USITT has been communicating monthly with its members since May 1961. That communication began as a no-frills, text-only, 12-page print publication that was mailed to all members under the not very imaginative but entirely accurate banner USITT Newsletter.
The monthly newsletter changed its name to Sightlines in December 1988 when the Institute ushered in the era of “desktop publishing” and old-style paste-up was replaced by computer-assisted layout.
March 2004 saw the first electronic issue of Sightlines and for the next 15 years, the publication existed in much the same format as the issue that you are currently reading.
However, in that decade and a half, communications methods have changed dramatically. When the electronic version of Sightlines debuted, there were no iPhones, no paperless bills, no on-demand entertainment, no YouTube and no podcasts. Today, when technology has infiltrated and transformed every aspect of communication, USITT was determined to meet the challenges of our era as we move into the third decade of the 21st century and begin our efforts to ‘set the next stage’ for the Institute.
In our recent reimagining of the USITT website, central to the strategic thinking was how to best relay information to our members — and the industry at large — in the most comprehensive way possible. And we are excited by what we have developed.
While members will still receive Sightlines in their inboxes as an important monthly digest and event reminder, we have exploded its reach by dedicating a major section of our website to news. No longer is the Institute reliant on a static publication to get news to members, but now news of interest is being published on a daily basis at usitt.org/news.
The main news page is an easy-to-digest headline summary, categorized by Conference, Industry, Institute, and Member news. In the next month, the Institute will be adding TD&T to this page, so that the general public can read synopses of a selection of TD&T articles while full versions will be kept in a members-only section of the site. By the new year, we will be adding videos and our new “TECHnically Speaking” podcast to this news page, fully embracing the multi-modal nature of today’s communications.
Perhaps best of all, you are now able to access USITT news content from any mobile device. You can read an article, listen to a podcast, watch a video, and register for a webinar from your phone or tablet. The site was built with a mobile-first, mobile-friendly architecture to best capture state-of-the-art communications.
By January 2020, all of our news content will be fully integrated into the new website and while the look of your monthly Sightlines digest will change slightly to reflect this shift, we hope you will bookmark the online version and make keeping up with the Institute and our industry at usitt.org/news a part of your daily routine.
