Connections'97: Adapt or Perish
by Steve Ostrofsky
Speed is life.
It's an old adage among fighter pilots (at least those still around to tell the tale), and it was also a central theme at Connections'97, NAA's showcase for new-media technology and trends.
Newspapers must adapt to the extremely rapid cycle of product development and change in the online world. That argument was hammered home by Howard Finberg, director of information technology for Phoenix Newspapers Inc. "The Web and online are no longer new," he said, while pointing out that "Bill Gates is not looking in the rear-view mirror for solutions." Keynote speaker Robert Ingle, president of new media for Knight-Ridder Inc., put it succinctly: "Newspapers are not used to the pace of change" in the online environment.
OK, so you're trying to become more agile, and you want to upgrade your newspaper's online presence. But you know you'll need all the support that technology can provide in order to accelerate the process. Fear not, help is on the way.
What's Hot?
The dizzying pace of Web development generates a tremendous amount of hype. For newspapers, however, several technologies discussed at Connections seem to have some steak to go along with the sizzle.
Software Agents. Imagine how simple searching for a specific product or service would be if you had a personal shopper working for you. You'd simply specify your requirements, and the shopper would sort through everything and only inform you of the offerings most likely to meet your needs. According to Patti Maes of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, software agents that can act as your personal shopper by automatically searching the Web are under active development at MIT and elsewhere. While these technologies are just in their infancy, they promise significant changes in the way customers use Web sites.
Push Technology. An area of tremendous interest and development effort, push technology is somewhat similar in concept to software agents. A newspaper could, for example, use it to send customized content to an online subscriber (i.e., an e-mail address) based upon a stored profile.
 Knight-Ridder's Robert Ingle says newspapers must pick up the pace in new media. |
Although push technology can alleviate some of the "World Wide Wait" problems caused by Web congestion, many newspaper professionals are wary. Quality content, they believe, is what will draw subscribers to your site. As Tom Kohn, planning and product manager for USA Today Information Network puts it, "Push technology isn't going to make your financial pages as good or as well known as The Wall Street Journal."
Database Tools. At first glance, this seems to be the answer to a newspaper's prayers. Instead of creating content specifically for the Web (in many cases very similar to that appearing in print) and going through all the heartache of page design and HTML tagging, you simply keep all your content (text, graphics, bylines, editor IDs, etc.) in a database that serves both traditional print publishing systems and online systems. HTML tags are automatically applied through templates, and the process of developing for the Web is speeded up tremendously (and remember: Speed is life).
The rub? It's hard to do. According to the panelists at the Connections'97 database session, the tools are not available off-the-shelf. While all agree that the results are worth the effort, the effort is time-consuming and expensive, and is not made easier by the fact that the legacy front-end systems at most newspapers do not easily lend themselves to database integration.
Home (Page) Improvement
The offerings in the Connections'97 vendor-exhibit hall included:
Classified Tools. A number of vendors have specialized in developing tools to help newspapers bring their classified ads online. Edgil Associates of North Chelmsford, Mass., has created WebCentral, a core relational database of classified ads, which can accept data from any source for publishing on a newspaper's Web site. AdOne of New York City offers customized site development, Web-page design, and a network of affiliated publications. Electric Classifieds Inc. of San Francisco also offers complete development support for online classifieds, including legacy-system interfacing and advanced capabilities that let the seller directly create an ad without assistance from a phone operator.
 Patti Maes of MIT describes software agents that can act as personal shoppers. |
Content-Publishing Tools. This hot area saw offerings from several developers. Pantheon offers an array of tools for repurposing content. Pantheon's Interpreter software can interface with and pull content from any legacy front-end system, insert standardized markup for headlines, bylines, publication dates, etc., and pass the result on to Builder, its automatic HTML Web-page generator.
Another organization offering tools for simplifying Web-page development is Future-Tense of Acton, Mass. The three major components of FutureTense's software offering are called Texture Designer, Texture Viewer and Texture Page Builder.
If the pace of the online environment can be intimidating to hardened 'Net warriors, it's even more so to newspapers with big investments in legacy systems. But the message coming out of Connections'97 was clear: Make the effort--the train isn't leaving the station, it's already way down the track.
Steve Ostrofsky is president of Publishing Productivity Systems Inc., Bremerton, Wash. E-mail, stevevelo@silverlink.net; phone, (360) 308-0121.