In an effort to “showcase” its work, The Talon, AU’s yearbook, will launch an updated Web site this week, according to Editor-in-Chief Ashley Kemper.
The Talon will also continue to publish its $65, 300-page hardcover book this year, unlike other college yearbooks, many of which have recently been discontinued. Purdue University, the University of Virginia and Mississippi State University are a few that have recently given up on funding their yearbooks, according to a recent article in The Washington Post.
“Right now, our biggest problem is that people don’t know about us,” Kemper said. “[The Web site] will hopefully peak their interest.”
The Web site will include features like posting a Talon picture directly to a Facebook wall with a link back to The Talon Web site.
Kemper said she believes this move will “increase our popularity and recognition.”
The hope is that a parent will visit the Web site, see his or her child and be more likely to buy a book, said Eric Hian-Cheong, a freshman in the School of Communication.
Facebook photo albums are fast outpacing the production of yearbooks, which caused the death of Purdue University’s yearbook, “Debris,” in 2008, according to then-section editor Jon Van Norman, a senior at Purdue.
“People can see pictures pretty much the next day on Facebook,” Van Norman said. “How are we going to be able to get them to remember it?”
Students were not willing to shell out the $65 for a yearbook when they could see Facebook photos for free, he said.
“We just couldn’t turn a profit from making the books,” Van Norman said. “We had to move on and try to come up with something more modern.”
The staff decided instead to publish “On Track,” of which Van Norman is also the editor in chief. “On Track” is a free 80-page, soft-cover, annual publication funded through sponsorships and advertisements, Van Norman said.
“We’re still trying to keep the tradition of a year book alive,” he said. “It might not be a traditional one, but we’re trying to keep the concept alive.”
Hian-Cheong said a yearbook is about looking back on college 20 years from now.
“People don’t realize it, but a yearbook is not something you look at when you graduate,” Hian-Cheong said. “It’s kind of like a time capsule ... in the future you’ll open it up, and it’ll bring back memories.”
Down the road, former students won’t remember when President Barack Obama visited AU, Kemper said.
People won’t remember “the line that stretched down Massachusetts Ave[nue],” until a yearbook is opened, she said.
Talonyearbook.com will go live by next week and will be developed throughout the semester, according to Kemper.
The site will feature photo galleries as well as information about book sales, senior portraits, the history of the Talon and information about how to join the yearbook staff.
Kemper and the Talon staff will get the word out about the site in the near future by sending out postcards, fliers and other promotional materials.
Kemper noted that the site is in no way meant to replace the yearbook.
“By having an exciting, cutting-edge platform to display and share our hard work, students will be able to see the high-quality content we produce and will, hopefully, want to buy a book,” Kemper said.
Kemper hopes students will value and appreciate their yearbooks for years to come.
“While Facebook and other social networking sites will only last until their popularity fades, a yearbook can forever hold a students’ life at AU right on their bookshelf.”
The Talon typically sells 400 copies a year and is published by Taylor Publishing. Yearbooks are mailed directly to students and can be ordered online at www.buymycollegeyearbook.com.
You can reach this staff writer at sdazio@theeagleonline.com.
