The Cole Digest, January 31, 1996

Using the Internet for serious news research can seem well out of reach to reporters at small and mid-sized newspapers.

The direct, high-speed Internet connections that are frequently demonstrated at computer-assisted journalism conferences can cost nearly $20,000 a year -- after laying out $11,000 or so in start-up expenses.

It's unlikely, at best, that publishers at many smaller newspapers would approve such an expense.

But there is a way to get nearly the same Internet research capabilities for $20 to $40 a month using an ordinary phone line and a stand-alone PC, with start-up expenses as low as $100.

Even better, you can customize this setup for your newsroom, greatly simplifying staff training.

For the next couple of weeks we'll allow Christopher Ryan of the Winston-Salem Journal in North Carolina explain how he set up a simple World-Wide Web research system for this staff:

At the Journal, a morning paper of 91,000 circulation, we recently built this sort of "front-end for the Internet" to improve our news research and reporting.

It was designed specifically for the Internet research that we do in Winston-Salem, and has extensive custom-written help files so news staffers with little or no Internet experience can use it.

As part of our customization, we have a screen containing all of the state legislators' e-mail addresses. This lets reporters call up an e-mail form and then send a message to a legislator with a click of the mouse.

There is also a screen that contains links to computer files at the legislature that list bills affecting each of the counties in our circulation area. This makes it quick and easy to do a weekly check to see if we have missed any newly introduced bills that would affect our part of the state.

The government screen scrolls down, listing federal government Internet sites. It includes brief descriptions of these computer systems, as well as any instructions needed to use them. Connecting to these sites takes just a click of the mouse.

The "Internet Research" section of the Journal's Internet pages contains links to the Internet search tools and directories that I use regularly in my work. The "Help" boxes are automatic links to the built-in help screens.

This kind of Internet access uses a type of dial-up Internet account called point-to-point protocol (PPP) and custom-written documents in the hypertext markup language (HTML). It is slower than a direct, high-speed connection.

But it runs only one-way -- so, while reporters and news researchers can go out on the Internet to do research and reporting, outsiders can't connect to the Journal's computers from elsewhere on the Internet.

It's easy to set up and maintain -- and best of all, it's dirt cheap.

Next week: the hardware and software needed.

Onward.

\dmc

[THE COLE DIGEST is written by consultant David M. Cole, editor and publisher of the industry newsletter THE COLE PAPERS. The DIGEST is made available to PressLink subscribers every Wednesday at no extra charge. Send comments by e-mail to cole@plink.geis.com. The COLE DIGEST is the property of The Cole Group, a California sole proprietorship. Reproduction in whole or in part without the written permission of The Cole Group is prohibited. Copyright (C) 1996, The Cole Group. Opinions expressed are those of The Cole Group, unless otherwise noted.

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