| Building
an Online Student
Newspaper
Lance Zimmerman
Director of Distance Learning
Texas State Technical College - Waco
Introduction
Most
colleges have a student newspaper. The exact composition and
nature will vary greatly from college to college. Larger colleges
will be more inclined to be larger in scope, multiple pages
with photographs and advertising produced by students in a
journalism department while smaller colleges may produce something
more in the nature of a newsletter outlining upcoming campus
events.
There
are a lesser number of colleges whose student newspaper is
online. Our purpose is to give consideration as to what are
the best practices in converting a traditional student newspaper
to an online format or creating an online student newspaper
from scratch.
Procedures
The
first thing one should do when converting or creating an online
student newspaper is to compare the mission of the online
newspaper to the mission of the college. If converting a traditional
newspaper to an online format a comparison may have already
been done. Be that as it may, the mission of the online newspaper
should be examined and compared to the mission of the college.
In most likelihood there wouldn’t be a change in mission by
creating an online newspaper, but this examination should
take place; especially if the online version is replacing
the traditional version.
If
creating a new mission statement for the online newspaper,
its purpose should be examined. Is the purpose to report news
or to provide a schedule of activities and services; to promote
the college or to give journalism students real-time experience?
Consideration
should also be given to the newspaper’s target audience. Is
it just for online students or for traditional students as
well? Is the community part of the target audience or are
prospective students? Are faculty and staff part of the audience?
Answers to these questions are important because the answers
will influence marketing, content, and other decisions that
need to be made.
How
to Convert a Traditional Newspaper to an Online publication
1.
Examine the website that will be hosting the newspaper.
To avoid costly errors in converting to an online format, the
appropriate personnel of those hosting the newspaper should
be consulted early on in the process. Their expertise will
be a valuable source of information. The particular technology
they use may help in selecting the technology used for the
conversion. This is true of an in-house site or outsource
hosted site.
2.
Examine the current technology being used to create the newspaper
in the traditional format.
The technology used to create the paper in its present format
may also be used for the online format. If a page layout program
such as PageMaker, QuarkExpress, etc. is being used, then
conversion may be simplified. Most page layout programs have
the capability of creating HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language)
files, the type of files used in creating web pages.
Even if a page layout program is not being used capable of
creating HTML files, the stories may be being written using
word processing software that can convert to HTML or be imported
into a page layout program. As mentioned before, the personnel
hosting the newspaper will be able to help in this regard.
3.
Select technology based upon finding of 1 and 2.
Examining the technology used to create the traditional newspaper
should lead to a simple selection of the technology to use
to create the online newspaper. If this is not the case, there
is another solution. The traditional newspaper can be scanned
and the resultant file can be converted to a PDF (Portable
Document Format) file. This technique is not limited to scanning
a traditional newspaper but may also be used in conjunction
with a page layout program.
4.
Some
things to consider when converting your newspaper to an online
formal; they also apply in creating an online newspaper from
scratch.
In-house vs. outsourcing--Consider whether to outsource the
publishing of your online newspaper as opposed to publishing
it in-house. Outsourcing the publication may be a viable option,
especially to the smaller college who may not have a journalism
department or the technical skills for putting a publication
online.
When publishing any web content, consideration should be give
to the various web browsers that may be used to view the content.
Internet Explorer and Netscape are the two most widely used,
but there are others growing in popularity including Mozilla,
Foxfire, etc.
Accessibility Issues--Most colleges are required to adhere
to section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended
in 1998 to include electronic information technology. The
final product whether converted from a traditional format
or created from scratch should meet the 508 standards.
Procedures
for Creating a Student Newspaper in an Online Format
1.
Determine the appropriate department or individual(s) to implement
the online format.
In many instances a college journalism department is responsible
for the student newspaper whether traditional or online. When
a journalism department does not exist or there is not even
a journalism class, the Marketing/Public Relations department
may assume responsibility for the newspaper. If
there is no Marketing department then a professor with some
journalistic background may be available.
2.
Examine other college's online newspaper to get an idea of
what is desired.
Sometimes the people involved in implementing an online student
newspaper will have a vision of what they want and expect.
In those instances where there is not a vision (and even if
there is) surfing the Internet and looking at other online
student newspapers will help in defining that vision. Not
only may you find what you like, but also you may find what
you want don’t like.
3.
Inventory available resources including personnel and technology.
This is an important step in that it will provide the information
needed to decide whether or not to outsource the production
of the paper. When taking inventory of available personnel,
be sure to include each person’s technical skill set. What
software are they conversant with and to what level.
