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November 1997, Vol. 8, No. 11
Grunge talk
Creativity and rejuvenation herald the autumnal conference season
35,000 Feet Over Texas -- It seems as if all I've done for the last six weeks is go to conferences.
At some of them, I moderate panels. At others, I speak from the podium. At still others, I just unburden myself from the floor.
But no matter where I go, whether it’s in the Northeast or the Southwest, a lot of what’s being said at conferences today can be boiled down to one word:
Creativity.
The journalists want more of it; the artists live by it; the programmers and suppliers are in awe of it.
Last month in San Diego, I was particularly taken with the keynote presentations at the annual workshop of the Society of News Design (that’s the group’s new name; it used to have the suffix "paper" after the third word). Both grunge graphic designer David Carson and columnist/poet Patricia Smith spoke deeply and movingly about the core issue of creativity.
In the last few years, a lot has been made at conferences about our competencies (especially when pointed at the new media): Is it content or context? (The counterpoint to this question is always the notion that technology is an also-ran.)
The content crowd seems to believe that nobody else out there can match the unique way professional publishers find information and stories. There is a strong belief that if you aren't a writer (or photographer or artist) actively involved in professional publishing, then you can't do content.
The context crowd, on the other hand, acknowledges that writing and photography and illustration aren't skills limited to magazines and newspapers; they believe that it is the choices our editors make that brand us as unique. They decide whether to let a story run short or long; whether to run the pictures big or small; whether to have a background sidebar or not.
But I've decided the issue isn't content or context.
It’s creativity.
What will compel readers to scan our publications in the next decade (whether they're on paper or phosphor) will be how we foster creativity. When we speak in unique voices (or make unique displays), we will attract readers. When we speak in cliché-ridden mumbles, we will repel them.
As stated previously, the SND annual workshop was an invigorating meeting; for more, turn to my coverage inside.
Another helpful conference was held by the newly formed Association of Publishing Systems Users -- formerly the Atex Newspaper Users Group. We commissioned longtime Anug executive Bruce Adomeit (he’s the newsroom technology manager at the Star Tribune of Minneapolis) to give us some insight into the theories behind the reorganized group, and to detail events at Apsu’s meeting in late September in Norfolk, Va.
Next we move to the trade show of Seybold San Francisco/ Publishing ’97. Correspondent George Powell walked the aisles (miles and miles of aisles) for you and found a handful of new technologies and applications that should be more than worth your attention.
Also at Seybold San Francisco was the annual Newspaper & New Media Seminar (which is co-sponsored by this very newsletter). L. Carol Christopher, correspondent extraordinaire, handled the difficult assignment of writing about a meeting programmed and hosted by her boss (i.e.: me) with great aplomb.
Lastly, I swing by the America West ’97 conference in Reno, Nev. Though there was a raft of compelling session topics, my schedule allowed me only a day at the meeting, and I decided to use it to concentrate on the changes at System Integrators Inc.: by the time you read this, the Sacramento-based supplier will have a new majority owner, and a new direction in product marketing following the collapse of its relationship with Cybergraphic Inc. of Australia.
There’s no question -- the grunge talk is creative talk.
-- David M. Cole
Also see Hellbox
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