Techno rap

Technological advances over the past 35 years can be a bit dizzying.



I pick 1974 as a starting point because that’s when I won my first full-time job. The Longview Daily News and Morning Journal still printed using impression while the composing room still used hot lead and Linotypes, composing the pages by hand.

Next came systems that printed words on paper. The entire paper was pieced together with wax to make one page at a time. Another process took each page through making a negative and then burning the plate to go onto the offset press, which transfers ink to the paper without impressions.

Today, newspapers have eliminated paper until the final step. Workers compose entire editions on a computer and the first thing handled is the plate for the press.

Other aspects have changed. In the early days, a reporter had to track down someone at work or home, leaving a message with whoever would take one. Some people had answering machines. Cell phones and e-mail were not imagined by common folk.

Resource materials were invaluable and a well-maintained morgue of old stories often saved the day. A visit to the library, or a call to a helpful librarian, might be necessary to confirm an element of a story.

Long-distance stories were dictated over the telephone. That’s right, fax machines were not even in use back then. When I took dictation, the story was typed on paper and the sheets were glued together in proper order to keep them from becoming separated.

All of that just grazes the changes in one industry. We’re not even getting into eight-track players, slide rules, microwave ovens, global positioning systems, polio vaccines and a host of various changes.


HITTING HOME

When I first started this syndicated column 17 years ago this month, I wrote it on a Tandy home computer and printed multiple copies on a dot matrix printer. I folded them into hand-addressed envelopes and mailed them the week before the print date.

Fax machines existed but were not a part of my low-budget world. However, I found myself using them more as I learned to appreciate a deadline closer to publication. Then came e-mail and I could easily produce a column as late as a couple of days before my first print date.

I thought that would be the final innovation.

Nope. Just this past week, I took this column into a new realm. I’ve owned the Web site www.ATexasVoice.com for several years, but it’s been mostly pitched at newspaper editors interested in the column and, frankly, has never paid its way.

I am now posting columns online. There, I can provide any links relevant to the column and can give more information if warranted. I have also integrated the Web pages with a blog and a Facebook fan page.

What that means to you is you can read a column in your newspaper and later find it online to e-mail a copy to your friends. You can also leave comments. Become a Facebook fan and you’ll receive notices of new postings.

Why am I doing this? Part of the reason is because I’ve had people over the years ask if there was a way they could forward an article, but the driving force is more self-preservation. I hope to drive more interest in the column and earn more readers.

Maybe it will help with another writing project.

The “books” page of the Web site highlights another technological change. It links to my first novel, “The Reporter and the Ferret,” which I finished about three years ago but I never pursued traditional publishing. Recently, I published the book online and am selling it in electronic versions. The cost is much less and no trees are chopped down.

Who knows what will change next?