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Content Conference 2001
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| Session Report: Dodge began by showing a few Hollywood visions of the net—three-dimensional digital renderings with little relationship to real interfaces—and compared them to the cookie-cutter rows of text populating most websites. It should be possible, he suggested, to deliver something that lay between these antipodes of surrealism and monotony. For inspiration, he showed some classic examples of good 2-D design, including Harry Beck's 1930 now-classic London Tube map, Charles Minard's map of Napoleon's failed Russian campaign from 1861 and John Snow's Cholera map from 1854, which helped end an epidemic. Dodge then displayed a series of "information maps," automatically generated interfaces designed to categorize massive amounts of web activity, sometimes in dynamic ways. A map created for Smart Money.com grouped various stocks by sector, sizing them based on their market cap's comparative size within each industry and assigning them colors based upon their price fluctuations. Another grouped all the net's active Usenet groups onto a thematic grid, again using colors to show which were more or less active in terms of recent postings. (Since words can hardly do these complex interfaces justice, you might want to check out the Powerpoint slideshow. The file is 14 MB.) Especially for the first session of the day, this was a fairly bewildering experience, since most of these interfaces are quite opaque until you start using them for oneself—and certainly not the type of thing most commercial sites would put online. Dodge admitted as much when he concluded the presentation saying, "Can we create information maps online? Yes. Can we create really useful information maps online? Probably not yet. Nobody has really drawn the killer map. Most examples are just eye candy that you play with for 5 minutes and never return to." |
| Resources: Interesting link for "Mapping": Antarti.ca developed by XML Co-Inventor Tim Bray. The recent collection of infographics covering the September 11 assault is very instructive. Interview with Christina Wodtke of the Elegant Hack on the "Face of Information Architecture" (here is where you find things like the Google picture search result to Information Architecture. For a list of - at latest count - 1500 links on usability and interface design check here. This presentation of Matt Jones, BBC information architect I have found very interesting (added July 2002). |
One of the most intriguing properties of the seamless internet is its multi dimensional nature. The spatial web assumes an information sphere. The seamless internet adds to that the dimensions of the real world. Space, device and personal preferences. No wonder do we have such a hard time coming to grips with all the options. A look at strategies and thinking tools to get a glimpse beyond flatworld.
| Session Report: Ten years ago, Aftonbladet was a second-tier tabloid; today it's a major media house with market-leading products both in paper and online. Much of that stems from its aggressive use of the web as a platform to drive its brand. When it launched a sports paper, for example, it set up pages for individual teams, where fans could check stats, discuss strategies and even watch video files of their heroes' goals. Likewise, after developing full-fledged supplements in print, it then launched them as mini-sites within the Aftonbladet online umbrella. The media house also has several digital TV channels, drawing on content from its sites and new material as well. As he had in Thursday's panel on the September 11 attacks, Jungkvist stressed that for him the great power of the web lies in deep content, so the site has invested heavily in investigative pieces and complex stories. Contrary to the 350-word-max maxims so often invoked by online editorial experts, he commonly posts stories up to 6 pages long and people read them. In general, he said that his reporters and editors must think in terms of internet-adapted journalism. "It's an issue of mentality," the editor explained. "They have to be always thinking about how they can use interactivity, graphics, video and audio to give the stories more depth." Despite its success, Aftonbladet is not coasting along these days. For one thing, it must come to terms with the role of being market leader. And as hard times roil the Swedish economy some cutbacks have been inevitable. "We had a service that allowed people to check the value of any house, and it was popular but no advertiser would sponsor it, so we cut it back," he explained. "Our main issue is getting the money to keep buying video clips of sports highlights, because losing them would be a real setback." Jungkvist handily won the informal audience award for best video clips. The first was a brief clip of the Swedish minister of Justice, shortly before resigning as a result of an Aftonbladet investigation, screaming into a TV camera, then slamming her door as a reporter tried to ask a question. The second was an ad run by the sports magazine, in which a father discovers his wife's sex toy, looks at it with surprise and walks into the living room holding it. As she recoils in horror and children play at her feet, he asks, "Why do you have a relay baton in your purse?" The tagline: "Just like you, we have only sports on the mind." |
| Resources: Sam Vaknin eloquently describes the Seamless Internet and points to an interesting company Enfish that offers a single graphical interface to information on the personal computer and the internet (the heralded versatility is somewhat tainted as it stops at Microsoft and Internet Explorer. And Richmond Castle should not be the only entrance into the content world, should it now?). Intriguing flash demo gives a good idea of the concept. A small step in a vast uncharted territory: interfacing pervasive content while dealing simultaneously with rights, pricing and personalization issues - this is a gorgeous challenge. (From Netwanderings). Standards None of this will come to pass, without standards that allow for portability of content while maintaining integrity and copyright. TheMoving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) is working now on specifications of MPEG-21, a standard that should include provisions to that end.The open group had enormous influence through MPEG 1/2/4 and 7. For an easy to grasp Powerpoint Presentation visit this ITU page. |
The big ISPs are doors to content in many respects: they can leverage huge numbers of access customers, they are in a great position to provide or enable billing and they are gatekeepers to the efforts of many content providers. By their growingly international reach they are also in a unique position to share localization challenges. Meet key exponents.
