Vancouver Washington Daily Goes Live on SAXOTECH Digital Publishing Platform
TAMPA Fla. – Sept. 3 2008 – In a move to support its transformation into a multi-platform 24/7 media company The Columbian of Vancouver Wash. has selected the SAXOTECH Mediaware Center to manage all content and resources for print and digital publishing operations. When fully implemented all content creators editors and channel-specific producers will work within a common system to produce Web sites new digital products and print newspapers.
The implementation of The Columbian’s multi-channel publishing solution is in full gear with a completely rebuilt Web site (www.columbian.com) launched today. “Project management and support was an important factor to us in selecting a system ” said Jeff Bunch Web editor at The Columbian and a member of the vendor selection committee and implementation team.
By leveraging professional services from SAXOTECH The Columbian’s turnkey implementation of an Enterprise Content Management System (CMS) for print and digital publishing is on track for completion within a seven-month timeframe. SAXOTECH will also provide managed hosting and site-traffic reporting services.
“The integrated print and digital solution was a key factor for us ” said Bunch. “As a mid-size paper we need to maximize our resources and this system allows us to be more efficient with the resources we have. That is definitely the model that attracted us to SAXOTECH.”
Mission to Engage Local Audiences Supported with Efficiency and Innovation
The Columbian’s Mediaware Center implementation leverages innovative features that will help it engage local audiences and drive content direction for both digital and print products. Features include:
Video and Photo. The Columbian’s locally focused video assets are managed and delivered using SAXOTECH’s video channel handling features. The platform supports video created by both staff and community content producers. The intuitive photo gallery tool allows multiple galleries to be produced on a daily basis in a timely and professional manner generating increased page views.
Web-to-Print. Content originating on the Web will flow seamlessly to print channel producers and vice versa when the newsroom implementation is complete. Community content is also supported.
Mobile Delivery. The new site features a new SAXOTECH-powered mobile site RSS feeds and electronic newsletters with SMS/Text messaging and mobile phone applications also planned.
Blogs. The new site incorporates legacy blogs and allows the launch of a variety of new blogs due to the integrated user interface of the Mediaware Center and quick deployment of them to the site. Blog content can be published in multiple digital channels and incorporated into niche content pages.
Adobe Creative Suite. A common user interface for all content creation provides tight integration and extensive media-specific features to Adobe InDesign for pagination. This allows everyone in the organization to see real-time status of page production. And page producers have point-and-click access to the latest content used for Web and other digital channel distribution.
Reader Comments. An easy-to manage interface allows digital channel producers to allow reader comments and other interactivity including forums. Features also allow The Columbian to manage a customized offensive word list to automatically disallow specific words among a suite of content controls.
Live Traffic Cameras and Interactive Maps. Web site visitors get a live view of traffic on major thoroughfares in the metropolitan area and can view real-time gas prices on a flash-based map. The company also plans to soon launch an interactive news map with partner company mapwith.us.
In addition to providing project management and training of the Mediaware Center platform Web server database management and other technical support functions are handled by SAXOTECH’s Managed Hosting service. By outsourcing hardware network infrastructure and application management to SAXOTECH the Web team at The Columbian is able to focus on presenting compelling content that will accelerate digital revenue streams.
About The Columbian
The Columbian Publishing Company is based in Vancouver Wash. (Portland Ore. metropolitan area) serving Clark County and southwest Washington. Scott Campbell is Publisher of the family-owned company. For more information on The Columbian visit their Web site at www.columbian.com.
About SAXOTECH
SAXOTECH helps media companies address the changing behaviors of consumers by providing enterprise content management and monetization solutions for multi-channel publishing. Our scalable easy-to-implement solutions are used to plan create edit design and publish for digital and print channels and are backed by world-class customer implementation training support and ongoing development. Today SAXOTECH’s solutions are in use by more than 450 publishers around the world. For more information on SAXOTECH please visit our website at www.saxotech.com.
