Digital Discourse / Archives for Aggregation

What Arthur C. Clarke Imagined: The Intersection of Technology and Content

December 12, 2012 By
Keith Cooper, CEO, Connotate, Inc.

Keith Cooper, CEO, Connotate, Inc.

Post by Keith Cooper, CEO, Connotate, Inc.

“Imagine a console in your office that will bring the accumulated knowledge of the world to your fingertips.” This is Arthur C. Clarke’s uncanny prediction, published in an April 1970 Popular Science article by Wernher Von Braun.1The prediction came true-and that console is your Web browser.

What Now?

As we approach the 2013 IIS Conference, much attention will be focused on the constantly evolving intersection of content and technology. As Clarke predicted, the world’s accumulated knowledge is indeed just keystrokes away, but the traditional business model has been to charge for content … and Web data is “free”. What now?

Timeliness-Aggregation-Validity.

If you want to profit from “free” Web content, you need to understand and leverage three salient characteristics of Web data identified by Dave Schubmehl, Research Manager at IDC.

  • Timeliness: If you can consistently capture and disseminate information about market-moving events faster than other content providers, you can charge a premium price. Automating Web site change detection into your workflow can enable this.
  • Aggregation: Leverage the Web’s volume of data. Aggregate and analyze this volume in unique ways to reveal patterns and trends. You can command a pretty penny if you can provide transparency into non-transparent markets, for example.
  • Validity: The Web is filled with spam and bias. Discover and leverage the difference between surface Web(content turned up by Google) and Deep Web (unindexed content) where content is less biased and more valuable, and you’ll uncover revenue potential.

As the CEO of Connotate, I work with established global leaders such as Thomson Reuters and the Associated Press, as well as up-and-coming startups such as Altitude Digital Partners-all of whom have fashioned their own techniques for harnessing Web data profitably by focusing on these three aforementioned characteristics. While I don’t own a crystal ball, I can easily predict that 2013 will reveal new and even more creative and profitable uses of “the world’s accumulated knowledge.”

Looking Ahead

I am constantly amazed at the genius of visionaries such as Arthur C. Clare, Tim Berners-Lee and many others who envisioned the extraordinary power of marrying content and technology to achieve breakthrough results. I anticipate IIS 2013 to be a great opportunity for exploring new and profitable ideas in content delivery.

1. Von Braun, Wernher. “TV Broadcast Satellite,” Popular Science, May 1970, pp. 65-66.

 

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SIIA Survey: Publishers Prioritizing Multiple Platforms as they Develop Content Distribution Strategies

March 20, 2012 By

SIIA’s Content Division today announced results from a survey that shows the challenges and opportunities content creators have in aligning their organizations to keep up with fast-evolving platforms.

Most of the 85 publishing executives surveyed said their companies are thinking about how to publish their content across multiple platforms.When respondents were asked to name the “high priority” platforms they plan to focus on during 2012, the answers were extremely varied.

According to the results of the SIIA Content Platforms survey:

• About 60 percent of respondents classify tablet publishing, mobile publishing and/or launching new web-based products as a high priority;
• Forty-two percent prioritize licensing and syndication; • Nineteen percent prioritize video;
• Business-to-business (B2B) companies tend to prioritize new web-based products slightly above mobile and tablet publishing, whereas business-to-consumer (B2C) companies prioritize tablet publishing above all else;
• B2B companies are twice as likely to prioritize licensing and syndication versus their B2C counterparts;
• 50 percent of director-level individuals prioritize tablet publishing, versus 69 percent of C- and VP-level managers and their manager-level counterparts;
• Only 25 percent of individuals in sales roles prioritize tablet publishing, versus 70 percent of their marketing counterparts;
• 75 percent of individuals in sales roles prioritize web-based publishing—the highest of any group—versus 50 percent of their marketing counterparts.

The content platforms on which companies are currently publishing also vary. Overall, and by a fairly wide margin, companies are leveraging Apple platforms – the iPad and the iPhone. The survey found that 68 percent are currently publishing on the iPad and 58 percent on the iPhone. Meanwhile, 38 percent are publishing on Android-based phones, and 35 percent are publishing on Android-based tablets. Just 17 percent are leveraging Facebook (Open Graph), and 16 percent are publishing on the Kindle.

Large enterprise information and digital content companies are deploying more products and services on Apple, Android, Kindle and even Facebook than their SMB counterparts. And when it comes to developing apps for mobile and other platforms, B2C companies and large enterprise content companies are more likely to outsource than their B2B and SMB counterparts.

We conducted the survey to gain a greater understanding of publishers’ needs in advance of Content VIA Platforms, an all-new conference to help publishing, media and information companies design effective distribution strategies for mobile, social and other content distribution platforms. Full results of the survey will be released at Content Via Platforms, held May 9-10 in San Francisco.

Kathy Greenler Sexton is Vice President and General Manager for the SIIA Content Division.

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Focus on Platforms: On Demand Webcast

March 1, 2012 By

In case you missed it the FOCUS ON: Content Platforms webcast is now available on demand.

During the webcast Ann Michael, President, Delta Think, and Barry Graubart, VP Customer Development, Crowd Fusion helped participants understand the key challenge of getting content effectively published and distributed in real-time across multiple content distribution platforms.

The webcast is a lead up to Content VIA Platforms and the Platforms Bootcamp scheduled May 9-10 in San Francisco.

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New Content VIA Platforms Conference will Address the Demands of Publishing in a Multiplatform World

February 23, 2012 By

SIIA’s Content Division announced today an all-new conference for content creators who publish across multiple platforms. Called Content VIA Platforms, this new event will help publishing, media, and information companies get content effectively published and distributed across multiple  platforms such as mobile, social and even aggregation platforms.

Content VIA Platforms will be held May 9-10 in San Francisco. SIIA will preview the event during a free, one-hour webinar next week, on March 1 at 1:30 p.m. Eastern/10:30 a.m. Pacific. Members of the media are invited to attend the conference and participate in the webinar.

One of the key challenges many publishers, new and information providers face today is publishing and distributing content in real-time across multiple content platforms. These content distribution platforms include everything from mobile, tablets, aggregation to even scholarly platforms. We launched Content VIA Platforms to help publishers to make smart product and strategy platform decisions in order to help them maximize their audiences, customer base and revenue-without breaking the budget.

The Content VIA Platforms conference will feature a number of mobile, publishing and technology thought leaders and key executives from the information industry. Panels and presentations will focus on equipping participants with tools and strategies to successfully utilize a variety of different platforms, monetization strategies, devices and app distribution models, and more.

The Content VIA Platforms webinar, which will be held next week on March 1, will provide an introductory overview of key content platforms and discuss strategies for harnessing these platforms to drive visibility. The basic tools introduced during the webinar will be covered in more depth at the Content VIA Platforms conference in May. Next week’s preview will be led by two top digital content strategists-Ann Michael, President of Delta Think, and Barry Graubart, Vice President for Customer Development at Crowd Fusion and SIIA Member Chair of Content VIA Platforms.

Kathy Greenler Sexton is Vice President and General Manager for the SIIA Content Division.

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