By: Jaclyn Chen <[email protected]>

A new survey released last month by We Media/Zogby Interactive shows that more than half of Americans primarily use the Internet for news and information. This figure is up nearly 40 percent from just a year ago. The survey of nearly 2,000 respondents also says that less than a third watch TV for news, 11 percent listen to the radio and 10 percent read newspapers.

Evaluate your own access to the news. Do you read the local paper, the Indianapolis Star, or its insert, the Carmel Star? Dare I even venture to ask about the New York Times or USA Today? Or do you log onto CNN.com anytime you need to find a current event for social studies class?

There is little doubt that the way people access media is changing, and the result of this online poll is just one piece of evidence testifying to that effect.

And as the medium of news changes to the quick pace of the Internet, the HiLite is adjusting to the current as well. While we’ve had a functioning Web site available for quite some time, our Web team has updated the site and has hopefully made it more user-friendly for you, our readers.
As we aim to become the first reference for any news related to Carmel High School, we have expanded web coverage and updated it more frequently. Instead of just posting stories that have appeared in the paper version, we’ve added more exclusively online features, from restaurant reviews to daily updated sports scores to sudoku solutions.

We hope to provide up-to-date, accurate information in the form that is most accessible, whether that is online or in print, to our readers. But the expanded online element of the HiLite certain does not mean we will scale back our print version in any way.

The paper will still come out every few weeks as usual with all the features that are customarily there ­­— for example, the Acumen will continue to choose select topics to cover in-depth — but with the added bonus of additional information online.

Our primary goal, however, is to become a regularly used, reliable source for all members of this school and the community. Eventually we hope to converge the three different forms of media available at our school — print, audio and visual — into a one-stop-shop communications Web site. The Internet’s capacity is infinite, and we hope that we can access it all to provide our readers with the most comprehensive coverage. But as our technology tool belt expands to encompass that capacity, we hope that in the mean time the HiLite Web site serves as just one valuable tool.

To ease the navigation of the Web site, we will regularly highlight throughout the print version the information that is online. Any time you see a box with a grey @ sign, that signifies more coverage online. The box will give a brief description of what you can find and where to find it. But regardless of which medium that information exists in, you can expect the same quality and journalistic standards you’re used to seeing with the HiLite.

We hope in large part that our Web site can also become a discussion ground for some of the issues that affect this school and community. Comments and discussion also indicate to us what you find important and how you respond to the stories that appear on the site.

The HiLite, at its core, is a service to the school and the community, so we want to make sure that our readers’ voices are clearly heard. The staff invites you to comment on the stories and leave any questions, comments or concerns. Love it? Hate it? Want to see more?

We want to hear it all, so let us know by either emailing staff members or leaving comments online. We want to know what you think as we expand and tailor the site to your needs. Jaclyn Chen is the editor in chief of the HiLite. Contact her at [email protected].