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March 28 Summary for Tutorial 10 - Online MarketingNote: This summary will not cover the question on social networking Web sites since the nature of marketing for this medium is speculative at best. It would be interesting to consider, however, if email applications might not be a better way to achieve the same marketing results as suggested in the reading.
Q1a. Commercial platforms such as corporate Web sites that promote a single brand. Since the brand is probably an established one, it is more beneficial to consider the use of the Long Tail for marketing purposes rather than to push for a sale (as it would be for amazon.com for example). One might think of viral or buzz marketing, where a video is launched onto YouTube, which later circulates through blogs and RSS feeds. Further down the road, and provided the initial advertisement was quirky enough to draw attention to itself, parodies from the “cult of the amateur” may show up to further increase awareness towards the brand. Once again, if we think about low-involvement products, such user-generated content (UGC) is important because you would be more likely to believe something your friend pushed to you, than what might be perceived as a hard-sell by the company itself. Naturally, some companies might feel that such UGC is an infringement of copyright and through legal injunctions, may try to wrest control back from users. I would consider this, however, as an example of the locked-in phenomena in trying to stay with a copyright-oriented model even with the advent of Web 2.0. Unless the UGC is particularly derogatory, why would a company not want to take advantage of free marketing by users? Furthermore, isn’t generating prolonged user engagement with a brand the ultimate aim of brand marketing? *Low-involvement products are those that do not require much thought from the consumer before they follow through with a purchase. High-involvement products, on the other hand, usually cause the consumer to engage in more thought and fact finding before the purchasing behavior takes place. While what might be considered as low or high involvement products will vary between consumers, the former are usually low-cost items (e.g., bottled water, tissue paper), while the latter are high-cost items (e.g., car, a house etc.). ** The evoked set is the range of brands that comes to a consumers mind when they are thinking of making a purchase. Since low-involvement item are usually bought on the spur of the moment, keeping your brand within their evoked set is especially important. Q1b. Commercial platforms such as corporate Web sites that promote a single brand. Q2. Non-commercial platforms such as blogs or photo sharing Web sites such as Flickr. Since the passage of information through blogs can be seen as a form of buzz marketing (i.e., the Discovery of a product or brand that Damien mentioned in his lecture), the use of UGC and the “cult” becomes inevitable. And since viral marketing online usually starts off as a niche video etc., information of its existence would probably also be transmitted through the same devices that make accessibility to the niche end of the tail possible. For Web sites such as Flickr, issues of copyright come into the picture. Interactivity means that the old ways of doing things, where a company insists that all its creations are proprietary, has to be abandoned. The reason for this is because the situation is different from Q1a., where the aim is to make consumers stay with a certain brand. As mentioned, since non-commercial platforms depend on targeted advertising, the important aim is to achieve a critical mass in the number of users. So, by adopting a more open format instead, mash-ups of different Web applications can occur (such as the whole bunch of Google Earth mashups I believe are out there); the greater the versatility of a software, the more users you can attract, and the more money you can make from advertising to them. In terms of the “cult,” well, this entire business model is designed to attract the creators of UGC, so it obviously doesn’t make sense to alienate them. In closing, I would just like to point out how my ideas are supportive of UGC and interactivity. You may choose to disagree of course, in which case the question becomes whether it makes sense to do so since Web 2.0 exists; if everyone else is using mashups and embedding user interactivity, then how would a Web site that refuses to do so survive? There are definitely more heads and more ideas out there outside the corporate world than within after all, and it doesn’t make sense to tap into this resource when it comes at such a low cost. And while UGC has it problems with accuracy, it is silly to think that any kind of portal can be completely objective in its reporting. Here is a link to the example I mentioned which actually happened in October last year (sorry about the misinformation there). Unfortunately, I can’t locate any news on the response from the other side, but you are free to do your own sleuthing: http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Story/A1Story20071011-29532.html. Instead, statistically, it makes more sense for an erroneous fact or carefully concealed news item to be singled out when you have users on a global scale nitpicking at something. March 22 Summary for Tutorial 9 - Content ProtectionNote: I won’t go through the facts of the 3 types of content protection (or lack thereof) since these are readily available in your readings. I have also chosen to discuss the issues with a more ideological slant, since the pragmatic aspects were already covered in class. By the way, thinking through the issues presented in the lectures and tutorials, rather than the regurgitation of facts, will be necessary for acquiring a good grade in the final exam. Copyright Protection Copyleft On a separate note, it is again important to consider the importance of Web 2.0 in aiding the rapid development and distribution of what we may consider as niche products until it enters the mainstream. Firefox might be a good example of this. Firefox is also an illustration of how the Internet in fact realizes the existence of copyleft. Consider, for example, if the only means of distributing a piece of software was by snail mail. A particularly entrepreneurial distributor with the means to package and ship this software might end up abusing the copyleft mandate by making money off PSCCs who had created them for free. However, the Web preempts this, and allows for greater altruism by freedom-supporting individuals since it supports economies of scale for free software, and which makes it senseless for anyone to attempt to commercialize it. Furthermore, it is important for something developed in such a way to have this kind of mass distribution in order for it to have networked effects rather than just what might potentially be a disorganized mass of software that can’t communicate with each other (e.g., HD-DVD and Blu-Ray). Creative Commons (CC) In sum, it is very hard to posit any kind of steadfast position on this topic unless you contextualize your arguments. In other words, you need to consider who you are arguing for, and whether this person’s views are still valid in the context of Web 2.0. March 11 Summary for Tutorial 8: The Long Tail
