Computer Aided Pagination of Newspapers.

This paper describes a new experimental system developed at Brown University for studying the balance between human and computer generated decisions in the pagination process and for testing some techniques that can be used in automating layout decisions. The system employs three different alternative modes of laying out a page. (1) placing individual items one by one on a page by means of a set of powerful commands, (2) placing a set of items as a collective on a page according to a data structure (template) describing the layout style normally used for that page, and (3) placing a set of items as a collective on a page according to a newshole filling algorithm. The results of the project show that it is possible to build newspaper pagination systems with a considerably higher degree of automation than present systems, while still retaining control of the process entirely in the hands of the editorial department. The system employs three different alternative modes of laying out a page. (1) placing individual items one by one on a page by means of a set of powerful commands, (2) placing a set of items as a collective on a page according to a data structure (template) describing the layout style normally used for that page, and (3) placing a set of items as a collective on a page according to a newshole filling algorithm. The results of the project show that it is possible to build newspaper pagination systems with a considerably higher degree of automation than present systems, while still retaining control of the process entirely in the hands of the editorial department.