Many of us, whether that be student journalists at The Post or any other student at Ohio University, want to believe that we’re innovators, people capable of implementing original ideas in a creative setting.
It’s a reason to go to class each day or carry late-night ideas to early-morning hypothesis testing. For The Post, it was a partial reason to redesign our website and print product this year. When our editors made the announcement of that switch last January, it made sense to profile and feature students who were grappling with similar obstacles. Then came our first so-called “Innovation Issue.”
This year, The Post hopes to challenge the traditional definition of an innovator. Yes, an innovator might be a person who started a small business or developed their own app. But it could also be a student who creates art in a non-traditional way; it could be a group of professionals reaching out a helping hand to hopeful entrepreneurs in Appalachia.
Innovators, by nature, want to push boundaries and definitions. They want to see the future come a bit quicker. Of course, that can be a bit terrifying, but it's wildly exciting.
This year, The Post learned innovation within our newsroom was possible, if only held back sometimes by our century-old traditions.
Often, that innovation didn’t come from the top down. It came from those fearless staffers in the newsroom who challenged — from the bottom up — what we knew with what we should know. Staffers of The Post started to think less like a college newspaper and more like a new business venture: What did our customers want, why did that matter and how could we give it to them?
We hope we’ve succeeded in some ways but still have room to improve in others. Because, honestly, finding those solutions has been fun. We hope you enjoy reading about students,
— Emma Ockerman is a senior studying journalism and editor-in-chief of The Post. Want to talk to her? Tweet her @eockerman or email her eo300813@ohio.edu.
