XML and InDesign: The summer project
I’ve mentioned before the problems with the website of Trinity News. Essentially, we don’t have the staff to manually copy-and-paste the 45,000 or so words per issue, and when we’re lucky enough to have someone willing, they inevitably get bored and quit after a few sessions doing this mind-numbing, repetitive and uninspiring task. That’s why, apart from the PDFs of every issue this year, the site is out of date. So that needs to change.
The problem is that there is no easy, all-in-one non-technical solution. The elements that need to be incorporated are:
- XML export from InDesign
- Import of print content to website
- A quality, reliable Content Management System
- User-friendly backend for web-only content
- Backward-compatibility with existing archive (in MySQL databse)
- Accessible enough to be passed on to my successor without too much difficulty
- Multimedia capability
- Staff blogs
Now, there are a number of ways to go about this. ExpressionEngine uses custom fields that could be paired up with specific XML tags. Drupal has an entire open-source project on newspapers with a lot of work being done to integrate print design exports. And the Daily Tar Heel has a very interesting project called The Magic Bullet where they’re hiring an outside web developer to create their “magic bullet”: a customized, tick-all-the-boxes solution for their particular setup.
I don’t have those kind of resources available to me. I do have a summer, a lot of dedication, and a committed staff. I need to find my own “magic bullet” and I’m looking for input. Should I go with Drupal, with their open information? ExpressionEngine, which I currently use for this blog, and their paid professional support? Or some other solution I’ve never heard of? If anyone has experience or success with a small college newspaper (small compared to the Daily Tar Heel, anyway) integrating their print and online workflows, get in touch. I’ll update over the summer as this project progresses, and, if successful, maybe other student papers can benefit too.
Not going to lie, I’m not exactly technologically gifted, but could something as simple as giving each of the dep-eds for each section responsibility for copy-pasting their content to the site on the Monday/Tuesday not work? If it was broken into chunks this way I can’t see it adding more than half an hour’s workload to each person, and couldn’t they do it from home or wherever they were? We could run a training day and show them how to do it.
Yes, that could work, but it relies on people actually doing the work they’re allocated, which, with the “less fun” tasks like this, isn’t usually the case. If a print-to-web automated workflow proves to be too difficult to set up, we’ll rely on the section editors. But ideally, it could all be done by one individual in a very short time. That’s the magic bullet!
“Yes, that could work, but it relies on people actually doing the work they’re allocated, which, with the “less fun” tasks like this, isn’t usually the case”
Starting out with this attitude is hardly going to encourage your staff to do those “less fun” tasks in any part of the newspaper. These “less fun” tasks are part of any job and a good leader must motivate his staff to the extent that they are willing to do them regardless.
Your current approach suggests you don’t think you can do this and see the only solution as creating a complex technological fix-all. Admittedly a fully automated system would be great and an impressive achievement, but what would your staff really learn from this?
Perhaps you can channel some of your energy into working with the people on your team, creating a common sense of ownership of the newspaper – something which I hazard will make them more willing to do the boring work.
I agree with Aoife, break it down into manageable chunks and get the staff to pull their weight. Having one person do it is crazy, but that doesn’t mean people can’t do it at all.
If you plan based on the assumption that your staff will do their jobs (which I think you have to, otherwise why would you have hired them?) then your plans for the website can be even more ambitious than simply getting content online.
Ah, but Gearoid, I’m still in the early days of enthusiastic “best case scenario” thinking, and, as you’ve said, a fully automated solution would be best. If I’ve come across as not having faith in my staff, that’s not the case: but I am being realistic, and there will be times when other things in section editor’s life take precedence. Poor phrasing on my part. The point is that I’m genuinely interested in pursuing this. As a matter of fact, the web-to-print workflow I mentioned on the phone to you is a really interesting approach: http://groups.drupal.org/node/15658
I know this post is over a month old - but I just thought I would weigh in with my experience as the person in charge of the College View’s website over at DCU.
Last year was the first year our website was really, properly used - and even then it was put into motion in a matter of days, hence the fact it isn’t exactly AMAZING or even amazing at the moment. (The current design was put together in a day, if that.) For next year’s website I have been looking into what you’ve been seemingly looking into too: the idea of moving our backend CMS to Joomla, or Drupal, or anything that would allow for easy integration with InDesign. But I keep coming back to the fact that while, with a good bit of coding and what not it could theoretically work, it would involve changing the way we layout the print paper. Without even an office to call our own over at DCU, that is a bit of a tough one to manage.
So, at this stage, I’ve resigned our website to having to have the paper copy and pasted into it once again - with editors and deputy editors diving into the process once the paper is finished, or partially finished on Sunday. It worked last year for us, and I know it will work again. It’s not ideal, but at least you know everything is up and working perfectly. Plus, seeing as I’ll be gone next year, I know that a good copy and paste workflow can easily move from year to year - a XML system, not so easily.
Saying this though, if you do find an automated system that works for you and could potentially work for us, I’d love to hear about it. Do feel free to email me about that and anything else - because while the website is only a small part of my responsibility at the CV - it’s something I really do want to make a resounding success. And by the look of your bullet points about multimedia and staff blogs we do seem to be thinking along the same lines in terms of what we plan to do with our respective newspaper websites…
Sam,
I’m encountering many of the same problems. Theoretically possible, but difficult to implement, overly complex, and is unlikely to continue long in an institution which changes its staff each year.
So, unfortunately, until a better option is developed for the end user, it looks like we will have to do it manually once more.
I’d be interested in hearing your experiences with Wordpress at the college view. It seems to be a popular choice for college newspapers, both here and abroad. Having used Joomla for Trinity News in the last year, I find it a little inflexible and simplistic, though, as you’ve said about WP, it can be put together in a day or two.
I actually quite like the current CV website, i must say. I’ve seen it before, and I think what you’ve achieved with a WP template and blogging platform is actually very pleasant, if a little linear. Trinitynews.ie needs a facelift too, so, with the apparent demise of this great plan, all options are on the table.
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