I've been reading both these threads and see a convergence of sorts.

First, if I have learned any lesson from my 23 years of tracking information 

technology and business is that there are few absolutes. Remember some of 
the discussions last year by some who said the Microsoft Network would blow 
away the existing online services? What's the latest: MSN, which is doing 
moderatly well, I guess, has abandoned Blackbird and is morphing into a Web 
network. Who wouldda guessed last August?

But I digress.

The wonderful thing about the current digital technology is . The 
incremental cost of distribution of any collection of content is so minimal 
that it can be repackaged into multiple services for various audiences.

One of the things research has shown about why people read newspapers is 
that there are multiple reasons. One is serendipity: surprise me when I open 

the paper. Another is for information seeking: how did my team do last night 

or what did my stocks close at? There are others.

Someday there may be very smart agents that can learn, heuristically, what 
types of "surprises" each individual tends to read when they browse through 
their electronic news"paper." But that level of sophistication is a decade, 
probably more, off. In the shorter term (which is the term of business 
plans) the "Daily Me" can be delivered to your e-mail box only to the extent 

that you can define just what type of material you want. If you define it 
narrowly, such as users of Individual's Heads-Up, you can get a very focused 

product. If it's defined broadly, then you're getting back to today's 
version of a newspaper.

As individuals, we often wear hats that need both. At work we can often 
describe what we want--don't bother me with the extraneous. When we go home, 

we (including the world beyond the special characteristics of those on this 
list) tend to be more passive: deliver a package to me.

How radically different should this package be from what it is today, even 
if digital? Incremental change generally works best. The pioneers are the 
ones with arrows in their backs. If an MTV-like program exploded onto 
television in 1950, I doubt it would have caught on with much of an still in 

a radio-with-pictures mode. The Web world gives us the advantage of many 
channels for experimentation. But the mainstream media are well advised, I 
believe, to keep their initial offerings in familiar cultural and content 
territory. The younger generation (I mean today's 10 year olds) will likely 
be the next wave to be ready for something less connected to the linear, 
text-based material we are used to. 

I've gone on as long as their forum warrants. My key points are: options, 
economic repackaging, and evolution of format.

Ben Compaine
Bell Atlantic Professor of Telecommunications
and Chairman, Center for Information Industry Research
School of Communications and Theater
Temple University
Voice: 215-204-6434
e-mail:bcompaine@gnn.com
************************************************
URL: http://astro.temple.edu/~ciir
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End of online-news-digest V1 #506
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From owner-online-news-digest@marketplace.com Wed Feb  7 02:15:03 1996
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