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September 1997, Vol. 8, No. 9
Automate
Do new systems in news, circulation, photography herald efficiency?
Like Charlie Chaplin’s character in the classic movie Modern Times, sometimes automation gets the best of us.
Recently I was talking with a newspaper executive who had implemented some of the
best, newest technology. She said the paper had to add personnel to make it all work.
We were walking when she said this and I believe I stopped short and my mouth dropped open. New technology is supposed to save you time and operating money, not add to your costs.
This goes back to one of my oft-ridden hobby-horses: There is a difference between buying the right system, and implementing that system correctly.
Part of the process of planning to buy a system must include an implementation scheme that takes all factors into account -- specifically, newspaper executives have to ask themselves the question, "Will this new system change the workflow in any way?"
And probably a more important question is, "Is the workflow good and do we want to preserve it, or can we make it better?"
But before you get to those questions, you have to ask yourself whether the system you're considering is even worth consideration.
Inside, we take a look at new ideas in a range of systems:
Correspondent John Bryan has uncovered a new subculture of editorial front-ends: They're based on Lotus Notes.
Notes is a kind of combination e-mail and database that allows for collaboration. Lotus, now a division of IBM, has been selling the product for almost a decade, and the suppliers Bryan has found who have built on the product aren't the first ones to think of using Notes as a foundation for an editorial system.
But in the past the problem was the base cost of Notes -- it licensed out at hundreds of dollars a seat. Developers didn't believe that they could make a profit when they had to pass along to publishers not only the real cost of Notes, but also their development costs.
But Lotus and IBM have restructured the pricing of Notes and now it licenses out at less than $90 a seat (in quantity), which allows suppliers like those with whom Bryan spoke to sell their software at about $500 a seat.
One supplier has sold a system to Oceanside, Calif.-based Howard Publications; we will be watching its implementation carefully.
Senior Editor Pete Wetmore takes an overdue look at some new newspaper single-copy sales automation products, including hand-held devices that allow route managers to determine exactly where they're selling papers and where they're not.
This information allows circulation directors to concentrate on selling papers rather than managing returns -- a dollar-wise concept, certainly.
Correspondent George Powell points his lens at digital cameras. Though we have looked at these products extensively over the years (see The Cole Papers, December 1996, April 1996, November 1994), recent developments in the imaging chip technologies have brought forth a new gaggle of cameras that are lower in price and produce higher-quality images.
Powell finds that the biggest problem with digital cameras -- "blue noise," the artifacts of attempting to shoot pictures at faster shutter speeds -- has also been fixed with an Adobe Photoshop plug-in that cleans up the distorted images (this plug-in is sold by the Associated Press).
Correspondent Chris Feola provides us with a potpourri of automation tools, including thoughts from supplier Gannett Media Technologies International Inc. on why it has pulled out of the sales force automation software business.
Chaplin’s experience with new technology was pretty much a bust (he ended up riding the gears of a massive machine), but with proper planning, publishers today can implement automation technology and achieve efficiency.
But only if they plan.
-- David M. Cole
Also see Hellbox
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