Collegepublisher.com is the first destination of its kind: a social-networking, content-based site specifically tailored to the needs of a college newspaper staff.
 
From a content perspective, this site is designed to offer not only the training documentation of CP5 and Atlas and advice on the best use of our tools, but also serve as a repository of best practices in digital publishing for the college market.

We don't claim to have all of the answers and that is evident in the design of the Best Practices section.  There are reviews and instructions for deployment of valuable third party tools as well as suggestions from sources outside CMN. Over time, the Best Practices section will have many contributors from college newspapers and industry experts.

And from a presentation standpoint, the site is designed to resemble a newspaper website. CMN staff members are using the same CP5 tools to show the different things that can be done on this publishing platform. Between the home page and the various section pages, CMN has attempted to provide a variety of layouts and stylings.  If you see something that you want to emulate, simply ask us how we did it (and we'll give you instruction or create an article on it).

That said, the most important component of this site is the social networking capacities that are layered on top of the CP5 platform. CMN is beta-testing a software called Flux for the CP5 system (with the eventual deployment across all CP5 sites). This software enables forums, voting modules and reader blogging.

We saw the need for a single destination for aspiring journalists, where sharing in a social networking construct is possible. The hope is that newspapers can now share tips and tricks of workflow, publishing techniques and seek out information from professional and peer sources from a library that is continually being updated.

Previous to the launch of this site, College Publisher stayed in contact through only transmissional methods (e-mail newsletters and a blog). Now, the e-mail newsletter function of CP5 for this site will replace the Partner News. Also, between article commenting, staff blogs and forums, the average newspaper staffer can access the knowledge base we've built from years of feedback from college newspapers.

Overview of the sections:

News – this section will be home to updates from CMN on mtvU opportunities as well as conference attendance and information about CMN pertaining to the college journalist audience..

Training – this section will host the entire library of software documentation for CP5 and blog posts about tips and tricks to make your site look better.  The documentation has been broken into three levels of difficulty: Getting Started, Beyond Basics, and Expert Education.

Best Practices – this section will have contributions from many sources, but is largely the result of 10 years of work with college newspapers publishing online. This section is broken down into categories like workflow, promotion/marketing, design, third party tools, and policy advice around legal issues.

Advertising – this section is dedicated to all things revenue related. Whether it is Atlas training, strategies in monetizing your site, or alternate methods of driving revenue, it will be found here.

Blogs – we've broken down our staff blogs into role focused topics:
Design and Development Blog: updates as well as tips for the average web editor
Advertising and Business Blog: all things relevant for the business manager/sales rep News from the Top: digital trends and the publishing industry
Student Guest Blog: CMN is tapping student editors for some of their thoughts and experiences

Forums – this is your chance to connect with your peers and share some ideas as well as be an opportunity to discover what articles other newspaper staffers find helpful.