My Sunday newspaper column
"More online." That phrase has become as common in the newspaper as "Today's forecast."
That's purposeful. The Internet gives us new opportunities to reach out to readers. Because it is limitless, we don't have to worry about space. Because it is interactive, we can talk with and listen to people publicly and easily. Because it is not made of paper, we can produce audio and video. Because it iss free, it is accessible.
Each of these characteristics helps us in our efforts to deliver news and information, and to build more of a sense of community among people in both the Triad and the world.
The Internet is changing the way journalism is practiced and distributed. For years, newspapers simply moved stories from the print editions onto their Web sites. For several years, we have complemented that with breaking news. In the last year, we have established blogs and citizen-generated articles.
Today, we introduce a Web site of news and information about Summerfield, created by folks who live there. Community news editor Betsi Robinson describes the mission of "Hometown Hubs: Summerfield" on the front page of this section.
Hometown Hubs represents another step of turning the model of newspaper publishing on its head. We will publish the citizen journalism online first, and then move the most interesting content into the newspaper.
We have done this with YourNews, our online citizen journalism site, but Hometown Hubs is our first effort at building a site around a real community. As Betsi notes, it is the first of many. It continues our effort to build a virtual town square, where you can share your news, your stories and your opinions with others.
Here are some other ways we're using online:
* On Thursdays, we publish The 'boro on the front of the Life section. It's a section written by teenagers for teenagers. We supplement our newspaper coverage with stories online. Right now, students are helping other students plan their homecoming dates. We're also soliciting photographs of homecoming celebrations. You shoot the photo, e-mail it to us and we'll post it online.
* We've gathered all of the information we've published about the Greensboro municipal elections on one site. In addition, we have included the candidates' responses to our issues survey and links to their campaign finance reports.
* On the front page of the Sports section today, Dustin Long writes about Dale Earnhardt’s victory in 2000 in Talladega, Ala., in which he charged from 18th to first with five laps left. Online we link to the interviews Dustin conducted with the drivers, including Jeff Gordon and Dale Jr., so that you can hear them talk about the race in their own words.
* We also hope -- if the technology cooperates -- to have audio online of some of the "American Idol" contestants who auditioned at the Greensboro Coliseum on Saturday. You'll find that, too, on the home page.
Some people think that online will replace the daily newspaper. I'm not one of them. The Internet makes communication both more expansive and more intimate. That provides us with tremendous opportunities to help readers understand how events around them affect their lives.
Comments (1)
To report abuse of the comment feature on this site, please use the feedback form at the bottom of any page.
We place that information with our education stories to let readers know that if they are interested in education, they can read more on education issues there. If you want to comment on an issue in the newspaper that's not on the blog, feel free to leave it on another comment string or e-mail one of the Chalkboard's authors: Bruce Buchanan at bbuchanan@news-record.com and Jennifer Fernandez at jfernandez@news-record.com.
Within the next few months, we're going to enable comments on the stories themselves so that option will be available, too.
Posted on October 3, 2005 1:07 PM