A crazy new roller coaster

As you may have heard, The Vista has moved into a shared newsroom with NewsCentral, after being in room 107 of the Communications building for 40 years.

When The Vista staff found out about this change in March, we had more pressing concerns than this historic, bold and innovative leap.

We wanted to make sure my piles of gravely important papers, Ryan’s noxious vegan mobile kitchen and Nelson’s scattered, muffin-loving universe remained intact and untouched.

 Ryan:

Like a soldier going into battle without his gun or the football player readying for kickoff, minus his helmet and cleats, so I, The Vista’s Web editor, have been without a computer for the past two weeks.

So, in order to fulfill my Web editing duties, I am forced to skitch around from the print-editors’ to the reporters’ to the photographers’ respective computers, and sometimes must resort to barebones Web editing via my Ipod Touch.

 I’m trimming stories for the site, putting together reporters’ videos, troubleshooting connection and site problems and, when those problems are solved, I’m bumping and updating those stories on my Twitter and Facebook.

Geeze, whatever happened to the good ol’ days of writing my story, turning it in to the editors and getting on with the rest of my day?

Why is everyone, myself included, so impatient that they can’t just wait for the paper n’ink to hit the stands twice a week (or once a week in the summer)?

 Now, you may not give two hoots about what room The Vista’s in or the struggles we’ve faced in our transition, but I do imagine you care to stay informed about what goes on at and around UCO.

After all, you’re reading this, aren’t you?

 What happens here certainly does not stay here. In one way or another, it affects what you see on the page and the Web site.

 Nelson:

The Vista has long served as the student voice of UCO in the traditional print media form, and will continue to do so into the future, but the methods are definitely going to adapt as technology moves forward and forces change.

 We maintained a Web presence for several years, but the role of the Web site will become more dominant as the printed newspaper becomes less prevalent.

 Caleb:

More is on the way. This fall, we will be combining the best of both worlds, as Miley Cyrus might say, to provide an engaging and intuitive online news aggregation service giving you the up-to-date information on everything UCO.

 Content from Ed 90.1 HD2, UCO’s student radio station, NewsCentral, UCO’s student cable channel on Edmond Cox Digital 125 and The Vista, UCO’s student newspaper, will all be available on the new Web site, UCO360.com

 Nelson and Ryan:

These changes are simply part of the process of adapting the journalistic

world to the new age of advanced technology and immediate access to news. 

 UCO’s news will emerge from the Internet more and more as time progresses. 

You, the reader and audience and we, the writers/videographers/programmers, are all on a crazy new roller coaster of information gathering and giving. 

 So strap down and hang on tight – it’s going to be one heck of a ride.