This weekend, 13 Pio staff members learned about journalism at an Associated College Press conference in Seattle. The ACP hosts this conference twice annually, but it was my first-ever chance to attend. As Web Editor, I found the trip to be a particularly exciting experience because the emphasis this time ’round was the mysterious, magic word: multimedia.
That’s right. Social media. Blogs. Audio podcasts. Photo slideshows. Video features. Interactive infographics. Searchable databases. Zoomable maps. Mobile-friendly sites. All of it. And more! The ACP conference is digital journalist heaven––a place where every person has at least three pieces of technology in their immediate vicinity.
While it’s not exactly new to The Pio (we’re really excited about a number of projects we debuted before this conference: our photo slideshow, the Pioneer blogs, this editors’ blog, and these data charts), there’s still so much more we could do. To start, I’m looking forward to improving our efforts in the basic principle that underlies the multimedia craze at ACP.
That very principle is the #1 thing that struck me at the conference: For journalists today, an active online presence is really crucial. Yes, we’ve all heard it, that print is dead, long live teh interwebz, and so forth. But what that really means is that journalists must reach out online and connect to potential readerships in ways that were previously never necessary, through multimedia and more.
According to ACP presenters, an effective newspaper understands the “digital paradigm”––the way in which the newspaper as a method of disseminating information have been replaced by the news site as a form of conversation between the paper and its readers. An effective newspaper understands the community it serves and the social media avenues by which that community prefers to receive its news, and participates in it.
To that end, I’m excited to improve our multimedia capabilities, and to further integrate the website into both the daily Pio grind and the Whitman community. My hopes are that the Pio website can offer readers something one can’t find in print or elsewhere, and that we can increase avenues for communicating with readers. That said, I’m only one web editor! To truly embrace active online journalism, The Pioneer must (and should!) rely on its 75+ staff members.
Writers, PJs, PAs, editors, here are your marching orders: Show your Pio pride and share your and your coworkers’ craft by posting links on Facebook or Twitter. Get excited for your web-exclusive content (which, statistically, will be more-read than anything printed!). Sign up to write a blog. And don’t be afraid to pitch me your ideas for multimedia content.
And, readers: Please join us in this conversation. Sound off, in person, on social media and in comments. Let us know what you like––and don’t like. And speaking of likes, “Like” us on Facebook, add us on Flickr and follow us on Twitter to keep up on our latest content. The journey to the mystical land of multimedia will be an adventure, and we want you to join us!
