Opinion Understanding the ‘little’ Times

Nothing and no one is immune to change. And, that is certainly the case with The Southland Times.

It’s been a few weeks now since we’ve relaunched in a compact format (Monday to Friday), and truth be told the reaction has been quite mixed.

Without a doubt, there’s been some lovely feedback, and on the other side a few brickbats about readers not being able to find things that they love like the daily quiz and scripture.

There have been requests to adjust the size of the font for funeral notices to make it easier to read and to get the aluminum prices and shipping back in.

We’re still in the process of tweaking formats slightly and readjusting some content.

But isn’t that part of life, continually adjusting?

You think life is going along ok until something happens to throw the wheels off the cart.

The driving force for the change in media and the changes to The Southland Times has come from technology.

It’s also the reason to close the community division of our newspapers in the south including Newslink, The Eye, Mirror and the Otago Southland Farmer. We are changing the way we do business, and we’re preparing for the future.

There’s no escaping the fact that these are significant changes.

We are living differently now than what we used to. I’ve spoken to many readers, who quite rightly say, they have lived through years of change, so in essence ‘‘what’s so different now?’’

The difference is the speed of technology.

Trend experts are predicting the biggest disruption to come within the next five years.

To drive this change home, here’s an example. Parents today when talking to their children about careers, are not so much having a conversation about industries to get into, but rather posing the question ‘‘will that job exist in the future?’’

The one thing the Times can do is help people navigate this change in Southland. If you belong to a community organisation and want more information about how we use technology or not sure how to use social media to your best advantage, please get in touch.

Each Saturday instead of the usual op-ed piece, I will bring updates of how people are using technology in the south, provide useful links and start sharing more about the changes we’ve been through, and what possibly might come next.

Have a good weekend.

Natasha Holland, Southern region editor