The Future is Now for Information Access
An interview with Microsoft's Steve Ballmer in the in the San Francisco Chronicle regarding Steve's thoughts about the future of technology, information, and Microsoft (including their competition) sparked a few things regarding the Personal InfoCloud and Local InfoCloud. It could be the people I hang out with and the stay-at-home parents I run across during the day, but the future Ballmer talks about is happening now! The future will more widely distributed in 10 years, but the desire and devices are in place now. The thing holding everything back is content management systems that are built for the "I Go Get Web" and people implementing those systems that see technology and not a web of data.
Let's begin with Ballmer's response to the question, "Ten years from now, what is the digital world going to look like? To which Ballmer responds: A: People are going to have access to intelligence in multiple ways. I'm going to want to have intelligence in my pocket. I'm going to want to have intelligence in my TV. I'm going to want to have intelligence in my den and in my office. And what I may want in terms of size, of screen size, of input techniques, keyboard, handwriting, voice, may vary.I think what we'll see is, we have intelligence everywhere. We have multiple input techniques, meaning in some sense you may have some bit of storage which travels with you everywhere, effectively. Today, people carry around these USB storage devices, but you'll carry around some mobile device.
The problem is people have the devices in their pockets today in the form of Blackberries, Treos, Nokia 770s, and just regular mobile phones with browsing and syncing. The access to the information is in people's pockets. The software to make it simple with few clicks is where the battle lies. My Palm OS-based Treo 650 is decent, but it has few clicks to get me to my information. My friends with the Windows version of the same device have six or more clicks for basic things like calendar and address book. Going through menus is not simplicity. Going directly to information that is desired is simplicity. A mobile devices needs simplicity as it is putting information in our hands with new contexts and other tasks we are trying to solve (driving, walking, meeting, getting in a taxi, getting on a bus, etc.).
The Information
Not only does the software have to be simple to access information in our Personal InfoCloud (the information that we have stated we want and need near us, but have structured in our personal framework of understanding). We also interact with the Local InfoCloud with is information sources that is familiar to us to which we have set a means of easing interaction (cognitively, physically, or mechanically).This "intelligence" that Ballmer refers to is information in the form of data. It needs to be structured to make solid use of that information in our lives. This structure needs to ascend below the page level to at least the object level. The object level can be a photo with the associated metadata (caption, photographer, rights, permanent source, size, etc.), event information (event name, location, date and time, permanent location of the information, organizer, etc.), full-text and partial-text access (title, author, contact info, version, date published, rights, headers, paragraphs, etc.).
These objects may comprise a page or document on the web, but they not only have value as a whole, they have value as discrete objects. The web is a transient information store for data and media, it is a place to rest this information and object on its journey of use and reuse. People use and want (if not need) to use these objects in their lives. Their lives are comprised of various devices with various pieces of software that work best in their life. They want to track events, dates, people, ideas, media, memes, experts, friends, industries, finances, workspaces, competition, collaborators, entertainment, etc. as part of their regular lives. This gets very difficult when there is an ever growing flood of information and data bombarding us daily, hourly, consistently.
This is not a future problem. This is a problem right now! The information pollution is getting worse every moment we sit here. How do we dig through the information? How do we make sense of the information? How do we hold on to the information?
The solutions is using the resources we have at our finger tips. We need access to the object level data and the means to attach hooks to this data. One solution that is rising up is Microformats, which Ray Ozzie of Microsoft embraces and has been extending with his Live Clipboard, which is open for all (yes all operating systems and all applications) to use, develop, and extend. The web, as a transient information store, must be open to all comers (not walled off for those with a certain operating system, media player, browser, certain paid software, etc.) if the information is intended for free usage (I am seeing Microsoft actually understand this and seemingly embrace this).
Once we have the information and media we can use it and reuse it as we need. But, as we all know information and media is volatile, as it changes (for corrections, updates, expanding, etc.) and we need to know that what we are using and reusing is the best and more accurate information. We need the means to aggregate the information and sync the information when it changes. In our daily lives if we are doing research on something we want to buy and we bookmark it, should we not have the capability to get updates on the prices of the item? We made an explicit connection to that item, which at least conveys interest. Is it not in the interest of those selling the information to make sure we have the last price, if not changes to that product? People want and need this. It needs to be made simple. Those that get this right will win in the marketplace.
What is Standing in the Way?
