By Amanda Hunt
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Ever hear a talking newspaper?
You will.
That is not a catchy ad for a phone company promising outrageous things yet to come Ä that is the real future of journalism.
Today, at Journalism Technology Day students have a chance to see some of the changes taking place in newspapers and magazines. The free public event is in the Great Hall of Learning, in the basement of the Franklin building.
Magazines put together entirely on a computer, newspapers featuring sound bites and video text and photographs stored on plastic cards instead of film will be demonstrated, according to a press release.
"It is a view toward what (hopeful journalists) are going to have to know to be employable in today's world," said Dick Bakkerud, a visiting scholar, who helped organize the event. Bakkerud teaches a new upper-division journalism technology class at the University of Arizona.
Event participants the event include Adobe Apple Computer, the Arizona Daily Star, Arizona State University, Nikkon Electronic Imaging, Quark, Scitex America, Silicon America, StarNet and the Tucson Citizen.
The event will feature Apple Computer's Power Mac, QuarkExpress with its publishing system, Scitex America with its no-film photography and image editing software, and Silicon Graphics with its animation capabilities, as seen in the movie "Jurassic Park."
Print media is heading in two directions, Bakkerud said. Some papers and magazines are maintaining the traditional way of publishing while placing the publications on the Internet or other information systems. The Arizona Daily Star is about to announce its new interactive newspaper, StarNet, which will put the entire daily paper and some archives on-line, he said. The Star will give a preview of the system today.
Other publications are moving to an entirely computerized publishing system, such as Quark Publishing System. QPS integrates all aspects of the publication, from the reporter writing the story on the computer, to the editor, to the layout and graphics department, to the Internet. Some magazines are putting information on CD-ROM and computer software.
For students not familiar with computers, today's events "will definitely grab their attention," said Molly Gookin, technical trainer with Quark. "It'll be really cool," she said.
"People can get really in-depth stuff from a newspaper now," Bakkerud said. Students in his class have already had a taste of this new technology.
"I had no idea this is where newspapers and journalism is headed," said Dawn Harrison, English senior. The first time Harrison saw an on-line magazine, she said, "It blew my mind."
Duane Oldham, interdisciplinary studies senior, said, "This class should have been offered a long time ago." He said he is impressed with Quark and said learning about this new technology "should help anyone" who's interested in the future of print journalism.