By Brenda Kai, executive director, EDSF

We are pleased to announce a new program designed to support EDSF scholarships. Effective today, donations of any size can be made directly into the EDSF Adopt-a-Scholar program. When the scholarships are awarded in July 2010, each donor participating in the program will receive:

• a thank you letter from the student receiving their specific donation
• copy of the student’s photo
• a short profile about the student.

This is a great opportunity to connect in a very personal way and see how your contribution is making a difference in the life of a student.
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By Brenda Kai, EDSF executive director

If you have ever been to a NASCAR race or watched one on TV, it seems that nothing in NASCAR is without a sponsor. Cars are covered in logos and stickers, drivers have patches from shoulder to shoulder, and every race is brought to you by one company or another.

For companies shelling out $350,000 – $500,000 for each race, calculating the return on their investment becomes critical but complicated (some companies will count the number of seconds their logo is clearly visible on the screen, and then multiply that time by the going ad rate to get an idea of how far their NASCAR dollars are getting them).

Just like NASCAR, EDSF, the international non-profit organization dedicated to the document management and graphic communications industries, needs sponsors to invest in helping students stay on course with their education, however, unlike NASCAR, it’s easy to track the returns.
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By Nicholas Barzelay

One of the problems in training for VDP is the issue of not providing an adequate understanding of the fundamental technologies involved. In football for example, a player needs to know how to run, block, and tackle before being able to adequately perform play patterns. In the military there is a step called “basic training”.

In VDP (and I have experienced this) the approach seems to be navigating the graphical user interface and pushing the right buttons in the proper sequence. After a couple of sessions, you are considered “trained”. Just follow the demonstrated sequence of windows and buttons each time, and you will be able to do VDP – at least mail merge.

This provides no preparation on the basic processes. When it comes to the menus, windows, and buttons, there is not an adequate explanation of what is going on under the hood or how it all relates to the basic processes. Finally the graphical user interface becomes the workflow. The workflow is narrowed and necessary activities outside the user interface tend to be ignored. The user interface does not comprehend the full VDP workflow, leaving a disconnected string of dots.

Some time later when the operation is only doing mail merge (something that can be done with most capable word processing applications), the question comes up: “Why can’t we get more out of our digital press?” The answer is that nobody understands VDP basics. The same holds true for DAM, except that the question is: “Why did we pay so much for this software and only use it as a Web portal?” The answer to that question is similar — nobody comprehends its basic functionality either.

The question frequently comes up: “What can I read to understand some basic technologies involved in VDP?” The reading list below can provide a good start, however it is not necessarily going to supplant some good basic training.

Reading List

XML problem-design-solution by Amiano, M., D’Cruz, C., Ethier, K., & Thomas, M.

This book explores the use of XML to produce a range of documents by repurposing content. Discussion starts with simple documents and then progresses into more complex documents.

FileMaker Pro: the missing manual by Coffey, G. & Prosser, S

The manual provides a good reference for learning and then using the FileMaker Pro desktop database. It also provides a hands-on explanation of database basics in the form of tutorial exercises.

A designer’s guide to Adobe InDesign and XML by Maivald, J. & Palmer, C.

This is an excellent hands-on window on variable data publishing. The authors have addressed several kinds of documents in text and in tutorial examples. They take the reader through building each kind of document step by step.

Instant InDesign: designing templates for fast and efficient page layout by Powell, G.

This book is a good companion to Maivald and Palmer (above). It addresses the key corollaries in VDP: document structural standardization and document content variation.

XML all-in-one desk reference for dummies by Wagner, R. & Mansfield, R.

For anyone with a desire or need to learn XML basics, this book provides a simple explanation of key XML technologies using easily understood and consistent examples. The examples can be downloaded for experimentation and learning.

By Nicholas Barzelay

Basic data processing for VDP is concerned with storage and retrieval, manipulating data structures and content, and program logic expressed in an input-process-output paradigm. This requires fundamental programming and data management skills.

Understanding database is helpful for initial data acquisition and front-end data preparation. Basic file manipulation skills – read a file in, test for specific content, modify identified content, and write the file out – are helpful in integrating data into a document design application. Integration activity requires small ad hoc programs run at the terminal without development of graphical interfaces.

