Is journalism a collaborative effort? Should it be? Those are big theoretical questions behind a few small projects we have been working on at The Columbian.

In the 20th century, newsrooms were loud and smoky and full of irreverent people at Steelcase desks. I am just old enough to remember the end of this era, which was supplanted by cubicles, computers and clean air. We still all worked together in a big room with constant interaction. More than once, I said working at The Columbian was like attending an all-day cocktail party with no booze.

The pandemic changed all of that in the course of a week. Since March 2020, the lights have mostly been off at 701 W. Eighth St., our lobby permanently closed to walk-in visitors. A handful of newsroom stalwarts are here every day — Amy, Mark, Merridee, Colleen, Jeff, Romana and others — but it’s been months since I have seen some employees. Whether they are working here or remotely, they all get their work done. I haven’t detected any meaningful differences in quality or quantity.

Still, I miss the interaction. Not long ago we brought the features news team into our photo studio to model some aprons for a lead illustration on the Mother’s Day Life cover. Although I wasn’t asked to model an apron, I felt myself drawn into the studio. I felt nostalgic as I watched the fun.

But is that enough reason to try to resurrect the traditional newsroom model? For now I think we are going to continue our hybrid approach of giving employees the option to work in the office or remotely, depending on their duties and their preferences. We just invested in some new teleconferencing equipment that will allow all of us in the office to gather in one room, and connect to remote workers via the internet, reducing the “12 boxes on a computer screen” form of togetherness.

We’re looking at rearranging the newsroom furniture to encourage collaboration. We want to create areas with couches and tables where we can work on a project together or just drink coffee and talk about story ideas.

It will be interesting to see if it lures more workers back to the office. If so, will it result in any meaningful gains in quality or quantity of news production? At the very least, it might scratch that wistful itch to work in a busy newsroom again.

Here are some other things going on:

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