Although the introduction of color is a relatively new addition to digital newspaper printing, some dailies have offered black-and-white digital editions for years.
Case in point, Carlstadt, N.J.-based Global Document Solutions, which since 2003 has been printing 300 full broadsheet black-and-white copies of The Guardian nightly on an Oce 9210 wide format machine.
Global Document Solutions also operates facilities in New York City and Hayward, Calif.
“We print it every night,” said John Slaney, chief operating officer. “We print the full broadsheet so we’re really duplicating what it looks like in the U.K.”
The copies are picked up and distributed around New York City.
“People are getting that day’s paper instead of yesterday’s paper,” Slaney said.
Slaney said there was a large demand for The Guardian out of market and he is also working with some other newspapers that are interested in following The Guardian’s model.
He said some newspapers also want to print newspapers for distribution on planes. Los Angeles-based O’Neil Data Systems already prints a number of Australian newspapers for distribution on Qantas Airlines flights using Oce machines.
Slaney said he can see definite value for newspapers adopting these models.
“This gives flexibility for targeted ads,” he said. “ Ads running in London could be redirected here so that they are more pertinent and I think there is tremendous value in that — targeted marketing and messaging and at a smaller size run.”
Global Document Solutions worked with a mill to create the blend of newsprint that allows it to print newspapers on the digital press. The shop uses Hunkeler finishing equipment.
— Tara McMeekin
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Digital presses stream into Drupa 2008
By Mary L. Van Meter
Publisher
DUSSELDORF, Germany — One of the hottest trends emerging at last month’s Drupa 2008 was the explosion of short-run digital presses aimed at newspapers.
No fewer than a half-dozen vendors launched web-fed digital presses specifically engineered to serve newspapers’ print-on-demand needs.
The goal: to allow papers to meet the demand placed by business travelers and other consumers that want to pick up a newspaper at remote locations like airports and hotels. That segment, in conjunction with the increase of niche publications, short-run materials and other periodicals with less than 15,000 circulation, dovetails perfectly with the advent of these digital presses, observers say.
The web-fed presses showcased at drupa have throughputs, finishing systems and printing features that transcend the machines now aimed at transactional promotional printing.
To that end, they offer full color, increased speeds — in some cases up to 3,000 40-page newspapers per hour, about triple the output currently available — the ability to produce shorter press runs economically, and capabilities that permit the production of such products as micro-zoned materials and personalized inserts.
Most of the web-fed digital presses at Drupa were configured as continuous-feed, single-pass for double-side printing. They were also available with turner bars similar to those found within newspaper offset printing operations.
While some vendors, such as Oce, Nipson, Agfa, Hewlett Packard and Screen touted their grayscale drop-on-demand systems. Kodak offered three platforms, continuous inkjet, drop-on-demand and continuous stream.
All the companies said they are working with newspapers to test the machines. One vendor, Screen, showcased its Truepress Jet 520 in conjunction with finishing systems vendor Hunkeler and software vendor Newsworld to print live editions of several newspapers, including USA Today, during the show.
Then there was Xerox, which displayed its 980 Color Continuous Feed machine, which will be introduced later this year. The press uses hot flash-fusing LED technology common throughout Xerox’ product lines. With a resolution of 600 dots per inch, the press can produce up to 980 pages per minute and will be available later this year, according to Wendy K. Apton, Xerox’ assistant technology program manager.
A rundown of what was offered at the show (in alphabetical order):
Agfa
Agfa, which entered the digital press market in 2004 when it acquired Barco’s Dotrix technology, hasn’t aggressively marketed Dotrix to newspapers. But that is all about to change, said Kurt Smits, who heads Agfa’s strategic business development of global accounts. It begins with the Dotrix DGNews, which the company unveiled at drupa.
Photos: Newspapers & Technology Agfa press, and Kurt Smits, Agfa’s strategic business development global accounts.
The machine, available now, employs a grayscale drop-on-demand technology and uses a single-pass inkjet color engine.
