The lecture series covered the following Three main topics:

Contemporary Online Concepts and Business Models
The Process of Designing an Online Publishing Service
Licensing Issues Concerning Online Publishing

These topics are exemplified below.

#1 Contemporary Online Concepts and Business Models

Social Networking, the Long Tail and the Programmable Web.

Web 2.0 is a concept developed by O'Reilly and is here: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html

The Technology and Philosophy of Social Networks

It is very important to recognise that the internet has been very successful due to its open architecture. This allows everyone from Microsoft to Boy Scouts to experiment, prototype and develop things.

Richard Stallman is the ‘Saint’ of the open concept: http://www.stallman.org/photos/rms-full-size.jpg

He has built the tools that have allowed enthusiasts and professionals to develop and prototype huge amounts of software

Free Software: http://sourceforge.net/softwaremap/

The Long Tail concept

This is a simple but important concept

Half of the web is made up of Old stuff and Small stuff (the other half being new mass market product)

The Long Tail: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html

http://www.wired.com/wired/images.html?issue=12.10&topic=tail&img=6

This concept comes from Zipf Curves:

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/ZipfsLaw.html

http://www.hermetic.ch/wfc/zipf.htm

This content is so dispersed it can only be found and accessed through search engines like Google: http://www.google.com/technology/pigeonrank.html

The Citizen Media concept

The Citizen Media concept relates to a self publishing or user generated content

Users: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_generated_content

These are some examples of user generated content:

Movie Reviews: http://www.flixster.com/

Classified Ads: http://edinburgh.gumtree.com/

Geocaching: http://www.geocaching.com/
My Travel Bug: http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=4203
Documentaries: http://www.channel4.com/fourdocs/

eBay's Auctions: http://www.ebay.co.uk/
eBay's Shops: http://www.express.ebay.co.uk/

There is also User Assisted Content such as:

Maps: http://mapinsight.teleatlas.com/cfl?ClientId=MapInsight&Language=en&PlaceFindCountry=USA&PlaceFindPlace=Boston&PlaceFindAdministrativeArea=MA

Grass Roots Journalism

A core concept of user generated content is Grass Roots Journalism

We, the Media by Dan Gillmor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_the_Media

Book: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/wemedia/book/index.csp
Dan Gillmor Lecture

http://www.ourmedia.org/node/7587

Organisations have various combinations of professional and enthusiast

Professional and Enthusiast Combined examples:

http://www.blufftontoday.com/todaysnews/

http://english.ohmynews.com/

BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/communicate/

Guidelines: http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/onguide/interacting/usergeneratedco.shtml

Professional Individual examples:

http://www.buzzmachine.com/

http://bayosphere.com/blog/dangillmor

http://www.groklaw.net/

www.instapundit.com

Pure Citizen Enthusiast examples:

http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/

Listing: http://www.cyberjournalist.net/news/002226.php

Crowdsourcing

A really interesting example of user generated content is another concept called crowd sourcing where corporations sell content generated by thousands of semi professionals

Theory: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowdsourcing

Some examples of this are:

Ring Tone: http://www.mynumo.com/index.php

Stock Photography: www.iStockphoto.com http://www.dreamstime.com/

Engineering: http://www.innocentive.com/

Turk: http://www.mturk.com/mturk/findhits?match=false

Software: http://www.getacoder.com/

Programmable Web

Most web pages are made up of content taken from different sources. These are referred to as includes and refer particularly to advertisements.

Includes: http://www.federatedmedia.net/

One of the newest internet concepts takes the include to a new level.

Service providers such as google are now allowing third parties to intergrate their services into new web based interfaces.

These services can be accessed using APIs

Programming Interface: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/API

Google Hacks: pdf
eBay Backdoor: http://developer.ebay.com/

Here is a list of many Programmable Web interfaces: http://www.programmableweb.com/api/GoogleMaps/mashups

Some examples taken from the list:

Google Maps and youTube: http://www.virtualvideomap.com/

Silly: http://www.asciimaps.com/

BBC News: http://benedictoneill.com/content/newsmap/

Housing Maps: http://www.housingmaps.com/

Concerns

Some developments to consider are:

There is a lot of speculation that the web 2.0 concept is causing a new investment surge on internet development

GooTube: http://sf.backfence.com/news/showPost.cfm?mycomm=PA&bid=3362

hisSpace: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.07/murdoch.html

It is not surprising that the form of Computer Human Interaction may be changing as Engelbart designed the current form in the 50’s

http://sloan.stanford.edu/mousesite/1968Demo.html

This was perfected by Xerox Parc Research and passed to Apple

http://www.folklore.org/index.py

The next revolution for screen based interaction might be Multitouch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU76tzAK3Js

