The future of the printed newspaper has worried many people in the journalism field since the advent of online news services. Can America’s oldest news medium survive when pinned against the world’s biggest technological phenomenon, the Internet? Rather than posing the question in this negative light, we at the Iowa State Daily have decided the Web isn’t competition for print media, but a supplement to provide the most complete and accurate coverage of Iowa State that we can give. The copy of the Daily in your hands right now looks quite a bit different than the paper did this summer and last spring. If you’ve visited our Web site, iowastatedaily.com, you probably noticed it looks and works nothing like our previous site at www.daily.iastate.edu. The format has completely changed, and now there are ads scattered throughout the site. If you’re a freshman, it’s all new to you, and we hope you like what you see. The print-edition redesign has two objectives: to give the Daily a look with some historical significance, and to reflect our primary audience – students. The most noticeable change in the Daily is its flag, or logo. It’s been the same for a couple years, but since the 1960s, the Daily has gone through as many identity crises as years of publication. Looking through boxes of old microfilm archiving the Daily since its birth in 1890, we found that from 1900 until about 1960, the Daily had consistent style in its flag. In capital letters, the top of the page read simply “Iowa State Daily” – no fancy fonts, no colors, just a classic way to label the ISU student newspaper. Taking a cue from our predecessors, we decided to give our new flag a similar style, restoring some of the tradition and continuity that our paper has lacked for so many decades. On the other hand, we know our audience consists mostly of students with many distractions. Most of us are used to getting our information in sound bites with graphics. While we consider ourselves a serious newspaper with hard-news stories, we know that it takes a little pizzazz to get the 18- to 22-year-old demographic to pick up a paper and actually read beyond the headlines. In order to incorporate a more graphic image, we decided we would have to change our editorial policy. From now on, our stories are going to be tighter and offer more entry points – photos, graphics, lists, sidebars, Web references, etc. We want to catch your eyes and keep them on the page. The chimney on the front page not only tells you where things are in the Daily but mimics our Web site navigation bar. The redesigned Web site also has two main objectives: to bring the Daily into the world of interactive journalism, and to build a community for ISU students, faculty, staff and alumni. he Web site no longer is just a place to go online to read the Daily. All the day’s stories are still there, but are accompanied by added-value features such as sound bites and links. Also new to the site are e-mail accounts through cyclonemail.net, calendars, chat rooms, auctions and surveys, among other features, which will be gradually incorporated this semester. Although the Daily has been online since 1995, we felt our Web site wasn’t offering all that our audience wanted and needed. Many newspapers tout their Web sites, but few actually give their communities a reason to visit the site while still subscribing to the paper. These are the situations that cultivate fear of competition with your own Web site. Our initial goal for our Web site’s content is to post most of our print stories plus one story a week that’s exclusive to the Web. We will refer you to these stories both in the paper and on the Web, denoting the site with our online logo. We want our Web site to be a community where people affiliated with Iowa State can go to meet people, buy and sell things, discuss important university issues and generally get to know the campus better. The first step toward making this community a reality is poised in your fingertips. Go to the site at iowastatedaily.com and sign up for an e-mail account. With this account, you get the association to the school you love and never have to give up the address – you keep it after you graduate and anyone can sign up. The Daily will have a booth set up at Welcome Fest Wednesday evening in the Lied Recreation Center with games, a raffle, free stuff and more. Stop by and see what the Daily has to offer you – besides everything you need to know about Iowa State.