“The press can print not only standard newspaper sizes on standard newsprint but also offers numerous financial applications that could incorporate personalized and customized content,” Smits said. The machine has an output capacity of 78 feet per minute and can print products up to 24.8 inches wide. (For more information about the DGNews.
Hewlett Packard
HP introduced its HP Inkjet Web Press, available with a scalable web width of up to 30 inches for production of full-broadsheet newspaper formats or multiple-up documents. The drop-on-demand press, using HP’s Edgeline thermal inkjet technology, can print up to 200 2-sided broadsheets per minute (Nordic format, 29.92 inches wide by 22.75 inches tall) with a resolution of 600 dpi.
Aurelio Maruggi, vice president and general manager of HP’s inkjet high-speed production solutions, said a U.S. newspaper plans to test the 30-inch version of the machine later this year, producing 14 zoned versions every day. The press will be commercially available during the second half of 2009, Maruggi said.
Hewlett Packard unveiled its Inkjet Web Press, which will be tested by an undisclosed U.S. newspaper.
Kodak
Kodak showcased is Versamark VT 3000, a continuous-feed, single-pass press with continuous 4-color inkjet print technology. The VT 3000 is a scalable press that can handle web widths ranging from 8 inches to 20 inches and is offered in either 300-by-300 or 300-by-600 dpi resolution. Printing speeds vary per model but the VT 3000 can reach a maximum speed of 500 feet, or 2,040 pages, per minute. The press can support monochrome, spot and process color printing on the same platform, Kodak said.
Antonio M. Perez, chairman and chief executive officer, Kodak.
Nipson
Nipson Printing Systems unveiled its new generation of print heads for the VaryPress 200 and VaryPress 500 web-fed digital presses. Both presses use Nipson’s magnetographic imaging and flash fusing processes. The technology uses a magnetic print drum combined with flash toner fusing. The cold flash fusing system fuses the toner without heating the substrate, so the web does not shrink, warp, distort, or dry out, according to Martine Berger, marketing communications manager for Nipson.
The VaryPress 200 runs up to 295 feet per minute on a printable width of 18.45 inches (web width of 20.5 inches) with 600 dpi print quality. The VaryPress 500 has production speeds of up to 492 feet-per-minute.
Oce
Oce, whose black-and-white digital presses are used by several newspapers, introduced three new models of its full process-color JetStream machines.
The JetStream 750, 1500 and 3000 systems join the 2200 and 1100 machines Oce formally introduced last December. All employ Oce’s DigiDot piezo-based drop-on-demand printing platform.
The 750, with a 328-foot-per-minute capacity, is an entry-level machine, said Michael R. Polin, product manager.
The JetStream 1500 produces 1,300 full-color A4-size images per minute in two-up duplex format while the 3000 has an output capacity of 656 feet-per-minute with a resolution of 480-by-600 dpi.
Michael R. Polin, product manager, Oce.
Wendy K. Apton, assistant technology program manager at Xerox.
Screen
The Screen TruePress Jet 520 variable printing system blends grayscale drop-on-demand technology with Epson’s latest multitone piezo drop-on-demand inkjet print head. The press uses water-based dye inks, water-based pigment inks and four process colors (CMYK). The machine can print up to 210 feet per minute with a resolution of 720-by-360 dpi. Page widths run from 6.5 inches to 20.47 inches, with a cutoff of 40 inches.
“Print-on-demand will bring new business opportunities to newspapers,” said Seiichi Nakao, Screen’s manager of sales and marketing. “It will eliminate the financial cost and environmental impact of air-freighting newspapers while ensuring same-day availability no matter where their readers might be,” he said.
Seiichi Nakao, manager of sales and marketing, Screen.
Publisher
DUSSELDORF, Germany — One of the hottest trends emerging at last month’s Drupa 2008 was the explosion of short-run digital presses aimed at newspapers.
No fewer than a half-dozen vendors launched web-fed digital presses specifically engineered to serve newspapers’ print-on-demand needs.
The goal: to allow papers to meet the demand placed by business travelers and other consumers that want to pick up a newspaper at remote locations like airports and hotels. That segment, in conjunction with the increase of niche publications, short-run materials and other periodicals with less than 15,000 circulation, dovetails perfectly with the advent of these digital presses, observers say.
