CHICAGO - Kodak plans to introduce a newspaper-oriented inkjet printer equipped with an inline finishing system at this year’s IfraExpo.
The vendor’s existing VX5000 printer will be meshed with an inline finishing system from Hunkeler AG, said W. Park Rayfield, director of business development at Kodak Versamark.
Rayfield said the combination printer-postpress system, to be commercially available in 2007, will be aimed at newspapers that want the capability of producing short-run, full-color variable print products.
“It will have the look and feel of ink-on-paper,” he said at Inland Press Association’s press and postpress seminar. The printer-postpress system uses continuous inkjet technology to ensure more reliable performance, and can produce up to 1,000 40-page newspapers per hour. It’s well-suited for remote production, Rayfield said.
The Hunkeler postpress system, meantime, can cut, collect and fold both tab and broadsheet products and can switch formats automatically.
Sunday, October 1, 2006
Saturday, April 1, 2006
Grassroots Web concept branching out
By Marcelo Duran
Associate Editor
YourHub.com may be coming to a Web site near you.
More than a dozen newspapers, ranging from The Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel to those operated by the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, have signed up to begin offering the Web-to-print grassroots journalism platform since the Denver Newspaper Agency began syndicating the concept earlier this year.
The initiative, introduced last May, is produced by the (Denver) Rocky Mountain News and is promoted and printed by the DNA, which also publishes The Denver Post. In Denver, YourHub.com spans 42 Web sites and 15 zoned weekly print sections that cover specific communities in the Mile High City’s metropolitan area (see Newspapers & Technology, June 2005).
Jack Lail, managing editor for multimedia at The News-Sentinel, said YourHub.com has yielded positive results since the newspaper launched the service last year prior to DNA’s syndication.
“We have had 2,715 stories posted, 1,305 events posted and 112 blog entries, he said, adding that the newspaper (Monday-Friday, 115,123; Saturday, 128,441; Sunday, 150,416) has more than 1,000 registered users and averages more than 60,000 page views each month.
The News-Sentinel is printing three zoned sections for home delivery and produces 21 Web sites covering specific Knoxville neighborhoods.
The paper’s YourHub.com staff consists of one editor, four reporters and an online producer. Their job is to help supplement the Web site by covering specific YourHub.com communities.
In addition to The News-Sentinel and LANG, other papers set to launch YourHub.com include Scripps Treasure Coast Newspaper Group in Florida, Alameda Newspaper Group in northern California, the Ventura County (Calif.) Star, the Anderson (S.C.) Independent-Mail, Wichita Falls (Texas) Times Record News, Corpus Christi (Texas) Caller-Times and the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn.
Spiraling interest
Fran Wills, DNA’s vice president of interactive and product development, said that the agency opted to syndicate YourHub.Com after receiving inquiries from other newspapers that were interested in the Rocky Mountain News’ initiative.
Key features in the YourHub.com syndication launch kit include content publishing and hosting software as well as strategies for marketing, editorial and sales, Wills said.
Optional features, such as converting the Web content to print format, and online classified ad posting, are also available. The software was developed by DNA in conjunction with Denver-based Indigo Group Inc. DNA charges newspapers that syndicate YourHub.com a one-time setup fee of between $2,000 and $10,000 and a recurring monthly license fee of between $250 and $5,000, depending upon market size.
Although DNA provides the software and print interfaces, each newspaper is responsible for managing its own content and marketing.
Since its Denver launch last year, YourHub.com reported an average of 309,000 page views and more than 45,000 unique visitors per month, according to John Temple, editor, publisher and president of the News.
Moreover, the site generated more than $5 million in annual revenues for DNA, with 40 percent to 50 percent of advertisers representing new business for the agency.
The print sections are produced every Thursday by the News and delivered by the DNA to both News and Post subscribers.
“We receive more than 800 stories a week from parents, grandparents, professionals, public information officers, churches, town officials, business owners and others,” said Temple, about YourHub.com’s success. More than 400 events are posted on the offering’s various Web sites each week.
“We have done extensive outreach to the community and it has paid off,” he said.
Temple said that one of the lessons he and the staff at YourHub.com learned from the concept’s launch is that it takes time for newspapers to encourage community participation.
“It is more important to have a good relationship with the community than to have ‘bells and whistles’ on your site,” he said. “It is important that the community knows you really are local and that there are faces behind the Web site.”
At the same time, Temple said he has learned that citizen journalism can be a bit messy at times and that the concept has to be continually tweaked as it goes along.
To that end, Temple said YourHub.com has added blogging, personal profiles, comments and a mechanism through which users can rate stories. A yellow pages directory has also been added.
