Use of ICT in Publishing

Use of ICT in PublishingThis section will look at how the use of computers and ICT has influenced the way that publishers produce a variety of publications.By HMM

IntroductionThe first stage in the production of a newspaper is that correspondents send their stories into the editorial office from the location of the story. This is usually by e-mail.The journalists will have typed up their story using word processing software and possibly taken photographs using a digital camera and uploaded these onto their laptop.If they are further from home and office, they will have to e-mail their stories and photographs by using their mobile phone and laptop or by logging in at an Internet hotspot or perhaps their hotel.These are transmitted to the editorial staff, who collect and edit the stories sent in by the newspaper's journalists and are located at the main office.

The articles are edited by the editorial staff and the page layout of the newspaper is created. It is only complete after it has been edited to remove mistakes and then proofread for accuracy.The production of a magazine is very similar, with contributors sending in their articles to the editorial staff, who then edit and lay out the articles to create that issue of the magazine.Book publishing varies mainly in the length of the material being sent and the longer period of time taken to produce the final product.CD and DVD covers are produced in a similar fashion, but generally there is a less complex process. There is liaison between the graphics designer and a graphics director prior to it being printed.

TypesettingThis is the setting of the layout of the typed page. There are many features of typesetting which have to be addressed.The layout of the page has to be created so that it is easy to read. This means that the correct font and size have to be chosen. 'There arc other features such as kerning - this is the space between individual letters in a word: certain letters can be close together Like a and v, but others have to be further apart such as r and y. The leading (the space between lines on the page, pronounced 'ledding') also has to be accurately defined to give the correct appearance.The length of each line (the number of characters on a line) is important to the appearance.There are also issues such as the size of the body text font when compared to that of the headings on a page. If a story is too long to fit in the available space it may need to be edited to make it shorter.

Before computers, people were employed specifically to manually set the typed page out so that all the stories were included but also the page was still easy to read. They used individual letter blocks which were inked up and then pressed to the paper for printing.Despite the use of computers, typesetting is still a very difficult job. Although all the necessary features are included in the common desktop-publishing packages, the difference between an amateur attempt and that of graphic designers (who are usually employed to do this) is normally quite considerable.Once the page has been set out to the editor's requirements, it can be sent for plate making.

Transmitting completed pagesAfter the editor has accepted the layout of a page in the newspaper and is happy that it can be printed exactly as it is, they need to send the page to the printing plant. There are two main ways of doing this:The page is printed and the image of the page is then burned onto light-sensitive film. The film of the page is placed in a large fax machine that is used to transfer the image to the print plant.Some publishers have several printing plants and the complete newspaper, in digital form or in fax form, is sent up to a satellite and then transmitted by the satellite to the various outlying printing plants simultaneously.

An alternative for smaller publishers is to burn a CD or transmit the newspaper in digital format using a WAN.

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Computerized plate makingImages from the negatives are transferred to printing plates in much the same way as photographs are developed.Ultraviolet light is allowed to pass through the film negatives to expose the printing plate. When the plates are exposed to light, a chemical reaction occurs that allows the light-sensitive coating on the aluminum to develop the image.

PrintingThe aluminum plate now has to be fixed to the actual printing press.The press consists of three rollers or cylinders. The aluminum plate is flexible so can be bent to fit around the plate cylinder.The most common method of printing newspapers is called web offset lithography.The 'offset' refers to the fact that the plate does not actually touch the paper being printed on. The roller with the plate attached has ink directed onto it and it then rotates against the blanket cylinder which is rubberized and this roller forms an image from the plate roller. As it rotates the blanket roller presses against the paper (which is being continuously fed into the press) causing the image to printed. The third cylinder is just there to press the paper against the blanket cylinder.The large sheets containing the copies of the newspaper are cut into separate versions of the newspaper and these are stacked into bundles. These bundles are then loaded onto delivery trucks for distribution.