Abstract:
Birger Steen: European Internet users are not averse to paying for content. In fact, they love it so much they did it to the tune of SEK 2.3 billion, only in Sweden, last year, indicating a Europe-wide content market in excess of EUR 5 billion. The problem? They are paying the wrong guy, a phenomenon referred to by economists as an "externality". This particular externality will, if left unchecked, lead to the implosion or privatization of cyberspace, leaving consumers, publishers, service producers - but also ISPs and network operators - far worse off than at the present.
Downloads:
011109_Swedish_pie_bs.ppt by Birger Steen / 721kB
OBP for the ipClient by Rafael Bonnelly / 3317kB
| Session Report: Steen set out to debunk the single most-repeated truism in online publishing: "Nobody pays for content." In fact, he said, "It's not that people won't pay for content, it's just that they're used to paying the wrong guy." Specifically, ISPs and telcos, who in Europe make money every minute a user is dialled-up. Analyzing last year's figures for Sweden, Steen showed that of 2.7 billion Swedish Kronar (_ 280 million) paid by the users for Internet usage, 2,3 billion Swedish Kronar (_ 240 million) was paid to telcos. ISPs got the balance of the fees; content providers got nothing. Thus, once one calculates in ISPs and telcos, the Swedish content industry showed a healthy _ 60 million profit, despite the bloodletting taken by companies such as Spray (_ 21 million losses), Steen's own SOL (_ 16 milllion losses) and Telia (_ 11 million losses). Looking toward the future, Steen saw four possibilities: 1) Radically diminished content creation as content providers go bankrupt; 2) Content providers being integrated into the ISPs, as with AOL or MSN; 3) content suddenly getting more advertising and direct revenue (yeah, right); 4) revenue sharing between telcos, ISPs and content sites. "Content providers must ensure that they get compensated for the economic value they create," Steen intoned, then set out to propose how. In the cable TV and telephone industries, automated mechanisms distribute usage fees among the various companies involved in any customer transaction. The online content industry could work similarly, perhaps along the ASCAP copyright system used in the music industry. Unfortunately, as a virtual monopoly, telcos have little incentive to share the pie. The radical solution would be what Steen called the Karl Marx approach: "Post a black screen to any user dialing via a telco that doesn't share revenues, explain the situation and provide a button that says, ‘Click here to email your telco's chairman.'" Perhaps less painful tactics will work; perhaps not. Though he agreed in principle with Steen's vision, Rafael Bonnelly of Terra Lycos outlined his company's OBP model for getting money directly from users. Each content offering, he proposed, needed to have an Open (free), Basic and Premium mode. With a music channel for instance, this would mean that for a concert anyone could get an article, photos, and audio downloads. The Basic pay package could include interviews with the artist, a discounted CD offer and a concert review. The Premium package would offer a discounted VIP ticket offer and a streaming version of the concert. "The message for content providers is that it won't work if you're just going for incremental dollars," Bonnelly said. "We have to offer more products and services, with deeper functionalities." As an example, Bonnelly described Matchmaker, an online dating service that's generating $1.15 million a month in subscription revenues at $20 per customer. For every 100 people who start the free trial membership, 8 percent convert into paying customers, for an average period of three months. He predicted that one old tactic won't be making any more money for Lycos or other ISPs: content providers paying for access to customers through the ISP's portal. "We tried to flip the revenue flow around and instead of paying for content, we got paid by other sites for access to our ISP customers," Bonnelly recalls. "Unfortunately, what happened was that all our content providers started going bust." |
Since the first conference micropayments have been hailed the saviours of valuable content. But alas, almost a decade has passed and nothing has happened. We seem to be no closer to valid models as before. Or are we? A look at work arounds, prevailing initiatives and their immediate impact on content strategies. As Autoscout 24 has been charging users for upgraded classifieds since last November, we can expect an analysis of existing payment systems, an account of user behavior and reactions and as well the arguments for the strategy within the next 12 months.