“The community is defining YourHub.com and what it looks like today may not be what it looks like next year,” he said. “As more people begin to understand the concept, there will be a bigger demand for sites such as ours,” he said.
Temple said YourHub.com thus far has successfully avoided the pitfalls that afflicted such comparable efforts as the Los Angeles Times’ wikitorial project that was launched and subsequently pulled because of obscene postings.
“We have 26 eyes on the Web page, a profanity filter and communities who self-police the sites,” Temple said. “We have an objectionable content button that notifies staff. We haven’t had a problem with objectionable postings.”
Citizen journalism pubs rolling off the presses
It’s becoming more commonplace for newspapers to produce special sections from citizen-generated online content.
Case in point, the Daily Herald In suburban Chicago, which in February launched Beep, a Web site geared to 21-to-34-year-old readers, according to editor Kurt Gessler. A print counterpart to Beep will debut later this spring.
“To do this, we’re creating a Web-to-print product focusing on news, entertainment and features, with a special emphasis on interactive elements like blogs, polls and a message board system,” he said. “Plus, our users can directly take part in the reporting process, from eating/drinking with us for reviews to serving as sources and even reporters on stories.”
Unlike some other online-to-print entities, Gessler said that the Herald will not zone Beep into special sections.
“For our users, we want to bring the scattered burbs together, not split them,” he said. “People constantly say they are bored, many of whom don’t realize all the things available within five miles of where they live.”
Gessler said that there is no downside to actively engaging readers to produce content for the community.
“This generation (of readers) has grown up not only participating on message boards but also running sites, defining what news is, what it means,” he said. “The biggest challenge I see is if, in this era of media specialization, a publication like Beep is focused enough.”
Beep is one of a growing number of so-called citizen journalism Web/print efforts. Among them:
*Northwest Voice: A free community publication published by The Bakersfield Californian that is delivered to more than 24,000 homes in northwest Bakersfield every other Thursday.
*Neighbors: A weekly, user-created neighborhood-oriented publication distributed by The Dallas Morning News.
*Bluffton Today: A free daily newspaper in Bluffton, S.C., which sports a mix of articles from news staff and online contributors.
Associate Editor
YourHub.com may be coming to a Web site near you.
More than a dozen newspapers, ranging from The Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel to those operated by the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, have signed up to begin offering the Web-to-print grassroots journalism platform since the Denver Newspaper Agency began syndicating the concept earlier this year.
The initiative, introduced last May, is produced by the (Denver) Rocky Mountain News and is promoted and printed by the DNA, which also publishes The Denver Post. In Denver, YourHub.com spans 42 Web sites and 15 zoned weekly print sections that cover specific communities in the Mile High City’s metropolitan area (see Newspapers & Technology, June 2005).
Jack Lail, managing editor for multimedia at The News-Sentinel, said YourHub.com has yielded positive results since the newspaper launched the service last year prior to DNA’s syndication.
“We have had 2,715 stories posted, 1,305 events posted and 112 blog entries, he said, adding that the newspaper (Monday-Friday, 115,123; Saturday, 128,441; Sunday, 150,416) has more than 1,000 registered users and averages more than 60,000 page views each month.
The News-Sentinel is printing three zoned sections for home delivery and produces 21 Web sites covering specific Knoxville neighborhoods.
The paper’s YourHub.com staff consists of one editor, four reporters and an online producer. Their job is to help supplement the Web site by covering specific YourHub.com communities.
In addition to The News-Sentinel and LANG, other papers set to launch YourHub.com include Scripps Treasure Coast Newspaper Group in Florida, Alameda Newspaper Group in northern California, the Ventura County (Calif.) Star, the Anderson (S.C.) Independent-Mail, Wichita Falls (Texas) Times Record News, Corpus Christi (Texas) Caller-Times and the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn.
Spiraling interest
Fran Wills, DNA’s vice president of interactive and product development, said that the agency opted to syndicate YourHub.Com after receiving inquiries from other newspapers that were interested in the Rocky Mountain News’ initiative.
Key features in the YourHub.com syndication launch kit include content publishing and hosting software as well as strategies for marketing, editorial and sales, Wills said.
Optional features, such as converting the Web content to print format, and online classified ad posting, are also available. The software was developed by DNA in conjunction with Denver-based Indigo Group Inc. DNA charges newspapers that syndicate YourHub.com a one-time setup fee of between $2,000 and $10,000 and a recurring monthly license fee of between $250 and $5,000, depending upon market size.
Although DNA provides the software and print interfaces, each newspaper is responsible for managing its own content and marketing.
Since its Denver launch last year, YourHub.com reported an average of 309,000 page views and more than 45,000 unique visitors per month, according to John Temple, editor, publisher and president of the News.
