Improving Communication in a Student Newsroom Slacking @ The Beacon Improving Communication in a Student Newsroom Shawn McIntosh Jake Mendel May 17, 2016

So, where is the news?

A real-time messaging and archiving app that is changing how many professional newsrooms communicate internally. (www.slack.com) Will examine how it has changed Beacon workflow and communication Will explore how it can be used in other classroom settings

A Bit About the Beacon Weekly student-run 12-page tabloid newspaper, with website (www.theonlinebeacon.com) and social media sites Two advisers: Jen Augur and Shawn McIntosh Students working at The Beacon are taking one of two official classes, either News Editing Practicum (staff writers, copy editors, ad reps) or Senior News Editing Practicum (editorial board) Prerequisite courses: Writing and Reporting the News I Co- or prerequisite: Writing and Reporting the News II Writers do at least one story/week; editors typically write one or two stories/week, plus manage staff, do production and layout

Typical Weekly Beacon Schedule Sunday night Section editors send out story assignments to staff writers Photography editors make photography assignments to photographers Due date for photos and stories is following Sunday Copy editors start copy editing stories for upcoming issue Monday-Wednesday (3 p.m. Wednesday production deadline) Stories are copy edited, late stories come in Editors do design and production Web editors start posting stories and planning for online publication schedule Editorial board meeting to discuss story assignments for coming Sunday, post- mortem on previous week’s issue, dealing with any other issues Thursday morning issues arrive from printer and are distributed by Beacon staff on campus

Repeat 12 times throughout the semester, with a 16-page final issue (and oh yes, while students are taking other classes)

How Slack Works Channels can have any number of members in them, by invitation, or by setting up what channels new members join automatically You can describe the purpose of channels you create and invite others Direct messages go to individuals, and can also be created with a small group to communicate with

An example of private channel communication You can describe the purpose of channels you create and invite others

How Slack Works Improving Workflow With some pushing from the editor, section editors quickly saw benefits in terms of the story assignment process, eliminating the need for chains of emails back and forth You can describe the purpose of channels you create and invite others

How Slack Works Better Communication Students quickly learned how to use the tagging and other functions to make sure that peers got the messages. Using the @ in front of a user name sends an alert to the user that they have been tagged in a message

How Faster Communication Having the phone app made it easy for students to communicate with each other quickly on their phones… (There is also a desktop app that alerts you)

Better, Faster Communication …which helped build group identity and a sense of shared mission among staff and a chance for people to joke with each other and offer help when needed

Better, Faster Communication …and let mischievous advisers a chance for some fun as well… Students also started to develop “memes” that were used for humorous effect

File Uploads and Links Files and links can easily be embedded in messages and shared with individuals or in channels

File Uploads and Links Files and links can easily be embedded in messages and shared with individuals or in channels

File Uploads and Links Students could easily upload from their phones and get responses on issues

Student Engagement and Learning Students quickly adapted to Slack and started using it for their own purposes, including creating new channels, discussing relevant issues, and learning in the process

Student Engagement and Learning Students quickly adapted to Slack and started using it for their own purposes, including creating new channels, discussing relevant issues, and learning in the process

Slack: Pros Pushed information makes it easy to get messages Improved workflow and communication among group members, especially for smaller or frequent tasks where information needs to be shared quickly Improved communication helps build a sense of shared mission and group identity among members User interface makes it easy to adopt and feel familiar with Increased student engagement and self-learning Simple weekly analytics for messages sent and files uploaded Free version (last 10,000 messages archived)

Slack: Cons Lack of social context cues in written messages can lead to hurt feelings and spats (emojis don’t always help) Speed of communication sometimes means thoughtfulness gets left behind in heat of the moment Those without smart phones and/or high-speed Internet connections can get left out of conversations and decisions Over-reliance on Slack as the main mode of communication, sacrificing face-to-face communication as a more important way to create a positive organizational culture

Slack Beyond the Newsroom Useful in classes where small groups must work together Easy to monitor communications in channels Easy to settle disputes quickly Useful where sharing of lots of information between students or between students and the professor is done Uploading articles Commenting on articles or readings Can provide a knowledge base between semesters with past material that has been shared