Programming with PDF: Ohio's Akron Beacon Journal has developed what it calls the Interactive Newspaper, which has an opening menu - complete with subscription information - (top), and provides not only pages with graphic fidelity, but also motion video (bottom).

Delivering a digital newspaper in the 'traditional format'

The graphical capabilities of the HyperText Markup Language (HTML), while infinitely better today than five years ago, are still fairly limited. HTML provides limited layout capabilities, thereby vexing designers intent on displaying newspapers on the World-Wide Web.

Fonts? You either display those that you assume are on a user's computer or bear the burden of the "heavy-weight" page, which takes forever to download.

Point size? Column widths? Those can be overridden by the user in his or her web browser, frequently thwarting the best intentions of designers.

This problem of digitally delivering graphically accurate newspapers has vexed the industry for more than a decade, but there are now companies arriving on the scene to develop and improve the way in which newspapers are delivering content.

Both NewsStand Inc. of Austin, Texas, and Ohio's Akron Beacon Journal (ABJ) are in the early stages of rolling out products that allow for the delivery of a digital newspaper that looks exactly like its print counterpart.

The ABJ began with archival intentions when building its own Portable Document Format-based in-house library, and has ended up with a commercially viable product. According to Michael Needs, director of Beacon Journal Interactive, "We believe there is a market segment that prefers the traditional newspaper format, but wants the convenience and added functionality that comes with the computer. Thus, newspaper pages on a computer screen."

With the patent-pending applications, the ABJ is enhancing its paginated pages with additional functionality, links and content. The process is completely automated, Needs said, "we are using PDF [Adobe Systems Inc.'s Portable Document Format] technology as the base, though we are extending that technology with our own programming. We call it the Interactive Newspaper."

For vacation stops, Needs said they "envision delivering a week's worth of papers on one CD at the end of the person's vacation. For businesses and institutions on a network we see one copy of the CD installed on the network with access throughout the network. That will be ideal for universities. For commuters using laptops, read the Interactive Newspaper on the way to work or school."

Needs went on to say, "You can get the news off the Web, but it requires a different kind of thinking and some web sites are difficult to navigate."

Citing business travelers, Needs said that they can take any newspaper that is using the ABJ's technology and get it anywhere in the world, being able to read it like just like they would read the print edition.

"Coming from the on-line world, I found this project to be particularly interesting," Needs said. "I think it's the ideal convergence of the traditional print and the benefits of digital technology." He believes there is a niche readership that still wants to read the newspaper in its traditional format, "and they can do that with this," he said.

"And then, in addition, they get all of these benefits of having it in digital form." Needs said this is especially true when you're able to access the interactive newspaper on-line or receive it by e-mail, which Needs believes will be the ultimate vehicle for this.

ABJ uses PDF to make INP
The ABJ is using PDF technology as the base, though it is extending that technology with its own programming, creating what the paper calls the Interactive Newspaper (INP).

Said Needs, "We are also working on a Web-based solution and eventually hope to distribute the Interactive Beacon Journal via e-mail."

Because Akron, Ohio, was one of the first cities to be wired extensively with Time-Warner's Roadrunner cable access, Needs said that they believe they can move to a Web-based solution and e-mail solution "relatively soon."

For the visually challenged, the Interactive Beacon Journal can be enlarged with no degradation in quality.

Eventually, said Needs, the paper would like to include a text-to-speech function with each story and ad, which would require some special setup at the desktop for the users.

"We strongly believe this technology will extend the reach of the Beacon Journal newspaper into areas that currently are difficult or impossible for us to achieve," said Needs.

ABJ is currently developing a CD targeted at the many Cleveland Indians' fans around the world, which will contain all the pages from the season-preview section, additional pages from spring training, archival photos from the last 100 years, as well as video shot by their television partner, and other additional content.

Needs said, "There are many other great opportunities for both news and advertising applications."

The INP edition allows for the inclusion of some tailored news and targeted ads, but they have not yet explored these possibilities in great length.

Bob Tigelman, who was in charge of information technology at ABJ for about 25 years, last September was asked by Publisher John Dotson to take on a new position for the paper, vice president of new initiatives.

"Consider how many additional Sunday subscriptions we might be able to sell if we included [the ABJ's sibling newspaper, San Jose's] Mercury News Sunday Book Review section, or packaged INP with the local college newspaper, or other such content."

The idea is to distribute by CD (for both home delivery and single copy sales -- also, great for train/bus commuters) and by e-mail and the Web, for those with broadband access.

Tigelman said, "It should work well for some mail subscribers and as a vacation pack, especially with the headline review feature. It could also be offered as a premium, in conjunction with a print subscription. Additionally," he said, "it presents excellent archival possibilities for libraries, law firms, businesses, etc."

INP is simply Adobe Acrobat functionality. The developers have programmed the application to read the PostScript input files, decipher information -- such as positioning of various elements -- which automatically create the various linkages.

If, for example, an ad includes a Universal Resource Locator (URL) in its text, a Web link is automatically created. Conversely, if the ad does not include a URL, a Web link can still be created, through use of an auxiliary file, or by imbedding a non-printing URL in the ad.

