Journalism class does the time warp

[KYSportsWriter]

I worked briefly at a paper that was still paste-up, although we had word-processing computers. This was only a dozen or so years ago, but it was quite an experience. We used the whole deal: pica poles, proportion wheels, blue pencils, dummy sheets. The paper had computers with Quark on them, but paginating was a firing offense.

Needless to say, the first chance I got to jump to a paper that paginated, I was gone.

Worked at a paper like that about six years ago. It definitely was an experience.

They finally got InDesign just before I left.

 

[I Should Coco]

Found this on Romanesko. Interesting idea, and hopefully it gave the J-students a bit more appreciation for the tools they have at their disposal:

http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/romenesko/141039/college-journalists-try-publishing-one-issue-without-computers/

Students at Florida Atlantic University are putting out their final summer issue on machinery that’s older than they are, reports Michael Koretzky. They’re writing their stories on manual typewriters and copyediting them in pencil. “They lay it all out with pica poles and proportion wheels. They paste it all up with X-Acto knives and rubber cement.” A few of the students have even dressed the part of ’70′s-era journalists, looking a little bit like Vinnie Barbarino.

Rubber cement? We used wax at my college paper and the two weeklies where I worked.
The second weekly switched to full pagination in the late 1990s. I'm sure the first weekly did to at some point, but it's a few states away and I haven't been in that newsroom for more than a decade.
But I digress.
Again, rubber cement?

Makes me think all the waxers went the way of the buggy whip. Good riddance.

I question technology as much as anyone, but between pagination and paste-up, there's no comparison. Especially on deadline, slicing and dicing to update the standings ...

 

[J-School Blue]

While most of it's just a cool little history exercise, the typewriter work and hand-done copy editing might give them some practical stuff. Lack of spellcheck teaches you discipline (and at least the errors you make aren't of the facepalm stupid 'Damn you, autocorrect!' variety).