The calendar turned over another 365 days, bringing an untarnished entry into a new year.
For some this means another year on the aging treadmill, one where pushing the buttons does not lessen the fatigue. Others will bemoan the continuation of a routine slightly more engaging in their minds than widget-making. But when qualified people are being laid off, a routine task is better than no job for a weekly paycheck.
The opening scene in 2009 carries images left over from the year before.
There are economic challenges, but there also are opportunities to plan ahead.
Some changes happen out of sight and provide customers and consumers with enhancements and a more fulfilling experience. That description fits the new-year expectation for all who choose the Times Free Press stable of products in print, online and on other digital devices.
A mere two years ago there was minimal connection between the Times Free Press and the consumer whose platform of choice was connecting via a computer. The newspaper hit the doorstep and appeared in the single-copy box every day. For those who wanted access to their hometown newspaper — the Times Free Press — while working on a computer or traveling, options were limited. Time and circumstances led to new options.
In 2008 the Times Free Press aggressively moved into the age of electronic, digital information, offering almost 3,000 videos and 6,000 audio clips to extend the visual experience for readers. Photographs were stitched together, sometimes with words or musical accompaniment, to provide a colorful entry point into a black and white scene. Updated news advisories arrived in e-mail inboxes and on timesfreepress.com, filling the gap that exists with a 24-hour print newspaper cycle.
The digital production process is clumsy at times when video and audio are gingerly attached to a print way of doing things. Layers of multidimensional content are wedged into the silo-focused work cycle of producing a newspaper.
The process required an overhaul, building from the content base of print into a world of enhancements that are a click away by computer. The closing weeks of 2008 served as a testing time.
The implementation for you as a reader should be easy and seamless. Inside the Times Free Press newsroom, understanding the delivery of content is the operative phrase.
New terms will be visible, such as TAGS, which describes writers who focus on trends (health, entertainment, diversity and community, religion, fashion) and the go-to journalists who answer the call on an assortment of story assignments.
Editors, who fix grammar and punctuation, also will assume the role of coaches for TAGS teams.
Stories in print will link to related stories that day and in coming days so
that a reader who consumes, for example, a Food article on Wednesday might come back the next day or so for a health- or exercise-related story. Think of connecting dots over multiple days.
The exercise of updating our delivery of multiple types of content began in the fall. Your Times Free Press newsroom focused on improved connections with readers and better communication within our own ranks. We hope the result offers more for you, the readers, with improved coordination among sections, editors, writers and visual artists.
You should expect the same level of quality from a Times Free Press product; that will not change.
When you go to timesfreepress.com, you should expect that every 30 minutes the Times Free Press site has been updated. We know our work is not done since we are part of a dynamic communication business.
You should expect us to continue exploring new channels for reaching you in print, digitally, by text message or by other means that have not yet been created.
Our intention is to provide the deepest content, on the most channels, to a variety of audiences — seamlessly.
So starts the second decade for the Times Free Press.
To reach Tom Griscom, call (423) 757-6472 or e-mail tgriscom@timesfreepress.com.