The web-fed presses showcased at drupa have throughputs, finishing systems and printing features that transcend the machines now aimed at transactional promotional printing.
To that end, they offer full color, increased speeds — in some cases up to 3,000 40-page newspapers per hour, about triple the output currently available — the ability to produce shorter press runs economically, and capabilities that permit the production of such products as micro-zoned materials and personalized inserts.
Most of the web-fed digital presses at Drupa were configured as continuous-feed, single-pass for double-side printing. They were also available with turner bars similar to those found within newspaper offset printing operations.
While some vendors, such as Oce, Nipson, Agfa, Hewlett Packard and Screen touted their grayscale drop-on-demand systems. Kodak offered three platforms, continuous inkjet, drop-on-demand and continuous stream.
All the companies said they are working with newspapers to test the machines. One vendor, Screen, showcased its Truepress Jet 520 in conjunction with finishing systems vendor Hunkeler and software vendor Newsworld to print live editions of several newspapers, including USA Today, during the show.
Then there was Xerox, which displayed its 980 Color Continuous Feed machine, which will be introduced later this year. The press uses hot flash-fusing LED technology common throughout Xerox’ product lines. With a resolution of 600 dots per inch, the press can produce up to 980 pages per minute and will be available later this year, according to Wendy K. Apton, Xerox’ assistant technology program manager.
A rundown of what was offered at the show (in alphabetical order):
Agfa
Agfa, which entered the digital press market in 2004 when it acquired Barco’s Dotrix technology, hasn’t aggressively marketed Dotrix to newspapers. But that is all about to change, said Kurt Smits, who heads Agfa’s strategic business development of global accounts. It begins with the Dotrix DGNews, which the company unveiled at drupa.
Photos: Newspapers & Technology Agfa press, and Kurt Smits, Agfa’s strategic business development global accounts.
The machine, available now, employs a grayscale drop-on-demand technology and uses a single-pass inkjet color engine.
“The press can print not only standard newspaper sizes on standard newsprint but also offers numerous financial applications that could incorporate personalized and customized content,” Smits said. The machine has an output capacity of 78 feet per minute and can print products up to 24.8 inches wide. (For more information about the DGNews.
Hewlett Packard
HP introduced its HP Inkjet Web Press, available with a scalable web width of up to 30 inches for production of full-broadsheet newspaper formats or multiple-up documents. The drop-on-demand press, using HP’s Edgeline thermal inkjet technology, can print up to 200 2-sided broadsheets per minute (Nordic format, 29.92 inches wide by 22.75 inches tall) with a resolution of 600 dpi.
Aurelio Maruggi, vice president and general manager of HP’s inkjet high-speed production solutions, said a U.S. newspaper plans to test the 30-inch version of the machine later this year, producing 14 zoned versions every day. The press will be commercially available during the second half of 2009, Maruggi said.
Hewlett Packard unveiled its Inkjet Web Press, which will be tested by an undisclosed U.S. newspaper.
Kodak
Kodak showcased is Versamark VT 3000, a continuous-feed, single-pass press with continuous 4-color inkjet print technology. The VT 3000 is a scalable press that can handle web widths ranging from 8 inches to 20 inches and is offered in either 300-by-300 or 300-by-600 dpi resolution. Printing speeds vary per model but the VT 3000 can reach a maximum speed of 500 feet, or 2,040 pages, per minute. The press can support monochrome, spot and process color printing on the same platform, Kodak said.
Antonio M. Perez, chairman and chief executive officer, Kodak.Nipson
Nipson Printing Systems unveiled its new generation of print heads for the VaryPress 200 and VaryPress 500 web-fed digital presses. Both presses use Nipson’s magnetographic imaging and flash fusing processes. The technology uses a magnetic print drum combined with flash toner fusing. The cold flash fusing system fuses the toner without heating the substrate, so the web does not shrink, warp, distort, or dry out, according to Martine Berger, marketing communications manager for Nipson.
