APSU considers renewed stress on Atex

The group formerly known as Anug is planning to replay some old hit tunes as it tries to find its focus.

The Atex Newspaper Users Group, which morphed into the Association of Publishing Systems Users when many Atex users started switching to other publishing systems, is starting a subgroup -- AUG -- to focus on Atex users and their issues.

APSU was an attempt by the Anug members to keep what had been a valuable resource together even as the original reason for the organization was disappearing. Unfortunately, it wasn't working, with the latest annual meeting attracting fewer than 80 people, according to APSU President Gary Ward. The group was trying to be all things to all people, rarely a good idea.

"Half the people thought we were still the Atex users group, and half thought we didn't know what we were doing," said Ward. "They were probably both right."

The latest meeting (see The Cole Papers, October 1998) had the non-Atex suppliers competing for attendees' time with other suppliers, breakout sessions and special interest groups. Although attendees appeared pleased with what they got, it was apparent the group needed to do better.

The plan for next year, presuming the APSU board can get the bylaws amended, is to have sub groups for the various systems that have come to supplement -- or replace -- the venerable Atex systems.

"We want to present general sessions that cut across the board," Ward said. These general sessions each morning would be followed by morning breakout sessions that are supplier-specific, Ward said, with the pattern repeated after lunch.

The committee that is putting together the proposal is looking to establish supplier-specific interest groups for Atex, Agile, Unisys (English-language, complementing the existing European group) and a business systems group for starters.

"We figured we could have specific sessions for these groups, and they can help us provide momentum to keep it going," Ward said.

Although APSU wants to be an umbrella organization for users' groups, the other big users group isn't rushing to join in.

"We decided we needed to focus on our own agenda," said Mike Kinerk, formerly president of the users group for newspapers using solutions made by System Integrators Inc. of Sacramento. "It did not provide the SII user group with sufficient benefits."

-- S.E.B.

Bit bucket ...

"You better make it a double -- I've got to go back and write an editorial."
-- Legendary Pulitzer Prize-winning editorialist Harry Ashmore, to a waiter
following a three-martini lunch, as quoted in the New York Times Magazine.

New media mavens: At the Boston Globe's boston.com, Lisa DeSisto has been promoted to vice president and general manager; previously she was director of marketing and most recently veep for strategy and marketing. DeSisto replaces Gina Maniscalco, who left boston.com at the end of December to become vice president of business development at GTE Internetworking. Also at boston.com, Frank Hertz has been promoted to director of on-line content and Leo McInnis to sales development manager. Hertz had been a content developer and senior on-line editor at the web site, having previously been a journalist at a high-tech trade publishing company. Previously a major accounts representative at boston.com, McInnis also has worked in sales and management for Community Newspaper Co. of Needham, Mass. ... At Knight Ridder New Media in San Jose, Bob Ingle will become president of Knight Ridder Ventures, which is the division's investment arm. Ingle, the founder of Knight Ridder New Media, is the former executive editor of the San Jose Mercury News. The acting president of the New Media Division will be Kathy Yates, who has been the business leader in Knight Ridder New Media since the middle of 1995; before that she was general manager of the Mercury News. ... At USA Today, Lorraine Cichowski has been named senior vice president and publisher of USATODAY.com. Cichowski founded the USA Today Information Network and oversaw the launch of USATODAY.com in April 1995; she was vice president and general manager of the Information Network and had worked as a reporter and editor at the national newspaper. ...

Vendor vestibules: Atex Media Solutions of Bedford, Mass., has named Miguel Gutierrez sales director for its Latin American operations. For the last 18 years, Gutierrez was managing director for Elma Inc., a Latin American dealer and distributor of SCS and Pongrass publishing system software. ... At Baseview Products Inc. of Ann Arbor, Mich., Marketing Manager Geoff Osler has left to become group marketing manager at Adobe Systems Inc. in Seattle; he had been at Baseview for three years. Scott Sigler will become interim marketing manager. ... At CText Inc. of Ann Arbor, Mich, Eugene Kiel has been named vice president of advertising products; Kiel is a longtime CText executive who most recently was vice president of marketing. Karl Weiss is now handling sales and marketing functions; Weiss is a longtime industry sales executive who has worked for Dewar, Systems Integrators Inc. and Pantheon. ... At Cybergraphic Inc. of Burlington, Mass., Lee Silverman has been named general manager; he also has been named vice president of worldwide product development and product marketing for the Cybergraphic Group, which is based in Australia. Previously Silverman was the general manager and chief technology officer at PMP Communications of Australia and has worked for Agfa Corp., Compugraphic Corp. and Quadex. Silverman and Cybergraphic Group CEO Bernard Grinberg say they plan to split their time between the U.S. offices and Cybergraphic's headquarters in suburban Melbourne, Australia. ... At FutureTense Inc. of Acton, Mass., Peter Masucci has been named to the newly created position of vice president of business development and strategic programs. Most recently he was at PictureTel, where he initially served as vice president of product and corporate marketing and then as vice president of the company's Industry Business Unit. ... At Graphic Enterprises of Ohio Inc. of North Canton, Ohio, Bob Behringer has been named corporate director of technology; previously he had been division manager of GET Software (and will retain that role). Also at GEI, Bob Bailey has been named major accounts manager; previously he was director of sales at GET Software. ... At SAXotech Inc. of Bethesda, Md., Frank Loversky has been named president; Loversky has spent 15 years in the newspaper systems supplier business, with long stints at both System Integrators and Atex, in technical as well as sales roles. In addition to running the new North American subsidiary, Loversky will be on the overall management team at SAXotech's Denmark headquarters. ... At System Integrators Inc. of Sacramento, two top executives are moving on: Al Marshall, U.S. sales director, left last month and Anne Markle, vice president for enterprise publishing solutions (the Lotus Notes product), will leave May 1. ... At Wieck Photo DataBase Inc. of Dallas, Tim Roberts has been named vice president and general manager. Roberts, a prize-winning photographer with Agence France-Presse and United Press International, joined Wieck as an editor and has been vice president for systems. ...

Confabs: The Southern Newspaper Publishers Association will have its operations conference March 14-16 in Chattanooga, Tenn. Though the highlight of the meeting and trade show will be the panel discussion that puts newsprint mill managers on the hot seat, you might hear the editor of this newsletter chatter on as well. For details, e-mail snpa10@aol.com, or call (404) 256-0444, ... America East is March 29-April 1 in Hershey, Pa. Discussion topics include "Where Do Newspapers Fit in the E-Market?," "Fine-Tuning On-line Classifieds," "Digital Newspaper Delivery," "Press Technology Update," "Print Quality: Current Trends and Improvement Tips" and "What's Up with Local Guides and Directories?" For all the details, e-mail melindaf@staff.pnpa.com or call (717) 234-4067. ... #

From THE COLE PAPERS, March 1999, Copyright © 1999, All Rights Reserved.