Jack Rosenzweig works for a company called Baseview, which builds pagination systems
\nfor small newspapers. Jack started out as a copy editor in New Jersey, and did
\nthat for a couple years before getting into pagination 11 years ago. At first he he
\ntrained people to use his system, but lately he’s more of a honcho at Baseview.
\nI’ve met a few pagination vendor reps who were former desk people, so I figured
\nJack could help us understand a bit about his job. The idea being that a little
\neducation will make you less likely to belt your vendor rep across the nose when
\nyour next major system install causes horrifying things to happen moments before
\nthe press run begins. Jack lives with his wife and two kids near Ann Arbor Michigan.<\/p>\n
\nBecause that’s our goal, and we’re damn good at it.<\/p>\n
I haven’t used them all, but from my experience the problem boils down mostly
\nto a couple things: poorly designed systems and a monumental resistance to
\nchange from the newspaper staff.<\/p>\nSome pagination systems are so rigid they become difficult to assimilate
\ninto a particular workflow, or so powerful and flexible they become a hindrance
\nwhen trying to them — the system in essence gets in the user’s way.<\/p>\nMy philosophy, coming from the copy desk, has been to try to create the
\ntools that were a natural aid to the editor or reporter. Not to blow our own
\nhorn, but the reporters can learn our system in an hour or less most of the
\ntime. We try to make it as easy as possible. We frequently reject features
\nfrom the engineers — while they might be cool, they require too much innate
\nknowledge of the system.<\/p>\nAnd most journalists don’t want to be computer jockeys. I think that’s where
\na lot of vendors get sidetracked: they forget that they aren’t selling software,
\nso much as a solution or toolset to a professional. The journalist should
\nnot have to make a giant leap to this new tool.<\/p>\nThat being said, some blame lies at the foot of the newspaper and its employees.
\nThe newspaper makes what I consider a huge flaw when it hands pagination over
\nto the copy editors, most of whom these days have no clue about typography,
\nlayout, etc. When I first used a pagination tool on an internship 15 years
\nago it was like a godsend, because I was accustomed to doing my own paste-up
\n… Most journalists don’t have that background, so the page in Quark or CCI
\nisn’t an electronic paste-up board to them, it’s more like black magic. Some
\nof the more successful installations I have worked with converted the paste-up
\nstaff into paginators.<\/p>\nAlso, journalists, like everyone else, really abhor change. So they don’t
\ntend to look at a new computer system as something interesting or fun. It’s
\namazing how much better an installation goes when the staff is into it, as
\nopposed to one where the publisher or corporate mandated the system. <\/p>\nAnd last of all … Software has bugs, always will. It’s a rule. Pagination
\nsystems, operating systems, air traffic control, the space shuttle, etc. You
\nname it and it will have bugs.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nSpeaking of bugs: Why can’t you get the bugs out before the product is installed?
\n<\/h3>\n\nWhy can’t you get all the typos and factual errors out of the paper before
\nit hits the press? \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\nSame reason, human error, for the most part. Software is much more complex
\nthat the average person realizes, there are probably millions of lines of
\ncode involved. And there are so many permutations of how any one action or
\ninteraction can be executed that its impossible to test every one.<\/p>\nThese days there are also all of the external issues to contend with as
\nwell — multiple operating systems (Win2k, WinXP, WinNT, Win98, Mac OS X,
\nMac OS 9, Linux, etc.), pagination platforms (Quark, InDesign), and text editors
\n(Word, InCopy, CopyDesk), databases (Oracle, MS SQL, mySQL, etc.) you get
\nthe picture. So not only do we have our own code to check for bugs, but frequently
\nwe have to work around bugs in any of the above code that we depend on but
\nhave no control over.<\/p>\nBelieve me, we wish we could get all the bugs out. The programmers I work
\nwith take a lot of pride in what they do, and are very upset when they learn
\nof issues that are causing discomfort with customers. But there just aren’t
\nenough hours in the day.<\/p>\nTime to market is a huge issue as well– one that is driven by the customers.
\nYou all want the latest and greatest ASAP, and when we miss a deadline because
\nof bugs, we hear about it loud and clear. I can’t think of a single time that
\nI slipped a ship date and someone who wanted one of the upcoming features
\nsaid “no problem, we’d rather you take the time to do it right.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nSay I’m the nerdy guy on the desk and I want to follow your example and get
\na job with my pagination vendor. What do I need to know before I make such a
\nleap?<\/h3>\n\nHmm … Danish?<\/p>\n
I don’t really know what you would need to know to work for CCI. (CCI
\nis the Mercury News pagination system, it comes from Denmark — tm<\/i>) But
\nI think for the most part, the vendors are looking for people who want to
\ntravel. In our case, trainers are out 50-60% of the year, usually only 2 weeks
\nat a time. Other vendors I know of have installations that take months and
\nthe trainers rent apartments, etc.<\/p>\nSome vendors have a different training staff from the installation staff.
\nThe installers are much more technical, while the trainers are more hands
\non, patient types.<\/p>\nYou have to have a lot of patience to be a trainer. You also have to be
\na good listener. Understanding what the customer is looking for is a key to
\na smooth installation.<\/p>\nAnd training is a broad term. I have trained people from how to use a mouse
\nto how to use our software to how to edit kerning tables in Quark to IP configurations
\nof the network. Some sites don’t have very knowledgeable support staffs, lots
\nof times the new systems manager was the person in ad composing who knew the
\nmost about the computers. This isn’t an issue at the larger papers, but there
\nare lot more small papers than big ones. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nI picture there having been a time in your career when you were slaving away
\nat your cubicle, racking your brain for ways to make your system kinder and
\ngentler to its users. Suddenly a lightbulb goes off that the system needs Feature
\nX. So you invest reams of time and energy into getting Feature X added, over
\nthe resistance of bosses, co-workers and software engineers. After months of
\nfighting for Feature X, you get it added to the system — and the users yawn.
\nHas anything like this happened to you? <\/h3>\n\nNot really…<\/p>\n
(Ellipses are for a tale Jack told me so he wouldn’t have to give the
\nimpression he didn’t have an answer; suffice to say my brain conjured a bit
\nmore melodrama than his actual job does. Also, I wanted to have one ridiculously
\nlong question with a two-word answer, in honor of George W. Bush’s news conferences.
\n— TM)<\/i>. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nWord comes down from the glass offices: We’re getting a new editorial\/pagination
\nsystem. What are a few things editors could do to take the pain out of the experience?<\/h3>\n\nLearn something about layout if inexperienced. Learn how to use a computer
\nwith a mouse if inexperienced. Learn the basics of the OS (Mac or Win) – file
\nsystem, how to print, how to get to a server, etc. Take a class on the layout
\nsoftware – Quark, InDesign, etc. (if proprietary like CCI, you have to wait
\nfor the class from the vendor)<\/p>\nIf you have friends at another paper with the same system, go check it out,
\nget some pointers from them if you can. <\/p>\nThe biggest thing is to make sure whomever is planning the installation
\nfrom the paper’s side gives adequate time for the training and practice. So
\nthat new users have time to build pages and use the system before they go
\nlive with it. <\/p>\nThat’s really important, that you have pushed a lot of pages through before
\nbeing on deadline.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jack Rosenzweig works for a company called Baseview, which builds pagination systems for small newspapers. Jack started out as a copy editor in New Jersey, and did that for a couple years before getting into pagination 11 years ago. At…<\/p>\n