Interactive Newspapers-The Next Big Thing in Newspaper Industry

Presented By :-

Ankit MahapatraAmit Kumar

•Newspapers, a hard crisp publication containing news, information and advertising, usually printed on relatively low inexpensive, low grade paper such as newsprint which is one of our most sought things every morning.

•That very smell and texture with deep analysis of topics which are making news around the world combined with editorial columns and some witty sketches and cartoons makes up a fine morning.

•General-interest newspapers typically publish stories on local and national political events and personalities, crime, business, entertainment, society and sports.

•Most traditional papers also feature an editorial page containing editorials written by an editor and columns that express the personal opinions of writers.

•Other features include display and classified advertising, comics, and inserts from local merchants.

Newspapers As We Know

Newspapers Vs. Other Media Sources

•Newspapers faces a very stiff competition from other media and news sources like television , radio and most competitively from the giant store of digital information we know as the web. Instead of reading newspapers people prefer to read news in the web or watch television news channel or get them as mobile alerts.

•With the advancements in technological devices like the introduction of iPADs, Tablet PCs, Kindle we see them replacing out traditional newspapers, magazines and books! But still they can’t replace the worth of a hard copy.

Advantages of Newspapers over other media sources

•Newspapers have their own essence and they are friendly to the eyes. •No online newspaper could give anyone as much deep knowledge and analysis of events happening locally as much as newspapers provide. •Newspapers have more rural and urban penetration in India.• One more plus point is that the posts written in newspapers and reputed magazines are by experts and experienced journalists who have a deep knowledge with strong vocabulary to indulge the reader into the news which is clearly lacking in its counterparts.

Newspapers Others

The Decline

•By 2007 there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a day. The worldwide recession of 2008, combined with the rapid growth of web-based alternatives,caused a serious decline in advertising and circulation, as many papers closed or sharply retrenched operations.

•The future of newspapers has been widely debated as the industry has faced down soaring newsprint prices, slumping ad sales, the loss of much classified advertising and precipitous drops in circulation. In recent years the number of newspapers slated for closure, bankruptcy or severe cutbacks has risen—especially in the United States, where the industry has shed a fifth of its journalists since 2001!

•Indian Readership Survey – World’s largest survey of its kinds has substantial proof to support this decline. Have a look at some of these figures:

Survey Reports

•Watching the decline in newspaper sales and increase in shutdowns of newspaper publishing houses we would like to propose a novel solution to the problem which is embedding digital components such as touch sensitive screens, audio and video players which would be water proof, flexible, shock proof and have a decent quality.• The idea would be to bring interactivity to the newspapers and indulging the reader into it. Similar kind of thing has been once done in India by Volkswagen where they attached a recorded message which played whenever a reader unfolded the last page[1]. •Touch screens of suitable dimensions with some flash memory would be stitched into the newspapers which would be pre programmed. A user would just need to touch the screen to get the video played. Similar would be the audio player which on selection would read out the particular news. • To get an idea how it would look like recall the scene in Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone where one can see that characters in movie are reading newspapers whose layout and content is changing magically which here would like to make it digitally.

The Proposed Solution

A Few Snapshots Of The Daily Prophet Newspaper from the Harry Potter movie series

Some Key Points That Matter

A. Materials and Technologies required

B. Cost

C. Planned Add-ons

D. Advertising Platform

E. Sustainable Development

A. Material and Technologies Required

•For the initial testing to get feedback from the readers a simple news video would be put on the front page of a leading newspaper which would work whenever the reader touches the screen to play the video. For this a flash memory would be required and an intelligent program would be required to code to give proper response to user’s gestures.• The project may require that nanotechnology be implemented to keep the circuits and paper as thin as required and reduce its weight.

B. CostInitial setting up costs would be high so would be the price of the newspaper after all its not your normal newspaper.

•What could be done initially is that such kind of newspapers could be sold only once a week to seek user response.• The project would need some sponsorship and support to carry out research for further advancement with the idea. •The prices of electronics and electrical equipments have certainly come down and with years to come it would be even cheaper. •In recent developments it has been found that graphene was to replace silicon in the electronics industry but molybdenite has been proposed to replace graphene now, so there is stiff competition there and we all will be on the winning side.

C. Planned Add-Ons

Add-ons are something which modifies the interface and adds some more functionality to it. •Here we plan to have real time commenting and polling system using the reader’s wifi connectivity or GPRS which could make voting and debates on certain topics very easy on a large scale. •Also one full page of touch screen could be implemented where a few games or interactive applications could cover the page but thats something which is not in the priority list at least for the time being when the initial costs are not covered. •Page Relayout would be like an Easter egg where something special would be hidden in a special editorial page in which content would dynamically change and layouts too depending upon user’s response.•Regarding the audio part in future support for multiple languages would be added i.e. the page could read out itself in the language reader wants to hear be it Hindi, English, Gujarati, Oriya or any other.

•Advertising would get a fresh new face in this technique. In the classified pages the advertisers have a gold mine of opportunity to sell their products by highlighting them through videos or any other interactive content. •Page Relayouts (one of the planned add-ons) would keep shuffling the ads on certain intervals so every ad be it small or big could be there at the top or center to gain attention.

D. Advertisements

E. Sustainable Development

By sustainable development we mean that development which does not harm or come in the way of nature. •Now many people raise the question that many trees are cut for newspaper production and that is not eco friendly. Yes that is true but try comparing it with the global warming emissions by the electronics device; here the vote goes to newspaper being less harmful for global warming.• The idea is to make full use of recycling concept. The paper would be tried to manufacture out of wasted pulp or old papers saving money and trees. •The digital components like wires touch screens, resistors and circuits would not be allowed to waste that easily. •Awareness to make full use of the components would be done like to recycle the components for their own electronic projects or giving it back to the industry via some media.

Conclusion

We can conclude that newspaper industry is in need of solutions to run their businesses and this idea could come out to be a boon to them.With more research and popularity some more advancement could be made. This would bring a whole new dimension to the method of advertising.

The idea is innovative, novel and would definitely be a very modern way of method to bring back the masses to read printed news. So get ready to witness the next revolution in newspaper and journalism industry.

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A Small Glimpse of How it may look like

Thank You for patiently listening to us!