Allie Franc's Weblog

sweet dreams

redd3278 — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 05:05:40 +0000

behold the future of publishing

redd3278 — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 04:57:39 +0000

the future of publishing is in digital publishing. print on demand companies like lulu.com will continue to grow exponentially, and new technologies like the Kindle will increase in demand. within a few years the newspaper industry will continue to grow smaller, with online magazines and newspapers expanding and improving at phenominal rates. companies will be spending more of their advertising dollars on their websites and search advertising. even department store catelogs, like JCPennys, will be entirely online in a few years. as the cost of printing rises, and with it the cost of postage, companies will be making the leap to digital publishing and advetising.

allnighter fuel

redd3278 — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 04:28:16 +0000

meatwad gets the hunnies, G

search advertising

redd3278 — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 04:24:45 +0000

search advertising has become more efficient than traditional forms of advertising like print and broadcasts because it is dependent on the search performed. instead of advertising to the whole world, you can advertise to just the people who are interested in your product. for example, if a search is made for “fly fishing,” advertisements relating to fly fishing and other fishing equipment will appear at the top of the screen. search advertising uses keywords to bring up ads relating to whatever subject the search was made on.

revolutionizing the publishing industry

redd3278 — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 03:24:07 +0000

It’s amazing what publishing tools we have at our fingertips these days. We can upload books and print on demand easily and within minutes, recieving a finished product in a matter of days. The Amazon Kindle makes getting a new book as simple as downloading a new iTunes song. Simply select a book, and within seconds it will be charged to your credit card and downloaded directly to your Kindle device. These two revolutionizing manufacturing capabilities are redefining the publishing industry right before our eyes. These products are giving new meaning to “on demand,” since the time between ordering and recieving such a product is becoming less and less of a wait.

print meets web

redd3278 — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:47:54 +0000

More and more print publications are merging onto the Internet, and will experience a few bumps in the road. Starting with getting the reader population to actually follow the publication to the web. Will they know where to find it? Making the connection there will be a struggle for a percentage of the readers.

As far as oppotunity, the sky is the limit with web design. Certainly, interactive media is absolutely nessecary for online success these days. It is a MUST for online magazines and newspapers to utilize user interactivity, because it gives the control to the user. An overall clean layout and an easy-to-navigate design makes an “okay” website a great one.

Also, magazine and newspaper readers are used to the size and shape of paper. So, readers would appreciate a flash display of the magazine content that looks and feels like a magazine. It could even turn pages, as magazines often do. A maganize website that reflects what a real magazine looks like is exactly what the readers are craving.

ode to a newspaper

redd3278 — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 07:12:30 +0000

The daily newspaper has a unique role in our society. For decades it has served as a solid and familiar adornment to our kitchen tables. But more than that, the newspaper has been our sole source of news, until the Internet was born, that is. The newspaper is something to trust in. A new one is published everyday, you can count on that. Though the newspaper is more than a source of information, it’s a way to connect people. My grandma always looks for my sister and I in the paper, hoping we did something worthy of local recognition. The newspaper shares stories as well as tragedies. The obituaries pay tribute to the recently lost. The new arrivals show the newest babies to the world. And the advertisements are fighting for your attention everywhere you look, on every page.

I worked as the social editor for a small town newspaper this summer, and if I learned one thing, it’s that people truly value the newspaper. They look forward to the arrival of the next issue. The death of the newspaper will change the involvement people have with their local media. Readers will no longer be able to clip their kids’ pictures out of the paper. People will no longer be able to say, “hey, did you see that article in the paper?”It will become, “Oh did you see that news article online? Oh, you didn’t? Um no, I don’t remember what website it was..”

There is something special about a newspaper. It represents all of our technical accomplishments with its pure simplicity. Information printed onto paper and distributed daily. It will be a dark day when the newspaper dies.

kiss the rain

redd3278 — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 03:04:25 +0000

the lost seventh value vector

redd3278 — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 01:29:51 +0000

i find myself wondering, “if i were the seventh value vector, what would i be?” i also find myself not answering myself. apparently i’m stumped. besides being informative, instructive, persuasive, evocative, operative, or simply looking pretty, what else could a media product be?

well, i’ve decided that a media product can also be entertaining. movies, especially, can be entertaining. video games and some websites are interactive, which brings media products to a whole new level. instead of just presenting a movie clip for example, the user can make choices within the media, altering the outcome. this is especially useful in circumstances like training videos, where the employees can interact with the info they are learning. i’m certain we will see more and more interactivity in the media world in the future.

my perspective of content

redd3278 — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 01:11:18 +0000

there are two types of content, the kind people are willing to spend their hard earned cash on (like music and books), and the kind they won’t pay a cent for. WikiPedia is an example of a media product that people are not willing to pay for. no one would ever pay to use WikiPedia, because it’s a collection of entries from ordinary people. the beauty of WikiPedia is its vast sources of information. it is free content because its purpose is for good, not evil. the authors of the entries want to share their knowledge, and no Wiki user is looking for compensation.

however, we are willing to pay for music and books. content like music, movies, and books are hardly comparable to open user content like Wiki, because a book or song had hours and hours in its production, and Wiki is an editable source of content. creativity is the main ingredient in books/movies/music, and that is what makes it a product with retail value. people expect it and are willing to pay for it.

if WikiPedia stopped being a free service, this world would be in some serious trouble.