Listen Here
By Kelsey Nevius
@kelnevs
neviusk@findlay.edu
With the new year comes new changes, and the University of Findlay campus is no exception. While construction is still underway at the College of Business building, there is a new type of construction happening right here at the Pulse. With the changing currents of journalism, the Pulse is reinventing itself this semester to become almost entirely digital.
Though the Pulse has a social media presence and online site, with this new spring semester it will und
ergo a change from its traditional print media to rely more heavily upon its Internet counterpart. According to Amy Rogan, assistant communications professor and faculty advisor to the Pulse, the new and improved site is in part courtesy of Allison Bunsey, who used the website redesign as a semester project.
The change, which was enacted by Rogan and the Communications Department, is a step towards reflecting a modern-day newsroom and towards making the Pulse a hybrid publication, fulfilling a need of quickly accessing news of a heavily digital world. Though there will be a few print editions, the bulk of the Pulse will now be featured online.
With the switch from print to digital, it ushers in an age of multimedia journalism for the Pulse, which represents a lot of great opportunities for student writers.
“Multimedia journalism is the standard of the industry,” said Rogan. “It is our desire to train our students in a manner that is as close to industry standards as possible.”
With the change occurring all over the country, the Communications Department is happy to see the switch. Cheri Hampton-Farmer, Ph.D., associate professor of communications and communication department chair, says the change will provide the UF community a multitude of ways to get their news, like many commercial papers now do as well.
“I think producing rolling news stories will increase awareness of what is happening in our community. I am hoping that we will see an increase in subscribers among both current campus community and our Alumni,” said Hampton-Farmer. “I think this will be a good way for our campus community to get relevant and credible local campus news in a timely manner.”
As many newspapers make a similar shift, it creates a chance for journalism to include aspects of multimedia, become more interactive, and create an ever changing medium, said Ronald Tulley, Ph.D., professor of English and dean of the college of liberal arts. With the Pulse following suit, it creates a chance to become a more digitally driven newspaper. And, with luck, the change will impact its reader base, among other things.
“Hopefully, it will increase our readership across all demographics (i.e., students, faculty, community). It should also offer us more flexibility of schedule, and hopefully, it will help our bottom line by having to pay less to outsourced printers,” said Tulley. “Accessibility and immediacy for our audience are two clear benefits as is the potential for more interaction between The Pulse and our readers.”
And, while this is but the first change in a long line of growth for the Pulse, journalism will continually adapt and transform as new ideas are added to the mix. This change simply allows for the FMN community to experience a new path of journalism.
“As most people are aware, the industry of journalism is constantly evolving to adapt to the audience and the technology of the day. These new processes are the first step in a bigger picture,” said Rogan. “It is the COMM department’s desire to always look for ways to help the various arms of the Findlay Media Network work together, connect with the community, and serve our students.”
Regardless, the Pulse staff will continue to provide a news outlet for the UF community.
“I have great hope that The Pulse will continue its award-winning ways and continue to be a strong representation of journalistic quality UF students are capable of producing,” said Tulley.
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