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There's Something Different
About eDigest
The Smith eDigest was launched five years ago as a way
to distribute event promotions, notices and messages to the campus community in a
twice-weekly, electronic, readable format.
We in College Relations who produce eDigest have continuously
adapted the resource over the years to improve its effectiveness for people in the
Smith community. Last spring, as we approached the publication’s five-year anniversary,
we asked a group of eDigest users—an ad hoc, representative task force—to analyze
the digest for ways to make it more useful and user-friendly.
The result, a more streamlined, simplified eDigest,
is what you will begin receiving this week, each Tuesday and Thursday throughout
the academic year.
Among the changes you will see upon opening eDigest
will be:
- reorganized categories. Each eDigest will include categories
for Faculty/Staff Notices and Student Notices at the top of the page, to ensure
that important deadlines and policy changes are easily visible. These will be followed
by event-related categories, such as those announcing upcoming lectures, arts events,
meetings, and presentations of majors and minors.
- shortened teasers for each item. Where the old version of eDigest
included a headline and a short description with the option to click on “More…” for
further information, the new version will include a descriptive headline, with
date, time and location of events when applicable. The headline will link directly
to the item for more information. This change is intended to shorten the overall
length of eDigest while continuing to promote the rich array of events and news
on campus.
- a minor redesign of the page. By removing the “Of Note” sidebar
section with links to articles on the Gate and placing other pertinent links elsewhere
on the page, we will further reduce the length of eDigest.
- a simplified submission process. The eDigest
submission form now includes optional fields for date, time and location,
which will automatically be added to the teaser headline. If your item is not
date-sensitive, simply leave those fields blank. Also, the submission form includes
posting tips along the right-hand column; please review these tips when
submitting an item.
- an improved automatic confirmation. Now, when you submit an
eDigest item, you will automatically be linked to an online confirmation page,
for your records, reflecting the content of your submission.
The Smith eDigest will continue to be managed by a team
in the Office of College Relations. If you have comments or questions about the resource,
please send email to edigest@smith.edu. |
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