I never thought I would be sitting in this chair, an entire staff looking to me for advice and final approval.

But now, sitting at my new desk in the editor’s office on the first night of daily production with 10 summer issues behind me, I’m excited and ready to start.

As has been every editor’s goal in years past, I want this staff to build up our credibility with you, the reader. We want to bring you content that you care about and that affects you in a variety of different ways. And we want to be the first to break the news that will impact you.

Newspapers around the country are now looking for new ways to utilize the Web for this Internet generation. Papers have seen budget cuts due to ad revenue and the evolving Web presence. Technician is no different.

We are working with the various media outlets within Student Media to collaborate and come up with some great projects together, especially as we have done this summer with the Agromeck and its editor John Cooper Elias.

This staff is working hard to present the news to you in different ways online and engage you in it — through audio slideshows, videos, blogs and online exclusive content. We will be unveiling a new site before the semester’s end.

We will continue to do in-depth coverage with our Focused section bi-weekly and have revamped page 2 so that it is a place for you to see what’s happening around campus. Features has been split up into five different subsections, each day with new angles and stories.

This is a big year for the paper, especially with the upcoming elections, and we plan to present you with the coverage you can’t get anywhere else. Be sure to continue checking technicianonline.com for online exclusives, and don’t forget our special RED issues that will come out for elections, as well as football and basketball seasons.

And as always, we want to hear from you, the reader, about what we’re doing right, what we can improve upon and what you want to see more of. Send us e-mails, letters or just stop by the office on the third floor of Witherspoon.

Each of the editors works hard every day to produce this product for you. They are full-time students just like you who also work full-time in hopes of creating a product that will be informative as well as entertain you from time to time. Check out the print edition of Technician to meet this staff.

Their goals:

SPORTSImprove online coverage and expand online readership

The sports staff would like to improve our online coverage. We plan on accomplishing this goal by increasing our multimedia coverage of events.

Our Web site will include more video, blogs, slideshows and podcasts than ever before. It is also important to note that although much of this expanded coverage will be related to football and basketball, we will also use the same tools with the nonrevenue sports.

The beat system will be integral to accomplishing this goal. The staffÕs secondary goal is to expand online readership. With our improved coverage, it is hoped that this will be a natural process. Other ways we will promote our new efforts is through utilizing our relationships with other local media outlets, by having them post links to our Web site.

VIEWPOINTDo more research to improve relevance to students

Opinion and editorial content needs to present perspectives on issues that matter to students. At the same time, opinions need to be well informed.

The Viewpoint staff has to make sure that we do the research and our editorial and opinion content must build upon objective information and a variety of subjective viewpoints on issues that matter. Our aim is to make sure that all content directly relates to students and to increase the amount of research that goes into op-ed content.

We encourage students to continue to send us forum and guest letters and to let us know what you think.

FEATURESCreate a clear delineation between sections’ content

Because each features subsection will have its own identity, readers will expect and should receive different, quality content within each subsection.

Life & Style will cover health, living, dining and style-type stories. This style deals not just with fashion but also with lifestyles.

Arts & Entertainment has priority on all stories that fall under movies, music, arts, video games and University arts operations.

Business & Money will be the easiest to identify content for, as it will provide a feature spin on financial and economic news.

Science & Tech will also be easy to define content for, since it will cover all things science, technology and outer space.

Campus & Capital will, like Business & Money, take news-like stories and give them a feature spin. It will also cover on-campus events/students/professors/faculty that/who do not fall under any other subsection. Each section will contain online multimedia specific to each section.

DESIGNKeep the paper consistent with style guidelines

The design team would like to better enforce the use of Technician style in the printed paper by referencing our stylebook and better training our designers. It is important for the Technician to have a look that separates it from other newspapers, one that readers should expect to see when the pick up the paper each day.

PhotographyImprove Multimedia Coverage

This year, the photography staff will increase the quality and amount of multimedia coverage. We should expand our multimedia capability to include video to add another dimension to our stories if we deem it applicable for the story.

NEWSStick to the Beat System

To fully report on the campus community, we need writers working in all departments on campus. Successful use of the beat system is the best way to make that happen. The beat system will allow writers to take ownership of their stories and allow editors to focus on editing and guiding the section. It will also make the section’s stories more diverse and in-depth.

We will also be focusing, like the other sections, on multimedia content and bringing the news to you and its analysis in new ways — especially in terms of election coverage.