Last year’s board succeeded (some would say it was years overdue) in developing a true commitment to the Web. In the last year they built an independent Web site and found the right people to begin, nurture, and expand a staff dedicated solely to Online matters. This year we’ve been reaping the benefits with frequent updates to the site over break, a renewed focus on multimedia projects and other Online content, and a staff that looks to grow even more as we progress and take the Web even more seriously. Over Winter Break we also did some maintenance and cleaned up a few things, notably the search function, the “most popular” section (now featuring recent, not all-time, pieces–for variety’s sake), and commenting. More on commenting soon, especially as we do not plan to permanently leave the comment option off, as we have just now.
And now from the creator herself, Lara Chelak, BC ‘11 and Web designer extraordinaire, a hearty blog manifesto. Admittedly this very blog falls somewhat short of our long-term aspirations, but as the year has just started and we view this blog - unlike this one - as too informal and hopefully (once we find our voice over here, ya know?) personal to take precedent over the production of the daily paper. I’ll try to quash the arrogant tone I may have been letting seep in - know that it is not arrogance but astonished pleasure and the desire to share with you, the reader, how it feels to put out a product like a newspaper that relies on hundreds of people doing their job and doing it well. So this blog will grow; visit it, use it, leave questions, tell your friends. We’ll be back tomorrow. Now Lara:
SpecBlogs: A New Era
A new era has dawned upon the Spectator Online; and this era is marked by the advent of successful blogging.
Wait. What did you say? Did I hear the too popular chant of doom when the words Spectator and blog are placed next to each other? “Spec blogs have always been a failure?” Hear this: no more. No more will the Spectator see their bloggish creations fall into the abyss of failed projects. For the second coming of the Spectator Online has arrived. To prove this to you, let me explain to you exactly what SpecBlogs is and will successfully continue to be.
To produce a successful blog, one must have a clear, well-thought out plan. A blog simply isn’t a compilation of posts, time-stamps, and comments – to be thoroughly successful it must create a brand and a following. It must be nurtured with multiple posts and not “just when you feel like it.” There must be an incentive – tools for visitors, useful links, important information and guidance.
Unfortunately, the Spectator hasn’t approached this in the best of ways in the past. However, the time and opportunity for change has come.
To prove this we present to you – the Columbia and surrounding communities – SpecBlogs. SpecBlogs.com will act as a host to a planned dozen “featured” blogs written by the content and affiliated sections of the Columbia Daily Spectator. However, in the long term, SpecBlogs plans to offer a service provided by no other Ivy League undergraduate college yet – an automated blog creation and hosting platform available to all members of the Columbia University community. Well, what does this mean? It means it’s time to say goodbye to your livejournal and jump into the big leagues of WordPress blogging. Curious about this type of service? Check out WordPress.com for a preview of what SpecOnline plans to offer.
Naturally, we’re still working out the plans so this “personal blog” service won’t be available just quite yet. However, we hope that you enjoy the new and fully branded SpecBlogs network and the many features SpecOnline has coming for you in the near future as well.
Incidentally, some good blogs to check out as examples of style, voice, tone, and content:
http://dlisted.com/
http://instapundit.com/
http://www.problogger.net/
http://www.ivygateblog.com/
http://www.themoderatevoice.com/