As you have hopefully noticed, Bnieuws launched a website at the start of February. Knowing it would be an immense amount of work to set up, we spent a long time considering whether or not a website was the best way to go. On the one hand, the world around us continues to become more digital and international, a topic we explored in our previous edition. The internet is a fast way to share stories, information, imagery and more. A website allows for new types of content that haven’t been possible in the past; gifs, videos, interactive experiences, something we’re already spending a lot of time thinking about.
On the other hand, reading on a webpage doesn’t feel the same as the tactile experience of holding a physical book, magazine or even a printed image. Besides, creating a website and maintaining it; keeping it up to date with new content and features is no small task, and it’s a task we don’t want to half-ass.
In the end, the second lockdown that started in December proved to be the deciding factor for us, as we really wanted to share the things we’re working on and thinking about with our readers. With the faculty closed for the foreseeable future, that wouldn’t really be possible without a new platform. One of our goals is to create opportunities for discussion within the faculty, something we’re really missing with the lockdown. So talk to us! Let us know how you’re feeling, what you’re working on, what’s inspiring you! Say hello; send us an email, or a message on instagram.
Another aspect that we’re very excited about is how the website has allowed us to bring new life into older editions of Bnieuws. This is a work in progress, but we are planning to digitalise as many older editions of Bnieuws as we can, going back approximately five years. A side note on this: we still have many physical copies of a variety of editions from the past few years. If there’s a specific edition you like and would like to have a printed copy of, let us know, we will check if we have any copies left and try to get you one if we do.
We have many ideas for the future of the website; from the way it looks, to the content we create for it. For now, we found it important to have a strong basis on which we can develop further. Some of the ideas we have are: more opportunities for reader interaction (such as comments or likes) on editions and articles, an improved search system and better ways to come into contact with interesting articles from our past editions. We’d also really like to hear from you about this: what are your first impressions of the website? Have you looked through it? Do you like it? Are there things you’re really missing? What would you like to see us do with it?
