During the weekend, 11 Oakland Post staff members traveled to Chicago for the National College Media Convention, hosted by the Associated Collegiate Press and the College Media Association.

While there, we accepted a Pacemaker Finalist award, won fifth place for Design of the Year for an illustration and placed 10th in Best of Show for web design.

The recognition was nice, but what we learned during the convention has stuck with us most.

Over the next few weeks, we are going to implement quite a few changes in The Oakland Post. It may be unrealistic to come back from the convention and promise an entirely new publication, but we’re ambitious to improve as much as possible, as quickly as possible.

We’re going to move our focus to web content, ensuring news is reported as it happens. The consumption of news changing, and we’re going to change, too. We’re going to mold our coverage based on that of web-first media outlets. Rather than printing a story once a week, we want to break the news online and update it in —print and online — accordingly. The Internet provides endless space and opportunity, and The Post plans on better utilizing it.

In addition to an increased Web presence, we want to improve our multimedia reporting through stronger photographs, more meaningful infographs and diverse video coverage. A visual should enhance a story and intrigue the reader — not just sit there for the sake of having a photo. In place of posed mug shots and photos of buildings, we plan on capturing action. Many of us are “word” people, but we’re going to work on thinking more visually.

The staff is also eager to pursue more in-depth, meaningful content. We want to hold the university and ourselves accountable for the truth-regardless of the subject. When things don’t add up, we’re going to investigate. If there’s a question, we hope to answer it as best as possible because it is our responsibility as journalists to do so. The Post will continue producing features, news and sports coverage—but we want to take it a step further.

These changes are exciting, and the possibilities are almost overwhelming. We know it won’t always be easy, and we know it won’t happen overnight. We also know that these changes will be useless unless they serve you. The Post appreciates your readership, and we’re asking for more. We want you to help us improve-tell us what you want to see in the paper, let us know where we could be better. A campus newspaper should be an extension of the student body, and we want to ensure that our publication is a reflection of the issues that affect and matter to you.

We thank you for your continued support and look forward to bringing you a stronger Oakland Post.