2008 Woodie Awards
The new Spectrum yeardisc is coming your way
The pros and cons of a digital yeardisc versus a yearbook
Paul Davis
Issue date: 10/21/04 Section: Features
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The 2003-2004 Spectrum year disc, the "year book" that can fit in your CD tray, will be distributed during lunch hours in Bossard Hall in the end of October. It's free for all full-time day students who were on Lakeland's campus last year. Discs will be mailed to students who graduated in May 04.
With video clips, photo slide shows, and an easy-to-use interface, there is plenty to do with the year disc.
Martha Schott, advisor of the Spectrum, was eager to show the new features of the year disc. The first part that caught the eye was the simple layout. The opening page offers links to sports, faculty, students, life, organizations, fine arts and convocations, and international students.
When I got my hands on it, I found it as easy to weave through as a well-done website. There is also a back button in case you want to go back a few links. The slide shows run on their own or can be forwarded manually.
Each of the pages has music, original digital compositions by Nick Bickler, a current Lakeland student.
The Year Disc also has a section for the international students which include images of the Lakeland College Japan campus with a dance video. For those who came here from LCJ last year, you can find yourself in the photos. There are "goodbye" video clips from the five Malawi students who graduated.
Because this year's disk had so much information - originally more than could fit on the disk - the Spectrum staff is considering moving to DVD next year. The DVD format would allow entire musical performances, for example, and could be played on a computer or TV.
This year, Lakeland students will receive a double-disc set. In addition to the main disk, there is a student media disc offering PDF versions of the entire year's issues of the student newspaper (the Mirror), the new Farrago student literary magazine, and three complete old yearbooks from Lakeland's archives (1924, 1925, and 1926). All of these files can be viewed with Acrobat Reader, which you can download easily from the internet.
With video clips, photo slide shows, and an easy-to-use interface, there is plenty to do with the year disc.
Martha Schott, advisor of the Spectrum, was eager to show the new features of the year disc. The first part that caught the eye was the simple layout. The opening page offers links to sports, faculty, students, life, organizations, fine arts and convocations, and international students.
When I got my hands on it, I found it as easy to weave through as a well-done website. There is also a back button in case you want to go back a few links. The slide shows run on their own or can be forwarded manually.
Each of the pages has music, original digital compositions by Nick Bickler, a current Lakeland student.
The Year Disc also has a section for the international students which include images of the Lakeland College Japan campus with a dance video. For those who came here from LCJ last year, you can find yourself in the photos. There are "goodbye" video clips from the five Malawi students who graduated.
Because this year's disk had so much information - originally more than could fit on the disk - the Spectrum staff is considering moving to DVD next year. The DVD format would allow entire musical performances, for example, and could be played on a computer or TV.
This year, Lakeland students will receive a double-disc set. In addition to the main disk, there is a student media disc offering PDF versions of the entire year's issues of the student newspaper (the Mirror), the new Farrago student literary magazine, and three complete old yearbooks from Lakeland's archives (1924, 1925, and 1926). All of these files can be viewed with Acrobat Reader, which you can download easily from the internet.