About the DPA
The RJI Digital Publishing Alliance (DPA) is a member-supported initiative of the Reynolds Journalism Institute. Its mission is to bring together leaders and innovators from forward-thinking organizations to pursue new strategies, digital content products and business models for publishing and journalism, with an emphasis on E-Readers and other mobile reading devices.
Strategies
- Initiate projects that enhance the value and revenue potential of current and future digital publishing products or services.
- Serve as a clearinghouse for information about digital publishing technologies and best practices.
- Leverage the market power of members to influence vendors and developers.
- Provide training and support that allow members to take full advantage of new technologies.
- Regularly exchange information about projects, priorities, possibilities, successes and failures.
- Test and evaluate digital publishing products, strategies and business models.
- Test and evaluate mobile reading devices.
Membership categories
The DPA currently has four membership categories:
- For-Profit Publishers: Newspapers, magazines, journals, newsletters, and news Web sites
- Technology Companies: E-Reader manufacturers, digital publishing service providers, software companies, developers, and other related technology enterprises
- Advertisers & Marketers: National advertisers, advertising agencies, public relations and consulting firms
- Not-For-Profit Publishers: Associations, foundations, nonprofit news organizations, educational institutions, and government agencie
Membership dues
The DPA dues are annualized. Organizations that join mid-year will have dues prorated through Dec. 31 of that year with a commitment to continue membership the following year. Annual dues are determined by membership category.
Dues will be used to:
- Help fund support staff, research assistants and contract workers as required for DPA projects;
- Host meetings, symposiums and workshops;
- Gather and distribute information to members;
- Conduct research and field tests.
Membership benefits
Members get free, first access to all DPA initiated non-proprietary research data and analyses, E-Reader evaluations and documentation, special reports, prototypes, production tools and processes, as well as meetings. (Fees may be charged for some symposiums and workshops.)
Members also can contract with the RJI for exclusive production work, customization, research, support and training. (Fees will be negotiated.)
Current DPA Projects
Electronic Media Print (eMprint) is an ongoing initiative led by Roger Fidler at the RJI to develop and evaluate reader-friendly editorial and advertising presentation models for digital newspapers displayed on e-readers and other mobile reading devices. It builds on Fidler’s original work at Knight-Ridder and Kent State University.
Digital Newsbook Publishing: The principal purpose of this project is to produce and test market a new revenue-generating digital content product for publishers. Digital Newsbooks are substantive, visually rich eBooks on timely, newsworthy topics. Their content consists primarily of journalistic investigative and explanatory reports that were originally published in newspapers or magazines.
E-Reader Evaluations and Research: The objectives for this project are to gain a better understanding of:
- The human factors that may influence adoption of E-Readers;
- The design elements of digital content that may influence reading on E-Readers and other mobile reading devices; and
- The expectations readers may have regarding letter-size E-Readers and the digital newspaper editions displayed on these devices.
E-Reader Guides & Prototypes: To assist DPA members who may want to produce digital editions optimized for letter-size E-Readers, the RJI has produced a general E-Reader guide that will be updated as frequently as new information becomes available. The RJI also is creating prototype pages that can be used by members to demonstrate possible presentation formats.