The Internet IS the place to be. See? It’s suddenly a “place”–a market, a scene, a specifically boundless geography. Writing exclusively for the web should not be seen as a bad thing–there’s a stigma against Online content, especially Web-exclusive content, but that’s where the future of journalism lies. That’s where the future of so much information and interaction lies. That doesn’t mean the printed press will disappear but clearly the entire information culture–simply the way society handles itself and understands itself–is more and more dependent upon immediacy and easy access to people, data, etc. Perhaps Jane Jacobs, an , or any average human being will mourn the end of all personal human contact. In any case, with more and more Spec readers finding they prefer the luxury and speed of the Internet, the last few years at the paper have seen more and more attention spent on it.
Many stories can run on the web that we can’t run in the paper because of space limits. Spec looks to make the print product our most authoritative take on the day’s news. It’s a place for reflection and analysis. The Web site is also a place for reflection and analysis but, just as the NYTimes does, we can begin learning the process of treating blogs as both exclusive column or story forums but also as places to cover quickly the many events and hard news stories that come our way in the daily cycle.
We are trying to think of web updates (of which the News section may have posted a record 30-something) and maybe even blogs as a chance to develop rough drafts (of articles, of news, of history–ack I get carried away sometimes when I get too excited) continually through the day, adding more to the story into the night until the final product appears in our paper the next day. This is basically half of the Times’ model, and it looks smart. They pull off far better than Spec can the other half of the model: web-exclusive content. While we don’t quite have the Times’ capital or staff, we now are learning the best models for Spec blogging (that is, base News and Sports blogs around specific issues, like weekly basketball games or visits to campus from reviled foreign dignitaries, and let regular features and voices shine through such as with a low-cost high-benefit Opinion or A&E blog (that last is coming soon, so keep an eye out). For more on SpecBlogs.com, an entire new Specdomain (with more to come), see our following post.
But learning the tools and tricks of the Web is about more than just blogging, as we are slowly but surely learning. It’s taken years for blogging to catch on at the staff-wide level, but now you get the feeling there’s a Web-savvy culture developing in the office. Perhaps it’s signs of the times, perhaps it’s that we have an Online staff now. This staff can do a lot more than simply blogging (which is complex enough as it is). Our Manhattanville supplement the first week received a lot of notice, but no more praise came than for the two Web features that accompanied it. The staff was excited and I feel the two features succeeded because not only did they look cool and experiment with modern media, they also told us something more about Manhattanville that our other coverage–while comprehensive–was less suited to accomplish. So hat’s off to the new Online staff for its talent and enthusiasm, the Commentariat for rediscovering itself under an organized and creative Armin Rosen, and to the rest of the staff for so readily working with these new media while pouring all their energy into their own sections as well. One cannot exist without the other, methinks. And I hope one day I’ll remember saying that and not regretting it.
Next post: A manifesto of sorts from Online editor Lara Chelak on why, despite early disappointments (and Bwog jokes) in years past as we found our footing, Spec hopes to catch up with our peers and make good on what previous boards started.
Also: The posts have admittedly been few and far between, but now that we’ve wrapped our 5th issue of the year, we’re starting to encounter more of the issues we will confront this year. So the plan is to get more editors involved on here as they’ve gotten used to their new jobs. Check back for more section-based posts, shorter and more frequent blurbs, and answers to any questions that may come up as we ride into the second week of production.