So, the big question is, "what is standing in the way"? To some degree it is the tools with which we create the information and some of it is people not caring about the information, data, and media they expose.The tools many of the large information providers are using are not up to the task. Many of the large content management systems (CMS) do not provide simple data structures. The CMS focusses on the end points (the devices, software, tools, etc.) not the simple data structures that permit simple efficient use and reuse of the objects. I have witnessed far too many times a simple web page that is well structured that is relatively small (under 40KB) get turned into an utter mess that is unstructured and large (over 200KB). Usable, parseable, and grabable information is broken by the tools. The tools focus on what looks good and not what is good. Not only is the structure of the data and objects broken, but they are no longer addressable. There are very few CMS that get it right, or let the developers get it right (one that gets it right is Axiom [open disclosure: I have done work with Siteworx the developer of Axiom]).
The other part of the problem is the people problem, which is often driven by not understanding the medium they are working within. They are focus on the tools, which are far from perfect and don't care enough to extend the tools to do what they should. Knowing the proper format for information, data, media, etc. on the web is a requirement for working on the web, not something that would be nice to learn someday. Implementing, building, and/or creating tools or content for the web requires understanding the medium and the structures that are inherent to building that well. I have had far too many discussions with people who do not understand the basics of the web nor the browser, which makes it nearly impossible to explain why their implementation fails. Content on the web has requirements to be structured well and the pages efficiently built. The pages need to degrade (not with an $80,000 plug-in) by default. Media on the web that is for open consumption must work across all modern systems (this should be a 3 year window if not longer for the "modern" definition).
Summary
So what is the take away from this? Content needs to be built with proper structure to the sub-object level (objects need the metadata attached and in standard formats). The content needs to be open and easily accessed. Portability of the information into the tools people use that put information in our pockets and lives must be done now. We have the technology now to do this, but often it is the poorly structured or formatted information, data, media, etc. that stands in the way. We know better and for those that don't know yet the hurdle is quite low and easy to cross.May 23, 2006 in Access to Info, Attraction, Coding, Content Mangement, Devices, Information Creation, Local InfoCloud, Marketplace, Mobile, Personal InfoCloud, PIM, Portability, Standards, Syndication, Ubiquitous Computing, Usability | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Mash-ups and the Model of Attraction
I have been thinking a lot about web2.0 mash-ups like Housing Maps since I was on a panel with Paul Rademacher. Particularly I have been trying to make sense of mash-ups in the context of the Model of Attraction. It was not difficult to use these models as a lens to better understand what is going on in these mash-ups. The irony is I needed to do a tiny mash-up of my own to better understand what is going on.
Let us use the Housing Maps as our sole example. Housing Maps takes the housing listing information from Craigslist and displays them by location as a layer in the Google Maps. Paul had built the tool in his spare time as the result of showing up at the same location to rent twice. The visual representation of the listings on a map helped him keep from doing this again. The visual representation also helps others better discern proximity and location (next to a freeway is why it is cheap, or near playground for junior, etc.).
The interpretation of this mash-up and other web2.0 developments require using a slight mash-up of the Model of Attractions's receptors (the receptors are intellectual (cognitive), perceptual (sensory), mechanical, and physical). One uses the receptors as a whole to design and develop information/media access for people in different contexts, with different devices, varying needs, and in different contextual needs. In the case of understanding the Housing Maps we know what the mechanical receptor is, it is a desktop/laptop computer as that is what the interface requires to use the tool. Housing Maps implicitly requires full visual capabilities, and the means to control a pointing device (mouse, etc) for the physical receptors.
The two receptors we will look at are the Intellectual Receptor and the Perceptual Receptors. The Intellectual Receptor is used in the design and development phases to understand how a person thinks about the information/media by understanding vocabulary, information structures, complexity of conveyance (what level and style of writing are used to convey the ideas), level of detail used, the amount of explanation given, use of metaphors, etc. The Perceptual Receptors are used to understand what sensory elements are understood by the people using the information/media. The sensory elements are comprised of visual, auditory, motion/animation, touch (haptic), etc.
The Housing Maps requires understanding the limitations of the resources being used prior to Paul's remixing. The information that Paul was using was Craigslist to find a new place to live. Craigslist is a rich information source that has a large variety of things for sale or giving as well as social connective communities (personals pages). Paul was using the housing section in the San Francisco Bay Area as his information source. The housing entries have descriptions of the properties for rent/let/buy, much like the old classified real estate ads in the newspapers (remember those) but with a little more detail and often including photos of the property. One element that many of the properties include is a location variable (address).
