PRINT EXECS TAKE WALK ON THE CYBERSIDE

By: Wayne Robins Albany Times Union Tries Exchange Program



To some news executives, what happens on their dot-com sites may be as arcane and irrelevant
as local elections in Madagascar. But the Albany, N.Y., Times Union is fostering the
integration of its paper and online editions by inviting news executives from the print side
to take a walk - for up to a week - on the cyberside.



'We call it an exchange program,' says Patti Hart, editor of timesunion.com. 'For managers
in the newsroom, it's a chance to see how the Web end of our publishing operation functions
and how it ties in with what they do.'



For starters, timesunion.com has a closer working relationship with the print side than at
many papers. 'We work very closely with the copy desk,' Hart explains. 'Both of our executive
news editors from the desk, Monica Bartoszek and Jim White, have spent an entire week.'



The news executives get a hands-on tutoring in how the Web works and how to make it work for
the paper. 'We teach them how to do HTML [hypertext markup language], and they make their own
simple Web site,' says Hart.



Some of it is silly stuff: When City Editor and Assistant Managing Editor Jim Michaels did
his 'exchange' at timesunion.com, Hart reports, they pulled all the old pictures of him they
could find from the library, his ID card, a photo of him doing an interview - just for the
fun of it. But the news-side people also do more vital computer chores, such as putting
together the home page for an update or for the next morning's publication.



Sports Editor David Washburn and Graphics Designer Sharon Okada were two of the Times Union's
print-siders who found the exchange experience so rewarding that they moved to the dot-com
staff. 'It's a great opportunity for people who are computer-savvy and interested in the Web

to find out what we do,' Hart says.



Next to cross over from the newsroom: the paper's top editor, Jeff Cohen. Says Hart, 'We're
going to teach him HTML so he can make his own Web page and put his garden on the Net.'