The Editors-in-Chief would like this week’s editorial to announce that the for the foreseeable future the Simmons Voice is moving to a completely digital format.

This is a little strange for us. Writing this editorial normally means picturing it printed out in a physical copy of the paper on page 7. It is the same physical page in the section that one half of us used to edit. The paper has had the same format longer than anyone on staff has been at Simmons. It is certainly odd to think of that physical paper not existing.

If you are reading this it means you found our article just fine on our online version of the paper. We have been posting articles online as well as the print version for several years. Now, however we will be putting in the same effort that we once used to format the pages, into doing major renovations on our web version and what used to be dormant social media accounts.

This is not the death of anything physical from the paper. There is always the possibility of printing out a future magazine that highlight our top articles, or printing some number of physical issues over the course of the semester. This is simultaneously the end of something and also the beginning of something. There is no doubt that this shift is bittersweet. There was a comfort in those long, routine Tuesday nights that will be so missed. At the same, we know that this will bring new traditions and memories, and that it will hopefully be an addition to the great work of our past co-EICs.

We are excited to see how updated the website is going to become over the course of the semester. We will now be able to add hyperlinks to sources, and tag articles so readers can easily see related content over a larger archive of our articles. We’re happy to see this may mean reaching a wider audience and even reaching niches outside of Simmons.

This will also mean reaching a more interactive audience. How we already interact with you won’t change. We will still be accepting Letters to the Editor, and we will always urge anyone from the student body to submit articles. Along that vein, we hope you’ll support us as we make this transition. Keep making your voice heard about what happens on campus and the rest of the world. In many ways, you are what will keep this paper going.

This does not mean there will be a change in the quality or the quantity of our content. We will still be committed to reaching deadlines, double-checking sources, and covering a wide variety of topics both on and off campus. We will still be meeting each Tuesday for production nights; we will simply be producing something slightly different.

There are, without a doubt, pros and cons to this shift. Know that no matter what, this paper means the world to us. We are so heartened by the positivity our staff has found in focusing on the improvements this could mean for our paper.

The Simmons Voice is not going anywhere, and we are excited to see where this will take us.