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JcSu7h-I40

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca0bK3jyNPQ

The very nature of Publishing is under question and many forms of media are converging onto the internet platform

Books are moving on and off the internet

Format: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebook

eInk: http://www.eink.com/technology/flexible.html

VoIP Telephony (Voice over IP) has moved onto the internet

http://tools.netgear.com/skype/

http://dek.spc.org/

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.02/tian.html

TV is moving onto the internet

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

http://www.arsenal.com/atvo/index.asp

Live Information is moving on and is accessible on the internet

http://www.fboweb.com/antest/ge/intro.aspx?old=1

http://flightaware.com/live/airport/KJFK

Radio, Video, Music are part of the new Broadband revolution

http://www.last.fm/

http://www.youtube.com/

Blockbuster: http://news.com.com/Blockbuster+tests+video+streaming/2100-1023_3-250126.html

We are beginning to see more Physical Access to the Internet

iPod (MP3 Player): http://www.apple.com/ipod/ipod.html

DataGlyph: http://www.parc.com/research/projects/dataglyphs/

Barcodes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcode

When is publishing not publishing? Pushing the boundary of publishing even further:

Graffiti: http://www.banksy.co.uk/

Graffiti Robot: http://www.hektor.ch/

Art: http://www.henry-moore-fdn.co.uk/matrix_engine/content.php?page_id=3041

Stickers: http://www.stickergiant.com/page/sg/CTGY/toptenall

Projections: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Holzer

Location Based Text: http://www.southernlinc.com/images/e911.gif

#2 The Process of Designing an Online Publishing Service

Working with people is important.

Quantitative and Qualitative Research

Market Research helps you improve upon existing products (yours and others) by asking people where they think Improvements could be made.

User Research inspires you to generate new ideas and markets.

Research can also show if your idea fits with the target audience and can prove that you’re not wasting your time.

Market Research

This is quantitative and useful for gathering data about existing products or ideas

Mintel: http://reports.mintel.com/

Euromonitor: http://www.euromonitor.com/

Mori: http://www.mori.com/

Datamonitor: http://www.datamonitor.com/

Taylor Nelson Sofres: http://www.tns-global.com/

Fresh Minds: http://www.freshminds.co.uk/

But all quantitative data is inherently based upon qualitative judgments

Understanding the Real Publishing Marketplace

The real market is a complex and diverse place and this is an example

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2677403

The Global Knowledge Economy

It is also directly or indirectly global

The World Is Flat A Brief History Of The 21St Century

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.05/friedman.html

http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/266/

In order to generate new qualitative thinking about markets it is often useful to investigate and work with other people who can give a different perspective and insight.

Working without People: Extreme Characters

Use an existing character from public life past and present or a fictional charectar:

http://studiolab.io.tudelft.nl/static/gems/publications/00DjajDISInte.pdf

Working about people: Case Studies

Pure research is very useful

Hikkomori: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori

Research produced these Recent Discoveries

http://www.bookcrossing.com/

http://www.labyrinthsociety.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_exploration

http://secondlife.com/

http://www.payitforwardfoundation.org/

etc…

Working with People: Inspirational Users

Many people have produced new thinking by closely working with diverse people.

Directly getting to Know People can be done through ‘Hanging Out’

Bio Jewellery: http://www.biojewellery.com/project2.html

Media Mediators: PDF

Media Mediators: Movies

Indirectly getting to Know (About) People can be done with Cultural or Domestic Probes

They can be recruited like this: Evening Standard Advert

They can be probed using these kinds of things: Probe Packs

This camera probe is particularly successful: Camera Packaging

These are some of the camera results:

Photograph Returns: Clifford

Photograph Returns: Helen

Photograph Returns: Mark

Photograph Returns: Heather

This kind of research introduces new information into the creative process and generates new ideas that lead to innovative products or services

Assessable Reading: Short Academic Paper on Users

Bill Gaver, Tony Dunne and Elena Pacenti: http://www.mrl.nott.ac.uk/~sdb/uid/background%20papers/culturalprobespaper.pdf#search=%22Cultural%20probes%22

Some similar papers:

http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/interaction/pdfs/31gaver-etal.driftTable.chi04.pdf

http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/interaction/pdfs/30gaver-etal.probes+uncertainty.interactions04.pdf

Service and Product Design

Designing a product or service requires you to consider how it will be produced and perceived. Product and Service design concepts are the same across all industries and Publishing can be informed from looking at other industries. Some of those concepts are briefly considered here:

