Tuesday, August 02, 2011

What happens when you take a bunch of 20-something college journalism students and have them put out a newspaper with pre-digital technology?

Excerpt:
Managing editor Mariam Aldhahi was stymied after typing her first line. "What do I do now?" she asked. "There's no RETURN key."

I pointed to the lever that would propel the carriage back to the left, while the gears inside would simultaneously ratchet the paper to the next line.

She tapped it lightly.

"No, this is a manual typewriter," I told her. "You actually have to expend some calories."

I slammed the lever to the right, and the carriage flew back to the left margin, stopping with a thud. A look of understanding, laced with horror, crossed her face.

"It's going to be like this the entire time, isn't it?"

"Not at all," I said. "It actually gets worse."

Worse was watching them edit their own stories...
(Via Howard Roerig.)