When taking inventory of software, look for page layout programs,
web development packages, and photo editing software. The
hardware inventory should include which software will run
on each machine. Be sure to look for a machine capable of
serving as a web server.
4.
Decide whether to go in-house or outsource.
At this point enough information should have been collected
to be able to decide whether to publish the paper in-house
or to outsource the publishing. The two driving factors in
this decision will probably be available skill sets and cost.
Does the person with the journalism skills also have the computer
skills necessary to publish an online newspaper? If they don’t,
do they have access to people with those skills? If the answer
to both of those questions is no, then outsourcing the publication
may be the best way to go.
Even if the publication is outsourced, there will be some elements
that will be done in-house. Student reporters will write the
stories, take the photographs, sell any advertising, etc.
5.
If
appropriate technology is not available, purchase the technology
If access to the appropriate technology is not available on
campus it must be purchased. A good starting point is the
inventory of available skill sets. When buying technology
the proper sequence is to select the appropriate software
and then purchase the hardware required to run it. Help may
be available from your campus IT (Information Technology)
department.
6.
Provide training for the appropriate personnel.
Depending upon the skill set of available personnel, training
may be required. Even if there are personnel available skilled
in the software to be used, it may be desirable to provide
them further training. The more skilled the person is, the
faster and easier will be the publishing process. Training
may come in the traditional, in class format or perhaps can
be accomplished using computer-based training material.
7.
Considerations.
Some of the things that should be taken into consideration
when publishing an online newspaper from scratch are the same
as in converting from a traditional format and therefore are
repeated here.
When publishing any web content, consideration should be give
to the various web browsers that may be used to view the content.
Internet Explorer and Netscape are the two most widely used,
but there are others growing in popularity including Mozilla,
Foxfire, etc.
Accessibility Issues--Most colleges are required to adhere
to section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended
in 1998 to include electronic information technology. The
final product whether converted from a traditional format
or created from scratch should meet the 508 standards.
Where will the online newspaper reside? Will it be on a server
already in operation on campus or will it need its own server?
Software
Three
software categories are involved in publishing an online newspaper.
The categories include: 1) word processing/page layout software,
2) web design\development software, and 3) web server software.
Word
processing\ Page layout\ Photo editing\scanning, etc.
At the minimum some type of word processing and photo
editing software will be needed. Even if outsourcing the publication,
the news stories will have to be written and photos scanned
into a digital format if using traditional photographic equipment.
Even if publishing in-house using a page layout program, most
people still use word processing to write the stories and
then import the file into the page layout program. Microsoft
Word or one of its variants is the most prolific word processing
software available followed by Corel’s WordPerfect. There
are others, but both Word and WordPerfect will produce files
most easily read by most page layout programs and by service
bureaus. Both are able to save files in HTML (hypertext markup
language) which would eliminate the need for a page layout
program although it is highly recommended to use a layout
program as they make creating a newspaper much easier.
Page layout programs are used to create publishable materials
whether online or in a traditional format. They are more commonly
known as desk top publishing programs. They help you to format
your publication to appear as a newspaper with columns that
flow as you would see in a newspaper, create headlines and
sub headlines, create side bars, wrap text around photographs,
assign captions to photos, lead and kern text, and the other
functions needed to create a professional looking newspaper.
Some type of photo editing software will be needed. Even if
using a digital camera, the pictures will need to be edited
to a degree, if nothing else just to remove red eye or to
crop to fit the page. If using a non-digital camera, the photo
will have to be printed and scanned, a function most photo
editing software packages support.
PhotoShop by Adobe is the most prevalent package on the market
and arguably the most powerful. As with most powerful software,
there is a large learning curve with PhotoShop. There are
many other photo editing software packages on the market that
are cheaper than PhotoShop and do not have the high learning
curve. Some to consider are: FotoFinish, Ulead’s Photo Impact,
Picture It! Photo Premium 10 by MicroSoft, and PhotoShop’s
little brother PhotoShop Elements.
According to Adobe, PDF (Portable Document Format) is a file
format created “to streamline document
exchange, increase productivity, and reduce reliance on paper."
PDF files look exactly like original documents and preserve
the fonts, images, graphics, and layout of any source file.
