New staff brings fresh content, new ideas for upcoming year

As members of this year's staff prepare to graduate, next year's staff are considering big changes for the upcoming year. With new faces on the editorial board and old faces beginning their fourth year on staff, there will be a nice blend of fresh ideas and experience to bring you, the readers, the best newspaper yet. We've added one position, re-defined another and improved others to better construct our editorial board.We implemented a brand new Web site, www.thestylus.net, earlier this year, bringing more interactivity for readers. Students can take polls, look through slideshows or download the PDF version of the front page, as well as read the week's content - all a day before the paper copy comes out.

We update the Web site each Tuesday, with new content online between noon and 5 p.m. One brand-new thing we'll be implementing next year is weekly videos. They might be complementary to the text edition, a brand-new story only available in video format or footage from a Brockport Television report. With the talk of convergence in the journalism field, it's only right The Stylus jump in front of the national trend and implement a video department now.

We've brought in a talented broadcast/film student, Nick Wurl, to work as the "Multimedia Editor," a position created from the former "Online Editor" position. He'll be in charge of everything on the Web, so start letting him know now what content you want to see. Whether it's slideshows, videos of events or interviews with members of campus, e-mail Nick at stylus.online@gmail.com.

We've also added a position to the staff: Managing Editor. The position is traditional in newsrooms, but this addition will be far from tradition for The Stylus. Our production nights will go a little more smoothly, and reduce time where content is caught between editors. This person will help catch additional factual, spelling and grammar errors. With each person having his or her strengths, it'll be much easier to spot those hard-to-see errors - and with additional staff members, maybe our staff will finish before 3 a.m., and we can lose the hungover look for Tuesday-morning classes.

More people means more time in the office, as well. Each editor is required to sit six office hours a week, plus the 25 or so hours we are working between Sunday and Monday. Stop by the office during the posted office hours, and you'll be sure to talk to an editor to help get your event covered, fix an error or talk about the logistics of The Stylus.

We're also starting to advertise in new areas. Popular businesses in Rochester, Greece and other surrounding regions will be targeted, hopefully bringing the opportunity for students to take decent deals or discounts with the advertisements.

With our circulation staying steady year-to-year, it remains important to make sure our paper reaches the maximum amount of people possible. Though we have a print edition of 4,500, students are now sharing copies and reading exclusively online. However, there's nothing like the real thing.

Are you graduating May 16 and want to keep up with your alma mater? The Stylus is now offering subscriptions. For only $35, payable by August, you can have The Stylus sent to your door for one year. Not only are you helping keep us in operation, but you're also getting a quality product in your mailbox. Perhaps you're an alum reading this online? You can subscribe, too. E-mail Julie Miller, the Business Manager, at jmiller@brockport.edu for more information, or send in your subscription form, found on page 42.

To sum it all up, big things are happening at your student newspaper. We want to keep catering to our readers, and we can only do that with feedback. Tell us what you like, what you don't and what you want to see. We're not superhuman, but we surely try. Thanks for reading.