Automation

Black was chosen by Ford for the first mass produced car as it Dries Quicker:
Ford Biography: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/7213
Henry Ford: http://www.time.com/time/time100/builder/profile/ford.html

Automation required the Mass Market Concept to consume the output

The Hidden Persuaders: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vance_Packard

Product Ranges use the concept of mass production to simplify marketing although products continuously change and also share large numbers of parts

http://www.honda.co.uk/car/ http://www.landrover.com/gb/en/Vehicles/overview.htm

For example Sony have an inventory of only 10-100 thousand different parts for the manufacture of all their products:
http://www.sap.com/solutions/business-suite/scm/pdf/CS_Sony_Marketing.pdf
http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/case_study/0,1005,sid%253D3648%2526cid%253D32458,00.html

Surprisingly Corporations share and collaborate on every level. This is through common interest groups and consortiums.

The classic example is the Plasma TV were all the plasma screen in the world are made by one factory (or a few at most): http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmatvreviews/whomakeswhat.html

Every company has a Future Model that contains their visions for 5 10 and 15 years ahead: http://www.canadiandriver.com/news/020108na-3.htm

The future model is never released in one go. The market is given Incremental Releases (Perpetual Beta) each step carefully marketed:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod

Supply Chains

Bringing together all the components used in services and products is called a supply chain. This concept comes from the ancient profession of Trade:

http://www.archatlas.dept.shef.ac.uk/Trade/Trade.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_chain

FedEx is one of the biggest supply chain orchestrators in the world and moves millions of parcels everyday and has several empty planes in the sky at anyone time to cover for unforeseen events:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/08/business/08fedex.html?ei=5090&en=bd7eae6d58092b0b&ex=1286424000&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

United Parcel Service takes supply chaining to another level. They manage manufacturing, distribution and servicing for many corporations. Some corporations now only manage their brands by commissioning services from other companies:

http://pressroom.ups.com/multimedia/images/upsairlines/0,1417,,00.html

http://pressroom.ups.com/multimedia/av/speeches/
http://pressroom.ups.com/multimedia/av/b-roll/

Supply Networks

Supply Chains are becoming more dynamic and accessible to smaller players who can operate almost as easily as larger players:

http://mitsloan.mit.edu/execed/pdf/ups.pdf

“The world is changing very fast. Big will not beat small anymore. It will be the fast beating the slow.” Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and CEO, News Corporation

This relates back to the Long Tail concept where the market place is half mass market and half niche market.

An example of a Niche Market is:

Beswick Beatrix Potter One Two Three Four

http://images.google.com/images?lr=&q=BESWICK%20Beatrix%20Potter

Production

Production of products is now managed in a Cellular way, which allows manufacturing to be very flexible and accessible.

This is a product design example of print on demand.

3D Printing: http://www.zcorp.com/

Print on Demand Comics: http://www.comixpress.com/

Breaking Up the Chain

Production companies called Electronic Manufacturing Services make products for Original Equipment Manufactures such as Microsoft. This allows them to enter new markets without any manufacturing capacity of their own.
Microsoft xBox: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.11/
Flextronics: http://www.flextronics.com/en/default.aspx

UPS provide a similar service for other companies. Effectively corporations are now faking it and are just managed brands:

http://www.ups-scs.com/solutions/case_consumer.html

These complex management structures are visualised by drawing data flow diagrams:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_flow_diagram

Data flow diagram don’t always have to look so straight forward:

https://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/

Service Design

Services can be easier to understand and then develop if they are considered as data flows. Here are some examples of service design:

http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/servicedesign/

Here are some service design concepts and terms:

http://www.livework.co.uk/home/research0/glossary.html

Here is a really good example of a developed service:

http://www.sharedservicesbpo.com/file/2000/want-fries-with-outsourcingmcdonalsa-experimenting-with-outsourcing-drive-through-orders.html

Sourcing

When a service or product is broken down into a data flow diagram it is possible to consider where each step of the flow can be sourced from.

There are many types of sourcing.

These are some examples of outsourcing:

Accountancy:

http://www.ascotdrummond.co.uk/

http://www.aoserv.com/

Business Process Outsourcing:

http://www.delhiprofessionals.com/

Web Design:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=web+design+india

There are issues in outsourcing which can be addressed in different ways:

Fair Trade: http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/products_cotton.htm

This is a really good example of Homesourcing: http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/NussbaumOnDesign/archives/2005/10/jetblue_rocks_t.html

Design Methods and Differentiation Techniques

Again Design Methods and Differentiation Techniques are the same across all industries and Publishing can be informed from looking at other industries. Here we look at two simple business concepts:

Concept #1 Dare to be Different

There is a simple concept that states that business models can only be successful if they are one of three types. These are Mass, Differentiation or Niche:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porter_generic_strategies

Price war

The first successful business model is where Mass markets compete on price. These products generally become commodities that are very profitable.