The VaryPress 200 runs up to 295 feet per minute on a printable width of 18.45 inches (web width of 20.5 inches) with 600 dpi print quality. The VaryPress 500 has production speeds of up to 492 feet-per-minute.
Oce
Oce, whose black-and-white digital presses are used by several newspapers, introduced three new models of its full process-color JetStream machines.
The JetStream 750, 1500 and 3000 systems join the 2200 and 1100 machines Oce formally introduced last December. All employ Oce’s DigiDot piezo-based drop-on-demand printing platform.
The 750, with a 328-foot-per-minute capacity, is an entry-level machine, said Michael R. Polin, product manager.
The JetStream 1500 produces 1,300 full-color A4-size images per minute in two-up duplex format while the 3000 has an output capacity of 656 feet-per-minute with a resolution of 480-by-600 dpi.
Michael R. Polin, product manager, Oce.
Wendy K. Apton, assistant technology program manager at Xerox.Screen
The Screen TruePress Jet 520 variable printing system blends grayscale drop-on-demand technology with Epson’s latest multitone piezo drop-on-demand inkjet print head. The press uses water-based dye inks, water-based pigment inks and four process colors (CMYK). The machine can print up to 210 feet per minute with a resolution of 720-by-360 dpi. Page widths run from 6.5 inches to 20.47 inches, with a cutoff of 40 inches.
“Print-on-demand will bring new business opportunities to newspapers,” said Seiichi Nakao, Screen’s manager of sales and marketing. “It will eliminate the financial cost and environmental impact of air-freighting newspapers while ensuring same-day availability no matter where their readers might be,” he said.
Seiichi Nakao, manager of sales and marketing, Screen.
Agfa readies to tackle papers with DGNews digital press
At drupa 2008 Agfa Graphics introduced the Dotrix DGNews, a digital inkjet press for short-run printing. The new press is based on Agfa’s Dotrix Transcolor designed for transactional and transpromotional printing. The technology inside is similar to the Dotrix Modular, which was designed to print on a variety of substrates for industrial applications — folding cartons, packaging, displays, and plastic bags. To construct the DGNews press, Agfa took the duplexing capability from the Dotrix Transcolor and primed it for newsprint, added a sheet cutter, a drum collator and a double folding unit for single and double folds to produce fully finished tabloid or broadsheet newspapers.
Newspapers & Technology talked with Richard Barham, Agfa Graphics’ vice president for inkjet, worldwide about the company’s plans regarding digital printing in the newspaper market.
Photo: Agfa
Agfa’s Richard Barham stands next to an Agfa Modular press at last
month’s drupa.
N&T: What is the market potential for short-run digital printing?
Barham: We see the short-run digital printing taking hold in three phases.
First, we see newspaper distributors as the early adopters of this technology. A system such as the Dotrix DGNews will allow them to distribute precise circulation for large newspapers in remote locations. Already, there are two audiences — professionals who are living abroad and want to see the news from their native country. We call this the roaming market. A French broker, for example, working in New York on Wall Street would be able to get an 8:30 edition of Les Echos instead of having to wait until late afternoon, which is currently the case.
The other audience is tourists. Europeans who may be vacationing in Miami Beach will be able to get the early edition of their home newspaper each morning.
Distributors will be able to print for their newspaper clients locally, so the newspaper can reach those markets on a more timely basis with minimal waste. With the Dotrix DGNews they can print the exact quantity when needed with comparable quality to the original. They can even print the same size; there is no need to shrink the titles since the Dotrix DGNews can handle a full broadsheet.
A major advantage for the newspaper will be the ability to capture local advertisers. So Coppertone will be able to reach a very finely tuned tourist trade as well as its larger mass market. The first installation of the DGNews is taking place this summer at a distributor who caters to this very market — the firm delivers native newspapers to tourists traveling abroad.
We see the second wave of digital printing occurring as the capabilities of the technology increase. With faster speeds newspapers will be able to reach out to secondary markets with shorter, highly efficient editions. They will be able to deliver more targeted audiences to their advertisers. Community papers are a typical example of this case.
