Andy Scott, Editor in Chief

May is upon us, and that means SPU is undergoing a period of transition. The student leaders of next year are being trained, while the senior class prepares for the great who-knows-what of the months to come. With new leadership come many changes, large and small. The Falcon is no exception, and we anticipate many changes to come next year, many of which depend on the student body.

Journalism is a rapidly changing field, and many once-a-day publications are now dependent on a 24-hour news cycle and a user-friendly Web site. The Falcon needs to acknowledge the presence of online news and to incorporate "new media" technology into the coverage of events at SPU. We want to become more than a weekly paper, a news source for SPU that is accessible for students and the SPU community.

New media applies to online content that creates a more immediate news cycle, applications like blogging, comment threads, video posts, and video comments.

Many of these changes will be fleshed out in the months to come, but some new media additions could include blogs, flash video, and streaming video and audio. With these tools, we would be more effective in informing the SPU community about what is happening on campus.

Here's the catch: we need your input.

My hope is that through working with the student body, we can discern what the interests of students are and direct coverage accordingly. I don't want to make empty promises, nor put the future of The Falcon in a box. What I am hoping for is to open lines of dialogue to give a more clear direction for The Falcon to head.

New media technology is a two-way street, and content produced for a Web site would depend mainly on who the audience is and what its interests are. The Falcon would want to create a site that could maintain regular updates, while providing enough content that would keep discussion going online and in the weekly print edition.

If this is going to work for The Falcon, there needs to be willingness from the students to actively participate and seek to be informed.

So what exactly would this Web site look like, and how would it benefit students?

That would be up to you.

One option could be blogs. Blogs are a great way to bounce ideas around or run a story that would be old news by the time a weekly paper got around to printing. It's an easily accessible tool for communication and has proven itself useful for Seattle's weekly publications, like The Stranger and Seattle Weekly. Blogs have a more conversational tone and could benefit SPU by allowing community members to comment on stories, find links to interesting videos and stories outside of campus, and provide a forum for discussion on content not necessarily in the paper.

Another option could be videos. Videos are central to the changing face of the newspaper, and Falcon editors and reporters would be able to capture a moment on video and post it on the Web site the same day. This can provide faster and easier accessibility to the student body to breaking news, features, and sports events. This would take a substantial amount of work to pull off, but it would be worth it. The campus would be more engaged with what is happening at SPU and would be able respond and comment about it.

Streaming audio could also be useful for Chapel events, speakers, or even sports events, creating a more broad audience and expanding the fan base of SPU sports outside of campus. Students could engage with more events, listen to podcasts of speakers, and have a broader understanding of what campus life is consisting of.

New media is potentially limitless in its capabilities, and we are working to ensure that The Falcon has the proper technology to create a more user-friendly and accessible Web site. We hope that readers of The Falcon will take the time to get involved in the months to come, providing comments about what they want in a Web site and what events and issues are important to cover.

This is a very fluid process, and changes should be taking shape over the summer and into next year. It is my hope that The Falcon will be able to grow as a newspaper, more fully realizing the importance of the online medium in order to serve the SPU campus more effectively.

We are only limited by our imaginations, and we welcome any and all ideas about how to open up lines of communication on and off campus.