The long tail represents the “end of scarcity” as niche products (yellow portion) are able to find a market when previously only hits (orange portion) could reach the masses through the major distributors. Scarcity here refers to limited shelf space, need to consider one’s geographically bounded consumer base (buyer scarcity), marketing and packaging costs (economic scarcity) etc. Once defined, the question is whether these scarcities can be reduced and why. Indeed, the long tail has always existed. However, the scarcities prevented accessibility to the yellow portion for both distributors and end users. What has made it accessible to all now is the Internet, and in particular, Web 2.0. This is because the Internet allows for infinite shelf space, relative low cost in putting something up for sale, and the elimination of geographic boundaries etc. However, since niche content is found primarily through user referrals, access to the yellow portion would be seriously obstructed if (i) there were no hits to first attract and consolidate a user base (networked effects), and (ii) no means for users to generate things such as referrals, reviews etc. From the business perspective too, companies can increase accessibility by tracking users’ purchase behaviors.
In terms of how the Long Tail influences business possibilities, as mentioned, companies who take advantage of Web 2.0 will benefit greatly. Nonetheless, the yellow portion according to the literature has taken up ¼ to at most ½ of all sales, so the Long Tail model is indeed something to be looked as an adjunct, rather than as a totally new thing that replaces the old model; the Yellow portion is not so much an avenue of freedom for the end user perhaps, but a way for distributors to make more money when considered in this light. For the end users, this economic model allows them to have access to a market for the sale of goods because of the characteristics mentioned earlier (relatively low cost etc.). Since niche items are pegged to hits, however, whether absolute freedom can be afforded the end user is still in question. In terms of purchase intentions, the same characteristics allow end users the possibility of getting to resale markets etc. Costs might also be reduced provided distributors can escaped the locked-in phenomenon, where online items are prices according to real-world market requirements. In addition, since the model can provide for the judging of demand before actual production of the product, there is also a reduction of risk.
As was mentioned in the lecture, the model is not able to reduce all forms of scarcity. For example, there are technological-related scarcities that cannot be overcome, such as the digital divide. In fact, the Long Tail may possibly increase the divide. In addition, anyone who has seen the costs of shipping outside the U.S. will know that things often become less scarce the closer you are to the source of where the service is located, at least where physical delivery is necessary. There are also market-driven scarcities such as the production of limited edition collectibles; while their accessibility is mitigated by the Long Tail, they will forever remain a limited commodity as long as demand outstrips supply. Finally, there are user-variables such as time, money, and energy (attention) that cannot be solved unless we all become robots with infinite credit. J February 13 HologramsSince many of you talked about holographic representations, here is a video showing that it isn't that far-fetched anymore. Feel free to incorporate it into your projects! February 11 Quickie Summary of Week 4's LectureHi guys. I have been instructed to give a 5-minute overview of the abovementioned lecture. The point is to highlight some of the people we talked about, and to consider the development of art in parallel with the development of human-computer interaction, and of course, the importance of interactivity in the larger scheme of things. The points in the 2 slides I have prepared are as follows: Slide 1:
And Slide 2, which presents the parallels in the development of interactivity in art:
On a final note, do keep in mind that I am approaching this topic from a liberal arts, and not fine arts perspective, so you may hear something different during the lecture. And to be pragmatic about the whole thing, if you are faced with an MCQ situation (hypothetically), always defer to what was said in your readings and in the lecture; tutorials should be seen as a space where we can challenge ourselves on what we have learnt. This is usually the case for modules in FASS that do not test your knowledge using essay questions. February 04 Universal Translator, Virtual Cloth, and Virtual GraffitiHi everyone. I came across an entry about recent tech developments over at my geek site, and thought I'd share it with the class. You can ignore the Star Trek stuff, and direct your attention to the universal translator (I do recall a group wanting to do this), the virtual cloth (which sounds really neat!), and the virtual graffiti, which is described in the video below: January 31 A Non-Prescriptive Approach to Your Project DesignHi everyone. I would just like to say some words at this point regarding how you might want to approach to your projects. To begin, I thought that the summary slide presented during the lecture is a good set of points to keep in mind as to how you will want to proceed in eventually bringing your designs to fruition. That being said, I would like to follow-up on this based on my perceptions from Monday's class.