In the third wave, those newspapers will be able to personalize newspapers — that is, deliver very specific types of content by demographic. For example, newspapers going to a college campus will include advertising inserts geared specifically to 18 to 21 year olds. They’ll be able to deliver custom titles to markets they are currently unable to reach.
N&T: Are you describing a new business model for newspapers?
Barham: I would describe it more as a new opportunity for distributors where remote delivery is a requirement. Then as the technology moves forward, newspapers will adopt the technology to serve their local markets on a much more targeted basis. It isn’t necessarily changing the model, it is broadening it.
N&T: Can you provide a cost model comparison?
Barham: Newspapers typically use 2,000 or 3,000 tabloid copies, depending on the operation, as the breakeven point for offset printing. With the Dotrix DGNews you can print as few as one to 50 copies and still be competitive. The cost per copy is the same whether you print one or 3000 copies.
We are working on increasing the speed of the DGNews substantially over the course of the next year, with a goal toward bringing the cost per copy down even further.
N&T: If you are selling to distributors, who sells and services the system?
Barham: Agfa handles sales, installation, training and service.
N&T: How is color management handled?
Barham: Agfa integrates our ColorTune color management suite with the Dotrix DGNews. This is the technology we use in our proofing systems that allows us to match any output profile. Color is accurate. UV inks also allow a much wider color gamut for better color matching, especially important for matching special color.
N&T: How does the DGNews integrate into the workflow?
Barham: Very easily with our Apogee X workflow software. The DGNews was designed to integrate easily into any workflow — Agfa or non-Agfa.
Newspapers & Technology talked with Richard Barham, Agfa Graphics’ vice president for inkjet, worldwide about the company’s plans regarding digital printing in the newspaper market.
Photo: AgfaAgfa’s Richard Barham stands next to an Agfa Modular press at last
month’s drupa.
N&T: What is the market potential for short-run digital printing?
Barham: We see the short-run digital printing taking hold in three phases.
First, we see newspaper distributors as the early adopters of this technology. A system such as the Dotrix DGNews will allow them to distribute precise circulation for large newspapers in remote locations. Already, there are two audiences — professionals who are living abroad and want to see the news from their native country. We call this the roaming market. A French broker, for example, working in New York on Wall Street would be able to get an 8:30 edition of Les Echos instead of having to wait until late afternoon, which is currently the case.
The other audience is tourists. Europeans who may be vacationing in Miami Beach will be able to get the early edition of their home newspaper each morning.
Distributors will be able to print for their newspaper clients locally, so the newspaper can reach those markets on a more timely basis with minimal waste. With the Dotrix DGNews they can print the exact quantity when needed with comparable quality to the original. They can even print the same size; there is no need to shrink the titles since the Dotrix DGNews can handle a full broadsheet.
A major advantage for the newspaper will be the ability to capture local advertisers. So Coppertone will be able to reach a very finely tuned tourist trade as well as its larger mass market. The first installation of the DGNews is taking place this summer at a distributor who caters to this very market — the firm delivers native newspapers to tourists traveling abroad.
We see the second wave of digital printing occurring as the capabilities of the technology increase. With faster speeds newspapers will be able to reach out to secondary markets with shorter, highly efficient editions. They will be able to deliver more targeted audiences to their advertisers. Community papers are a typical example of this case.
In the third wave, those newspapers will be able to personalize newspapers — that is, deliver very specific types of content by demographic. For example, newspapers going to a college campus will include advertising inserts geared specifically to 18 to 21 year olds. They’ll be able to deliver custom titles to markets they are currently unable to reach.
N&T: Are you describing a new business model for newspapers?
Barham: I would describe it more as a new opportunity for distributors where remote delivery is a requirement. Then as the technology moves forward, newspapers will adopt the technology to serve their local markets on a much more targeted basis. It isn’t necessarily changing the model, it is broadening it.
N&T: Can you provide a cost model comparison?
Barham: Newspapers typically use 2,000 or 3,000 tabloid copies, depending on the operation, as the breakeven point for offset printing. With the Dotrix DGNews you can print as few as one to 50 copies and still be competitive. The cost per copy is the same whether you print one or 3000 copies.