A PDF file can be created by scanning a paper document and
converting it to a PDF format, or by converting a file from
another application. A special note should be mentioned about
PDF files. They will appear just as the original, but to be
viewed on a webpage, a plug in for the browser called Adobe
Acrobat Reader will have to be downloaded free from Adobe’s
website. Adobe Acrobat Writer creates PDF files, but it is
commercial and not free. Writer works similarly to a printer
driver allowing the user to create PDF files from any application.
Web
Design and Development. Most
page layout or desktop publishing programs have features that
convert their output to an HTML format. Even so, it may be
desirable to use a web design software package. Some of the
most popular are MicroSoft FrontPage, DreamWeaver by Macromedia,
Namo Web Editor and Adobe Creative Suite 2. One of these would
be more likely to be needed if publishing a website as opposed
to creating a page or pages to go on an existing website.
Web
Server software. In
all likelihood the paper will be hosted on a web server already
in place on campus. If not, one will need to be set up, but
it is recommended that the college’s information technology
department do it. Setting up a web server is a complicated
process with many factors to take into consideration. It will
have to be integrated into the campus network and there are
firewall issues to consider, all usually under the domain
of the campus IT department.
Hardware
Computers.
Computers will be needed to run the software mentioned above.
How many will be needed will depend upon the scope and size
of the particular publication. A small publication with a
small staff may get by with one computer to run all the software.
A large publication with a large staff will need many more.
Most colleges will have particular standards set by committee
or by the college’s IT department. If not software specifications
should be met at a minimum.
Scanners.
There are many relatively cheap scanners on the market. Epson,
Canon, and Microtek are some of the more common brands that
come to mind. The main recommendation is to select a flat
bed scanner as opposed to a sheet fed. A feature that would
be a nice addition would be the capability to scan slides
and film as well as documents.
Digital
Cameras.
There is a wide range of digital cameras available on the
market. Photography departments of most commercial and college
newspapers strive to have the best equipment they can afford.
The price of digital single lens reflex cameras have fallen
to the point they should be affordable to most college newspaper
departments. Some of the more popular brands are the Canon
EOS Digital Rebel XT, Pentax istDS, Olympus Evolt E300, and
Nikon D70s.
People
Even
though most of the work on an online newspaper will be done
by students, a faculty\staff person will be responsible and
in charge. This will be a journalism faculty person on those
campuses having a journalism department or class. If journalism
is not taught then someone else will have to step forward.
Possibilities could come from the marketing department, student
services, or a faculty member interested in an online newspaper.
Again,
depending upon the scope of the publication numerous student
positions would be needed and available. A journalism course
would be a typical recruiting ground. If there is not a journalism
class students will have to be recruited across campus. This
could be a reason for limiting the scope and size of the publication.
A
student editor
will be needed to oversee all of the operations of publishing
the online newspaper. This person will supervise the other
students on the newspaper staff. In addition student editors
may be needed for each of the departments, one over reporters,
photographers, etc. If the scope of the publication is large
enough, an assistant editor may also be needed.
Student
reporters
will be needed to collect the news and write the stories.
Student reporters may specialize in certain areas such as
sports, campus activities, college news, etc.
Student
photographers
will be needed to take pictures for the newspaper. They will
have to be coordinated with the student reporters as needed
by an editor. If the scope is large enough student photographers
may specialize in a certain area like sports, but most often
this is not the case.
Graphics
artists
will be needed especially of the newspaper is selling advertising.
Some ad copy will arrive “camera ready”, but most will have
to be created by the graphic artist. This person will also
have the skill to help with the general layout and formation
of the newspaper.
A
business manager
will be needed if the newspaper sells advertising. This person
will be in charge of the student sales staff and may also
make sales call.
Student
sales staff
will be needed to sell advertising. In a small scope newspaper
this person may also function as the business manager.
Considerations.
Selecting the right mix of people to work on the paper is
probably one of the more important decisions to be made. Finding
the skill sets or people who can learn the skill sets is important.
This is easier done if a college has a journalism department
or course but is not absolutely necessary.
It
should be remembered that unless their newspaper job is an
assignment from class, we are talking about volunteer labor.
Using volunteer labor can be problematic at times.
Another
consideration and source of student workers may be the yearbook
staff. At many colleges students working on the yearbook sometimes
work on the student newspaper. This is not always the case
but it does happen.
Conclusion
Creating
a student newspaper is no small undertaking whether it is
published online or traditionally. It can be something very
small like a newsletter or a publication with multiple pages,
photographs, advertising or anything in between. This Monograph
has tried to cover the wide range of available scenarios one
might encounter, but there are too many variables to cover
every conceivable event. We have tried to cover the most common.
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