A Tale of Two Updates
The Update is an important part of the NSL community. It holds the latest information for what happens or is going to happen with Northwood Student Life. Not only event information, but updates on students (like Cooper’s trip to Colorado), articles about living life, results from surveys, and random things like “reader rewards" and “Hidden Hangouts.” Basically, The Update keeps the pulse of NSL.
Currently, there are two different versions of The Update and a little confusion about which is which and what the differences are, so we’ve put together a little chart to help you understand why the two exist.
Quality | The Update Online | The Update:Inbox Edition |
| Timeliness How long until the information is available and how often is it updated | Instant Posts are available immediately online. New posts 2-3 times a week on average | Monthly Email version is sent out once a month and contains the “greatest hits” from the online version. |
| Interaction How much can you do with the information provided | Direct You can comment on each post and share your own feedback. | Indirect You can respond via e-mail and share thoughts to be included in the future. |
| Availability How easy is it to re-access the information provided. | Perpetual It’s the Internet, things never go away! | Limited As long as you keep the e-mail. |
| Search How easy is it to locate specific information that was provided | Integrated At the bottom of each page is a search bar that lets you rediscover anything from any post. | Unavailable There is no search for the Inbox Edition of The Update |
| Delivery How does it get to you | Multiple Systems You can be alerted to new posts immediately by subscribing via RSS Reader or E-mail. | Single We don’t call it the Inbox Edition for nothing, this version is only available through e-mail. |
So there you have it. The differences between the two versions of The Update. The blog is obviously the most in-depth and up-to-date way to keep up with what’s happening in the NSL universe, but the monthly Inbox Edition is a handy way to highlight some of the key ideas and themes.
If you’ve got any feedback on ways to change or improve The Update please contact Luke or leave a comment below.