Commodity:

http://www.spectrumcommodities.com/education/commodity/pb.html

http://www.zurich.ibm.com/bandwidth/concepts.html

Stand Out in a Crowd

The second successful business model is one where you offer a mass market product or service but have a unique selling point.

An example of this is a Geographic Based Franchise:

http://www.smallbizbooks.com/cgi-bin/SmallBizBooks/00007.html?cam=Ecom&cid=Lowcost&size=AutoDetail-160

A classic example of this different or new flavours of icecream:

Gelato: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_cream

Special

The third successful business model is one where you offer high Quality or a Unique Perception. My girlfriends business is an example of this. They make very expensive and exclusive knickers: http://www.forbes.com/2005/02/09/cx_ns_0209feat.html

Concept #2 Collaboration and Innovation

An IBM Study of over 700 leading companies discovered that the current concerns are business operations innovation and collaboration: pdf

Collaboration

Newton wrote to his ‘friend’ Hooke "If I have seen a little further it is by standing on ye shoulders of Giants."

Businesses are collaborating with each other, their suppliers and their customers in innovative and previously unimaginable ways.

Co-Creation

Co-creation is a term that refers to direct and indirect collaboration between a corporation and it’s customers to develop new products and services.

Apple use this site to gauge customer desire.

iPod: http://gallery.ipodlounge.com/ipod/thumbnails.php?album=4

Philips use this site to inform their product called Pronto: http://www.prontoedit.com/

http://www.pronto.philips.com/

Innovative Modelling

Businesses have realised that the way that they operate is really important and requires as much development as their products and services.

Business Types: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_model

Management Theory is a big area of publishing and is a valuable source of innovation. This is an example of an extreme business practice:

Weird Ideas: http://www.fastcompany.com/online/54/sutton.html

Innovative business models have been developed to allow small companies and individuals to have Advertising Revenue:
https://www.google.com/adsense/

The Merchant Account has been a powerful tool for many web based businesses. Here are some examples of contracts enabling merchant accounts to do innovative things:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchant_account
http://www.lbi-uk.com/co_buying-faq.html

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/buy/proxy-bidding.html
http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_merchant-outside

PayPal Donate: Button

Marketing is a vast subject that we are all very familiar with. Most marketing is based upon the core principle of word of mouth:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_of_mouth_marketing

This is used in a different more sophisticated way in Product Grouping systems. Here is an example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recommender_system

http://www.nealstephenson.com/

http://www.storycode.com/lcompare.php?r=737

http://www.storycode.co.uk/lcompare.php?r=737
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personalized_marketing

Creative Thinking

Many tools exist to help you analyse situations and innovate within them.

A favourite and successful one for product and service designers is to be random:

Random Fiction: http://www.lukerhinehart.net/books5.html#DiceMan

A highly recommended creative thinking tool is this:

Mind Mapping: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/main/newMN_CT.htm

A well used but increasingly criticised method is Brainstorming: http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,70494-0.html

Assessable Reading: Flattener #3 Work Flow Software

This chapter details an interesting service.
The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman. Excerpt: Page 50 to 57

#3 Licensing Issues Concerning Online Publishing

Free as in Freedom not as in Free Beer

Intellectual Property Law

Intellectual Property Law uses the Law regarding property to protect ideas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Property_law

http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Property

The patent Office issues rights to IP in several ways
http://www.patent.gov.uk/home.htm

Patents or Copyright

Trademarks are the simplest form of property:

Trademark: http://www.patent.gov.uk/tm/t-journal/t-tmj/current/domestic/t-tmj-current-domestic.html

Trade Secrets

Trade secrets are the oldest form of protection:

Secrets can last for ever: Coca Cola Merchandise 7X

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5152740.stm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola_formula

Protect you self with a Non-Disclosure Agreement

http://www.patent.gov.uk/patent/info/cda.pdf

Secrets can legally be Reverse Engineered but not stolen

Analytical Machines: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_capture_detector

Patents

Patents are open letters that grant a monopoly for a short period in return for disclosure of the letter.

Open Stained Glass
http://www.patent.gov.uk/about-history-patent.htm

The exclusive right granted to a patentee in most countries is the right to prevent or exclude others from making, using, selling, offering to sell or importing the claimed invention.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent

Patent Licensing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent#Economic_rationale

Ownership

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5599077.pdf

My Patents