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November 2000, Vol. 11, No. 11
The vision thing
Publishers see digital imaging, e-books, new designs, VPNs in future
It was but a mere eight years ago that George Herbert Walker Bush was being pilloried on the hustings for his perceived inability to articulate what he saw ahead for the United States.
In his murdered syntax, the president called this perception, "the vision thing."
For that reason -- and many others -- Bush left the White House.
So having a vision of the future is, apparently, not a bad thing and here we are, literally hours before another presidential election, and there is another Bush in the running. His syntax, too, is sometimes on the verge of needing a homicide officer.
Gives you pause, doesn't it?
Fortunately, the publishing business doesn't have a problem with "the vision thing"; witness:
Rob Galbraith, a former photographer for the Vancouver Sun in British Columbia, visited the Photokina photography conference in Cologne, Germany, in September. Galbraith -- the author of The Digital Photojournalist’s Guide, an essential work for the news photographer -- now trains photographers making the jump from film to bits as well as running a web site (http://www.robgalbraith.com/) where he dispenses invaluable technical tidbits. Among those I encountered were his reports on this Photokina show. I asked him to distill his reportage down to something we could all swallow and he has turned in a fine report, outlining the latest thinking in digital cameras, desktop scanners and imaging software.
More than a decade ago, Roger Fidler (then of Knight Ridder) started talking about portable flat panel displays for digital newspapers. The art director, editor and entrepreneur (he started the PressLink graphics delivery service) had a clear vision of the future of newspapering. Only one thing was standing in his way: obviously these would have to be consumer electronics devices and Knight Ridder was not in that business. Technology has finally caught up with Fidler’s vision and a company called Gemstar-TV Guide International is moving forward with what it calls e-books -- easy-to-read, portable, flat panel displays. Writer Kellie K. Speed gives us some history and talks with publishing technologists (as well as Fidler, who is now a professor at Kent State University) about how e-books can be used by periodicals as a delivery medium.
And if e-books don't work out, there are other ways of looking at how newspapers can be presented in the future. Senior Correspondent L. Carol Christopher takes us inside a relatively new design contest -- "Tomorrow’s Newspaper" is co-sponsored by the University of Missouri School of Journalism and the Society for News Design Foundation -- that asks professional and student designers to think completely outside the newsbox -- to come up with new newspaper designs that use design and technology to reach the reader of the future.
Last, but certainly not least, all this talk about new ways of gathering photographs and delivering news to our readers is great, but I'm always fascinated by the plumbing. Writer Jason Zappe takes us inside the latest in technology trends in networking -- the virtual private network. This technology allows anyone with an Internet account to deal securely -- and privately -- with remote databases over the public Internet. It’s cool technology that every publisher needs to embrace.
Actually, you know, I was fudging the truth when I said that publishers don't have trouble with vision. There’s no question that they do: but there are line news workers -- like Galbraith, Fidler, those who have installed VPNs and the professors who created the "Tomorrow’s Newspapers" contest and its contestants -- who do think about the future. It benefits the industry that they do.
And this latest presidential candidate? He, like his father, seems lacking in "the vision thing." Maybe the United States needs a president less like our publishers and more like our line workers. Fortunately, Bush’s opponent is a former newspaper line worker.
-- David M. Cole, dmc@colepapers.net Also see Hellbox
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