We are working on increasing the speed of the DGNews substantially over the course of the next year, with a goal toward bringing the cost per copy down even further.
N&T: If you are selling to distributors, who sells and services the system?
Barham: Agfa handles sales, installation, training and service.
N&T: How is color management handled?
Barham: Agfa integrates our ColorTune color management suite with the Dotrix DGNews. This is the technology we use in our proofing systems that allows us to match any output profile. Color is accurate. UV inks also allow a much wider color gamut for better color matching, especially important for matching special color.
N&T: How does the DGNews integrate into the workflow?
Barham: Very easily with our Apogee X workflow software. The DGNews was designed to integrate easily into any workflow — Agfa or non-Agfa.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Denver Newspaper Agency reins in active syndication of YourHub
By Marcelo Duran
Associate Editor
Even as newspapers continue to explore the value of rolling out grassroots-oriented Web sites and special sections, one of the first publishers to pioneer citizen journalism has quietly halted syndicating the concept to other publications.
Elaine Zinngrabe, Denver Newspaper Agency’s senior vice president, interactive, said that while DNA is no longer actively marketing YourHub, newspapers can still license the service.
DNA two years ago began syndicating YourHub.com after receiving inquiries from other newspapers interested in the concept (see Newspapers & Technology, April 2006).
The syndication kit included content publishing and hosting software as well as strategies for marketing, editorial and sales.
DNA charged newspapers 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.
Still available
YourHub, a combination of Web sites and weekly printed publications, made its debut in Denver in 2005. The concept, produced by the Rocky Mountain News, is promoted and printed by the DNA, which also publishes The Denver Post.
Currently, the Denver YourHub encompasses 47 Web sites and 18 print editions.
Outside of The Buffalo (N.Y.) News and The Gazette in Colorado Springs, Colo., however, the newspapers that syndicated YourHub were either MediaNews Group Inc. or E.W. Scripps-owned properties, reflecting the publishers that share ownership of DNA. They included the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, Treasure Coast Newspapers in Florida and the Wichita Falls (Texas) Times Record News.
But The Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel, a Scripps paper that was an early adopter, recently discontinued YourHub, said Jack Lail, managing editor of multimedia.
Changing strategy
“Our strategy has changed. Instead of doing three geo-targeted print publications, we now do one in our home county,” he said. “A separate publication we own is doing community zoning.”
Lail said The News-Sentinel is continuing to offer opportunities for users to contribute content through four different sites, aimed at prep sports, college sports, education issues and for the nearby Smoky Mountains. The sites were created on Ning.com, a free social networking site.
Lail said that some user-generated features can also be supported in the Ellington CMS platform the newspaper uses for its Knoxnews.com Web site (see related story above).
The paper is also exploring other options to allow users to post additional photos and text.
Associate Editor
Even as newspapers continue to explore the value of rolling out grassroots-oriented Web sites and special sections, one of the first publishers to pioneer citizen journalism has quietly halted syndicating the concept to other publications.
Elaine Zinngrabe, Denver Newspaper Agency’s senior vice president, interactive, said that while DNA is no longer actively marketing YourHub, newspapers can still license the service.
DNA two years ago began syndicating YourHub.com after receiving inquiries from other newspapers interested in the concept (see Newspapers & Technology, April 2006).
The syndication kit included content publishing and hosting software as well as strategies for marketing, editorial and sales.
DNA charged newspapers 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.
Still available
YourHub, a combination of Web sites and weekly printed publications, made its debut in Denver in 2005. The concept, produced by the Rocky Mountain News, is promoted and printed by the DNA, which also publishes The Denver Post.
Currently, the Denver YourHub encompasses 47 Web sites and 18 print editions.
Outside of The Buffalo (N.Y.) News and The Gazette in Colorado Springs, Colo., however, the newspapers that syndicated YourHub were either MediaNews Group Inc. or E.W. Scripps-owned properties, reflecting the publishers that share ownership of DNA. They included the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, Treasure Coast Newspapers in Florida and the Wichita Falls (Texas) Times Record News.
