Seniors Marta Hill and Isabel Kjaer, co-Editors-in-Chief of Echo, discuss what to submit for Best of SNO. Everyday Hill updates the showcase on the home page, checks for any plugin updates and submits stories for Best of SNO. Echo's website is hosted by School Newspapers Online, and Hill is adept at editing every aspect of the page.
Above is the header from the Echo's website. This is the image I see most often, as the website is always open on my phone and computer. Along with updating the website daily, as Editor-in-Chief I assisted in the redoing of the nameplate for our website.
Why
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More than just a website |
As the internet has become the primary source of information for people, the challenge has been the evolution of the medium that people enjoy. Student journalists are in a unique position, as they have to appeal to both teenagers and adults. This challenge has led me to cultivate the other elements of our online presence.
Recently, I pushed for us to reevaluate how we use Instagram specifically. We have started being more interactive and fun on that platform. We post reader polls, our Late Night selfies and opportunities to request coverage on our stories. It is a fine line to walk of being a serious news outlet and appealing to our main audience, students. We have seen a dramatic increase in engagement, which I attribute to that. I also spearheaded the founding of our podcast. We are still working out the kinks, but staffers are getting more and more excited to make podcasts. Podcasts are massively popular, and are a great way to share a new side to a story. |
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One of the most important parts of web is updating it quickly. The print edition only comes out every three weeks, so our website is really our opportunity to keep our readers informed quickly. Most recently, the best example of efficiency on our website has been with COVID-19.
Within a two-day period, we posted 11 stories surrounding COVID-19. The content ranges from the districts plans, to coverage of governmental actions, to when our school officially closed. Several times, a story would break and we would have it posted within an hour. In one case — a local private school closing — we were the first local news outlet to post any variety of story about it. This element of speed does not come at the cost of accuracy. Especially when we are producing a large amount of content at a fast pace I make sure to double and triple check all information. We also value efficiency in day-to-day content, because quite frankly no one will care about the high school club meeting more than 24 hours after it happens. When I know about events our staff is covering I make sure to check in with the editor and the staffer to make sure we have a plan for getting coverage up quickly. |
Speed |
Above and beyond |
Luckily for me School Newspapers Online (SNO) is based less than a thirty-minute drive from our school. Because of this, I have had the opportunity to attend several SNO days, which have allowed me to greatly improve our website and my understanding of our website.
Through SNO days I have redesigned our website, expanded our use of multimedia and gained somewhat of understanding of how the code behind our website works. |