I’m guessing that you ““ along with the majority of UCLA students ““ don’t wake up every morning and pick up a newspaper off your doorstep. It’s probably not ideal for you to wake up an hour earlier before that 8 a.m. class to flip open The New York Times.
You probably do have breaking news text or e-mail alerts being sent to your iPhone, your favorite blogs linked up to your Google reader, or follow your favorite news outlets on Twitter.
It’s easier that way. As college students, we are always on the go: from those morning classes and that quick gym sesh between lectures, to your extracurricular activities, internships and part-time jobs.
Living in a digital age, the fastest and most efficient way to connect to other people is through the Internet. The medium is constantly evolving, making our generation the guinea pigs who get to figure out the best way to use the resources available to us.
The Daily Bruin spent this summer brainstorming how to more effectively package our content online, better use social media and create a more interactive platform for the UCLA community. We are implementing a Web-first production cycle to give you the news as it happens. You can count on us to have sports scores and game wraps online minutes after the games and breaking news as it happens.
Open dailybruin.com on Monday and you will see a new face designed by our Graphics editor, John Anzelc, with more interactive features like commenting abilities on all our content and a simple, straightforward way to navigate through the Web site. You’ll notice our Twitter feed on the home page and a Flickr feed of your photo submissions on our photography page.
We also have a new addition to our reporting team: Daily Bruin Radio. You can hear their content on our Web site, and soon you’ll be able to listen to their podcast during those in-between-class gym trips.
Video, formerly known as DBTV, has not only changed their name but also their vision. The plan is to foster interdepartmental convergence and change their packages to documentary-style, character-driven narratives rather than talking heads.
The point of all these changes is for us to serve you better. Tell us what you want to read about. Send us news tips. Give us feedback on our coverage.
The idea is to bridge the gap between our print and online readers by offering you a different product through each medium. You can find our most recent content, latest blog posts and multimedia online and see your comments and photos featured in print.
As we move forward with all of these changes, we want your feedback. That said, you can find me at 118 Kerckhoff Hall.
Tchekmedyian is the 2009-2010 editor in chief. Thoughts on the Web site redesign? E-mail her at atchekmedyian@media.ucla.edu.