Moreover, the site generated more than $5 million in annual revenues for DNA, with 40 percent to 50 percent of advertisers representing new business for the agency.
The print sections are produced every Thursday by the News and delivered by the DNA to both News and Post subscribers.
“We receive more than 800 stories a week from parents, grandparents, professionals, public information officers, churches, town officials, business owners and others,” said Temple, about YourHub.com’s success. More than 400 events are posted on the offering’s various Web sites each week.
“We have done extensive outreach to the community and it has paid off,” he said.
Temple said that one of the lessons he and the staff at YourHub.com learned from the concept’s launch is that it takes time for newspapers to encourage community participation.
“It is more important to have a good relationship with the community than to have ‘bells and whistles’ on your site,” he said. “It is important that the community knows you really are local and that there are faces behind the Web site.”
At the same time, Temple said he has learned that citizen journalism can be a bit messy at times and that the concept has to be continually tweaked as it goes along.
To that end, Temple said YourHub.com has added blogging, personal profiles, comments and a mechanism through which users can rate stories. A yellow pages directory has also been added.
“The community is defining YourHub.com and what it looks like today may not be what it looks like next year,” he said. “As more people begin to understand the concept, there will be a bigger demand for sites such as ours,” he said.
Temple said YourHub.com thus far has successfully avoided the pitfalls that afflicted such comparable efforts as the Los Angeles Times’ wikitorial project that was launched and subsequently pulled because of obscene postings.
“We have 26 eyes on the Web page, a profanity filter and communities who self-police the sites,” Temple said. “We have an objectionable content button that notifies staff. We haven’t had a problem with objectionable postings.”
Citizen journalism pubs rolling off the presses
It’s becoming more commonplace for newspapers to produce special sections from citizen-generated online content.
Case in point, the Daily Herald In suburban Chicago, which in February launched Beep, a Web site geared to 21-to-34-year-old readers, according to editor Kurt Gessler. A print counterpart to Beep will debut later this spring.
“To do this, we’re creating a Web-to-print product focusing on news, entertainment and features, with a special emphasis on interactive elements like blogs, polls and a message board system,” he said. “Plus, our users can directly take part in the reporting process, from eating/drinking with us for reviews to serving as sources and even reporters on stories.”
Unlike some other online-to-print entities, Gessler said that the Herald will not zone Beep into special sections.
“For our users, we want to bring the scattered burbs together, not split them,” he said. “People constantly say they are bored, many of whom don’t realize all the things available within five miles of where they live.”
Gessler said that there is no downside to actively engaging readers to produce content for the community.
“This generation (of readers) has grown up not only participating on message boards but also running sites, defining what news is, what it means,” he said. “The biggest challenge I see is if, in this era of media specialization, a publication like Beep is focused enough.”
Beep is one of a growing number of so-called citizen journalism Web/print efforts. Among them:
*Northwest Voice: A free community publication published by The Bakersfield Californian that is delivered to more than 24,000 homes in northwest Bakersfield every other Thursday.
*Neighbors: A weekly, user-created neighborhood-oriented publication distributed by The Dallas Morning News.
*Bluffton Today: A free daily newspaper in Bluffton, S.C., which sports a mix of articles from news staff and online contributors.
Wednesday, June 1, 2005
Grassroots Web site in Denver model for future?
By Marcelo Duran
Associate Editor
The (Denver) Rocky Mountain News last month rolled out a wide-ranging grassroots journalism initiative that could set the stage for how newspapers compete in today’s fractured media landscape.
The scheme, dubbed YourHub.com, is both a Web site and companion weekly print edition touted by Rocky Mountain News Publisher and Editor John Temple as a “virtual town square.”
“We expect people already involved in community life, whether through sports or clubs or social organizations, schools or churches, to be especially active on YourHub.com,” he said.
The site is portioned into 40 specific home pages for each community in the seven-county Denver metro area. Access is free, and users do not have to subscribe to the News to view stories or calendar events. But users must register before they can contribute to the site.
“They can write their own stories, post as many photos as they want, share their opinions on any topic and sell things,” Temple said.
In addition, the site is peppered with myriad information features such as volunteer requests and local calendars to help keep citizens informed about events and opportunities in their own backyard.
Positive reaction
The Rocky Mountain News is also providing editorial content for the YourHub.com sites through a dedicated staff separate from the newsroom.
The Denver Newspaper Agency, which publishes the News and The Denver Post through a joint operating agreement, is handling distribution and advertising for both the online and print editions of YourHub.com, according to Fran Willis, vice president of interactive and product development.
“Advertising will include retail and classified display and liner ads in print,” she said. “Online will include online versions of all the print advertising as well as online-only banners, contextual ads and transaction-enabled classified liners where users can sell their merchandise online through an auction, negotiated or fixed price.”
