By Linda Pottier
If you prefer surfing online to reading hard copy, you can now use the address above to read the first Illinois community college newspaper to go online.
At the start of this semester, the Apache made history when the student newspaper’s page was added to IVCC’s website.
While hundreds of university newspapers are available online, only a handful of community college publications across the country are available through the Internet.
The Apache site currently includes this issue and the Dec. 10, 1998, issue of the newspaper, information about the staff, how to apply for the staff, and about the history of student newspapers at IVCC and at LaSalle-Peru-Oglesby Junior College.
The web site duplicates content in the printed newspaper with full-text versions of all news, sports and opinions pieces.
"We don’t have a large enough staff to produce an independent online paper," said Apache advisor Dr. Rose Marie Lynch.
The site was designed by IVCC graphic design student Bob Latty, a former member of the newspaper staff. It is being maintained and updated by current staff members, although the newspaper is hoping to recruit students interested in web pages.
Plans call for stories and some artwork to be loaded on the Apache site as the printed version is being distributed on campus. The Apache is published every three weeks.
Managing editor Holli L. Rapp said, "I think it is cool because people who don’t pick up our paper can read us online; it’s another way for us to be recognized."
Lynch said that improving the newspaper’s visibility for staff recruitment was one reason for putting the paper online.
Apache editor Staci J. Sessler said, "To most people, seeing our paper go on-line doesn’t seem like such a big deal. But to those very few of us who are behind the scenes working hard and spending long hours just so it comes out in print on time, it feels like a real accomplishment."
Giving student staff members some recognition, and making them more recognizable, was another purpose, Lynch said. The Apache site includes photos, brief profiles and e-mail addresses of all editorial staff members.
"In the fall when we (staff) started to talk with Bob (Latty) about what we wanted to include and how we wanted the material organized, I had no idea that other community colleges were not on the web yet," Lynch said.
"Watching the Apache go online is one of the most exciting developments I’ve experienced at the college," she said.
Visitors can expect the site to change, Lynch said, as the staff experiments with designs and organization. She encouraged people to e-mail suggestions and identify any problems.
1/28/99 the Apache