New Maynooth-based student news source.

Seren_

http://studentstandard.ie/

Ran by former VP SEC Keith Broni and a few other very talented guys who were involved with last year's The Print. From being involved with that publication, I have high hopes for the Student Standard. Also will help fill the hole left by the Observer now that the guys there are all finished (although I'm not sure if that's definitely the end for it? Hopefully not.)

Opinions?

Ms. Koi

It looks really good, I was having a great look around it earlier. Website is brilliant and it's great to see more news sources!

DB21

Looks good. Shame about the observer guys moving on if they are. But still, the more press on campus, the better.

Quinzy

Ahahahahahahaha, a news sources called the 'standard' ran by Keith Broni...

Lets hope this time it has proof readers that do their job.

BuroniKiisu

Quinzy wrote: »

Ahahahahahahaha, a news sources called the 'standard' ran by Keith Broni...

Lets hope this time it has proof readers that do their job.

Cheers for the kind words, Quinzy.

Quinzy

I know it's harsh words, but I'm not one for platitudes.

If you're serious about this endeavour, please learn from your past mistakes and really put the work in this time. You had proofers that seemed like they were purely nominal, ads for things that were days or weeks before the print date, and poor resolution images.

I wish you all the best, in all honesty, but you need to bring your A-game if you want to pull this off. I'm not saying this to be mean, I'm saying this because it needs to be said.

Talk to some of the people that run student papers in other universities that have participating journalism departments.

What is it your tattoo says again? Do what works and shut up?

Seren_

Was last year your first year in Maynooth by any chance Quinzy? Let's just say last year's paper was quite an improvement on what came before :pac: Sometimes I still have nightmares about The Spoke...

Quinzy

I've been here for four years.

Even if it was better than The Spoke, it was still very sloppy. Whole sections of text cut and pasted in to other articles; missing or repeated articles; rampant spelling and grammar errors (more than is usually acceptable for a student paper that is); massively delayed distribution dates, etc.

I appreciate that it was better than the last paper, but even if something bad is better than something worse, it's still bad.

Eric Cartman

Your Text Here wrote: »

Was last year your first year in Maynooth by any chance Quinzy? Let's just say last year's paper was quite an improvement on what came before :pac: Sometimes I still have nightmares about The Spoke...

I remember picking up a copy of the spoke and finding a piece with a headline done in comic sans, from then on I never looked at it again

DevilsAdvocate

I have to second Quinzy's constructive criticism. There were persistent errors in spelling, grammar and figures in the Print over the last year. Proof readers are a must.

The Print was something of a blend of three week old Metro Heralds and tidbits the contributors found on Reddit or wherever. I would suggest that NUIM related content, along with student relevant content, should be the number one priority and should take precedence over one student's musings on world news or culture.

I look forward to seeing how the website gets on. I sincerely hope that it contributes to student life in NUIM; unlike the Print, which seemed more like a practice pad for those hoping to go on to journalism.

Seren_

I suppose it depends on what you're interested really. I always found the ents & culture section the most interesting, and most articles I wrote were for that section. While it'd definitely be better to have more NUIM based news, the reality is that there really wasn't a whole lot of stories there. Do you have examples of things that you think could have been better covered/were missed?

I don't refute your issues with the spelling and grammar/proof reading. I know it was something that worked on a lot during the year with different systems tried out, but obviously things could be done much better.

This post is purely my own views of course.

DevilsAdvocate

Your Text Here wrote: »

While it'd definitely be better to have more NUIM based news, the reality is that there really wasn't a whole lot of stories there. Do you have examples of things that you think could have been better covered/were missed?

There are plenty of stories there.

Take the Clubs and Socs: Why not review the plays the Drama soc puts on? There are plenty of intervarsities the college competes in that don't get much attention. Get someone to write an article on Dominicon and the 24 juggle sessions; do a piece on the Classics movie nights; what does the Comedy soc do? What have Playdo been making? What's the most active martial arts/self defence club?

