myEdinburgh.org was developed by Edinburgh's Lifelong Learning Partnership (ELLP) through its award-winning CityConnect project and launched in November 2003.

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It provided a one-stop source of information about learning opportunities throughout the city and a wide range of community groups.

A number of Community Councils and many other community organisations used the innovative content management tools to build an online presence and some have now used the experience and confidence gained to develop their own websites.

As well as appearing in the main myEdinburgh.org website, content is shared with several other websites which will be moved or discontinued. Among these are www.southedinburgh.net [4], www.westedinburgh.org.uk [5], www.eie-edinburgh.org.uk [6] and www.edinburghu3a.org.uk [7].

A key feature of the site was the easy-to-use email system, provided free to people who live or work in Edinburgh. It is believed that several thousand users are still using the email service and will lose their email addresses at the end of April.

Comprehensive news and sports channels have meant that millions of visitors are attracted to myEdinburgh.org and the other sites within the network. In particular, the site contains several hundred pages of detailed information about Tollcross - its streets, history, people, facilities and businesses - which is the largest and most accurate source of information about the area that can be found anywhere.

When ELLP ceased operation in 2004, amidst allegations of poor financial record-keeping, myEdinburgh.org was saved from closure by The City of Edinburgh Council.

Changes in CEC priorities have meant that continuing the portal is no longer viable.

A "new" myEdinburgh (www.myedinburgh.org.uk [8]) is being developed as a community portal. It cannot provide the same level of functionality as its predecessor, but has much lower development and running costs. The new site is independent - not funded or managed by the Council or any other organisation, but maintained entirely by volunteers. Its aims, however, are very similar - to gather the best information about Edinburgh into one place for the benefit of people who live or work in the city.

Email facilities for the new site are provided in partnership with GoogleMail.