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| January 2001 |
Iowa paper starts Clickshare projectFrom testing to real-world implementation, the 47,800-circulation Sioux City Journal began to post specialized information on its web site, www.siouxcityjournal.com, in December, which was available only to print subscribers. Using technology from Clickshare Corp. of Williamstown, Mass., (see The Cole Papers, September 2000) the Journal matches registrants seeking access to content at siouxlandbuisnessjournal.com with its database of subscribers. If there's a match, the user can get in; if not, access is blocked. Clickshare, tags its service "information a la carte." It provides the tools needed to select, deliver and charge for data one piece at a time, be it a text file, video clip or audio take. A customer registers once, providing address and credit card number, then can roam the network of sites using Clickshare, making purchases as small as a dime. "We were looking for a company that could give us the security we need so that we could eventually be able to charge for our on-line newspaper," said Karla Merrick, new media production manager of the Journal, which is jointly owned by Hagadone Corp. of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and Howard Publications Inc. of Oceanside, Calif. Merrick's vision goes beyond the print product's current boundaries. She'd like to attend a high school football game, "videotape it and put that behind the wall." Any number of interested buyers -- parents, coaches, players -- could log in and buy the tape, strengthening the newspaper's hold on its market with a unique product. Through Clickshare, the Journal offers a selection of its stories about major local companies, including the computer distributor Gateway Inc. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News content, culled from scores of newspapers, is available as well, for $2.95 per download. "Eventually," Merrick said, "our subs would be able to go in there free of charge," just as KR/T subscribers now have access to the Journal using Clickshare to authenticate their privileges. Once the Journal has completed an upgrade to circulation department equipment, it will consider how to offer non-subscribers fee-based access. Also, the paper currently does not have a searchable archive, so it can't readily offer every story it publishes for a fee. Items posted at the business journal site are stored in HyperText Markup Language (HTML) format. Clickshare founder Bill Densmore, who is now vice president of the company, is a former Associated Press (AP) correspondent and weekly publisher. His AP experience showed him that "newspapers, even today, don't produce all the information they include, they get it from someplace else." Thus, like the AP, which distributes one paper's stories to multiple possible consumers, Clickshare gives web users access to content on multiple sites through one log-in. Densmore stresses that newspapers have the local ties -- customers -- dot-coms could only hope to create, positioning them to take advantage of local interests by providing fee-based content. "If you're talking about the details of a city council meeting," Densmore said, "that to me is premium content and there is a certain subset of people willing to pay for that -- not a big subset, but when your incremental cost is low, that's $5 the paper otherwise wouldn't have had." Those customer ties also allow the newspaper to set realistic credit limits for Clickshare users, he noted. And a publisher can get started without any upfront cost beyond having space on a server for Clickshare's software, which is free. Clickshare (the middleman) takes a percentage of each transaction, with the content provider (the manufacturer) and the newspaper site (the retailer) also taking cuts. Said Merrick, Clickshare's Iowa pioneer: "I really think it's going to be a lucrative thing." -- From NewsInc., Jan. 3, 2001 ConfabulitiousFor those of you who plan more than a month in advance, our monthly "Confab" section of the Bit Bucket might be slightly inadequate. Herewith provides a list of key 2001 industry events:
-- dmc Bit bucket ...
