Brazilian musician, Fernando Rocha with his percussion/electronics set up performing at the DF Cook Hall in St. John's, Newfoundland during Sound Symposium. Photo by Greg Locke © 2008

Its Sound Symposium time again!! Grab a gallon of Red Bull and head out on the town for this 10 day celebration (marathon?) of sound in St. John's.  Yes, two years have gone by and its time once again to hear the Harbour Symphony for ships horns at noon hour and the good citizens to take in the concerts, performances, audio installations, lectures, workshops and jam sessions with artists from around the world presenting the best in new music, performing art and audio adventure.

There are very few events of this caliber in the world that are MUST SEE in ones lifetime. There is the Edinburgh Fringe, Burning Man in California, Mali's Festival in The Desert ...and Sound Symposium in little "ol St. John's. Get out and treat yourself to something spectacular.

Visit the Sound Symposium website or Sound Symposium Facebook page of schedules and updates!
Tickets available at the door for all venues or at the LSPU Hall box office, 3 Victoria Street beginning July 3. Call 743-4531.

Or through Sound Symposium: 753-4630  or soundart@nfld.com

Most people have heard by now that Stirling Press will be closing its doors in the near future. Its website is already offline. As one of only two offset printing presses in St. John's it's hard to believe that there is not enough business to keep it going. Maybe business acumen, like talent is not universal? It was a great press and produced a good product. Even in a cut throat business where every corner is cut, quality and service was not an issue at Stirling. The other press is owned by Transcontinental, publisher of The Telegram.

Much has been said lamenting the loss of the press, the jobs and speculation on the future of the Newfoundland Herald, its historic in-house publication. (see Meeker on Media). Many Newfoundland journalists, photographers, writers and editors have gone through the Herald over the years. I think my first paid professional gig as a photographer was with The Herald ..either them or UPI. Both were around the same time.

Stirling Press printed many of the local publications as well as commercial printing jobs. The obvious concern is that the lack of competition will drive prices up for small publications such as The Business Post, Current, Avalon Times, Scope and even the university newspapers The Muse and The Gazette, who rely on the local presses to print their papers. Those in this business know that competition for that work was ...aggressive.

The one question that has not been asked or answered that will effect local print media is...

...what's happening to that nice Heidelberg press?

When we were starting up the Sunday Independent the question of our own printing press was the first obvious question. If you can't print your paper you don't have a business. Do you really want to give money to your competitor and allow him that kind of control/access to your business?

The answer is, even a very small press will cost you $100,000+. If you plan on doing any volumn of commercial work start looking at a half a mil. ...before paper, ink and salaries.  You can but a lot of real estate in cyber-space with that kind of cash. Which, of course, may be the problem for a lot of print media today and in the future.

We now have a situation where pretty well every independent newspaper and magazine in the city is printed at The Telegram by a large national company with deep pockets. This is not a good business situation on many levels if you own one of those small publications. Lack of competitive printing prices is bad enough but then you also find yourself in the position of competing for limited small market ad dollars, the life blood of a newspaper, with the people who are printing your publication. A company that is more than willing to cut prices and able to take a loss for a while. Am I the only one who sees a problem here?

As one with lots of expensive ideas and little money I can't help but think, if, The Independent, by far the most ambitious of the local newspapers, or a group of the small publications, had any foresight at all they would join forces and try to raise the money to buy/lease that idle printing press sitting out on Logy Bay Road.
...NO, NO, NO,  not the one on the lawn!!

Sadly, what seems to be a  Newfoundland trait of NOT working together or in co-operation means that instead of standing together they may all hang separately.

As much as I believe online is the future of news distribution, I still love print media and there will always be a place for small local, community and specialty publications ...and that will be hurt by the closing of Stirling Press.

In the business it's called "Digital Asset Managment." Around our house it's called, "Where the frig are my pictures!" Thanks again to Aaron Johnson creator of What The Duck for tapping the truth about the photo world. If you are a pro, hobbiest or family photographer or have commited a crime with Photoshop his site is worth the visit.

 I've never been much a "fan" of anything or anyone for the sake of boosterism. Not sports teams, rock stars, actors or political teams. A by-product of 20 years as a cynical journalist I suppose. However, the upside of being a journalist is that you get the chance to meet, interview and photograph a lot of smart people doing facinating things beyond the mundane and you can't help but admire and respect them for their actions, leadership, intelligence or clear vision.

Thomas Homer-Dixon, left, didn't know it when I took him aside for a photograph at the NOIA conference last week but I have been a "fan" of his work for a long time. I have followed his work in the areas of political science, international affairs and conflict studies for a number of years. His work should be bookshelves of every journalist coving these issues. These days it's a rare thing to find someone who brings intelligent analyis and observation to the table without the filter of political ideology or partisan objectives. At an energy conference where the speakers were the major players in the industry Mr. Dixon's address on climate change, economics and the impact and role of oil in human development was, by far, the most interesting and eye opening presentation.

Busy week in St. John's for those in the oil biz. The NOIA Oil & Gas Conference is on along with the Atlantic Canada Petroleum Show is on at the convention centre.
There are lots of rumors swirling with the fog in St. John's about Hebron and South Hibernia but as Mr. Williams' says, "Don't hold your breath."  As nice ...and dramatic, as it might be I don't think they are THAT close to a deal. What you MAY hear is talk about Conoco-Phillips plan for a site survey in the Laurentian Basin on the west coast and a drilling program pending rig availability. But its all rumours, right?

I'll be covering the conference for the Halifax Chronicle-Herald and will also have a display of offshore, business and industrial photos in the The Business Post booth at the show on Wednesday and Thursday so if you are there do stop by and say hello.

 
 Blades for Vestas V90 wind turbines being built in St. Lawrence, Newfoundland.

Here is a link to my Halifax Chronicle-Herald story on the joint NL Hydro, Newind wind energy project being built in St. Lawrence, Newfoundland. Another is scheduled for Fermeuse, this summer.

The Toronto Star stories by Linda Diebel are online today also. The online content of both of these papers change quickly so the links may only be available for a couple of days.

Much to the scorn of many of my fellow "seasoned" print media journalists, I firmly believe that the days of the printed newspaper are numbered and the Internet is the future for news and journalism. One newspaper in the USA has already stopped printing its paper edition and moved entirely to an online format ...and its much better and timely'...almost LIVE 24/7.
Newspapers won't die completely but I think they will be limited to very local and specialized content. That said, I have seen the paper version of both of these stories mentioned and it is still a much better presentation medium than their online siblings.

Web presentation has certainly gotten much better since the days of black text on a gray page, but the design and layout of text, images and graphics in print media still kicks the ass of online services. There are a few factors contributing to this next barrier for online publications. One, is technology is still run by "geeks" ...and I use that term lovingly. Tech people run technology, they are not designers or visual artists and seldom journalists. Technology comes first and in many cases the technology, in the form of the content management systems that handle the huge amount of data on the major news websites, does not lend itself to the aesthetics of design. These are not your mom's family website or blogging hobby.

...but it is the future. Embrace it. It'll look better as it matures.