An update to the UWindsor e-newsletter, DailyNews, will enable users to share its content more easily, says editor Kevin Johnson.

“The new design takes advantage of syndication tools in the University’s Drupal content management system, and improves integration with social media,” he says. “We’re trying to get more bang for our buck by letting readers distribute our stories across the Web.”

In addition to original content created for DailyNews, the site will feature campus events pulled from a central calendar, stories about Lancer athletics, and links to mentions of the university in external news media.

“DailyNews has a readership off-campus as well as among staff, faculty and students,” says Johnson. “Our hope is that by providing a central location for news syndicated from other sites, we can increase awareness of the University’s reach and full range of activity.”

Drupal will make a robust platform for a number of functions, including increased use of video as a medium to tell the University’s success stories. Johnson also plans aggregated digests targeted at the student body and for staff who do not use computers on a daily basis.

The design is the result of collaboration between Public Affairs and Communications and Information Technology Services and reflects an effort to develop applications that will be of use to offices across the campus.

“We anticipate that the programming behind DailyNews will lend itself to all sorts of projects,” says Richard Dumala, manager of the Web Services Group in IT Services.

The new site is now live at uwindsor.ca/dailynews, duplicating the content of the current publication. Johnson invites readers to visit it and provide comment on its design and features. Once any outstanding issues have been addressed, subscribers will be directed to the new site exclusively.