Eurodatum.com, a new link to EU information

A couple of weeks ago we posted on the recommendation made about Euroalert.net by the program "Press Corner" on EuroparlTV, something we got to know from our dear Macarena García, who's already an habitué of this blog, and from our friends from Eurodatum.com, who were also recommended on EuroparlTV. It was hight time for us to make the due introductions to our friends on Eurodatum.com (sorry, no way we can tell you their names; that's the best kept secret in the Union... ;-) ).

The directory of EU links Eurodatum.com, was launched on the summer of 2009 with the aim to gather the most useful websites related to the European Union, its institutions, history, job market and stakeholders. This website, whose followers grow every day, offers today a solid basis of around 750 links sorted by different types of categories which allow quick access to many informations about the EU. In fact, among the links gathered by Eurodatum.com in the category of Paper & Internet EU Media you can also find Euroalert.net, something we would like to take this occasion to thank them for.

The main objective of Eurodatum.com remains to provide with quick EU-related links and data, something which its own creators have expressed saying that they “cruelly missed such a tool in our professional lives and designed it as a dashboard for all EU-interested people out there, as a must-have link to keep at the top of their Favorites’ list”.

Something that was highlighted on EuroparlTV "Press Corner" was the multilingual character of Eurodatum.com, something that, as it is the case for Euroalert.net, is said to be highly appreciated by European internauts. Eurodatum.com is already available in English, French and Spanish, but following its global vocation its founders plan to soon offer more language versions.

Apart from EuroparlTV, Eurodatum.con has been recommended since its creation by some quite relevant actors on the EU scenario, such as different national and regional governments in Spain, Belgium or Bulgaria, think-tanks, European studies associations within and outside the Union, or prestigious Universities like Berkeley, Boston, Barcelona or Turku, blogs...; and, of course, they count upon Euroalert.net recommendation!

You can go to their website, and also visit Eurodatum.com page on Facebook, or get in touch with them through the email info@eurodatum.com.

It is always a real pleasure to find dynamic people with good ideas which make easier to access EU information, something which has been Euroalert.net raison d'être since its very beginning and for what we keep on working everyday. All Euroalert.net team welcomes Eurodatum.com and wish them very good luck to make this project grow.

Good luck Eurodatum.com!

Site plans of the Eropean Commission Directorates-General Offices

What we are bringing to you today, is one more small detail that we have included in the features of Euroalert.net. One of the informations we provide you in the files of the Calls for Proposals and EU Programmes in Euroalert.net are the data to locate the Directorate or Directorates General of the European Commission that are responsible for the management of financial opportunities and where, for instance, you could apply for further informations or ask for valuable indications or clarifications.

Although the good-old-days when you had to go to Brussels, with the whole file in your brief-case to submit your project or present your application in the appropriate desk, are nowadays completely over, having clear informations about where we can obtain further details is something that can be very useful at some point. Getting lost in Brussels while you are looking for an address is an experience that we would like to save you..., and for that purpose we have included a little help: the georeferenced situation on Google Maps, or the cyber-version of the trail of breadcrumbs in fairy tales :)

With this new feature, when you will browse the information about an EU Programme or Call for Proposal, and want to know the exact situation of the DG responsible for it, you will only have to click on the link to the address and you will have the site plan. That's it! Just as simple as that, with no more search, you will have all the information from the beginning!

All those new features we are introducing step by step, are intended to make Euroalert.net an ever better site for you, providing you with more complete and useful contents. We will keep on improving!

Icons, buttons and linking euroalert.net

When it comes to making links to other websites, one thing that I have always liked is that we are offered a small set of buttons to make the process fast and simple. It is not that they are essential but always welcome. We have all been down this boring and unproductive path before, in which to create a link we have to start by editing the logo of the host organisation and for some strange reason they always seem to insist on making it as difficult as possible by covering the site with animated logos in inaccessible places, or worse still animated.

To avoid these sorts of problems when linking to the Euroalert.net international edition, either from a blog or another website, we have included in the widgets section the page Euroalert.net icons & buttons. There we have published some icons and buttons of various sizes and colors for you selection. Together with the icon or logo, we have included an example code so that making the link is as easy as possible.

At the moment every example code makes a link to our home page, but in the next series you will have specific icons available (Calls for proposals, Calls for Tenders, etc.) for those of you only interested in linking a particular section of euroalert.net.

However, if you still haven't found the right button or icon to suit your website, do not hesitate to contact us at support@euroalert.net. We will be delighted to send you a new one.