ALLIE GRISHAM – Hoof Prints Staff

Welcome to the new and improved Hoof Prints! If you’re reading this article now, you’ve probably noticed some distinct changes in the Hoof Prints format. It would be hard to miss the very conspicuous transition from a mere printed newspaper to the new digital format available on the infamous World Wide Web. Differences in the new blog style format and the old printed format are numerous.

While speaking to the staff adviser, Tracey Yates, I discovered some of the main reasons why it was so much better for the newspaper to switch formats. According to Yates, “The advantages of using a web based format for the newspaper out number the disadvantages by far.”

The new blog style format is convenient for the staff as well as the readers.  The updates are regular. Instead of the infrequent publishing of the printed paper, there are now going to be weekly postings and more current subject matter. It will also be easier on the staff because staff members will have more articles and more deadlines, but they won’t all be lumped together. Before, some people were doing four and five articles a deadline and had to revise the article because of space constraints. Now, the staff can do more articles, more often without constrictions of space and the stress of doing so many articles per deadline.

Yates expects views from readers to be a little slow in the going at first, but views are expected to pick up after word about the new format gets out. Yates said, “Eventually readers will catch on and the views will increase since so much student life is based around the internet.” Most seem to think that access to the paper via the web will make it more likely to attract attention because, “It is in a medium high school kids can relate to,” said Yates.

The decision to change formats was primarily up to Yates and after some serious thought; she decided it was the right thing to do, mostly basing her decision on convenience and the recent high school journalism trend.

Like the rest of the modern world, BIC is subject to change once in a great blue moon. Georg Lichtenberg once said, “I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can say is they must change if they are to get better.”

Nobody is exactly sure what will come of this format change, but it is the hope of the journalism staff that many students will embrace the change and check out the site to keep up with school news.