The Red and Black

My name is Thomas Houston, and I'm a telecommunications major in the Grady College. I've recently been hired as the new Online Editor for The Red & Black.

Although the position has been empty for several years, the job will focus on bringing exciting new content to the readers of the online edition.

Under the old system, the print edition of the paper was digitized by the production department and uploaded directly to the site. Except for additional online commentary, the Web edition was essentially a direct copy of the paper edition. Under our new system, I'll be working directly with the editorial staff in the creation of exclusive content to publish online.

Ultimately, we'd like the site to become a resource for students, professors and the Athens community. Improving the user experience on the site is essential. I'm concentrating on fixing several of the errors throughout the site. Other than the oft-mentioned broken weather section, there are other dead links and pages of extremely outdated content that need to be fixed, updated or deleted.

The print edition is often constrained by time and space limitations, but the online edition of the newspaper allows us to take full advantage of the Web's ability to provide up-to-the-minute news and expanded coverage. The Red & Black Web site receives a remarkable number of hits each day. We can better serve our readers by improving our site's online presence through accessibility and new online content.

Furthermore, adding online syndication feeds will let readers access the latest online headlines anytime and anywhere -including on their desktops, feedreaders and even cell phones.

Begin looking for big changes in the online edition of The Red & Black. We soon will publish a wide range of exclusive online content.

Starting today, a weekly poll will be added to The Red & Black home page. Soon, our events calendar will receive a much-needed facelift.

We'll be expanding the Out & About section with exclusive online reviews, interviews and photos. We're also in the process of creating several new blogs as part of a blogging community focusing on Athens student, academic and cultural environment.

We'll be launching blogs on other topics ranging from music to sports, including one which will focus on Georgia football. Looking to the future, we hope to offer podcasts, video, an improved Web page design and an increased level of user interactivity and participation.

I'm confident that we can provide an indispensable site offering the very best in Athens news coverage.

I welcome all comments, ideas, suggestions, help and questions.

- Thomas Houston is the online editor for The Red & Black. He can be reached at thouston@randb.com

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