Ifra, the international newspaper operations organisation based in Germany, has released four special reports and two research reports that explore production and technology topics.

The first report examines “local search,” which studies market developments and options for publishers who want to compete with search-engine giants.

The second report aims at improving agreement and repeatability among hand-held spectrophotometers and densitometers by dealing with “inter-instrument agreement in colour and density measurement.” The third compares compact/tabloid style and broadsheet formats, with the help of the Media Science Faculty at Germany's Trier University which did an eye-tracking study to find the effects of newspaper design.

The fourth report looks at why newsrooms are being reorganised, and how reorganisations are being carried out.

- Editor and Publisher