Form Factor
I call customer service when the newspaper fails to arrive. In the case of the Financial Times, which is the most widely read English language newspaper in the world, customer service offers to give me free access for the day to the “online” version. I usually refuse.
The wall Street Journal sends me email and mail advertisements to purchase the companion “online” version to my “print” subscription. Again I refuse.
The “form factor” (technical structure) for “online” information cannot rival a printed page of a newspaper. Human visual perception is based on object and form recognition. I can take in at a glance the entire page of a newspaper and target in on specific headers, paragraphs, or even words. In fact I can go through a whole newspaper in less than 15 minutes.
The “form factor” for “online” information is constrained by computer screen real estate. That real estate is also taken up in the margins by other things. The “online” version of a newspaper is likely to only display part of an article at a time. It restricts much of the overall quick glancing of the article or taking in several articles at a time. Reviewing the “online” version requires four times the effort. What ultimately happens is people get in the habit of checking the index of articles and going to basically the same several articles all the time.
The advantages of “online” for the customer is expanded “content” and in some cases inter-activeness. The advantages for the business is lower costs, control over customer attention focus and better substantiated advertisement marketing revenue.
I hope “print” lives on.
I call customer service when the newspaper fails to arrive. In the case of the Financial Times, which is the most widely read English language newspaper in the world, customer service offers to give me free access for the day to the “online” version. I usually refuse.
The wall Street Journal sends me email and mail advertisements to purchase the companion “online” version to my “print” subscription. Again I refuse.
The “form factor” (technical structure) for “online” information cannot rival a printed page of a newspaper. Human visual perception is based on object and form recognition. I can take in at a glance the entire page of a newspaper and target in on specific headers, paragraphs, or even words. In fact I can go through a whole newspaper in less than 15 minutes.
The “form factor” for “online” information is constrained by computer screen real estate. That real estate is also taken up in the margins by other things. The “online” version of a newspaper is likely to only display part of an article at a time. It restricts much of the overall quick glancing of the article or taking in several articles at a time. Reviewing the “online” version requires four times the effort. What ultimately happens is people get in the habit of checking the index of articles and going to basically the same several articles all the time.
The advantages of “online” for the customer is expanded “content” and in some cases inter-activeness. The advantages for the business is lower costs, control over customer attention focus and better substantiated advertisement marketing revenue.
I hope “print” lives on.
posted by CartoonsTE | 1:09 PM
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