Recently, the Minnesota Daily launched a new version of its Web site, mndaily.com. We launched our first version last year, and that was the first time we had used Drupal, a powerful open-source content management system (CMS). Although this new version is still built on Drupal, we have made significant improvements by taking much more advantage of Drupal’s powerful features.
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After three months of hard work, the Minnesota Daily has a brand new design to improve its layout and usability. Son Huynh gives us his take on theming Drupal, changing a paper’s workflow and reorganizing news content.
In addition, just last March, the Minnesota Daily teamed up with developers from NewsCloud to create a Facebook application as part of a not-for-profit research study sponsored by the Knight Foundation to find new ways of engaging young people in news readership and community engagement. As an incentive, the Minnesota Daily hosts challenges and implemented a point system to reward active readers with prizes for their participation (such as posting on the Facebook page, tweeting, following the paper on Twitter).
Son also talks about the challenges of building an online community around the paper and his plans to revamp the app by adding Facebook Connect, so users can access the paper while being logged on to Facebook, and a selection on the paper’s site to better connect student groups and campus events. The newest version of the Minnesota Daily is set to launch on Sept 8th. Be sure to check out the new multimedia section, which was in part inspired by the Onion.
Have feedback for the Minnesota Daily? Leave a comment or email Son at shuynh [at] mndaily [dot] com.
‘Tis the season for college media makeovers, and this week we’ll be discussing the soon-to-launch redesign of the Minnesota Daily — and getting a sneak peek. Last fall they switched to Drupal for their content management system and now they’re looking to build on that with a fresh coat of paint.
Listen live as Online Manager Son Hunyh and others from the Daily’s staff discuss the redesign and their ideas and plans for this year, including tactics to increase readership engagement. Be sure to join our live text chat below and call in to give feedback.
If you’re not able to listen live, please add your question as a comment.
When: Sunday, Aug. 30 at 5 p.m. ET
Where: BlogTalkRadio (or listen here with the embedded player)
Hosts: Greg Linch and Emily Kostic
Guests: Steve Contorno, former editor in chief of the University of Illinois’s The Daily Illini and Zach Valentire, the Webmaster of the Minnesota Daily. Dreier Carr, the photo editor of The Technician at North Carolina State.
Summary: Greg and Emily discuss the power of Drupal and the creation of The Daily Illini‘s own CMS on Drupal with Contorno. The former Editor in Chief continues the conversation by passing on tips to college publications considering Drupal. Valentire and Carr discuss the popularity of Drupal and how it’s no longer something you can ignore. The three editors analyze how the switch can be made, how Drupal can be incorporated into your college newspaper’s workflow, and each of their staffs’ responses to the switch.
Related blog post: A Brand New Drupally Daily Illini
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