Introducing desktop publishing to a university community: an exposition

Abstract

Our User Services group recently began investigating the feasibility of using desktop publishing for creating internal and end-user documentation. Our interest and excitement grew with each new advertisement and after seeing demonstrations at various local computer stores. We had long been using a series of custom grown programs and PC-Write for creating our newsletter and other documentation and looked forward to the versatility and time savings desktop publishing had to offer.We then received a demonstration copy of a low-end desktop publishing program. As we worked with this program and continued our research, we learned that using a desktop publishing system is more than just learning to use new hardware and software. To make our published material effective, we also needed to become familiar with and develop a basic understanding of the terminology and application of principles used in the worlds of typography, graphic design, and publishing. Since we were also seeing signs of growing interest in desktop publishing around the campus, we became concerned that departments might buy desktop publishing systems without understanding the extra time and experience they would need to develop in these areas. Even though we were new at desktop publishing ourselves, we felt the rest of the campus could benefit from our discoveries. We decided to hold a campus event to present basic information about desktop publishing. We would include demonstrations of hardware and software, but also be sure to tell of the complexities involved in desktop publishing. This would help our users become more informed so they could decide whether desktop publishing would serve their needs better than their present method of publication.This paper describes the planning, implementation, and evaluation of a Desktop Publishing Exposition at the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse. Planning the event included arranging for exhibitors, a speaker, and a meeting room, organizing an advertising campaign, creating the handout, and developing methods to evaluate the success of the exposition. We invited local computer dealers to exhibit desktop publishing hardware and software, distributed a handout on the terminology associated with computers, typography, design, and publishing, and had a guest speaker conduct a one-hour noon session on how desktop publishing is currently used on campus by the Audiovisual Graphics department. Although we were unsure at first how well attended the exposition would be, the hard work and cooperation of many individuals helped make the exposition successful beyond our expectations. We reached a large and very diverse group of departments and individuals. We hope this success will allow us to conduct similar topic-oriented events in the future.