Responsibilities
Fenton InPrint (Online Editor in Chief)
As the Online Editor in Chief, I oversee the entire website ( www.fentoninprint.com ). I am responsible for editing all stories that are posted, making a monthly ladder/calendar, working with my Print Editor in Chief, and delegating tasks to my other online editors. I have implemented lots of changes since becoming Online Editor in Chief that have helped our website run more smoothly.
PHOTO: CHAD SANDERS
Seniors (left to right) Gracie Warda (Online Editor in Chief) and Tyler Soule (Print Editor in Chief) pose for a photo at the MIPA fall conference.
Organization
Calendar
Our entire staff works off of Google Apps Productivity suite, using mainly Google Drive and Google Calendar. All Online Editors have access to the Posting Calendar (pictured to the left), which outlines the stories that are to be posted each day. The stories are color coded, and turned gray after the story is scheduled or posted.
Ladder
For each cycle/month, there is a Print and Online Ladder, created by the Print Editor in Chief and I. The online ladder (pictured to the left) uses the same color-coding system as the calendar, and shows what a particular story is about, who writes it, the editor, due date/week number, story swap date, and whether or not the story was late. Like the calendar, the row's backdrop color is changed to gray after it is scheduled or posted. It may look complicated at first, but this system has worked really well to keep our website organized.
Google Drive
The entire InPrint staff has a Google Drive shared with them that is divided into 4 main sections: Print, Online, Business and Reference. The Online folder is divided into numbered cycles, which are then divided by weeks. Pictured to the left is what a particular week's folder may look like. Story documents are moved to the Posted folder once they are posted or scheduled.
GroupMe
The entirety of our staff uses GroupMe to communicate outside of class. We use it for reminders, asking questions, and nearly any other form of contact that is necessary outside of class time. Because our whole staff is not in the same class, GroupMe helps ensure that everyone is on the same page. We have a staff chat, online editor chat, EICs and adviser chat and more to help keep everyone connected.
New Policies
Five-Point Policy
One problem that the InPrint staff— and many other staffs— struggles with is late stories. This year, we implemented a policy which deducts 5 points from a story for each school day it is late (stories are usually worth 60 points in the grade book). This has significantly reduced the number of late stories in a given cycle.
Responsibility Delegation
In previous years, our Editors in Chief have struggled with distributing tasks among the entire staff. This year, I have heavily focused on dividing up responsibility: each of my online editors is responsible for posting their writers' stories and posting either People of Fenton or Photo of the day regularly. This helps make things run more smoothly and allows me, as the Editor in Chief, to oversee more and be overwhelmed less.
Story Swap
This year, we also started doing Story Swaps on Fridays, which are essentially peer editing sessions. This helps ensure that drafts are done before the due date and allows stories to be edited by more people.
Editing Chain
Each Online Editor is assigned 2-4 writers to oversee during a cycle. Online Editors are responsible for looking over their assigned writers' stories, and aren't necessarily responsible for looking at all of the stories. This editing chain, combined with story swap, guarantees that each story will have at least 4 sets of eyes editing it, minimizing errors in the finished products.