TodayBig changes coming in print and online
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Big improvements are coming this week for people who use The Sentinel — in print or online — to find news and information.
Because reader response to the changes we made in the Sunday paper a few weeks ago has been so encouraging, we’re bringing the rest of the week in line. Starting Monday, local news leads off the paper, and national/world news will take the back seat.
And because of advances in our online capabilities, on Tuesday our Web site, www.cumberlink.com, gets a complete makeover.
This sort of change is exciting, but it always makes me a little nervous n apart from the anticipation of how readers will react. I’m a great believer in incremental change. A steady pace of a tweak here, an enhancement there can get you where you want to be with a lot less anxiety. A misstep and you can back up pretty fast with no harm done.
I’ve been a big fan of the late W. Edwards Deming and his ideas of continuous improvement based on statistical process control every since I was exposed to them some 20 years ago. Do it right and you get no surprises except a better outcome.
Deming was renowned for the way his principles transformed Japanese industry. Older readers will remember when “made in Japan” signified junk; after Deming, the country became a quality leader in everything from automobiles to electronics. Among the many firms he assisted, the Ford Motor Co. returned from near-bankruptcy in the 1980s to one of the most profitable companies of its time.
But when it comes to producing a newspaper, which relies on human creativity and deals with an infinite multitude of variables every day, statistics will only get you so far. At some point, you have to let the inspiration rip and take the (calculated) leap.
It’s not for nothing that some wise person said a long time ago that publishing a newspaper means inventing an entirely new product from scratch every single day. A car manufacturer can’t say that — and could you imagine what it would be like to drive a vehicle produced that way? But you can’t imagine publishing a vital newspaper on an assembly line.
So with those thoughts in mind, here’s an outline of what readers of the print edition can expect to see Monday:
• As with the Sunday paper, the main “A” section will be all local news, with state news toward the back. Obituaries will be in this section, as well as the Opinion page and the “advice” columnists.
• We are introducing a new community page on A2, with a daily calendar of events, a daily local columnist and other local features we hope readers will enjoy.
• The second section of the paper, “B,” will lead off with sports, followed by business and national/world news. The daily weather maps and information will be on the back page.
• An all-new standalone Classified section will follow, labeled “C.” In addition to finding connections to local jobs, merchandise, autos, services, real estate and other needs, you’ll find the daily comics and puzzles.
Throughout the week, we will continue to publish our popular Alive entertainment and Living Smart health and fitness sections, among others.
Now on to the Web site. For more than a decade, www.cumberlink.com has done a good job of providing local news and sports, as well as wire reports and special features. In recent months, we’re proud to say, it has also become a place to find up-to-the-minute breaking news, and our forums and story comment sections have become pretty lively places to find out what people think and to share your views.
So why change?
That’s simple — we can do more.
The new cumberlink will provide an improved layout, easier navigation, additional content and new Yahoo! search capability. Multimedia, such as the local videos and slideshows we now produce, will be easier to find.
Webmaster George Shickler, Online Sales and Development Manager Erica Peterson and Online Editor Jeff Pratt have been working hard to bring the new site online and will continue to work on improvements as we hear back from users.
The transition to the new site begins at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow, so there’s a chance users may find some features offline briefly here and there as the migration is completed, but we hope you’ll find the new site worth any momentary inconvenience.
We also want to hear want you think about all these changes. As always, you can write, e-mail or call. Or you are invited to attend my next informal readers meeting, at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 15.
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Hope Stephan is executive editor of The Sentinel. You can reach her at 240-7133 or hstephan@cumberlink.com
