February 14, 2008
Going paperless: ‘University Week’ to be delivered online-only starting in fall
Beginning with fall quarter, you will not be receiving paper copies of University Week in your mailboxes anymore. After 25 years, we have decided to deliver the publication online only.
This decision was not made lightly. Last fall we conducted a reader survey asking how people preferred to receive the publication. Of the more than 2,000 responses, only 10 percent told us they preferred the paper version, and another 25 percent said they liked receiving both versions. But nearly two-thirds — 65 percent — reported that they preferred reading University Week online.
We had sensed that this might be true, based on the number of e-mails we have received from readers complaining about the duplication of content and environmental consequences of publishing on paper. These e-mails have been increasing recently, leading us to think that perhaps the tipping point had been reached.
Our conversion from paper to online has been a gradual one. We put up our first Web site in 1998, simply taking what we had published on paper and transferring it over. Most faculty and staff ignored it because they were used to the paper version, which in those days came out every week.
A budget cut in 2002 forced us to move the paper to a biweekly schedule, so we decided to produce an online-only edition in the interim weeks. We sent out an e-mail to alert people to that edition’s existence, but did not send e-mail for the paper edition (which was also posted on the Web site). The e-mail increased readership of the online edition, and last year we began sending e-mail every week.
The online medium has allowed us to do many things we couldn’t do on paper, such as mount slide shows and videos, and we look forward to adding many interactive features in the near future. For example, we plan to start a free classified ad service — which is possible because people can enter their own information online.
We realize, however, that online publication has its drawbacks. Chief among them is access for staff who do not normally work at a computer. That’s why, by the time our print version goes away, we plan to have in place a “one-click-print” feature that will allow a reader to print out the entire issue just by clicking once. We are also willing to meet with any department head or supervisor whose employees are in this situation. Because we want everyone to be able to read UWeek, we’ll do what we can to accommodate you.
Change is hard. I’ve been around University Week almost from the beginning, and can remember the days we did layout by drawing on a piece of paper and then watching printers wax long galleys down onto the page. Since then I’ve seen all our methods evolve as we’ve moved increasingly away from paper and into the electronic world. The thing that’s remained constant through all of it is our desire to serve our readers, the faculty and staff who make this University what it is.
And that won’t change — not now, not ever. If you’d like to comment on our plans, we would welcome hearing from you. Just e-mail uweek@u.washington.edu.