Temple said the newspaper registered more than 1,400 users in the first 24 hours after it launched the sites and reported 15,000 page views over the first two days.
“Whenever I explain YourHub.com in the community, I only get positive reactions,” he said.
The weekly print editions, the first of which were distributed in late May, spotlight the best stories on each YourHub.com site, Temple said.
By August, the News plans to print 15 editions, which will be inserted in both the News and The Post.
DNA has promoted YourHub.com in both papers as well as ads on cable television and Denver movie theaters.
“We have yard signs and flyers, and there will be a whole effort to do grassroots marketing including branded cameras, water bottles, sunscreen, baseball caps and soccer balls that will be distributed at community events,” Temple said.
Many sources
Temple said the primary role of the staff working on the site is to provide links to content that readers may find valuable.
“If you want to know when the library is open, you can go to YourHub.com, but we also link to every news story we can find about every community.”
This is one of the radical aspects of YourHub.com, Temple said, since the site is not giving preference on a regular basis to stories produced by YourHub.com staff.
“Our goal is to be a hub, a place where readers can come and find out everything they need to know about their local community. So we link to everybody, including Rocky competitors, in addition to generating our own stories and content.”
Currently the Web site has 10 full-time editorial employees, with plans to add more. There are three advertising staff and DNA’s interactive team has two full-time people working on YourHub.com with one from marketing.
The News’ YourHub.com is the latest in a series of attempts made by companies to encourage public participation. One of the most successful, Korea’s OhmyNews.com, reportedly attracts more than 2 million readers a day and has more than 26,000 registered citizen journalists.
Associate Editor
The (Denver) Rocky Mountain News last month rolled out a wide-ranging grassroots journalism initiative that could set the stage for how newspapers compete in today’s fractured media landscape.
The scheme, dubbed YourHub.com, is both a Web site and companion weekly print edition touted by Rocky Mountain News Publisher and Editor John Temple as a “virtual town square.”
“We expect people already involved in community life, whether through sports or clubs or social organizations, schools or churches, to be especially active on YourHub.com,” he said.
The site is portioned into 40 specific home pages for each community in the seven-county Denver metro area. Access is free, and users do not have to subscribe to the News to view stories or calendar events. But users must register before they can contribute to the site.
“They can write their own stories, post as many photos as they want, share their opinions on any topic and sell things,” Temple said.
In addition, the site is peppered with myriad information features such as volunteer requests and local calendars to help keep citizens informed about events and opportunities in their own backyard.
Positive reaction
The Rocky Mountain News is also providing editorial content for the YourHub.com sites through a dedicated staff separate from the newsroom.
The Denver Newspaper Agency, which publishes the News and The Denver Post through a joint operating agreement, is handling distribution and advertising for both the online and print editions of YourHub.com, according to Fran Willis, vice president of interactive and product development.
“Advertising will include retail and classified display and liner ads in print,” she said. “Online will include online versions of all the print advertising as well as online-only banners, contextual ads and transaction-enabled classified liners where users can sell their merchandise online through an auction, negotiated or fixed price.”
Temple said the newspaper registered more than 1,400 users in the first 24 hours after it launched the sites and reported 15,000 page views over the first two days.
“Whenever I explain YourHub.com in the community, I only get positive reactions,” he said.
The weekly print editions, the first of which were distributed in late May, spotlight the best stories on each YourHub.com site, Temple said.
By August, the News plans to print 15 editions, which will be inserted in both the News and The Post.
DNA has promoted YourHub.com in both papers as well as ads on cable television and Denver movie theaters.
“We have yard signs and flyers, and there will be a whole effort to do grassroots marketing including branded cameras, water bottles, sunscreen, baseball caps and soccer balls that will be distributed at community events,” Temple said.
Many sources
Temple said the primary role of the staff working on the site is to provide links to content that readers may find valuable.
“If you want to know when the library is open, you can go to YourHub.com, but we also link to every news story we can find about every community.”
This is one of the radical aspects of YourHub.com, Temple said, since the site is not giving preference on a regular basis to stories produced by YourHub.com staff.
“Our goal is to be a hub, a place where readers can come and find out everything they need to know about their local community. So we link to everybody, including Rocky competitors, in addition to generating our own stories and content.”
Currently the Web site has 10 full-time editorial employees, with plans to add more. There are three advertising staff and DNA’s interactive team has two full-time people working on YourHub.com with one from marketing.
The News’ YourHub.com is the latest in a series of attempts made by companies to encourage public participation. One of the most successful, Korea’s OhmyNews.com, reportedly attracts more than 2 million readers a day and has more than 26,000 registered citizen journalists.
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