FAQs for New Digital Group Papers:   THE TRANSITION TO COLLEGE PUBLISHER

What will this new partnership mean to our newspaper?

College Publisher and New Digital Group are joining forces to create the largest network of college newspapers in the country and one of the largest networks of its kind in the world of digital media.   New Digital Group and its CEO, David Hahn, will continue to play an active role in providing technology and services to college newspapers, specifically in the areas of classifieds and restaurant guides.   However, the New Digital Group content management system will no longer be available to the college market at the end of this transition period.   College newspapers currently running on NDG's vNews system will be transitioning onto the College Publisher platform over the next few months.

What is College Publisher all about?

College Publisher was founded in 2000 by three Emerson College students as a small web services company for the campus media market. Over the past five years, the College Publisher team has worked closely with student newsrooms to continually improve our content management system (CMS). College Publisher's new version, 4.0, launched in beta in October 2005.

Many sites on the College Publisher Network have been a part of our organization since the network's beginning, and their continued partnership is proof of our desire to grow our network while maintaining the satisfaction of existing partners. As a member of the college media community, College Publisher's passion for and belief in campus media is evident in its long-standing role in the market and the company's continued sponsorship of various affiliations and campus media organizations such as ACP, CMA, CNBAM and WAUPM.  

How will College Publisher and New Digital Group be working together?

College Publisher will work with New Digital Group both during the transition period and beyond.   In the short term, College Publisher will rely on New Digital Group to help migrate your archived content to our servers and aid our team as your newspaper transitions to the College Publisher system.   In addition, New Digital Group will offer additional functionality to the College Publisher platform, including their Restaurant Guide and applications they are currently developing.   College Publisher will work to support New Digital Group's efforts in these areas.

What are the differences between New Digital Group's vNews and College Publisher's technology?

Both systems are best-in-class content management systems, and both provide the ability to put your newspaper online efficiently and effectively.   College Publisher has a unique and easy-to-use web-based user interface that allows many staff members to access different sections of the site's administrative area and provides enhanced work-flow management.   College Publisher also allows your staff to make design changes through our advanced templating system.   To learn more about the functionalities offered by College Publisher, please visit us at www.collegepublisher.com .

Does College Publisher endorse open source web development?

Yes, College Publisher believes strongly in the benefits and educational opportunities that open source web development provides.   As a result, College Publisher will offer its proprietary mark-up language under an open source license and foster the sharing of ideas among web developers who work for our partner newspapers - in addition to developers in the open source community as a whole. 

Can we keep our current design?

College Publisher is experienced in transitioning newspapers designs from their existing platform and the constraints that a particular system may contain.   The design team at College Publisher will work hard to accommodate your site's existing design, should you wish to retain it.   However, due to the differences in the technology platforms, some aspects of your site's design may be required to change.  

Will we be able to redesign or customize our site?

College Publisher's content management system offers extensive design and content customization.   College Publisher is built on a templating system that you can use to design your site through with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.   Partners are able to maintain a high level of control over their site's navigation and layout, as well as their site's content object, which ensures your newsroom can present content in the manner you see fit.   Additionally, College Publisher provides campus publications with professional design services for free during your site's implementation period.

What will happen to our archives?

College Publisher and New Digital Group will mutually ensure your archives are transferred to your new College Publisher-powered site.   Because both companies will work together during this transition period, a normally complex process will be made simple for newspapers as they re-launch on the College Publisher network.  

Will our site still be hosted by New Digital Group until we get our College Publisher site up?

Yes, New Digital Group will continue to maintain its servers and content management system during this transition.  

Will we get training on your system?

College Publisher prides itself on providing thorough training for new partners, as well as continued training for existing partners.   Our staff members host frequent conference calls that allow partner newspapers to ask technology questions and get training.   In addition, you may schedule one-on-one phone training with a member of the College Publisher team. To schedule a training session, please contact Chris Gillon at 617-354-2038.

What role does Y2M play in this transaction?

College Publisher is a business unit of Y2M Networks, a full-service marketing services agency that specializes in connecting leading brands with the college market. Y2M works with College Publisher to place ads into our extensive print and online collegiate inventory. Our business is thriving, and the Y2M sales and client services team enjoys working with ad managers at more than 3,000 college publications across the nation.

What are the advertising commitments required under the new contract?

College Publisher believes in establishing a long-lasting and mutually beneficial relationship with each of our partners.   We provide our entire suite of online publishing and hosting technology in exchange for online and print advertising space. We will be happy to walk through the details of our Partnership Agreement with you in greater detail.    

How will the advertising positions change on my site?

Some of your advertising positions will change, others will stay the same.   You may see smaller ads on your front page, but larger ads will remain in interior pages.   In addition, your newspaper will have the opportunity to place local advertisements and retain 100 percent of the revenue.

What else can I expect as a member of the College Publisher Network?

At College Publisher, we believe strongly in connecting student journalists, business managers, advisors, and newspaper professionals.   Our platform will allow your newspaper to share content with other newspapers on our network and focus as a group on best practices in online publishing that can be used throughout the campus media market.   It is our hope that the newspapers on the College Publisher Network will continually evolve as a group to improve the future of digital media.   We are also planning on investing heavily to build features, such as content sharing tools, job boards and digital press conferences with major newsmakers, that will enhance the benefits of membership in the only online college media network in the country.

How will College Publisher accommodate all these additional partnerships?

The acquisition of New Digital Group's online newspaper network will expand College Publisher's network significantly.   As a result, we are expanding our team in Boston in order to have a larger number of people available to assist campus publications.   Please drop us a line at jobs@y2m.com if you know a potential candidate who has experience in any of the following areas:   web design, web usability, campus media, client relationship management, or advertising sales.