While the Craigslist information is rich and robust and a fantastic resource, Craigslist has a simple interface. This interface, much like that of a classified ad is about providing the information and using the space efficiently. The reality is no mater what is done to the visual appearance of Craigslist the information in text form and the photos are just those simple elements. A map included in each of the entries would be a little more helpful, but it is still rather limiting as it does not give an idea of what is really on the market and where all of the properties of interest are located (in the given parameters of the person's query). We have the Intellectual Receptors largely sated. The Perceptual Receptors (what does the page look like how does a person interact with the information (passively/actively)) could use a little more tweaking, but within the context of the static HTML page the information interface offers little opportunity for improvement.
The missing element in the Craigslist information is not data that is missing (except where locative data is not included in the Craigslist entry). The missing element is in the Perceptual Receptor which then augments the Intellectual Receptor. The contextual framework for locative information is missing from the interface. The array of information provided in the Craigslist interface needs another vector to view the information (Craigslist limits by price, rough geographical area, type of property arrangement (rent/lease/sublet/buy/share/own), animals, and keywords). This vector is a more fine grained view of the location information and put into a context that helps make sense of the information easily. The context is a map, which works well for displaying location-based information.
The Google map is used for the visual representation layer, which provides the context to the location information. The Google map is an open interface that is available to use for the display of location relevant information from external data sources. The interface if very helpful for this type of information and it is freely available for those with the skill sets needed to parse and feed the information into the Google maps interface.
The web2.0 mash-ups extract information from one source and display that information in a different interface. Tools like Bloglines do this with feeds and display the information in an interface separate from the website's interface from which the information was posted by the content creator/owner.
These mash-ups serve to provide the person consuming the information a tool that works for their needs. In a "come to me web" this is very important. The content provider/owner would have to invest many resources to provide a broad array of interfaces to search each person and each person's needs and desires for information. Additionally, as it is with nearly everything on the web the interface that aggregates information from a broad variety of information sources provides a richer set of information for the person to use and analyze for their own needs. Not only are the Intellectual Receptors augmented by the network effect of the information, but offering the personal consuming the information a means/lens (for their Perceptual Receptor needs) to view the information/media in means that adds value for their need is required for people to better embrace the web as a source of information that is a layer woven into their life rather than technology tools that augment their lives.
September 25, 2005 in Access to Info, Attraction, Attraction Receptor, Community, Interface, Local InfoCloud, Model of Attraction, Personal InfoCloud, Standards, Technology | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack
WebVisions Designing for the Personal InfoCloud Presentation
The presentation at WebVisions of Designing for the Personal InfoCloud went quite well yesterday. There is ever growing interest in the Personal InfoCloud as there are many people working to design digital information for use across devices, for reuse, for constant access to information each individual person desires, and building applications around these interests.
In an always on world peoples desires and expectations are changing for their access to information. The tools that will help ease this desire are now being built and some are great starts have been made in this direction. I will be writing about some of these tools in the near future.
I am more exited today than I have been in quite some time by what I see as great progress for the reality of a Personal InfoCloud. It is ever closer for the Personal InfoCloud being more automated and beginning to function in ways that really help people find efficient ways to use information they have found or created in their lives when they want it or need it.
Not only does the Personal InfoCloud need devices but it needs people designing the information for the realities of Web2.0, which is not the old web of "I Go Get", but the new web of "Come to Me". This change in focus demands better understanding of sharing digital assets, designing across platforms and devices, and information being reused and organized externally.
July 16, 2005 in Access to Info, Conferences, Mobile, Personal Info, Portability, Standards, Syndication, Ubiquitous Computing, Web | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Stitching our Lives Together
Not long ago Jeffrey Veen posted about Will you be my friend, which brought up some needs to better stitch together our own disperse information. An excellent example is:
For example, when I plan a trip, I try to find out who else will be around so I have people to hang out with. So my calendar should ask Upcoming.org, "Hey, Jeff says he's friends with Tim. Will he be in New York for GEL?"
This example would allow up to interact with our shared information in a manner that keeps it within our extended Personal InfoCloud (the Personal InfoCloud is the information we keep with us, is self-organized, and we have easy access to). Too many of the Web's resources where we store our information and that information's correlation to ourselves (, Flickr seems to use. The advent of wide usage of RSS feeds and RSS aggregators is really putting the user back in control of the information they would like to track. Too many sites have moved toward the portal model and failed (there are large volumes of accounts of failed portal attempts, where the sites should provide a feed of their information as it is a limited quantity). When users get asked about their lack of interest in a company's new portal they nearly always state, "I already have a portal where I aggregate my information". Most often these portals are ones like My Yahoo, MSN, or AOL. Many users state they have tried keeping more than one portal, but find they loose information very quickly and they can not remember, which portal holds what information.
