The Cole Digest, March 27, 1996

Chris Feola of the Waterbury Republican-American in Connecticut is discussing database publishing:

A database-driven production system may sound like an expensive waste until you are downloading your product to subscribers' wrist-computers and other Dick Tracy stuff, but such a system also makes possible the production of new and better print products.

You can also use it to build tailored newspapers -- editions constructed so each reader gets the sections she wants -- and targeted newspapers -- editions constructed so each advertiser gets the readers he wants.

The benefits of such a system are obvious. All news organizations throw away more material than they print -- the sheer volume of the wires makes that true -- only to see specialty publications cherry-pick subscribers using much the same data.

Think, for example, of the volume of sports data that goes straight into the bit bucket; then think of the sports specialty publications that are sold in your area.

So a sports edition seems like a no-brainer. But there are large, expensive pitfalls in this rosy scenario. In a nutshell, the problem is using an industrial age technology -- the printing press -- to produce an Information Age product.

Theoretically you could use the press to print a custom paper for each and every subscriber, but you'd sure have fun explaining the resulting sea of red ink in your budget.

You could spend a ton of money on new equipment, such as high-speed ink-jet printers that allow you to insert custom printing on the fly. With it, you could merge your subscriber names into personalized ads, making your paper look just like ... every sweepstakes letter your readers have ever received.

There's value in targeted and tailored products. But in the end, newspapers are what they are: An Industrial Age broadcast medium where one voice speaks to many listeners.

Which brings us back to new media. A database-centric system makes it as easy to output to the audiotext system and electronic products as to the press.

Much of this is possible now through the use of Standardized Generalized Markup Language. SGML is a series of tags that can be interpreted by a wild variety of output devices. There's a little code next to a headline, for example, that says "Main Headline."

On the press, that will come out as 72-point Caslon demibold, while the voice synthesizer will read that in a big bold voice for audiotext customers.

If you think about it, SGML is fairly close to the old familiar Atex or TMS coding where you'd define your main headline font as "F1" or whatever, and you'd stick into your copy and get 72-point Caslon demibold at the typesetter.

SGML is the basis of the new Universal Text Format wire coding designed to replace ANPA 1312, the wire service text transmission standard.

Yet output and production are not the same. Think of it this way: Do you think The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a great book?

Would you like to have it read it to you by your audiotext system -- start to finish?

That's obviously ridiculous. Print and voice are different. In other words, SGML is no magic bullet. But it eases the problem of multiple outputs.

The magic bullet is the database. The database will allow us to build products on the fly. The database allows us to do narrowcasting, the opposite of broadcasting.

Thank you Mr. Feola. Next time: time to think about information.

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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