It's as simple as pick a NUIM club/soc/event and do a piece on it. This encourages participation and is relevant to student life. You could even get someone to go to a lecture from a different course and report the experience, it could be a running piece.

Note new services and facilities available to students in the local area in a meaningful way. How many students even knew the Creative Arts Centre was there? Gamer's Hub got less space in the Print than a split-second snapshot of UCC in How I Met Your Mother. Report new shops, local deals or special offers that might save the students a few euros. How are decisions made by the administration/government affecting NUIM students?

Hell, even vomit hotspots around the town would be more relevant (and quite possibly, more interesting) than the Samoa time zone change (which profoundly impacted student life in Maynooth :rolleyes:; and besides had already been more than adequately reported on by RTE).

This is all off the top of my head, so to say there isn't much to write about in Maynooth is ridiculous.

Seren_

They're all really good ideas DevilsAdvocate. Just wondering though, if you didn't feel like the paper was covering enough things like that, why didn't you let the editor know? I don't get it when people stand on the sidelines giving out about things when they know they could do something to change it If you didn't have enough time to get involved with writing them, you could have just emailed a list of ideas and they would have been covered.

DevilsAdvocate

I suppose I could have sent an email. To be honest, as much as the poor quality annoyed me, the Print wasn't exactly a priority issue for me last semester. Although that none of those ideas occurred to aspiring journalists is somewhat baffling.

On the other hand, the Maynooth Student Union is notoriously cliquish. I can't imagine the former editor would take it well if one was to suggest that he wasn't doing his job properly, dedicating enough time to it or that most of the content was vacuous. There is a good chance any suggestion would have been ignored.

purebeta

Hmm, I agree on most points. More could be done on serious student contributions to art and culture in general.
How many NUIM students or graduates are making music on a national or international scale.
Producing theatre, films, works of art etc.

Student thought, philosophy. It's saddening to see a student newspaper that
requires almost no level of engagement in order to grasp. For what are we if
not students, intellectuals. Mere party animals, looking for the 'craic'.

Leave pop culture reviews to the tabloid media,
at least we know which ones to avoid,
don't let your paper be one of them.

That's if people listen to these things, or choose to ignore them.
pb

Seren_

One thing that certainly can't be said about the paper was that not enough time was given to it, if anything it was the opposite; although a lot of that was the actual building/design of it tbh. I don't know, I think it was a pretty decent newspaper which everyone involved put a lot of work into, but I obviously am biased in that regard. Let the new VP SEC know your concerns and I'm sure he will take them into consideration for next year's edition. Or even get involved if you guys are still around college and are able to.

Quinzy

With all due respect, the massive errors betray any claim that enough time was put in to it, at least for certain issues.
One article, which was meant to be a two-part review, contained the first part printed twice.
Another article, which was meant to cover some world event, like the Samoa time change or something, contained half an article on drugs in the inner city.
These are the sorts of things that aren't acceptable to slip through the net, especially when there are some 5 or so people listed as spell checkers, as well as an editor. Is each paper read together in a group before being finalised?
I might be able to get involved next year. PhD work is pretty heavy going, so I'll see.

Eric Cartman

Quinzy wrote: »

With all due respect, the massive errors betray any claim that enough time was put in to it, at least for certain issues.
One article, which was meant to be a two-part review, contained the first part printed twice.
Another article, which was meant to cover some world event, like the Samoa time change or something, contained half an article on drugs in the inner city.
These are the sorts of things that aren't acceptable to slip through the net, especially when there are some 5 or so people listed as spell checkers, as well as an editor. Is each paper read together in a group before being finalised?
I might be able to get involved next year. PhD work is pretty heavy going, so I'll see.

realistically, problems like that happen due to workflow and procedural errors, If you get the procedure correct then all of these minor issues can be avoided, the biggest issue with publications like the spoke was content ariving 24-48 hours before it had to go to the printers and all nighters trying to get it finished.

Ive been working in print and broadcast media for 4 and a bit years now and Ive seen bits like this happen before, If you have the right operational procedure its really easy to find the weak link and correct the problem.