The Universal Publication Archive presented by Rande Simpson MerlinOne, Inc.

MerlinOne: backgrounder Founded in 1988, MIT engineering & AP news photo heritage —Evolved from satellite image transmission to image archives in 1993 —Remained experts in news content gathering and distribution applications —Private, profitable, growing Mature, feature-rich products —Merlin in 4.2 release —Largest DBs in our markets: millions and millions of objects with thousands of users

MerlinOne: users and applications Newspapers, Magazines —New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Time-Life Archives, Time Magazine, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, Kansas City Star Electronic publishing —Corbis, MSNBC, Bloomberg, Landov Photos, Washington Post/Newsweek Interactive Corporate & institutional publishing —Executive Office of the President (White House), Pfizer, Marvel Comics, Harvard University, Habitat For Humanity, World Vision

The Universal Publishing Archive

Publishing archives to date.... Unique workflows for text, photo, line art, pages... Evolved into separate archives for text, photos, art, pages...

Digital Archives Initial Digital Archives automated existing analog workflows 80-90s vintage computing & storage added other constrains Resulted in Individual systems for texts, photos, advertising... Individual department focus

Today’s computing environment removes tech barriers Desktop publishing unifies text, photo, ad, pagination workflows into integrated digital process Cheap storage, CPUs, big displays Widespread access to the networks, the web, Most of the s technical restrictions eliminated

Today’s business environment changes archive needs Newspapers change —More pictures, color, ads, sections, zones, niche titles —Newspaper web site, web-specific content —Departmental organizations evolve, importance of IT —More freelancing = more rights issues Publishers change —More and bigger chains —Combination with broadcast —Greater demand for content to feed new channels —Even greater requirements for efficiency and to do more with less

So what would you want in an archive TODAY?

Publishers have been asking about: One place for all content created at the paper (non-print too) One point to access and share content internally One point to share content across the chain One place to find company content as source to repackage and generate new revenue A Universal publishing archive

What is a Universal Archive?

What to archive for the newspaper? All production PDF pages —Represents “digital publication master” of what was actually printed —Full resolution: to allow highest quality reproduction later —“Real PDF” retains text & internal structures All related source content used to create page —Photos, text, graphics in their source file formats —In source resolution (often higher than page) —Unretouched, uncropped images (page or history shows that)

What else to archive? Related content that helps reuse and adds value —Related photo outtakes —Unique web content too: HTML, Flash, MP3.. —“Card catalogue” records of physical content (video, objects, film) with thumbnail, video/sound clip previews —Ad files too, as art and for ad pickup/reruns —Production formats (to make changes easier) —Keep fonts (needed by production apps to recreate older pages)

Capture & input content at the source Interfaces with editorial & production systems automates capture of key metadata —Publication/section/page/zone, Content ID#, page location Extract metadata using industry standards-XML, XMP Link content to assignment, rights, freelancer & agency DB Links content objects to pages Universal Archive

Enhance Content Must be easier as more content is stored with tools like: Type-aheads Stored text strings Easy linking of various object types Search and replace Auto-keywording Joining stories

Search and find everything

Linked pages Run search Find page Displays contents Click to see source objects of text, graphics, photos Download for use

Multi-view

Flexible views that end-users can modify

Sharing Peer to peer, across systems City 1 City 2 City 3 Central System Local access

System scaling Support large system, millions of objects, thousands of users Fault tolerant configurations Streamline systems to minimize IT impact Webmaster Server Merlin Client Server Merlin Input/Output Merlin Server SQL Server File Server Webmaster Server Merlin Client Server Merlin Input/Output Merlin Server SQL Server File Server (can be MS2k or Unix)

Automated distribution Must be able to setup exports —Online resale vendors —Web versions —Automatic delivery through —Redistill PDFs for Electronic Tearsheets —Other resale and revenue outlets

In practice Tampa Tribune (convergence) Tribune Publishing (content sharing) Storing “everything” —Traditional image archives adding text —Many sites now store text, photos, graphics, PDF pages —CCI sites automating linking of all publication content

Who needs a Universal Archive?

Everyone

Thank You Rande Simpson MerlinOne, Inc