Where it's at

Natalie and I are in a constant state of writing and rewriting our content outline in light of new information and new issues. For instance, first we were doing "My Newscast," then we didn't have the capability, then as soon as I had turned in the original content outline with no "My Newscast," then we discovered that we DID have the capability (again, thanks to Bryan). Now we have a revised outline, but as we were discussing the site map in class today, I found at least three problems with the revised version. For instance, I guess now we have no plog. And now that we've discussed it, I can really see no advantage to having one-€”I guess I just always assumed it was compulsory. I also keep changing my mind about the "In-depth" section-€”it's sort of the same thing as the "producer's choice" which Natalie has conceptualized, but it may have some value in and of itself. For the moment, anyway, I've crossed it out.

I'm not complaining about any of this, by the way, just enumerating some of the challenges. I'm actually increasingly excited about the possibilities of this project; I know that staffing will be an issue, but if we do a good enough job designing it I think students will be enthusiastic about contributing to it. Above all, I see it as a good showcase for potential employers. Sports and weather, for instance, will obviously not be areas where we can compete with the pros, but we need a web presence in these areas so our sports and weather students can show their stuff online-€”no matter how technically primitive or un-comprehensive our coverage may be. These pages might consist mainly of shovel-ware, but enterprising reporters could enhance them as much as they'd like.