But The Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel, a Scripps paper that was an early adopter, recently discontinued YourHub, said Jack Lail, managing editor of multimedia.
Changing strategy
“Our strategy has changed. Instead of doing three geo-targeted print publications, we now do one in our home county,” he said. “A separate publication we own is doing community zoning.”
Lail said The News-Sentinel is continuing to offer opportunities for users to contribute content through four different sites, aimed at prep sports, college sports, education issues and for the nearby Smoky Mountains. The sites were created on Ning.com, a free social networking site.
Lail said that some user-generated features can also be supported in the Ellington CMS platform the newspaper uses for its Knoxnews.com Web site (see related story above).
The paper is also exploring other options to allow users to post additional photos and text.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Prep sports scoring points
By Marcelo Duran
Associate Editor
If you build it, they will come.
That is the hope several companies are expressing as they attempt to extend community journalism into the wide world of sports.
Last month, CommunitySportsDesk, an offshoot of the Kenosha (Wis.) News, launched a hosted service that allows local youth and recreation sports leagues to post schedules, write game summaries, input stats and box scores and upload game and team pictures to a newspaper-branded Web site.
The hosted version is the most recent iteration of CommunitySportsDesk, which the News (Monday-Friday, 24,552; Saturday, 24,215; Sunday, 27,149) rolled out last summer as an experiment to see how it could handle user-generated content flowing from the area’s youth and recreation sports teams, according to Ken Dowdell, News publisher and vice president of United Communications Corp.
“Our in-house techs built that innovative model, based on discussions with league organizers and team officials,” he said.
Reaction was positive, so the News hired additional software developers to pepper CommunitySportsDesk with additional features, including the ability for UCC to host the app, Dowdell said.
“It can be the ‘something-different’ tool that equips a traditional media company to get where they need to go with youth and recreational sports,” he said about the software, adding that he felt confident the concept would work well in other “Kenoshas” around the country.
Automatic lede writing
In addition to rewriting code that enabled UCC to host the app, developers added features that allow the software to produce basic headlines and lead paragraphs automatically, based on the data input by team representatives.
“Rather than simply offering a channel for blogging, CommunitySportsDesk helps structure the collection, processing and flow of what can be massive amounts of data,” said Dowdell.
“We’ve engineered options that can serve Pee Wee players who just need their achievements recognized to high school and adult leagues that like to collect complete stats,” he said.
Dowdell said the company is prepared to support its users as they roll out the software.
“As a result of our real-life experiences, we’re prepared to help other publishers with a community-focused, full advertising-supported business model, not merely software,” said Dowdell.
Matthew Serpe, a CommunitySportsDesk business development specialist, said the service dovetails with the industry’s adoption of hyper-local coverage.
“In a newspaper, (youth and rec sports) is an area getting the least amount of coverage. We are offering this application for youth and rec to cover themselves.”
National effort
Dell Sports Inc., meantime, plans to roll out a national high-school sports service this fall, according to Terry Dell, president of the Charlotte, N.C., firm.
The service, Prep Sports Nation, allows participants to post and share pictures, upload video and blogs and share content among students, parents, athletes and local community members.
“How cool would it be to have pictures of you, uploaded on the Web site, by everyone in the audience?” Dell said. “It’s a game of a thousand angles and it’s easy for anyone who goes and watches the game to take pictures.”
Dell said participating newspapers can download all the materials they need from the PSN site. Fans are reminded that a newspaper could use their photos or stories before they can post to PSN, Dell said.
Prep Sports Nation began beta testing the app last August and Dell said he’s modified PSN to accommodate user requests.
Reverse publishing
“One suggestion was full reverse publishing on all user photos and profile material, which we had, but (the paper) wanted to take the entire profile and feature a particular a student,” he said.
Papers can feature multiple student profiles and can also run fan profiles from multiple schools, he said.
PSN is engineered to manage rosters, schedules, and individual and team stats. Users will also be able to search for particular teams or individuals on other PSN sites and Dell said he’s working on a delivery method to allow photos and other materials to be shared among newspapers.
