Personal+Publishing+Experiences

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The summary of Solanco's journey with social networking and publishing on-line.
After investing and pledging over a million dollars in technology software for student use, the Solanco School District was committed to not only making its population computer-literate, but also determined to use the investment to make other operations less costly. At the same time, the home town community was realizing that technology and a sagging economy were replacing the old stand-by of generations past – the local newspaper. With its demise came the belief that everything was going on-line. So, the school board decided that the student newspaper, too, should be completely online, and thus should be able to operate without a budget. No more paper – no more money. The advisor and the small student staff then ventured slowly into hosting the paper on-line, which meant no more than uploading a Pdf of the “paper” that was created using Adobe In Design. Nothing had changed except readership dropped since few of the school’s population realized the publication was now available only on-line. Folding up the student paper might have been an option, but with the disappearance of the local paper, regular information was needed now more than ever. The staff and advisor issued their own challenge: to publish articles and information more frequently through a more accessible source. Rather than focusing on the composition of a traditional 8-page paper, the aim was to gather info, compose articles and essays, and make them available as soon as possible. The solution would be to develop and maintain a live web site where articles could be uploaded weekly if not daily, as could photos and calendars. Such an option was available through the initial on-line host, supported by ASNE, but the creativity and design of the site was limited and cumbersome. This meant adopting a new host site through WordPress who provide free hosting; however, the approval came with some resistance since the administration insisted that the page not allow for comment posts from readers. Despite solicited support from the district’s technology supervisor, the feature had to be removed. Also restrictive was that no matter what was written or photographed, the principal must review all material before it is published. The approval process, when the paper went to print, usually delayed final publication for days at a time until the principal had time to read all the material. Consequently, a more efficient process was needed for principal review. Collaboration between the principal and staff was arranged through the use of Googledocs which had been adopted by the district as a preferred 2.0 application.

While the principal moved into a more interactive role, the student staff needed to be trained and motivated to make more advantageous use of the technology. Initially, students were intimidated with the knowledge that the principal possibly would be revising their work. In addition, students were accustomed to having extended deadlines to submit articles. Their reluctance to write faster or more frequently created a lag in producing adequate material. Of course, the expectation was that once the site had regular and growing visitors, more students would volunteer to contribute.

At the start, access of Googledocs by all students was not possible, which required finding alternate collaborative composition applications. Since the district, for security purposes, sets up Gmail accounts for students through Moodle, they are not usual permitted to set up private accounts in school. However, because of a changeover in delivery methods by the school’s sponsor, the system was not workable. In response, the student used TypewithMe as their first alternate. Soon, access to this site was also not dependable. As a result, the technology director allowed for creation of individual student accounts through Google itself. This was permitted just recently and these accounts will be used in the immediate future. While the students in the journalism class composed articles for the about-to-be news site, this meant adjusting the curriculum so that students would learn skills for publishing at an earlier part in the course.. The increased generation of material meant the need for a more effective management system for collecting the initial articles and photos. In the past, the staff made and submitted assignments using forums on the school Moodle page, but staff were invited to wikis aimed at assigning and collecting articles The use of a wikispaces, along with a blog section, also provided a new area to post comments from the only the staff regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the publication and site. The comments were monitored and those of significance were highlighted for future consideration in staff training. Also added to the wiki were links to calendars and timetables that allowed students to submit requests for extensions on deadlines. Also, wikis were created to post “best” work and results to surveys. In the future, wikis will be established with tips on publishing.

In regards to the collection of articles on the wiki, the adviser created a cache of articles for revision and then sent each article to a separate page assigned to a various editor. Students used tools available on the wiki page or on Googledocs to complete revisions. After a final review by the adviser, the articles were sent through Googledocs to the principal for final approval. Once returned to the advisor, the articles could be uploaded by students assigned and granted permission to edit the Wordpress website.

Though the process seemed relatively simple in terms of basic steps, all student staff members needed training as to how the organization now functioned, along with instruction on how to manage the wikis and Googledocs. Sessions with video tutorials were created by the advisor and a file of these resources were also made available on the wiki. Now in the making are pages with links to legal and ethical considerations for student journalists.

Those who helped to build and maintain the website are currently to two students, one of whom had is knowledgeable of java script. Their additional training was provided individually and face-to-face by the adviser. These editors were eventually charged with posting changes to the website. In future, these students, along with other staff, will have direct access to the website to upload articles for approval. The editors will then assist in review and if further revision is necessary will post these comments on the original Googledoc

After the initial launch of the web site, decisions were made regarding how often the website should be updated and with how much material. The staff created an on-line survey, after 8 weeks months to poll student readers on their response to the new live format. Questions were posed to identify how often students checked the site, the type of information they sought, and their preference for delivery. By the end of the first semester, the staff will be constructing a specific timetable with number of articles slated for each issue change, and a timeline for upcoming issues. Prior to this point, the site was updated on various days.

The current status of the site and wiki lays out key procedures and steps in creating and posting material to the web site. Using Googledocs has allowed for faster writing and revision, structuring the organization with 2.0 applications eliminated the need for stacks of folders and files that were once accessible to only a few staff. With all the material and processes on-line, and with the ease of networking features, the paper can be managed and advised by any new staff member with a willingness to use the tools.

As the site develops and the networking continues, the students will be asked to contribute to a wiki that provides information and tips to other advisers and those interested in publishing who are outside the school.

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