It seems the companies that sell portal tools should rather focus on integration with existing portals. Currently Yahoo offers the an RSS feed aggregator. Yahoo is moving toward a one stop shopping for information for individuals. Yahoo also synchs with PDA, which is how many people keep their needed information close to themselves.
There are also those of us that prefer to be our own aggregators to information. We choose to structure our large volumes of information and the means to access that information. The down side of the person controlling the information is the lack of common APIs and accessible Web Services to permit the connecting of Upcoming to our calendar (it can already do this), with lists of known or stated friends and their interests.
This has been the dream of many of us for many years, but it always seems just around the corner. Now seems to be a good time to just make it happen. Now is good because there is growing adoption of standards and information that can be personally aggregated. Now is good because there are more and more services allowing us to categorize various bits of information about our lives. Now is good because we have the technology. Now is good because we are smart enough to make it happen.
(Originally posted at vanderwal.net.)
April 11, 2004 in Access to Info, Community, Information Creation, Mobile, Personal Info, Portability, Social Software, Standards, Syndication, Usability | Permalink | Comments (4)
Upcoming.org and Others Understand Ease of Information Reuse
Some sites are getting that helping the user with date related information by providing the information in a standard format that allows the user to drop the information into their calendar tool. One such site is Upcoming.org's iCal Integration.
The I recently ran across a similar tool, but for vCal, on the Hilton site. When you book a room on the Hilton site the site provides a standard calendar format data chunk that drops right into Outlook or other vCal ready application. This is a no fuss and no error means of helping the user get the information right and dropping it right into their Personal InfoCloud so they can synch that with their mobile phone or PDA and have the correct information (with the confirmation number) within ready reach at all times.
March 21, 2004 in Access to Info, Personal Info, Standards, Usability | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Information Structure for Information Reuse
John Udell's discussion of Apple's Knowledge Navigator is a wonderful overview of a Personal Information Cloud. If the tools was more mobile or was shown synching with a similar mobile device to have the "knowledge" with the user at all time it is would be a perfect representation.
Information in a Personal Information Cloud is not only what the user wants to have stored for retrieval when it is needed (role-based information and contextual) but portable and always accessible. Having tools that allow the user to capture, categorize, and have attracted to the user so it is always with them is only one part of the equation. The other component is having information that is capable of being captured and reused. Standards structures for information, like (X)HTML and XML are the beginnings of reusable information. These structures must be open to ensure ease of access and reuse in proper context. Information stored in graphics, proprietary software, and proprietary file formats greatly hinders the initial usefulness of the information as it can be in accessible, but it even more greatly hinders the information's reuse.
These principle are not only part of the Personal Information Cloud along with the Model of Attraction, but also contextual design, information architecture, information design, and application development.
October 25, 2003 in Accessibility, Coding, Devices, Information Architecture, Information Creation, Portability, Research, Standards, Technology, Usability | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
RSS on PDAs and information reuse
Three times the past week I have run across folks mentioning Hand/RSS for Palm. This seems to fill the hole that AvantGo does not completely fill. Many of the information resources I find to be helpful/insightful have RSS feeds, but do not have a "mobile" version (more importantly the content is not made with standard (X)HTML validating markup with a malleable page layout that will work for desktop/laptop web browsers and smaller mobile screens).
I currently pull to scan then read content from 125 RSS feeds. Having these some of these feeds pulled and stored in my PDA would be a great help.
Another idea I have been playing with is to pull and convert RSS feeds for mobile browser access and use. This can be readily done with PHP. It seems that MobileRSS already does something like this.
Content, make that information in general, stored and presented in a format that is only usable in one device type or application is very short sighted. Information should be reusable to be more useful. Users copy and paste information into documents, todo lists, calendars, PDAs, e-mail, weblogs, text searchable data stores (databases, XML respositories, etc.), etc. Digital information from the early creation was about reusing the information. Putting text only in a graphic is foolish (AIGA websites need to learn this lesson) as is locking the information in a proprietary application or proprietary format.
The whole of the Personal Information Cloud, the rough cloud of information that the user has chosen to follow them so that it is available when they need that information is only usable if information is in an open format.
Syndicated from Off the Top :: vanderwal.net
October 19, 2003 in Access to Info, Content Mangement, Information Architecture, Information Creation, Mobile, Portability, Standards, Syndication, Technology, Web | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
