I just dropped by the Mac Lab at IST 205 and discovered a sexy new issue of the Magazine of IST. MIST, led by Brad Shively (President) and Joe Lewis (VP), finally released a print issue for this academic year. My first impression was that the magazine looks awesome. It is printed on semi-glossy paper in full color, which must have cost the club a pretty penny.

I didn’t get the chance to thoroughly read through the articles, but from quickly flipping through it I noticed that there was a lack of content. An obvious sign is the humongous font that makes it look like a Dr. Seuss book. There were a couple interesting reads, such as an interview with a departing senior and with Professor (Colonel) Jacob Graham. But where is the focus? The categories of articles jump all over the place, from console gaming, social networks, to Google technology. With the affiliation that MIST enjoys with the College, the writers should interview more professors and students so that the magazine reflects what’s really going on in the College of IST.

MIST has a noble vision but it is failing to meet expectations. If we’re only going to have one annual print issue, the content better be damn good. More importantly, the MIST website needs a lot of work… MIST is one of the websites on the ist.psu.edu domain that does not do justice to the image of the College. Static html pages, missing content, inferior formatting are just a couple of flaws that are plaguing the online version of MIST. I’m sorry to say that it’s almost as bad as the new eye sore at Penn State called Valley Magazine.

It seems that MIST rushed the release of this one. If not, the timing could have been much better. My guess is that these magazines were disseminated around the IST Building on Monday, which is the beginning of finals week. Our students are leaving for home left and right as they are finishing up exams, and many IST students do not even stop by the IST Building this week because of classes are done.

The shortcomings of MIST cannot be blamed on the staff. I know some of the staff members and they are hardworking, creative individuals. The problem lies with all of us undergraduates… We need to step up and contribute to the Magazine of IST to create a product that our College can be proud of. With IST Building, we chose to create a new approach to pursuing a vision similar to MIST’s. We know from our capitalistic society that competition is the best thing you can ask for, and IST Building should prove to be a wake up call for our other IST publications.

We plan on releasing regular print issues for IST Building starting next semester. Our hope is that these can be on a weekly basis. Since we’re a self-funded independent publication, we’ll have to sacrifice aesthetics and the focus will be on fresh, interesting content. We’ll let you know more about our plans for printing in the near future!

Tags: brad shiveley, ist 205, joe lewis, magazine of ist, mist

Categories: News, Opinion