While everywhere you turn it's doom and gloom in the nation's newsrooms, Peter Vandevanter and his colleagues at MediaNews Group in Denver are pursuing a fascinating possibility -- the so-called individuated newspaper, that is, a paper that is personalized to each and every user. From the Good Morning, Fran (or whatever your name is) on the front page to the story selection -- and the ads -- throughout. And it's a paper delivered to your doorstep or your computer or your printer or your cellphone or your Blackberry or whatever each morning -- and, at least as far as electronic delivery is concerned, updated throughout the day.
Sound impossible? Don't tell that to the attendees at the recent Second Annual Global Conference on the Individuated Newspaper. Vandevanter, who has long championed the idea, was the force behind the gathering, but cutting-edge attendees like Eduardo Hauser of DailyMe.com, Dan Pacheco of PrintCasting.com, Jeff Kline of Accrisoft, Gregor Dorsch and Michael Stangl of German software innovators Syntops, Richard Miller of NewspaperDirect and media consultant Bill Ostendorf will tell you that the future is now.
Other supporters include academic revolutionaries like Vin Crosbie of Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public Communications and Randy Covington, director of Newsplex, a global newsroom of the future, and a journalism professor at the University of South Carolina.
The only real question in an industry hemorrhaging money is who will have the courage to do it first.
Dean Singleton, the CEO of MediaNews Group, sounded mighty interested. In his opening remarks to the conference, Singleton admitted that no one knows if the individuated newspaper is the absolute new model for newspapers, but he sure wasn't ruling it out. Just think, he said, "The publication will give readers exactly what they want combined with advertising about things they are interested in." Not bad, eh?
Okay, media types, let's get going. The future looks good, but we can't wait forever.