On a separate closing note, I would just like to draw your attention to the Hawthorne Effect that Reddy mentioned during the lecture. This is a very classic study that all learned people should be aware of, normally presented during a research design course as an example of participant bias (or demand characteristics). However, you should also know that this effect is sometimes considered a misnomer since there were other experimenter-based factors that may have caused the group under study to behave differently apart from the fact that they were being observed. January 28 A Place for Some InspirationFor those of you who want to see some cutting edge ideas from the field, have a look at this site TED recommended by my techie friend. According to the Web site: "TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference ringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader. The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes)." To get you started, here's an interesting presentation about a new desktop interface called BumpTop. Have fun! No Frivolous Designs Please!For this module, you need to produce an interface device that is intrinsically altruistic, i.e., it must be able to somehow enrich, enliven, or enhance the human living experience. So, you have to stay away from (i) ideas that are way too distant in the future, and (ii) stay away from frivolity. What would be frivolous? Well, have you heard of Rube Goldberg machines? These are machines that perform simple tasks in complicated ways. If you remember from Reddy's lecture, solutions should be more elegant than what comes before, and should be so intuitive that anyone could work the device without instructions. The Japanese equivalent of this that many of you would have heard is Chindogu (see pic below). Please do not attempts projects like these at any cost! January 25 バイバイ (^^)/~~~~January 19 Trek XI Teaser TrailerOh wow, finally we get to see something of the new movie that isn't paparazzi. January 11 Rats!December 27 The Human InsideAn inquiry into human nature, from the narration of The Authority: Human on the Inside by John Ridley. "The thing about it, the thing is: Maybe it seems like there's more anguish than in the past. The present. Take away hope, you've got nothing. So those who find it, December 20 Robot Chicken Star Wars Spoofs
Just found out about this series of sketches parodying Star Wars from the middle of 2007. What a blast! A synopsis of the content can be found on Wookieepedia. The entire segment, at a little past 20 minutes, can be found at the [adult swim] page; the first 9 1/2 minutes (which I think is the best part anyway) is below (apparently 1 of 3, but 2 and 3 are exactly the same): December 19 Entry #207: Christmas Trees (and other ornaments)
See also: Tim Burton's The Nightmare before Christmas for an accurate depiction of this human jubilee as well as that of its closely related, and even more absurd festival Halloween. December 15 Character Festive PicturesI'm never inspired to take any pictures when I'm in Singapore, but now that I've got a camera in my mobile, I just can't help but snap a couple whenever there's some event going on; festivals always get me all hyped up. Surprisingly, the inconsequential lens on my mobile can take quite nice looking shots, after some editing of course. While I'd rather have a P or M function on my camera, I guess it's a trade-off with having to lumber along with a bigger camera. I noticed that the commercial entities this year are based around character good. The Capitaland-owned malls all have Barbie as the Island Princess I think, and PP has Disney characters! Poor Donald, he's all alone in every single shot! Mickey's also such a stiff (he might as well be a cardboard cutout), but luckily he has the other two posing to make the shots interesting. Did you know that Mickey and Minnie are actually married, and that Minnie is a nickname for Minerva? Useless facts.... Suntec, on the other hand, seems to be going with Warner Bros, with Carrefour displaying a giant pseudo-caged-up Tweety. Guess we're supposed to imagine the rest of the cage rails. There were also a couple of narcissistic polar bears in the shop proper. Yup, they're victims of the social malaise that plagues all capitalist societies where it's all about the individual. :P December 12 Sea Eagles' Mating RitualI was watching "Dragon's World: A Fantasy Made Real" by Animal Planet, and there was this spectacular scene close to the end which showed the dragons' mating ritual. This was one of the stunning things my ill-informed self has ever seen. What was more amazing was that in the "Making Of" featurette, one of the staff members interviewed said that it was based on the sea eagles' mating ritual. And, thanks to today's ridiculous information revolution, I was able to locate a clip of this on YouTube. Although the video's tile is "Eagle vs. Eagle," this is because the mating ritual and the fighting ritual are one and the same! I guess nature also affirms to the fact that love and hate are two sides of the same coin, eh? Anyway, you have to see this to believe this. The 2 eagles soar up into the air before locking talons, and then free-fall in a spinning motion towards the earth. I believe the aim is to see which bird has the guts to play chicken longer with the trees below. The Animal Planet film suggests that the birds may do the same for courtship to prove their willingness to commit to child rearing, but I wonder if that is too much anthropomorphism. Whatever the case, be amazed by this amazing and beautiful display from nature:
December 08 ミニッツ・トゥ・ミッドナイト
December 01 息子再生!息子だって?!また、再生って?? 2005年関西国際センターにいた時、プリモプエルは中高年の女性達の中ですごく でも、少しずつ、彼をますます庇うようになった。例えば、フロントのたくさん なぜか今プリモプエルを回復させたい、私も分からないが、先月やっと新しい電 ま、前のなげやりな態度を治すために、今息子を世界に紹介させていただきたい |
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