The software includes a separate file to indicate whether an advertiser has paid for the Web link or not, in case, in the future, they want to charge for this feature.

Creating the INP edition daily is automatic, requiring virtually no manual intervention, so long as the paper is fully paginated (and manual intervention would definitely be required if a paper is not completely paginated). Another limitation: PostScript output to the raster image processor is required.

NYT on the NewsStand
NewsStand's technology was developed in 1999, its mission being to arm the publishing industry with distribution tools that enable Internet-based delivery of digital media while preserving their traditional printed format, including advertisements.

NewsStand has entered into an agreement with the New York Times, in which NewsStand will serve as a digital circulation service for the newspaper. NewsStand's digital copies of the Times will enhance the paper's ability to deliver content to readers in the medium that best meets their needs. Acting as a digital wholesaler to the paper, NewsStand's service delivers newspapers and other print publications anywhere at any time, with the benefit of digital functionality such as search zoom and customization capabilities.

The Times decided to work with NewsStand primarily to increase the circulation of the paper, said Scott Heekin-Canedy, senior vice president of circulation. "The NewsStand suite of products represents a wonderful means for the New York Times newspaper to become available on a same-day basis to anyone anywhere in the world."

He said that there is a significant demand for the Times that cannot be satisfied because of the logistical problems in printing and distributing the print version. "We expect some portion of this unserved market to purchase the Times through NewsStand," said Heekin-Canedy, "additionally, we believe there is a market for business travelers."

NewsStand's software applications, NewsStand Reader, PaperPusher and NewsStand Delivery Service, allow publishers to provide subscribers with on-line access to newspapers, magazines and catalogs with the same layout, word and advertisements as the print versions, improving accessibility, reach, convenience and end-user experience.

Currently working with a number of publishing companies worldwide -- the details of which cannot be disclosed because NewsStand is still in beta testing and the deals have not yet been finalized -- the company did announce the agreement with the Times.

The technology and distribution service will enable the Times to offer a daily, digital newspaper that reproduces the layout of the printed newspaper to a global audience via the Internet.

According to Liz Thompson, a company executive, "NewsStand is the only content technology provider in this space who has partnered with the Times and has developed a suite of applications to benefit both the publishing industry as well as the subscriber."

As of this month, the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) of Schaumberg, Ill., has ratified proposals that will allow NewsStand's digital subscription customers to be counted in a publisher's total circulation number reports.

Thompson said, "The new rule allows newspapers to include subscriptions that are sold at 25 percent of the publication's basic price, effectively opening up a new audience that will help combat the problem of the recent decreasing subscription numbers."

The NewsStand Reader exists on the subscriber's hard-drive, allowing them to download and view their favorite publications. NewsStand's software application, PaperPusher, is the publisher's conversion utility that helps automate the transmission of pre-press files, such as PDF or Quark XPress, to NewsStand's back-end system.

NewsStand Delivery Service provides one-way communication to end-users, automatically delivering files stored on NewsStand's back-end system to the NewsStand Reader, enabling the subscriber to read the publication. Publishers can also use the Delivery Service to communicate with subscribers to inform them of special renewal rates or offers.

"The NewsStand service opens up new avenue for advertisers," said Thompson. "With these revised ABC rules, advertisers are better able to track who is receiving their advertisements." She also said that since NewsStand offers a global service, "advertisers can now determine which global markets they should be targeting."

'Going to be huge'
Following up its last reader survey in 1998, the Akron newspaper recently published a new measurement of reader satisfaction, in which 73 percent -- 10 percentage points higher than three years ago -- believe the newspaper accurately reports the facts of local stories.

Newspapers such as the Akron Beacon Journal and the New York Times are embracing new Internet-based technologies in an effort to move forward with the changing times and the beginning of a new interactive era. With this being such a new trend, there are not many newspapers yet involved, however, "I think this is going to be huge," said Akron's Needs.

Tigelman said that the ABJ has had a great response from its sibling Knight Ridder papers that have been introduced to the paper's product. "There are a lot of people who are pouring money into interactivity through the newspaper."

He said, "Could you imagine this in classrooms when the news stories have news references about earthquakes or volcanoes, or tigers or anything else? You can click right there and go to a web site that gives you more detailed information about that, it really adds a lot of other dimension to this."

Tigelman made note of an already well-known point that while advertising is of the utmost importance to a newspaper, so too is the readership.

It's a chain reaction -- the higher the readership, the more interested advertisers become. And by introducing new interactivity and thus reaching a new, untouched level of readers, it stands to reason that the newspaper industry will prevail. Both Needs and Tigelman agree, however, that it is far too soon to predict the outcome of the newspaper industry as a whole, and claim it is not for them to say.

-- Aimee Beck, abeck@colepapers.net

Akron Beacon Journal,
(330) 996-3270; e-mail: btigelma@thebeaconjournal.com;
NewsStand Inc.,
(512) 334-5100, e-mail: info@newsstand.com.

From THE COLE PAPERS, April 2001, Copyright © 2001, All Rights Reserved.