{"id":4313,"date":"2011-03-10T15:33:48","date_gmt":"2011-03-10T14:33:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uk.cision.com\/?p=2258"},"modified":"2021-12-03T13:33:45","modified_gmt":"2021-12-03T12:33:45","slug":"macusers-adam-banks-on-why-the-ipad-will-not-save-the-publishing-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/macusers-adam-banks-on-why-the-ipad-will-not-save-the-publishing-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"MacUser’s Adam Banks on why the iPad will not save the publishing industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adam Banks is the Editor in Chief of\u00a0MacUser Magazine<\/a> and Launch Editor of PC Gear magazine. Adam is also currently working a freelance journalist and writes his own blog called\u00a0ADAMBANKS.COM<\/a>. \u00a0He edits and redesigns various newsstand magazines, creates customer and internal magazines for corporate clients and also works on copy and design for websites and other digital media. Banks primarily focuses on technology, which includes digital graphic design, usability and social and political issues surrounding computers and the internet.<\/p>\n

Cision: A recent article by Smoking Apples<\/a> stated that “The iPad is\u00a0going to save the publishing industry”. Do you agree\/disagree? Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Adam: I don’t think any one technology will save or kill the publishing\u00a0industry. Many publishers, including Dennis, are now producing\u00a0magazines specifically for the iPad, and News Corp has invested over\u00a0$30m launching a digital newspaper on it, so clearly we believe there\u00a0are readers and revenue there. At MacUser, we partner with Pixel Mags\u00a0and Zinio, which convert print publications into digital editions, and\u00a0we’re attracting a lot of new readers through those services. Some of\u00a0our existing readers also find it useful to have the magazine on screen.\u00a0On the other hand, I think print is still the best way ever invented\u00a0to deliver content. We can do things in a magazine feature or tutorial\u00a0over several double-page spreads that just wouldn’t work so well on\u00a0the iPad, or on a website, or in any digital format that exists now.\u00a0We know each copy of MacUser is often passed around to several\u00a0readers, which is fiddly to do with digital editions. And we haven’t\u00a0quite figured out how to make an iPad smell of fresh ink when you open\u00a0an app for the first time. So we’re very interested in the iPad – we\u00a0read magazines on it ourselves! – but it’s an addition, not a\u00a0replacement.<\/p>\n

Many journalists continue to be concerned by the effects of\u00a0cross-media integration on their working practices. How do you\u00a0experience this transformation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Within Dennis Publishing, we produce content in all media, and it’s\u00a0more a cause of excitement than concern. That’s probably something to\u00a0do with the company\u2019s background in computing and technology. We\u2019ve\u00a0always been early adopters of new tools; we pioneered desktop\u00a0publishing and digital prepress, and 15 years ago we were producing\u00a0content on CD-ROM. At MacUser we still see writing, photography and\u00a0illustration as our core content, but we’re constantly looking at\u00a0other media, and if we find a good use for them, we have the\u00a0facilities and expertise to exploit them.<\/p>\n

Can journalists use 3D technology in their work?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Again, it depends on what suits your content and serves your readers.\u00a0We’re not into doing stuff just because it’s there. But yes,\u00a0interactive 3D has great potential on the web and in digital editions,\u00a0and many of our journalists would be quite happy to produce that kind\u00a0of content.<\/p>\n

What do you predict to be the ‘must have’ gadget in 2011? What\u00a0gadgets do you use in your work?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The iPad will continue to be the ‘must have’ gadget, boosted by the\u00a0launch of a new model in the very near future. I have an iPad instead\u00a0of a laptop now, and my iPhone 4 is essential because it goes\u00a0everywhere and gives me full access to email and the web. I also use\u00a0its camera more and more; the opening spread of our latest issue has a\u00a0full-page photo I took in San Francisco while we were reporting from\u00a0there in January.<\/p>\n

Will you be attending any events in 2011? If so, which ones and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ve just written a piece on how important events are for getting\u00a0people together face to face. The ones I’m probably keenest to make\u00a0time for are Publishing Expo (http:\/\/www.publishing-expo.co.uk\/<\/a>) at\u00a0Earls Court 2 on 1-2 March, because there’s always something new to\u00a0learn in our amazing industry; Apple\u2019s World Wide Developer Conference\u00a0(WWDC) in June, because it’s where the real news often happens in our\u00a0market; and our own tech show, LITS (http:\/\/www.litshow.co.uk\/<\/a>), at\u00a0ExCel in October.<\/p>\n

What is going to be bigger in 2011: Mobile Journalism or Social\u00a0Journalism?<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you define mobile journalism as writing from where the news is,\u00a0that’s always been important, although most of what we report on in\u00a0the tech industry has little to do with geography. It can also mean\u00a0not being tied to an office, and MacUser is now run editorially as a\u00a0virtual team. We work remotely from all over the country, as well as\u00a0on the road. The ability to do that is very big to us.\u00a0As for social journalism, we love the way social networks help us talk\u00a0to our readers and the industry we report on, but they don’t replace\u00a0journalism. We’re staunch defenders of the need for dedicated\u00a0professionals to find, interpret and present information meaningfully,\u00a0not just curate user-generated content. But we’re addicted to Twitter,\u00a0not only because news travels so fast there but because of the purely\u00a0social benefit of encountering people with similar interests. So both\u00a0of those things are big, as means to an end.<\/p>\n

What are your tips for PR agencies looking to contacting you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Send us an email with a clear subject line and all the key information\u00a0in the message, not an attachment. Supply a link to high-res photos,\u00a0and have review samples ready to go. And get our names right – that’s\u00a0what directories are for :)<\/p>\n

Also check out Cision’s Tech Week<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Adam Banks is the Editor in Chief of\u00a0MacUser Magazine and Launch Editor of PC Gear magazine. Adam is also currently working a freelance journalist and writes his own blog called\u00a0ADAMBANKS.COM. \u00a0He edits and redesigns various …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":296,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[248,3181],"tags":[157,3180,7297],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4313"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/296"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4313"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":137340,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4313\/revisions\/137340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}