Use of XML requires only a basic understanding of the technology. This involves the ability to recognize a document or data file structure, express the structure as a simple DTD (document type definition), and then properly tag the document or data file. While more in-depth understanding of XML useful, it is not a necessity since much of XML data manipulation can be accomplished through simple file processing, rather than XML tools like XSLT or structures like DOM (document object model).

Where basic data processing skills by themselves fall short is in the area of applying them to business problems. Business and system analytical skills are needed as a precursor to satisfactory application programming skills. In other words, programming and data manipulation have to be put into the context of a customer’s business requirements.

Alternatives
One alternative for acquiring usable data processing skills for VDP may be to hire a good systems analyst or business analyst who knows how to program and understands databases. However, for addressing graphic design in a business or systems context, this approach has its limitations. The alternative is to find a good graphic designer with a lot of business and computer programming exposure. This is easier said than done, because such a person may be hard to find.

One reason for this difficulty is that basic mental proclivities for graphic design and programming may be antithetical. It is the difference between artists and engineers – left brain and right brain activities. A related reason is that the curriculum for training graphic artists does not commonly include programming and database, and the usual computer science or information technology curriculum does not include graphic arts. To further complicate matters, such studies not necessarily attempt to provide an understanding of contextual business considerations or print production issues.

There is one certainty: the complexity of technology studied in computer science and information technology programs will likely guarantee that any computer guru worth his or her salt will quickly become bored with VDP – different skills, different interests, different personalities, and different sets of mental processes. The idea of simply finding someone with a computer science degree is not the panacea it might appear to be.

VDP is IT
Based on lab trials and classroom observations, in terms of actually producing a variable document, as much as 60% to 80% of the work has to do with some aspect of data handling and preparation, text processing, and programming. That leaves only 20% to 40% of variable document development work for traditional print activities.

IT activities include a variety of tasks: database management, data file extraction and processing, associated programming, XML conversion and preparation. When considering digital asset management (DAM), other than image and color management concerns, development of metadata, key words, search criteria, and other library-related functions, much of the activity related to image file storage, maintenance, security, and accessibility is also IT related.

In fact, in developing variable documents, the development methodology is closely akin to an IT approach: objectives definition, requirements analysis, high-level design, detail design, development, testing, and implementation. Based on research, the VDP workflow is more like an IT rapid iterative development workflow than a traditional sequential print production workflow.
When Web components such as email, personalized Web pages, and other personalized Internet communications approaches are added, the percentage of IT-related activity increases.
Finally, infrastructure maintenance and operation for DAM and VDP is very systems intensive in terms of both individual system platform operations and in terms of cross-platform and cross-application integration. Deployment and integration of VDP and DAM capabilities primarily represents an IT problem.

Conclusions
Given the heavy amount of IT in VDP and DAM, we can draw a couple of conclusions:

1) In terms of training costs and productivity thresholds, it may be more cost effective to hire people with IT skill sets and then train them in printing and graphic design than to hire print people and train them in IT. (And, by the way, graphic design people may not know any more about the technicalities of printing than IT people.)

2) In terms of academic preparation for digital printing careers, printing, publishing, and graphic design curricula that address digital printing need a heavy concentration in IT on subjects germane to VDP and DAM. Graphic design curricula need to comprehend the nuances of printing, and IT curricula should include VDP and DAM as study topics.

By Nicholas Barzelay

The question, “What is the best programming language for VDP?” seems to be a persistently unanswered issue for those developing or contemplating VDP development. There are very many programming languages these days. Some are more suitable for handling textual and numeric data than others. This is one consideration, but beyond functionality, execution method may be a more relevant first step in making a selection.

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By Nicholas Barzelay

Simple File Structure

A file is composed of records, which may or may not beuniquely identified with a record key.  Records may also be identified by a physical mechanism in the filecalled an inter-record gap (IRG).  A program reads a record until it comes to a new key or the IRG.  At the new key, it logically(programmatically) comprehends that it is now reading a new record.  At the IRG, the program spaces over theIt and logically concludes that it is reading a new record.