Abstract:
- What is AutoScout24
- How do we make money?
- How did we choose a system for online payment?
- What is our perspectve for the future?
| Session Report: Autoscout is the first major content site in Germany to charge users. As a member of the Scout24 family they were founded in 1998 as MasterCar AG and now have 200 employees distributed in 10 European countries. They boast 500,000 cars in the database, 9,500 dealer customers, more than 16 million car searches per month and 45,000 cars sold per month. Their main revenue streams come from classifieds and also e-commerce (car accessories, etc.) and online advertising, with new revenue streams planned to come from e-solutions and online research. A year ago its first trial for payment by consumers was started, in hopes of cashing in on the active site traffic. Initial ideas included charging for car test articles, per search for cars, or for adding cars into the database. These were all dismissed, either because competitors offered the service for free or because it risked cutting into the database's crucial user numbers. But since experience had shown that it is a huge advantage in selling the car when a picture is inserted (about 400% more clicks), the payment trial involved privates paying _ 5 for inserting a photo with the car classifieds. The conversion rate from free to paid photo posting was a very high 32.3 percent. After one year there is a high user acceptance, significant revenue (_ 50,000-60,000 per month and projected to increase) and a significant jump in the quality of private pictures, raising the overall attractiveness of the site. Interestingly, although Autoscout's partner site Bikescout decided to begin with charging _ 10 per picture, it made no difference in the conversion numbers. Choosing a payment system was complex, since Autoscout wanted something that required no download or phone-company billing, could be done online and was technologically easy to implement. In the end it was completely outsourced to Firstgate, a payment solutions provider located in Germany. "In the future we might offer another payment option besides Firstgate," Schmid says. "But not five or six, so customers don't waste time trying to figure out which is best." In general, the payment system has worked well. However, some problems remain, especially since many German users are still afraid of submitting personal data via the Internet, sending cash or postage stamps by mail instead. And there is still some acceptance problem among the net-should-be-free crowd. "But we all know what it costs to maintain such a database, and it's not free," said Schmid. "Ideally, all our competitors would start charging, too. That would make our lives easier." |
| Resources: At this stage we are still waiting for a cross evaluation of the various payment options. A long standing US contender in the digital content space is Clickshare In Germany mobile phone based Paybox has received a lot of attention. But there are dozens of other players: so, as a content provider, who should you work with? |
At the beginning of each great film was a script. Text is the key means of description and retrieval in the content industry. Even if it is a movie that ends up playing on your phone. The semantic web is a web of words. So maybe the kind of questions people ask on the search engines are the ones that content producers should answer? What do structures of questions tell us beyond the topical? How can we use this knowledge to make our content better accessible in the first place?
Abstract:
Theses:
1. Searching is telling and behaviour, is trying to find a key at all.
2. The extension of the web is frightening.
3. Understanding search as a specific communicative process of individuals is the key to contemporary and future information architecture.
