Should Academe Convert To Having All-Digital Publications?

It’s a given. Campus newspapers, school bulletins, newsletters and the like are an important part of communication between the school and stakeholders to keep them aware of events and activities that affect the students as well as the community, in general. 

A handful of schools are now taking advantage of technology to attempt to make communication with their community more efficient and better engage them in current events. 

Yet, some academic institutions still shy away from digital media because they find it too disrupting, possibly confusing and intimidating to introduce even if they offer more efficient and effective communication between schools and stakeholders. And it’s surprising how some schools still communicate with say, alumni, through newsletters using direct mail in the blind hope that it will make its way into the recipient’s hands.

Truth is you can’t really fully trust this route. It’s expensive and not even environment friendly to which there are way better alternatives such as creating a digital magazine as means to get campus messages across. 

Last week, Arizona State University launched their digital magazine called “ASU Thrive”. Designed for those who regularly follow ASU’s colleges, programs, centers and institutes, and those who teach and learn at the university, it’s a digital magazine that will be published three times a year. Its content is presented with a combination of text, video and audio, combining innovative design and links to additional sources in an interactive and compelling format.

The magazine will be the school’s new platform to communicate activities and accomplishments to an even larger community that includes alumni, students and faculty, community leaders and supporters, policymakers, advocates. A truly inspiring case that will make all other schools ask themselves why they ever did it any other way. 

If you like to read more on why and how ASU rolled out their digital magazine, check out Mercy Pilkington‘s full feature of “Thrive” in Good E-reader here.

Shifting to digital media is not just about changing the way academe communicates with its stockholders. It is about having school administrators be highly effective and highly engaged with stakeholders to close academic gaps.

If you happen to be a curious administrator or publishing officer at a school or university and are not sure how to get started with digital publications, try Realview today! We’ll help you create a more engaging gazette or alumni newsletters for free!