The Signal expands with multimedia

The Signal has been a primary source of news on Ouachita’s campus for 117 years. This semester it welcomes a multimedia online edition at www.obusignal.com that brings important stories and updates to a whole new audience.

“There aren’t a lot of colleges that are doing everything we’re doing,” said Dr. Jeff Root, dean of the School of Humanities. “It’s really mainly some of the professional sites that have gone this far.”

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The Signal’s Web site takes advantage of the availability of space on the Internet and new types of technology. Whereas The Signal’s print edition can only show one or two photos per story, the online edition can put 20 photos into a slideshow.

“Our students need to be able to tell a story through any multimedia world,” said Mitch Bettis, assistant professor of mass communications and advisor to the online edition of The Signal. “This is part of that training. It’s important for us to give our students an opportunity to apply those skills in a real world setting.”

A media team of students led by Emma Smith and Holland Powell has been developed to update and edit the Web site.

“It makes it a lot more interesting for people and gives us a lot more creative space,” Smith said.

Video cameras and voice recording devices allow reporters to bring new dimensions to their stories.

“While you’re reading the story on the women’s basketball team you can flip through a slideshow of their recent game,” Bettis said, “[then] hear a podcast from the coaches or the players.”

The Signal’s readers are not the only ones who will benefit from this change. The online edition will act as a portfolio for the students whose work is posted on it. Future employers will be able to pull up The Signal’s Web site and search for articles written by a particular individual.

“It’s really exciting to think about how technology has taken us this far,” Powell said. “This is a whole new chance to learn more and to grow.”

Despite all of these new features, The Signal’s online edition is not a replacement for it’s print edition. In fact, there will be some stories that you can only find in the printed edition and others you can only find in the online edition.

“Our opinion page won’t be online,” Bettis said. “It’s a special feature just to the print edition, so you will still need to pick up the print edition to get its content.”