Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
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of our content is created by our members and Web users,” according to Grubisich. “Everyone can be a publisher now, Peter, doesn’t that make you a little uneasy?”
My own brother, Tom Arundel, competes with me as well. He’s associate producer for arts and entertainment at Washington Sidewalk, which is Microsoft’s guide for leisure in the D.C. area. Sidewalk covers events in, say, Springfield and Warrenton, just like our Weekender section does.
Their advantage is that information sent to you may be customized to your interests and tastes.
If you like bluegrass music, you will receive weekly updates on bluegrass bands playing in the area. The customized facsimile newspaper may have failed, but the digital adaptation likely will not.
The Internet is carving a niche as a reference tool. Our own Internet manager, Tony Tedeschi, says that people log on to “timespapers.com” in search of specific information about Northern Virginia, whereas the actual newspaper has it all. Tom Arundel concedes that it still takes a while to access digital information, whereas newspapers open in just a second or two.
Additionally, most users today are in the office, not at home. We’ll see about that one. It’s anyone’s guess how the recent AT&T/TCI merger will change the home media landscape.
Peter Arundel is president of Times Community Newspapers, publisher of 16 weekly newspapers serving Northern Virginia. His e-mail address is parundel@timespapers.com
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