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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
KS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
PO BOX 3585
TOPEKA, KS 66601-3585
Kansan Weekend Edition
67 48
Friday
April 24, 1998
Section:
A
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Vol.108·No.144 Saturday & Sunday
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Wandering the Web
(USPS 650-640)
OK. We admit it. We couldn't think of any cool, timely subject that would be terribly interesting. Yes, it's Arbor Day, but how many hours can you spend reading about trees? So today, and today only, we are offering volume selling of Internet sites. And we guarantee that they're all interesting! I know you can't believe that we are offering these sites at these low, low prices. But the crazy Kansan is celebrating spring and passing the savings on to you!
Welcome to the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest where the worst writer is the winner. Entrants are asked to write the worst opening to a fiction novel. View the fine art of tasteless prose from this year and last.
www.bulwer-lytton.com
■ www.cisnet.or.jp/home/
rhrose/pause/Default.htm
... there is. Learn about the phonomena in human speech known * as 'filled pauses.' Ummm ... it could be really ... ya know ... fun.
■ www.usps.gov/letters/
www.kv5.com/
This is a beautiful site at beautiful price. The Theban Mapping Project delves into the most important Egyptian archeological discoveries of all time. Visit the Valley of the Kings and check out the ongoing work of the Theban Mapping Project in the tomb of the sons of Ramesses II.
The United States Postal Service's page titled "Unforgettable Letters" is nicely done. Read the best love letters, Presidential letters and "Dear Santa" letters. And then write one of your own. Just make sure it wouldn't win the Bulwer-Lytton contest mentioned above.
Tonight:
CONCERTCALENDAR
Bottleneck: Farmer's Ball Finals: Two Player Option, Vosotros, Icarus, The Anniversary
Jazzhaus: Detroit
Tomorrow:
Tomorrow.
The Bottleneck: Scroat Belly,
Stillwater, Curt St. James
Band
Jazzhaus: Carice
Granada: Tone Loc
Sunday:
*Replay Lounge: Windy And Carl, Grimble Grumble, The Planetarium
Sunday:
Index
News . . . . 3A
Sports . . . . 1B
Opinion . . . . 4A
Entertainment . 9,10A
Classifieds . . . . 8,9B
Horoscopes . . . . 2B
Coupons . . . . 3A
Movie Listings' . . . 7A
The Digital Jayhawk
Story by Brandon Coppe Illustration by Angle Kuhn
The University Daily Kansan is the student newspaper of the University of Kansas. The first copy is paid through the student activity fee. Additional copies of the Kansan are 25 cents.
The School of Journalism is building an integrated Web site to teach students new media. But the project may be having trouble getting off the ground.
W when Jimmy Gentry became dean of the University of Kansas School of Journalism,
he knew he had to come up with a way to get the school on the cutting edge of digital technology, but he didn't know how.
Now, Gentry thinks he may have found a way.
next fall, the school will launch a new media laboratory called the Digital Jayhawk — an integrated Web site that would provide news and sports, complete with audio and video, as well as information from the University and links to Web sites across campus.
The Digital Jayhawk would deliver, like a paperboy, the news to users' doors, or in this case, to their computer screens.
It is an experiment Gentry said would lead the school to the forefront of Web-based media.
The project would involve students from the school's print, radio and television programs, as well as advertising and business communications. It also could involve students from
engineering or fine arts.
Gentry said the project would prepare students to work in an industry where corporate giants, such as Time-Warner, control print, television, radio and new media.
Gentry said it would cost about $40,000 to make the Digital Jayhawk operational. That includes the purchase price of hardware and software, as well as payroll for five to 10 students.
"The whole industry is moving toward convergence." Gentry said. "We have traditionally had three different fleddoms in the journalism school — print, radio and television — and that's no longer the way the work works."
About half of the money came from a grant the school won from the University. The remainder will come from the school's budget.
The project is the brain-child of two men: Gentry and Gary Hawke, professor of broadcast and general manager of KJHK radio and KUJH Internet television.
Gentry and Hawke agree on the
need to provide new media experience for journalism students, and they generally agree on what the Digital Jayhawk should be.
