Blog to feature local NYU news

Cody Brown thinks that NYU students need to get on the same page - webpage, that is.

In the words of Brown's new 24-hour news website, NYU Local, there is "no quad, no Division 1 basketball, no green grass pavilion [and] no identifiable mascot." With its Gawker-like appeal, NYU Local hopes to draw the university's unique campus together.

Brown, a Tisch sophomore majoring in film and minoring in journalism, said he started NYU Local with the hopes of becoming "the popular publication on campus," providing students with news specific to NYU.

"Each school will have a blog. We will appoint an editor for each blog," Brown said. "It gives us the potential for hundreds of blogs. All these blogs have the capability for not only text but photos and video."

Blog editors will be responsible for managing the site and supervising coverage by posting once or twice a day.

"With these stories, there is the possibility of posting photos and video within minutes of the event," Brown said.

NYU Local will be a "mix between news and blogging," said CAS freshman Lily Quateman, NYU Local's editor-in-chief and a journalism major. Quateman has contributed to the Washington Square News as a columnist.

"It's the first of its kind, it seems that way at least," said Quateman, who goes by Lily Q on the website.

Quateman said that, by nature, the site will compete with WSN for readership.

"I think by simply virtue of the fact that we would like to be a popular publication at NYU, there will be competition with WSN," she said. "We'll be covering news that WSN doesn't. The competition is incidental."

Adam Playford, WSN's editor-in-chief, said that the competition can only be good for the university's established student publication.

"[NYU Local] is a cool project. I strongly believe in student journalism," he said. "Competition is healthy. At WSN, our focus is about making great journalism, and if our competition pushes us to do that, it is to our readers' benefit."

Playford added that WSN often places greater importance on giving stories contextual background than on prompt timestamps but that the paper is exploring new ways to use the web.

"The priority is not getting the story up the second its done but making sure we get it right," he said. But "we are making big changes. We are revamping our blogs and are certainly reevaluating how we use the internet and how it'll work for us."

In terms of NYU Local's coverage, Quateman said that stories will be exclusively about the NYU community.

"There will never be things about the election because [newspapers like The New York Times] can cover it better then we can," Quateman said. "Stories on NYU Local will be things that belong on an NYU website."

Brooke Kroeger, a faculty advisor for NYU Local and the journalism department chairwoman, said that her role in the project is "strictly background."

"This is a very student-run initiative," she explained. "It's Cody's brainchild, and he's brought in this fabulous team."

Brown said that NYU Local is cutting-edge.

"It is founded on technology that has emerged in the last year," Brown said. "[The system] is amazingly fast, intuitive, opens up numerous opportunities."

NYU Local runs on a modified version of Word Press, an intuitive blogging system used world-wide, including other college publications like the University of Arizona's Daily Wildcat, the University of Pennsylvania's Daily Pennsylvanian and WSN. NYU Local follows in the footsteps of other campus sites across the country who are increasingly turning to the web to distribute and connect with their school communities.

The launch date for NYU Local has yet to be determined. Brown said that this semester there will be a "soft launch," which means the site will be up but not promoted heavily, with a "bigger launch" expected for fall 2008.

Brown said the cost of the site was surprisingly inexpensive. Brown paid for the server for the upcoming year but said NYU Local may need a bigger server if it's successful.

"I've spent, so far, less than the cost of an iPod touch," Brown said.

As of now, staff members at NYU Local are not paid. According to Brown, the website is still not in the position to offer salaries to its writers and editors.

"Money isn't on the table. No one on this project is getting money," he said. "I am paying for it because we haven't pursued advertisement. If we do get into a position where we get revenue, the higher positions will be paid."

Some students said that it will take time for the start-up to grow roots in the NYU community.

"It has the potential to be good, but it'll depend on what they do," said Katie Gaston, a premed CAS freshman. "Washington Square News already has a given audience. NYU Local has to gain it."

Brown has high hopes for the endeavor.

"The goal of this project is to create an institution that is uniquely NYU," he said.

Michael McCormack is deputy campus editor. E-mail him at mccormack@nyunews.com.