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Things You Should Read
December 27, 2007
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Question: Was there anything worth reading in 2007?
Answer: Of course! There’s always great information out there, and in fact there’s more than any one person can assimilate – but here’s my short list of “Things You Should Read, If You Haven’t Already” from 2007:
Self-Publishing Comes to “Your Town, USA”
The forces behind Web 2.0, YouTube and streaming headlines on news portals (such as the Graphic Arts Online site) have the potential to affect all sorts of publishing projects – take a look at the new “citizen media” sites that are popping up around the country, such as the joint project launched by Tribune Publishing and Kodak in Broomfield, Colorado.
I have seen the future of print, and its name is inkjet
One of the most impressive product launches in recent history was the December 4, 2007 debut of the Océ JetStream in Boca Raton, FL. While there are other continuous inkjet presses already on the market (with even more to come), the Miyakoshi-developed JetStream has the look, feel and quality of a “real” printing press. While the top speed is nowhere near that of an offset press, the zero make-ready efficiency of this device moves the digital-versus-offset “crossover point” considerably higher. Presses such as the Océ JetStream will enable citizen media, on-demand publishing and possibly a wealth of other interactive projects that have not yet been envisioned.
Font Encodings Gone Wild
Most prepress professionals have figured out ways to process Type 1, TrueType and OpenType (not mention the occasional dfont), but our industry is headed for yet another slap in the typeface. As the potential for automated publishing increases (see above), so does the likelihood of font encoding errors (the substitution of punctuation and symbols with other, unintended glyphs). Who among your prepress staff understands Unicode, UTF-7 or Western European (ISO)? In a world where RSS feeds of XML data might come from any source around the globe, it would be worthwhile to grab a copy of Yannis Haralambous’ new book “Fonts and Encodings” from O’Reilly Press.
Rethinking Our Font Assumptions
If you love type and design the way I do, then you must take a look at this article by blogger Alex Poole. RIT’s Patti Russotti first brought this scholarly work to my attention, and it’s a fascinating examination of type design principles that I find myself reexamining again and again.
It’s Not Easy Being Howie
My friend and fellow GAO contributor Howie Fenton has been running an exhaustive series of blogs on the greening of print; anyone who’s interested in creating a more sustainable industry (and world) should have a look at the tips he offers. One succinct example is his December 10, 2007 posting.
Pondering the Future
One of the most talked-about sessions at Graph Expo this fall was the Education Summit. GAM's chief editor Bill Esler first chimed in with his thought-stimulating reactions in an October editorial. Since then, an association executive (NAPL's Tim Fischer) and an educator (Ferris State's Pat Klarecki) have added their insights on how to fix a serious problem that's threatening our industry's future in the magazine's "60 Seconds" page. All three columns are worth reading. In the upcoming January issue, Dean Flowers of Wisconsin's Waukesha County Technical College will add his perspective.
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Posted by Hal Hinderliter on December 27, 2007 | Comments (0)
