THE NEW Economy is collapsing, NASDAQ is a roller coaster, Internet companies are going bankrupt left and right, and venture capitalists are as nervous as long-tailed cats in a room full of rocking chairs. Is there no silver lining to be found in the little storm cloud that is the Information Superhighway? There sure is, and it's called The Cavalier Daily online edition.
OK, so that last paragraph might smack of the hyperbole of the Old "New Economy," but this is the New "New Economy," which is all about delivering value. The Cavalier Daily's award-winning online edition delivers an excellent product, with information not available in print, for free. If that is not good value, I don't know what is.
I have praised the online edition once or twice before in this column, but mainly in a discussion of how the Internet is changing the world of newspaper publishing. I realize now that I have given it short shrift, and seek to rectify that error in this, my next-to-last column as The Cavalier Daily's ombudsman.
General Production
As I mentioned in my prior column on online newspapers, The Cavalier Daily is essentially producing an online paper which rises to the level of professionalism evinced in national newspapers' online sites. Many smaller papers produce truly substandard, low-budget Web sites, with limited coverage and a total failure to take advantage of the benefits of rapid low-cost production, interactivity, and different media opportunities, like Flash animation, streaming media or slide-shows.
The paper hasn't yet taken full advantage of many of the new forms of media, with the exception of a recent "slide show"-type set of photo essays, but the site hasn't noticeably suffered as a result. The Cavalier Daily online edition routinely has full-level coverage of the stories reported in the paper. In addition, the Web site offers color photos, sometimes color comics, and direct links from the Web site so that you might contact the Managing Board, editors or the ombudsman.
While The Cavalier Daily hasn't routinely offered a lot of expanded coverage on reported stories, it is certainly something the paper might think about in the future. Freed from physical space restraints, the online edition could offer additional opinion pieces, lengthier versions of feature stories, more movie and music reviews, and other enhancements. An excellent practitioner of this approach is The Atlantic Monthly's Web site, The Atlantic Unbound, which routinely offers discussions with writers, additional background on stories, and other information which they simply can't fit into the pages of the magazine.
Special Reports
The additional coverage the online version of the paper has offered has been exceptionally well done. Typically, the paper has offered "special reports" addressing topics of general interest that might not otherwise be carried in the paper as "news." The examples that come to mind include "Hoo's Asking," "U.Va. 101," "Elections 2000," and segments on honor and faculty salaries, among others. I have praised these special reports before, but it bears repeating. They are useful and interesting information, provided in an accessible format, and with little of the "exposure" of a front-page byline. My only suggestion for improvement is to have a link so that the more timeless reports (like the ones on honor and the University generally) might be accessed even once their links are no longer prominently placed on the right hand side of The Cavalier Daily online "front page" in the space currently dedicated to these reports.
Archive
Another excellent feature of the online addition is the archive. Many papers make the last week or two of the paper available for searching and then charge a fee to search less recent stories. The Cavalier Daily's archive is free and extensive. I have often gone back to look at opinion columns and previous coverage on matters that interest me as an alumnus, and find the archive to be fairly easy to use. It is a useful and valuable resource to anyone interested in life at the University.
A word from our sponsor(s)
In some ways, it is a luxury to go through the paper without having to page through the ads. I am, of course, grateful to the advertisers, because they enable the paper to be free, and pay for the expensive process of publishing on paper, but also enjoy being able to read without a pitch designed to catch my eye printed right next to the story of interest. The drawback is that many of the ads placed in The Cavalier Daily are announcing cultural and social events, scholarships, and other matters of interest not advertised elsewhere. It seems that the online version might consider producing a calendar page that lists these advertised events, perhaps with a link to an image of the ad for further details. This would serve to keep students and other members of the community informed, and also serve as added value for advertisers.
(Brent Garland can be reached at ombuds@cavalierdaily.com.)
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