The system includes a stamp or watermark that identifies where the photo originated and a transmission system that can route the photo to a newspaper that requests to publish it.
CommunitySportsDesk and PSN come as newspapers try to find ways to increase coverage of local sports even as their resources are trimmed. The Amarillo (Texas) Globe-News, for example, won a Digital Edge award for its prep sports site, Pigskin Review, which launched last year (see Newspapers & Technology, March 2008).
Associate Editor
If you build it, they will come.
That is the hope several companies are expressing as they attempt to extend community journalism into the wide world of sports.
Last month, CommunitySportsDesk, an offshoot of the Kenosha (Wis.) News, launched a hosted service that allows local youth and recreation sports leagues to post schedules, write game summaries, input stats and box scores and upload game and team pictures to a newspaper-branded Web site.
The hosted version is the most recent iteration of CommunitySportsDesk, which the News (Monday-Friday, 24,552; Saturday, 24,215; Sunday, 27,149) rolled out last summer as an experiment to see how it could handle user-generated content flowing from the area’s youth and recreation sports teams, according to Ken Dowdell, News publisher and vice president of United Communications Corp.
“Our in-house techs built that innovative model, based on discussions with league organizers and team officials,” he said.
Reaction was positive, so the News hired additional software developers to pepper CommunitySportsDesk with additional features, including the ability for UCC to host the app, Dowdell said.
“It can be the ‘something-different’ tool that equips a traditional media company to get where they need to go with youth and recreational sports,” he said about the software, adding that he felt confident the concept would work well in other “Kenoshas” around the country.
Automatic lede writing
In addition to rewriting code that enabled UCC to host the app, developers added features that allow the software to produce basic headlines and lead paragraphs automatically, based on the data input by team representatives.
“Rather than simply offering a channel for blogging, CommunitySportsDesk helps structure the collection, processing and flow of what can be massive amounts of data,” said Dowdell.
“We’ve engineered options that can serve Pee Wee players who just need their achievements recognized to high school and adult leagues that like to collect complete stats,” he said.
Dowdell said the company is prepared to support its users as they roll out the software.
“As a result of our real-life experiences, we’re prepared to help other publishers with a community-focused, full advertising-supported business model, not merely software,” said Dowdell.
Matthew Serpe, a CommunitySportsDesk business development specialist, said the service dovetails with the industry’s adoption of hyper-local coverage.
“In a newspaper, (youth and rec sports) is an area getting the least amount of coverage. We are offering this application for youth and rec to cover themselves.”
National effort
Dell Sports Inc., meantime, plans to roll out a national high-school sports service this fall, according to Terry Dell, president of the Charlotte, N.C., firm.
The service, Prep Sports Nation, allows participants to post and share pictures, upload video and blogs and share content among students, parents, athletes and local community members.
“How cool would it be to have pictures of you, uploaded on the Web site, by everyone in the audience?” Dell said. “It’s a game of a thousand angles and it’s easy for anyone who goes and watches the game to take pictures.”
Dell said participating newspapers can download all the materials they need from the PSN site. Fans are reminded that a newspaper could use their photos or stories before they can post to PSN, Dell said.
Prep Sports Nation began beta testing the app last August and Dell said he’s modified PSN to accommodate user requests.
Reverse publishing
“One suggestion was full reverse publishing on all user photos and profile material, which we had, but (the paper) wanted to take the entire profile and feature a particular a student,” he said.
Papers can feature multiple student profiles and can also run fan profiles from multiple schools, he said.
PSN is engineered to manage rosters, schedules, and individual and team stats. Users will also be able to search for particular teams or individuals on other PSN sites and Dell said he’s working on a delivery method to allow photos and other materials to be shared among newspapers.
The system includes a stamp or watermark that identifies where the photo originated and a transmission system that can route the photo to a newspaper that requests to publish it.
CommunitySportsDesk and PSN come as newspapers try to find ways to increase coverage of local sports even as their resources are trimmed. The Amarillo (Texas) Globe-News, for example, won a Digital Edge award for its prep sports site, Pigskin Review, which launched last year (see Newspapers & Technology, March 2008).
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