday Inn in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Not only will Jubon be present, but they also will have an opportunity to give a short presentation to those attending. Orange City, Osage, Nashua and Sioux Rapids will be featured communities on Jubon at the conference. Juliana Korver, website and application designer, will be present to answer any technical questions, as well as Bonnie Meier, Jubon's President.

Exploring other states
By Co-Founder: Bonnie Meier

Jubon is exploring possibilities in additional states, especially places of interest for tourism and travel. Watch for coming events.

Static Cling Stickers Coming Soon
By Co-Founder: Bonnie Meier

The question keeps coming up from local businesses – How will people know that we are on Jubon? Wendy Heuton, Chamber of Commerce Executive Director from Osage, suggested that each business should have a Jubon logo on their front door or window (similar to the – we accept these credit cards) to show people that they are part of the Jubon community.

We loved this idea and have ordered static cling stickers. They should be arriving shortly and will be distributed to each business currently on Jubon. Each business will receive one automatically and can purchase extras for $1.00 each.