Student Information Network formed

By Jessica Main

Courtesy of the Memorial Independent and the Student Information Network

Student Information Network (SIN), a new student newspaper organization, was formed this summer as an information source for high school papers in the Madison area.

Founded by James Norton from West and Natira Hammerstrom from MacFarland, the network will mainly be used for underground and independent newspapers. The first meeting took place in mid-August.

There are seven papers involved in the network, including papers from West, McFarland and Middleton, as well as The Independent. One representative from each newspaper attends a monthly meeting of the group to discuss the latest editions, and to share the latest news fro m each of the schools.

The purpose of the organization is to be a source of information for independent and underground newspapers. A function of the network is that it acts as a syndicate for the papers involved. If a large news story happens at one of the schools involved, such as the Memorial shooting in 1992, Memorial would most likely report on it, and have the option of submitting the article to the network. The other papers in the network would then be able to run the article as well, credited to the original writer and publication.

Another function of the Student Information Network is to provide storage for back issues. Each paper brings issues of its latest publication to the monthly meeting of the group, so that the schools involved can see what other papers are doing, and what is going on at other schools. This enables each paper to get suggestions from other editors on appearance and writing quality, among other things.

Other ideas being discussed in the group are the possibility of holding citywide polls, and conducting interviews, involving the whole network.