Viewers have to pace themselves when they visit Pacific Network, the new online video portal that takes a Hawaiian view of the world.

It's a buffet of news, views, entertainment, sports, education, vintage television, original programming, movies and interactive features. And that's just the home page.

Founded by filmmaker Edgy Lee and backed by the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs and Time Warner Telecom, the video service quietly went online May 15 and has recorded more than 14,500 hits based solely on word-of-mouth advertising.

The site offers a "Hawai'i-centric" viewpoint, Lee said. Many of its serious features are designed to take site visitors beyond traditional characterizations of Hawai'i places and people.

"The images and characterizations that circulate today come from a 1930s imagery of Hawai'i and Hawaiians," Lee said. "We are so much more than that."

Pacific Network is like a TV news magazine on the Web. Its videos are a mix of serious issues and entertainment with links to other Web sites to provide greater depth when necessary, Lee said.

A channel called In the Classroom hopes to educate site visitors. Included so far are videos produced several years ago by Kamehameha Schools that will explain the cultural significance and practices of taro farming. Others will teach Hawaiian.

A guide to hula will include interviews with longtime teachers and dancers in an effort to go beyond the dance itself. Artists and entertainers also will be featured.

"We are looking for entertainment with deeper intent, the real thing," Lee said. "We are looking for the voice that is really truly native Hawaiian and a local voice. This is why we built this platform. It is about time we control the messages we send out."

There is a definite lighter side of the site as well. Vintage television programming from KGMB includes the children's series "Checkers & Pogo," wrestling matches from the old Civic Auditorium and pidgin comedy from Rap Reiplinger.

INTERACTIVE COURTROOM

The most unusual show is "Local Justice," which is modeled after courtroom reality shows on cable TV. Retired Circuit Judge Boyd Mossman, who is also an OHA trustee, oversees the cases, but the public will get to vote on one case with each show.

" 'Local Justice' is going to be the first interactive courtroom in America," said Jeff Mueller, the show's co-producer. "Every episode there will be two cases heard by the judge. He will preside over one of them and render a decision. The other case goes to the viewing audience. They are the jury."

Mueller created the show in 2006 and shot several episodes with the hope that they would air on network television. When that didn't happen, he put it on hold. Pacific Network seemed like a perfect fit, he said.

Shooting should begin in July on three more episodes, all drawn from Small Claims Court cases.

Mueller wants to feature colorful cases. The first episode involves a dispute between two local reggae musicians over a set of damaged congas. Another episode focuses on a guy who was angry when the used surfboard he bought fell apart in the water.

"We are having fun with it," Mueller said. "Rather than a show that is like every other judge show on TV, 'Local Justice' features our broad cultural diversity. We got everybody."

The 15-minute hula segments, which are dubbed "The Hula Guide" and are not finished yet, are being co-produced by Mueller and Kanoe Cazimero.

"When you look at this project, it provides more than just the pretty image of a hula," Cazimero said. " 'The Hula Guide' takes you more in depth into the underlying meaning and the background of where a hula comes from."

Viewers will be able to form their own opinions — not just on hula, but on any subject, Cazimero said.

"It is wonderful to have a site that is not trying to sway people one way or the other," she said. "That is why for us it will take a little bit longer. We want to go to different kumu hula with different perspectives and backgrounds."

MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE

Lee began working on Pacific Network in late 2006. She and Haunani Apoliona, chairwoman of OHA, felt that the Hawaiian perspective was not being conveyed in mainstream media outlets.

The state agency charged with representing Hawaiians is the largest agency advertising on Pacific Network, with a five-year commitment worth $500,000, Lee said.

Other advertisers and investors have combined for another $600,000 in support, and individuals are being encouraged to purchase $35 yearly memberships.

Apoliona said she immediately recognized the value of the Web site to Hawaiians.

"It's really great that OHA is ahead of the curve on this one," she said. "So many times, institutions like ours are running to catch up."

Her hope is the site will connect and inspire Hawaiians, especially the 400,000 abroad.

"It is sort of like putting your arms around all the Hawaiians in the world," she said. "Some of this information that will flow through the Pacific Network will trigger for them or connect or reconnect them to family experiences and memories they would otherwise not have the opportunity to feel."

Lee, who took time off from her filmmaking career to help start Pacific Network, has assembled a full-time staff of five and a list of 13 contributors to write, videotape and produce the segments.

Their feeling was that if they didn't create the site, someone else would come to Hawai'i and build a site that missed the point about what it is like to live in the Islands, she said.

"I think we need to take back our Islands and really understand that we can define the lifestyle and the landscape of the 21st century," she said. "Our belief is that shows that can be produced here have national merit, and here is the opportunity to showcase what we can produce here."