All the News That's Fit to Print Digital printing poised to inject new life into newspapers
Many pundits and experts would have us believe
that the demise of the newspaper as we know it is at hand and that
newspapers are a weakening market segment for printing in the U.S.
Theres no denying that the shuttering of papers like the Rocky
Mountain News, Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the daily edition of the
Christian Science Monitor posit profound changes in the newspaper
industry. But it does not necessarily follow that all newspapers are an
endangered species.
Individuating the News There are
several ways in which digital print can help transform newspapers notes
Guy Broadhurst, vice president for new technology and client
development at Océ North America, Production Printing Systems division.
"One way is customizing content at the individual level. This can
encourage creation of hyper-localized papers, especially weeklies, that
offer targeted advertising and have links to deeper articles on the web
along with web-based discussions that promote local communication. The
future is cross-media newspaper publishing combining the best of both
print and the web." ()
To help foster this shift to a new type of newspaper, Océ North America was a sponsor of the
(INC3) as part of the companys continued support of the evolving
newspaper publishing model. Océ is the market leader in short-run
digital newspaper printing, with 98 percent of the worlds contracted
papers running on Océ presses. The global conference took place June
24-26, 2009 at The Washington Times facility in Washington, D.C. Other
INC3 sponsors include Newspapers & Technology magazine, Media News
Group and Accrisoft Software.
The conference gathered
innovators, thought leaders, publishers, technology experts and print
providers to exchange ideas and develop a direction for the future of
the news personalization. With the goal of defining new opportunities
for the industry, the event explored print-centric business models and
enabling technologies for individuated newspapers and ancillary
products. Digital printing technologies play an important role in
providing totally variable, consumer-selected media. Océ technology has
already produced more than 20 million newspapers worldwide, a number
that is growing with market adoption of .
As
the concepts of micro-zoning and individuation become more top-of-mind
in the print news media, Océ is ready to provide assistance and
expertise. A featured speaker at INC3, Duncan Newton, Ph.D., Manager,
Business Development, Océ North America, Production Printing Systems
division, noted, Automated processes for individualized newspapers is
a reality, and Océ is committed to helping publishers find success with
this new approach." He went on to describe a pilot program run in
conjunction with the ,
in which subscribers could choose from an online database of several
hundred different pages. To create the customized weekly editions, Océ
worked with ,
a German company that has software which supports creation of
customized publications from an online repository. Syntops provided Océ
with a PDF of each customized newspaper that was then printed using Océ
JetStream printers and mailed to participating Washington Times readers.
About Océ Océ
is a leading international provider of digital document management
technology and services. The companys solutions are based on Océs
advanced software applications that deliver documents and data over
internal networks and the Internet to printing devices and archives --
locally and around the world. Supporting the workflow solutions are
Océ digital printers and scanners, considered the most reliable and
productive in the world. Océ also offers a wide range of display
graphics, consulting and outsourcing solutions.
Océ employs
around 23,000 people, with 2008 revenues of approximately $4.3 billion,
operates in more than 90 countries and maintains research and
manufacturing centers in the Netherlands, the United States, Canada,
Germany, France, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Romania and Singapore.
Océ North America is headquartered in Trumbull, CT, with additional
business units in Chicago, IL; New York City; Boca Raton, FL; Salt Lake
City, UT and Vancouver, BC. North American revenues represented
approximately half of Océs worldwide business in 2008, and employment
is approximately 10,000. For more information about Océ, visit . Outside the U.S., consult .
