xan
04-25-2005, 03:39 PM
"One Size Fits One: Tailoring Technology to Consumer Needs"
Knowledge@Wharton (04/19/05)
Yahoo! senior VP Jeff Weiner disagrees with assertions that the Web could soon drive traditional mass-media outlets such as newspapers and TV into obscurity, predicting at the recent Wharton Technology Conference that consumer personalization is the media wave of the future. This personalization trend carries challenges to commercialization, cost containment, and complexity management: Weiner says the increase in "unique," narrowly-focused search engine queries ramps up the difficulty search companies face to sell sponsorship of broad searches. Weiner predicts search companies will keep tweaking their software to make search engines capable of "recognizing" users and producing increasingly relevant results. Still, he acknowledges the Web is problematic, citing the presence of shady individuals or "black hats" who are trying to trick search engines into listing Web sites that may have no bearing on the user's search. Yahoo! is trying to address this problem with automated techniques, but Weiner says the best current strategy is "tapping into all of us and forming self-policing communities." Increased product customization is an area of focus for software companies that cater to small and mid-sized businesses, but the challenges they face may be even more formidable than those for search companies. Small and mid-sized companies usually cannot afford IT personnel to customize software to their unique business requirements, and Earth Sun Moon Trading technology director Tim Levine said at the conference that more attention should be paid to individual small firms' needs. Customization adds up to complexity, which has historically led to cost increases, but Microsoft's Taylor Collyer believes Web services could solve the problem."
I posted this one other place too, but it might be appreciated here as well.
To be honest I wasn't even sure where to post it, so forgive me if I got it wrong.
Knowledge@Wharton (04/19/05)
Yahoo! senior VP Jeff Weiner disagrees with assertions that the Web could soon drive traditional mass-media outlets such as newspapers and TV into obscurity, predicting at the recent Wharton Technology Conference that consumer personalization is the media wave of the future. This personalization trend carries challenges to commercialization, cost containment, and complexity management: Weiner says the increase in "unique," narrowly-focused search engine queries ramps up the difficulty search companies face to sell sponsorship of broad searches. Weiner predicts search companies will keep tweaking their software to make search engines capable of "recognizing" users and producing increasingly relevant results. Still, he acknowledges the Web is problematic, citing the presence of shady individuals or "black hats" who are trying to trick search engines into listing Web sites that may have no bearing on the user's search. Yahoo! is trying to address this problem with automated techniques, but Weiner says the best current strategy is "tapping into all of us and forming self-policing communities." Increased product customization is an area of focus for software companies that cater to small and mid-sized businesses, but the challenges they face may be even more formidable than those for search companies. Small and mid-sized companies usually cannot afford IT personnel to customize software to their unique business requirements, and Earth Sun Moon Trading technology director Tim Levine said at the conference that more attention should be paid to individual small firms' needs. Customization adds up to complexity, which has historically led to cost increases, but Microsoft's Taylor Collyer believes Web services could solve the problem."
I posted this one other place too, but it might be appreciated here as well.
To be honest I wasn't even sure where to post it, so forgive me if I got it wrong.