Records are composed of data elements or fields.  The fields are in a set sequence andcontain text or numeric data – for instance, address, name, or quantity fields.  A program may also know when it comesto a new record when the field sequence starts over – it has againencountered the first field in the sequence.

XML

Data elements in XML are identified by start and end tags,which reflect the content of the element, for instance “<last_name>Smithers</last_name>”.  An XML file of repeating data isessentially a set of records where the tagged elements occur in a set sequence.  Therefore any time a program reads thefirst tagged element in a sequence, it knows that it has started a new XMLgroup – a new record for all practical purposes.

Since XML is hierarchical, there may be a repeating tagset (start and end tags) that serves as a container for a set of tagged dataelements – essentially a record container.  The tag name of the container for a sequence of XML dataelements, for example, may conceivably be “<record>” as the start tag and“</record>” as the end tag.

Processing

Consequently, simple file processing (the sequential readof data elements within a sequential set of records) is feasible for XML files,based on the use of tag names as record and data identifiers.  The XML file can be processedprocedurally with simple reads and without the nuanced processing associatedwith XML object model processing.

Content and structural changes can be made to very largefiles of repeating XML data very quickly using a scripting language such asPerl or Ruby.  This gives the VDP developeradditional data handling alternatives, if true XML support in the form of XSLT (extensiblestyle sheet language transforms) is not available.

As another processing option when serious programmaticsupport is limited and where data changes are repetitive across the entire dataset, use of simple “find and replace” logic common in most text editor and wordprocessor applications can be effective.

Conclusion

Many applications and technologies today containconsiderably more functionality than what is required for common use.  It is not necessary to know how to useevery capability a technology offers – only the ones needed to get thejob done.

There is usually more than one way to get the jobdone.  For instance, setting up anXML data stream can be done using an XML capability (XSLT), processing the XMLas XML using a program, processing the XML as a text file with a program, orprocessing the XML as a text file using a word processor’s “search and replace”functions.

From the perspective of skill sets, this means that thereis considerable flexibility in finding a workable productive combination oftools and resident  (or potentiallyresident) skills that can efficiently and effectively do the needed work.

Once again, what facilitates such flexibility is a fundamentalset of tools and workflow that allows iterative, recursive, and retrogressive tasksduring the design and development steps of the VDP document prior to sendingthe generated job stream to press.

This is part 2 of a series exploring the current state of variable data printing. Part 1, Insights on VDP

By Nicholas Barzelay

Key Features

The key feature of a desktop database is the capability to see both the structure of the data and the data itself.  This view is like a spreadsheet, but provides processing functions similar to a more robust DBMS (including use of SQL – Structured Query Language).  Beyond data visualization, other key features are point and click and drag and drop functionality.

Desktop databases can hold considerable amounts of data (over a terabyte) spread across multiple storage disks.  They also include the functionality to programmatically manipulate large amounts of data.  Data manipulation includes the ability to manipulate data structures, rework data content, and transform data (via exports) into simple file formats, spreadsheets, or XML (extensible markup language).

Rationale

While there is a potential performance downside in using a desktop database, the work production rate remains favorable.  Any potential production impact is substantially counterbalanced by advantages from working in a visual environment. This makes it very adequate for preparing VDP data streams.  Such preparation tasks include data cleansing, data content adaptation, and near-ready file exports for XML workflows.
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Editor’s Note Nicholas Barzelay is a recent graduate of RIT School of Print Media’s graduate program. Mr. Barzelay’s research area was variable data printing. He is the co-author of Upstream Database and Digital Asset Management in Variable Data Printing (Executive Summary available here). Mr. Barzelay is working on two books on the subjects of data management and Variable Data Printing. He is sharing some of his work to get industry feedback.

Insights on VDP

By Nicholas Barzelay

Early VDP

What we now call “transactional” variable data printing has its origins in the earliest accounting and financial programs: Accounts Receivable, Invoicing and Billing, Accounts Payable, Demand Deposit Accounting, Financial Asset Reporting, and Explanation of Benefits for insurance.

Initially these kinds of program applications were run on mainframe computers.  Later they were modified to run on mini computers.  Eventually they were migrated to multi-tier enterprise scale client-server applications.

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