I thank my friends at the Trinitonian for a nicely done piece on December 4. In it the editorial staff welcomes the new President, acknowledges the old (quite gracefully) and holds up me and one of my role models and mentors, Dr. Coleen Grissom, for the length of our tenures at Trinity. It was a touching tribute all the way around. We are all lucky, indeed, to be connected by our wonderful Trinity experiences.
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What a shame TPTB at The Trinitonian still don't see the wisdom in making the entire publication available on the web - it would be very nice for alumni to read these articles without having to pay for a dead tree subscription.
TPTB at the Trinitonian (myself included) are currently in the process of redesigning our web presence. I can't say for sure what direction we are heading in as far as article accessibility is concerned, but keep in mind that regardless of the decisions we make, the end product must be economically sustainable.
We currently post 10 to 12 articles a week on our website, which typically include stories from the news section with the broadest appeal.
The Trinitonian also has a twitter: @trinitonian. Be sure to check it out for more frequent news updates.
Thank you for your response, PTB.
I've heard this "economically sustainable" argument for years now and remain totally unconvinced that that argument is meaningful. DePauw, one of our peers, somehow manages to web publish a much more complete edition than the Trinitonian ever has (see www.thedepauw.edu), and they're far from alone. If funding is an issue, make a case and get it addressed. With close to a billion dollars in the endowment and the Trinitonian being one of the ways the college represents itself to the outside world, it shouldn't really be difficult to get the relatively small amount of funding required to publish more articles on the web.
Well, I had actually hoped for this to be a feel-good holiday season type of post and exchange, but it is interesting. It appears that the on-line publisher for both Trinity and DePauw is the same. I will follow the discussion and comments with interest and will hope that the Trinitonian advisor can weigh in.
Thanks for your input- I'll be sure to bring your ideas up whenever I meet with the higher powers that be (i.e. the editors and our advisor), as I am just a lowly webmaster.
The idea of the Trinitonian as a window into the University is not one I had really thought about until you mentioned it. It is definitely something I should remind the Campus Publications administration and the TU PR department of.
I think the reason that the Trinitonian has historically not published all stories online is because of the (in my opinion, irrational) fear of the dying out of print media. The way I see it, posting more content online would bring more traffic- and theoretically the possibility for more ad revenue, so I agree that a more thorough web presence would be a good step forward for the newspaper.
I believe the content aspect also goes hand in hand with the quality and ease of use of the actual website. As far as this is concerned, I think we have a long way to go. I was hired as the webmaster this semester to redesign the website and have thus far been locked up dealing with the school's bureaucracy. Hopefully we'll be revamping the site sometime next semester.
I hope this provides some input as to what we're trying to sort out.
(sorry for taking over the comments Dean Tuttle- I guess now you know I actually read your blog!)
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