4. Information architecture must be adaptive, dynamic, narrative.
5. We need magic technologies.
Downloads:
vortrag_311001_2.pdf / 243kB
| Session Report: Search engines are everybody's tool to navigate the internet, yet few pause to think about the search engines themselves, much less how to design their web sites within the context of users arriving straight from a search engine-generated links page. To better understand how average users hunt down links, Krueger suggested consulting Google, which analyzes search terms submitted by users and publishes them on the Google Zeitgeist page. Though many different sites rate the top search terms entered, that's less useful than it might seem, since many words are not meaning-specific (such as "java": the island, the drink or the programming language?). Often terms are entered by mistake (such as "yahoo" or "hotmail"), showing up misunderstandings in how the interface works. Still, analysis of these keywords helps you understand how users seek information online and the sad fact is that it's often a distressingly misguided or unsystematic process. Though not well-documented, the process of information-gathering in the internet is complex. The major problem is the magnitude of the Internet. Today the internet is already the largest collection of information in the history of mankind. The "surface" of the web (the index or home pages) is approximately 19 Terabytes, of which only 16% is covered by the search engines. The "deep web" is approximately 7,500 Terabytes and it is growing at a rate of 7.5 million new documents per day. Different efforts attempt to make life easier at different stages of searching. For example Google automatically offers corrections on common user misspellings. The new Mozilla browser allows users to store their search results. And Oingo asks users to specify which "java," "breast" or "match" exactly they mean before proceeding. Few search engines have tackled the deep web, but one interesting attempt is grub.org, an open source collaborative-computing project. As a final note, Krueger reminded the audience that web designers should remember that they are building content for people coming from a search page, and do everything possible to keep them from clicking on the "back" button. |
| Resources: An updated version of a white paper by BrightPlanet describes the vastness of the "Deep Web". Gunnar provided these additional links: commented keyword list at Lycos. The insightful Zeitgeist page with Google. A scientific paper (in German only) on search behavior and search pattern. The dedicated people from the Canadian Search Engine Watch, an online magazine. Free Newsletter on top 500 keyword and - fee based - additional analysis. Christoph Hölscher's article on search engines. And a paper regarding knowledge organization (in German). |
Abstract:
at least 5 projects will be presented whcih you will find under http://www.artcom.de/projects
on cd rom will be presented:
kidai shoran ISBN 3-88375-466-8
| Session Report: Sauter, a Berlin-based designer, presented several different location-based interfaces, showing a broad and unusual variety of interaction possibilities. The first project, Time Traveller, demonstrated an effort to show how Berlin evolved using old photos and films. The interface resembles adjustable time-travel binoculars, where the user can choose a location and then watch it change seamlessly when the time-slider interface is used. Time is also the focus of the Talmud project in Berlin's new Jewish Museum. To evoke how each part of any given page of a Talmud text was written at a different time, including commentaries, they proposed an interface in which users would pull a tome-like object from waist- to face-height along a vertical axis, with the words flowing "onto" the page from an overhead projector. But the final project is a little more lyrical: museum visitors get a sense of how the oral history of the Talmud was recorded over time, as each part of the page comes into view chronologically when the page is blown upon. In another Art + Com project, The East Asia Museum in Berlin asked the group to digitalize a 12 meter scroll, which is too large to display but contains valuable drawings and writings. Now on a CD ROM, the scroll can be explored, examined and learned from. Navigation provides different types of intuitive interactions with the scroll, including panning horizontally, zooming and jumping straight to different parts of the scroll using a search engine. For those seeking a narrative, different guided tours can be taken, with the myriad objects and scenes explained. In a very different realm, Mercedes commissioned a virtual car tour that was modeled 1:1 and would allow potential customers to customize and then examine their virtual car. The result was a suspended screen interface which could be moved around, or even into the virtual car, at each instant displaying what the buyer would be seeing if a real car were there. Interaction allowed configuration of the model, based on the original engineering CAD drawings, and immediate inspection of the changes. When the customer is happy with the configuration, a catalog is produced immediately, then personalized with the user's name and details of the specified car. Additionally, a CD-rom with the customized car is sent home to the buyer within a week. Again, as much of this is visual, and quite astoundingly cool, we encourage you to check out: http://www.artcom.de/projects |
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