Newsroom Aids
Too often, newsroom technology overlooks writers and editors. Many NEXPO exhibitors sought to reverse that with tools to simplify journalists' lives.
Some eliminate hard-copy story budgets. Electronic budgeting tools, offered by Digital Technology International of Orem, Utah, among others, track stories, photos and cutlines throughout production; they're treated as a package. Editors assign stories, and reporters submit ideas. Searches can be done; photo or art requests can be attached and reviewed by photographers or designers. An editor can work on pages even if all the pieces are not filed because the system indicates what is coming.
Likewise, American Computer Innovators Inc. of Amherst, Mass., will install next September an electronic budget at the Daily Press in Newport News, Va. One system feature places related stories, headlines, captions and even images into an electronic folder.
Reporters' lives are simplified by such tools as NewsEngin Inc.'s SourceTracker, a Lotus Notes note-retrieval and contact manager. It lets reporters sort notes electronically by keywords.
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Tutorials helped show-goers learn the fine points of systems. |
For filing from the road, HAX Systems of Littleton, Colo., created Story Processor, allowing reporters to use laptops equipped with Windows95 to file, code and measure stories. CCI Europe's editorial system generates a confirmation when reporters file from the road and allows them to direct stories to certain pages or queues. As for hardware, at under $600, Brother International Corp. of Bridgewater, N.J., touts its GeoBook as a low-cost laptop with a minimal learning curve and QuickWire for remote filing.
Another remote headache is addressed by BabbleText, developed by Softek of Dallas, to solve the problem of reporters filing stories written in a host of word-processing programs.