"And above all, no matter what new screwup, web site crash or hiring decision comes out of the San Francisco Examiner, we will not hoot, caw or bray because that kind of hilarity will come back and bite us on the ass every time. Almost." Newsroom names: At the Boston Globe, Michael Larkin has been named deputy managing editor for news operations and is responsible for overseeing the production of the paper; previously he was assistant editor in charge of the Sunday newspaper. Also at the Globe, Lucy Bartholomay, the deputy managing editor for design and photo, said she would devote "much" of her time to the Sunday newspaper. ... At the San Jose Mercury News, Bryan Monroe has been named deputy managing editor; previously Monroe was an assistant managing editor at the paper in charge of photo, art, design, on-line and technology. His new role adds local, regional and state reporting to his previous responsibilities. ... At the San Francisco Chronicle, David Dalton and Mike Keiser have been named editorial system directors; previously both held similar titles at the pre-merged San Francisco Examiner and Chronicle, respectively. They report to David Hyams, director of news technology and planning. Also at the Chronicle, Judy Canter has been named library director; she had held a similar position at the pre-merger Examiner for more than 20 years. The Chronicle's former library director, Richard Geiger, is now director of news research at the paper. ... New media mavens: At Media General of Richmond, Va., Neal Fondren has been named president of the company's Interactive Media Division, a new group. Fondren is a 20-year veteran of E.W. Scripps Co., where he has been vice president of new media since 1997; before that he held a series of high-level positions in Scripps' cable television division. ... At Village Voice Media of New York City, Greg Goff has been named president of new media and executive vice president for strategic planning; previously Goff had been with a dot-com in San Francisco. ... Vendor volatility: At Adobe Systems Inc. of San Jose, Bruce Chizen has been named president and chief executive officer; previously, Chizen was president of the graphic arts software supplier. The former chief executive, John Warnock, will remain co-chairman of the company and take on the title of chief technology officer. ... At Net-Linx Publishing Solutions of Ann Arbor, Mich., and Sacramento, a number of changes. Richard Steensma has been named vice president of North American sales and worldwide marketing; formerly he was president of Net-Linx's CText division. Dennis Doolittle has been named general manager of both Net-Linx's CText and System Integrators divisions; previously he was president of System Integrators. Ron Stephens has been named director of North American sales; previously Stephens was with Unisys and before that with Atex and System Integrators (two times each). ... At SAXoTech Inc. of Rockville, Md., Edward French has been named customer fulfillment team leader; previously he was in product development at Advanced Technical Solutions and had been a writer and editor with the Journal Newspapers and subsequently worked for Atex. ... At Shira Computers Ltd. of Israel, Joseph Pargola has been named vice president of sales. Previously he was vice president of sales with Collabria and had been with Scitex America. ... At Tribune Media Services of Chicago, Mark Miller has been named editorial director of the multimedia product and services division. Previously Miller was with Arthur Andersen; in an earlier life he had been Sunday editor and deputy managing editor of the Chicago Sun-Times, editor of Crain's Chicago Business and a television and radio reporter. ... Confabs: The Newspaper Association of America's SuperConference is Jan. 7-12 in Orlando, Fla. For more information, call (703) 902-1600. ... Macworld Conference and Expo, the semi-annual gathering of the Mac faithful, is Jan. 9-12 in San Francisco. Keynote speaker is Steve Jobs, whose credentials are detailed on the front page of this newsletter. For more information, call (617) 534-1229 or e-mail macworld_expo@idg.com. ... The Special Libraries Association's Leadership Development Institute, scheduled to coincide with the group's winter meeting, is Jan. 25-27 in Savannah, Ga. Topics include, "How (not) to run a meeting," "Mentoring: bringing along the next generation" and "How to get the most out of SLA." A technology fair will be held in conjunction with the two events. For more information, call SLA at (202) 234-4700 or e-mail sla@sla.org. ... Linuxworld Conference and Expo, the semi-annual gathering of the Linux faithful, is Jan. 30-Feb. 2 in New York. Keynotes will be given by Samuel Palmisano, president of IBM Corp., William Swope of Intel and Larry Augustin of VA Linux Systems. For more information, call (617) 534-1229 or e-mail linuxworld_expo@idg.com. ... The Newspaper Association of America's Diversity Awareness -- Train the Trainer session will be held Feb. 3-10 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. For more information, call (703) 902-1725 or e-mail lawst@naa.org. ... The Metro Users Group will meet Feb. 10-14 in St. Petersburg, Fla. This 33rd meeting of the group will include pressroom "best practices" presentations, a panel discussion on print quality and a facility tour of the St. Petersburg Times. For more information, call Russ Christensen at (213) 237-5623. ... The Mobile Commerce Conference will be Feb. 12-13 in San Jose. The meeting will feature both a track on the business issues as well as a track on the technology issues. The keynote speaker will be Ellen Siminoff of Yahoo! For more information, call (800) 482-8144 or e-mail megan.hyland@key3media.com. ... The 2001 Newspaper Advertising Conference and Expo, sponsored by the World Association of Newspapers, is Feb. 15-16, in Monte-Carlo, Monaco. Session topics include "How to recruit and retain the best sales people," "New research methods," "How to develop ad sales in the new marketplace," "Managing multiple product selling, "Integrating print and internet sales, with successful case studies" and "New product ideas and new advertising sales ideas." For more information, call {011} 33 1 47 42 85 00 or e-mail joanna@wan.asso.fr. ... # From THE COLE PAPERS, January 2001, Copyright © 2001, All Rights Reserved.
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