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Multipurposing isn't cut and paste

Opinion: How our work ebbs and flows

By Anita Dennis

Not long ago, we were all talking about how technology was changing our workflow from print-then-distribute to distribute-then-print. It's a simple flip-flop of a linear progression, yet one that raises all kinds of questions about how content is published.

Workflows have become infinitely more complex since then. You're not just creating a product brochure; you're creating point-of-purchase signage and a one-to-one direct-mail campaign. You're not just creating a catalog; you're creating a kiosk and an e-commerce storefront. Publishers today need to take content from one point to several others simultaneously.

It's called multipurposing.

Although "multipurposing" is one of those clunky computer-age words, it's a critical issue with real-world implications. The bottom line is the need to achieve a greater return on one's content-creation investment, but the means to this end is as individual as each workflow.

Vendors know this, and they're rapidly trying to develop products that meet your workflow needs; similarly, we at eMediaweekly know this, and that's why we're publishing this special report.

The experiences and workflows we share in this report are designed to help you learn from how others are preparing content for multiple media, whether they're converting QuarkXPress documents to HTML or preparing a film for DVD. There are no easy answers; everyone faces a challenge.

Writer Eric Taub quotes Adobe's Gary Cosimini as saying that in the future, the format of content needs to be separated from its structure. Paul Trevithick, president at Bitstream Inc. of Cambridge, Mass., describes a similar vision. He sees documents as becoming "self-expressive," such that they include production rules for various media. The documents themselves, dissociated from any application, will be stored in a database and generated on demand for any representation.

A compelling idea, to be sure, but as you'll see here, we're not there yet, folks.

Anita Dennis is eMediaweekly's executive editor/features.

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