From the Publisher

By Robert L. Miller

We're do-it-yourselfers at TIME. To the greatest extent possible, we like to produce each issue with our own staff, because we believe that's the best guarantee of quality. Last month we became self-reliant in an important new area, a complex technological process called imaging. Through a network of computers and electronic equipment, imaging makes it possible to convert photographs, illustrations and other graphic aspects of the magazine into electronic data. These data can be stored, displayed on computer screens and eventually used to produce the pages you read. TIME is unique among major American news publications in being able to do the entire process without calling upon outside services. That has important benefits for the reader.

"Having our own imaging capability makes the production process more responsive to the news," says Mark Stelzner, our manager of imaging operations. The old system involved an elaborate flow pattern -- a little like a Super Bowl play -- of pictures, paper layouts and computer data, tied to three separate computer systems. Whenever there was a news event or we wanted to use a better picture, those complexities made any change a chore.

Under the new system, we have all our own imaging equipment, which sits in a user-friendly room adjacent to the art and picture departments, where most of the material originates. "Now changes can be made at almost any stage of the production process," Stelzner says, "right up until the magazine goes to the , printing plants." That makes it easier to accommodate up-to-the-minute photographs like those of the Rajiv Gandhi funeral.

Because the shortened lines of communication make the production process more efficient, the staff of 15 specialists that Stelzner assembled has more time to perfect its work. The staff can start earlier on the color correction of photographs, a technique performed on the computer imaging screens to ensure that pictures appear on the page with the same richness they have in the original photographs. "People still make the critical decisions," Stelzner insists. "There's no technology that can interpret color better than the human eye." A reassuring thought, because the object of all this effort is to turn out more pleasing pages for the eyes of our readers.