It's that time of year again. Time for aspiring snark writers, fantastic photographers, and anal-retentive copy editors to turn their dreams into reality by joining Onward State, the premier online, independent, student-run media outlet at our fine University.
Find out more after the jump!
After the basketball team's three memorable performances last week, which included upset wins of #18 Michigan State and #16 Illinois and a heart-breaking three-point loss at #2 Ohio State, we here at Onward State wanted to go behind the scenes and follow the brains of the operation, Coach Ed DeChellis.
Well, this one's been kicking around in my head for the past couple of months. And today, I'm very excited to announce Onward State Mobile, a mobile-optimized version of the website. Onward State Mobile brings the same Onward State look and feel to your phone to give you an awesome experience on the go. Head on past the break to find out some of the features included in Onward State Mobile.
Having been with Onward State from its dorm room beginnings in November 2008, my spring semester abroad has me feeling a little out of sorts. Don't get me wrong though. While I'm looking forward to the experience, missing out on the day-to-day madness that is Onward State will be strange.
Sorting through emails, planning future coverage, and providing writer feedback took up a sizable portion of my time, as my roommates last semester can attest. While much of my new-found free time will be spent exploring Prague and the rest of Europe, Onward State, and the service it provides to the Penn State community, is very important to me.
You suggested, we listened. Welcome to the new Onward State, our fifth major redesign.
Some of the words we frequently heard about our previous redesign were cluttered, confusing, and community column. Not sure what's up with all of the C-words. In this redesign, we went back to the basics. A single stream brings together all of Onward State's content. You can choose to filter this stream to show everything, only community content, or only links.
Read on to find out what other exciting changes we made.
A Moment With Your New Community Manager
Hello there. My name's Evan. I co-founded Onward State, along with Davis and Eli, back in November 2008. I've been a writer, an editor, and even an amateur sketch artist over the past two years.
But, as Kanye West once said, "I'm living in the future so the present is my past," so let's move on.
I've now taken over the reins as the Community Manager for Onward State, which will be a different position than it has been in the past. Essentially, I will be acting as a liaison between the Onward State staff and you, our glorious readers and commenters. Since this position is new, it will surely develop and evolve as the semester progresses.
For now, though, let's focus on one of the things that makes Onward State really neat--great online conversations. As some of our more regular readers may already know, our comments section can be both entertaining and engaging (ideally both at the same time). To start off the new semester, I have some guidelines to follow in order to keep our comments great and make them even better over time. Check them out after the jump.