But they disagree about many of the technical aspects of the project, which may indicate either how difficult it is to embark on a major new media project, or how far this project is from completion.
Hawke, who has been working on the Digital Jayhawk for close to two years, said the primary focus involved gathering and managing information from other sources.
Gentry said the Digital Jayhawk would produce some of its own content, or information, in a newsroom staffed by reporters, editors, designers and computer engineers.
Hawke said the Digital Jayhawk's revenue would come almost entirely from selling subscriptions.
Gentry said he did not think it could sell enough subscriptions to sustain itself.
Hawke said the partners would be the entities for which the Digital Jayhawk served as a conduit. For example, the site will allow the chancellor to post messages and announcements to the administration and faculty. Using audio streaming technology, the Digital Jayhawk could allow users to hear the chancellor's voice. Hawke said.
The Digital Jayhawk will provide links to other University news and information sources, Hawke said. He said he envisioned a Web site that displayed multiple windows of news and information from various partners.
The chancellor's office is a partner, as are the Athletic Department and the Alumni Association. Hawke said he hoped to gain the Lied Center as well.
Each of those already has a Web site, but Hawke said the Digital Jayhawk would make the same information easier to access.
In some cases, the Digital Jayhawk also will offer a value-added product with audio or video streaming and interactive features.
KJHK and KUJH already own the streaming technology that converts audio and video content into digital form that can be reproduced on the Web.
on the Web. Users
"The whole industry is moving toward convergence. We have traditionally had three different fiefdoms in the journalism school print, radio,and television and that's no longer the way the world works." Jimmy Gentry
Dean of the School of Journalism
could have the Digital Jayhawk push the information to them.
Push technology allows users to receive information from a Web site without having to access it on the Web.
Push technology could be used, for instance, with a placement service to inform students of new job openings.
Hawke said push technology had been criticized because it consumed the bandwidth on the phone lines that transmitted digital signals. However, he said technology quickly was overcoming those problems.
"The software we've got allows you to limit the information you're receiving so it eats up less bandwidth." he said. "So if you just want sports, you turn it on sports only. It also has a feature that updates information only at times when you're not using your bandwidth."
Plans for the Digital Jayhawk still are sketchy. There is no business plan, and no classroom space has been chosen.
The school had planned to hire a faculty member to work in new media, but after interviewing three candidates, the faculty could not agree on whom to hire. Gentry said the school still was searching for a faculty adviser for the Digital Jayhawk.
The school has purchased a software package and the necessary hardware, and some key campus players are behind the project.
Michael Grobe, KU distributed computing manager, said he and other computing services officials were pleased with the project.
"I'm not a big fan of push technology, but different people have different preferences," he said. "I've looked at a lot of new directions for
distributed information technology, and this is a pretice good one."
There is some skepticism, however, about the way Digital Jayhawk is shaping up. Several journalism faculty members expressed doubts about the software package, push technology and sustaining the project with subscriptions. None would speak on the record.
Part of the skepticism may stem from the fact nobody really knows what the Digital Jayhawk will look like.
Jeffries said she did not think the subscription-driven Digital Jayhawk would be a source of competition for the UDK1, which offers free access and receives its revenue from advertising.
"People associate campus news with the Kansan," she said. "We will still have the strongest content and the strongest news staff."
"It's hard to know how you feel when there doesn't seem to be any definition about what it is," said Charity Jeffries, University Daily Kansan interactive editor.
Gentry and Hawke both maintain the Digital Jayhawk will provide a
Holocaust Remembrance Day was celebrated at Wescoe Beach yesterday. See page 3A
See JAYHAWK on page 2A
Reflecting
Let's dance
The Ballroom Dancing club will throw its annual Spring Ball at 8 tonight at the Ballroom in the Kansas Union.
See page 10A
...
Before South Park and Beavis and Butthead, there was The Simpsons. The show celebrates 200 episodes on Sunday. Don't have a cow,man.
See page 9A
Do'h!
Athletes for hire
The NCAA ruled that student-athletes may work during their seasons. See page 1B
Spring fever
The annual Blue-White scrimmage is set for 1 p.m. tomorrow at Haskell Indian Nations University.
See page 1B
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