California Dreaming

The October cover story of Presstime, the Newspaper Association of America's monthly magazine, has a tantalizing title: "Digital Printing: Newspapers inch toward personalized editions."
Interesting. So now two of the industry's three monthly magazines have weighed in: "Newspapers and Technology" said media is blazing toward individuated products, and now Presstime says it's inching in that direction.
No matter the speed -- the hare and the tortoise both get to the finish line -- the NAA article had one exciting piece of information. Investor's Business Daily in Los Angeles this fall is venturing into microzoning by incorporating variable datea into news sections, using an HP Inkjet Web Press in the beta.

Nirvana yes

A clear-headed blog addresses the simple fact: 100 percent variable, digital, inkjet printing will be a reality for the newspaper business, just a matter of time.
Entitled "The case for the Individuated Newspaper" by Andrew Gordon of OCE, the piece points out that "Core strengths, like local knowledge, rich content, market research, advertising and distribution are significant competitive differentiators that newspapers can use to compete against other forms of media."
Gordon predicts "a perfect storm" and: "Surviving this period of transition requries developing strategies that move away from the broad-reach circulations dictated by underutilized fixed assets."
OCE was one of the pioneers of out-of-market newspaper printing (i.e. printing The Washington Post in London for same-day reading) with its Digital Newspaper Network utilizing digital presses at the remote location.
Now OCE is encouraging the newspaper industry to consider the "significant opportunities in printing niche products and local and smaller circulation papers" with the new digital presses.
Read the whole thing at http://www.thedigitalnirvana.com Oct. 3.

Long Tail

Individuated news is clearly the Long Tail of Media, and individuated newspapers may just as clearly be the tail that wags the printed dog.
But Chris Anderson makes a very important point in his book ("The Long Tail", Hyperion, 2006, hardcover, 237 pages, $24.95) on page 148 when he suggests that today's business must both be the head and the tail: "Successful Long Tail aggregators need to have both hits and niches.."
That's why the first incarnation of the personal newspaper may be a personalized wrap of a broadsheet or tabloid. Visit and enjoy http://www.longtail.com/.

The "I-pod" newspaper

If you are intested in the future of newspapers, you can read about the "I-pod" approach to newspapers at http://www.newsandtech.com/ and go to the front page of the September issue, which is http://www.newsandtech.com/issues/2008/September/nt/09-08_medianews.htm.

Democracy

Newspapers are the cornerstone of democracy.
(No, not anymore. Only a little more than half the people in America read a newspaper on a weekly basis.)
Yes, now more than ever. People can more clearly develop their opinions because the sources of content have multiplied. And the power of the intellectual ruling class (i.e. editors) who filter and censor and control the flow of information is dying.
Newspapers need to be the leaders in this true democratization of information. Newspapers need to liberate its readers. Give them what they are truly curious about.

Individuated

Many people have questioned the new term "Individuated" for the type of self-selected news and news products we are contemplating. But one venerable critic/media authority has come down firmly on the side of the term: Vin Crosby of Syracuse University, the author of Digital Deliverance. Read his analysis at http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3630054. And I might add -- perhaps coincidentally -- Wikipedia also now agrees. Look up "individuation" and under the Media Industry Use of Individuation subhead you'll find: "The term Individuation has begun to be used within the media industries to denote new printing and online technologies that permit the mass customization of the contents of a newspaper, a magazine, a broadcast program, or a Web site so that the contents match each individual user's own unique mix of interests, unlike the Mass Media practice of producing the same contents for each and every reader, viewer, listener, or online user.."

INC 3

The dates for the next Individuated Newspaper Conference (number 3) are set for June 24-26 at The Washington Times in Washington, D.C. Visit www.individuatednews.com.