Erin - Articles - Real Information

Real Information

Luxembourg Business - Dec 1998 What is real information? What exactly is information? How can a price by placed on it? How can revenue be generated? These are many questions at the root of defining the potential of micro-payments in the emerging domain of Electronic Commerce.

One of the emerging trends in the Internet is that users (be they surfers or habitual visitors) are starting to learn the value of information. It is users, probably more than business strategists attempting to create a new market, who are defining what is interesting and useful, and therefore what WebSites they visit.

<*dv_3*>This then defines, by the fact that the popular WebSites have more hits, which WebSites have more value and can charge advertisers to generate revenue.

Back to the principle upon which some newspapers are based - free circulation and costs offset by advertising revenue. The origin of valuable information can be categorised as follows:

Static information which has been published on the Web and can be obtained by wading through search engine results (e.g. to find out the origin of Mercedez-Benz). This type of information is the main source of electronic information sought by researchers and academics.

Searchable information which can be accessed using on-line databases. Once you know where to look, a database can be a tremendous source of information specific to a particular subject. Real information which is maintained and up-to-date. This includes financial data, news, and sport - all now available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Let's take a closer look at real information. This is information which is continually published, either real-time or batched real-time.

<*dv_1*>Without going into too technical detail, real-time information is accessible when data is accessed via a distributed network architecture which allows you to access the latest state of a record known to the network.

Batch Real-Time information (or nearly real-time) is accessible when the system accesses data from a database which is constantly updated. Most of the time one is presented with Batch Real-Time information when the system (behind the WebSite) is set with an acceptable refresh cycle in order to reduce network traffic and hardware failure.

<*dv_2*> Examples of Batch Real-Time information is CNN's Financial Network and Wired News. Web Sites which are based on real-time technology include Datek Online and E*Trade which offer on-line investment opportunities, and Bloomberg's WebSite .

These examples cover the financial sector, but this is not the only domain in which real information can be found.

Newscasting is another, if somewhat related, area. Most television broadcasters offer teletext as an information service which is broadcast along with TV programmes, via terrestrial, cable, or satellite networks.

<*dv_4*> Many of these broadcasters now offer the same teletext information via their WebSites. This means that the information is published centrally with different channels of dissemination. The content is continually updated and complements other information to be found on the WebSite.

Sport is an yet another domain example of the use of Real information on the Internet. WebSites such as www.europeantour.com provide stroke-by-stroke details of golfers currently competing. Wimbledon and other tennis championship events have their own WebSites which attract major sponsors such as IBM - here again, point-by-point information is broadcast providing the visitor with as much information, including player biographies, etc., as could be imagined.

Followers of Formula 1 are provided with Web Sites such as www.f1-live.com<*dv_0*> which broadcast lap times during practice sessions as well as qualifying and the race itself.

Cricket is also covered ball-by-ball with English county matches as well as most Test matches being broadcast on the Internet by the Press Association. Amazing really, the type and extent of information now available via the Internet.

The above examples go some way to illustrate that the World Wide Web now provides a rich array of information which can be categorized according to types and requirements.

Many needs are now being met, but underlying questions remain. Is this marketing? How can advertisers be attracted? How can we make money and get a return on our investment? Others claim that is it contributing to the growing problem of information overload.

Questions such as these are continually being raised, and many solutions are being proposed, analyzed, prototyped, tested and unleashed into the world-wide Internet community. Much of the information currently available, though, has been published without much (if any) funding and is therefore not maintained. That results in out-of-date and redundant information.

However, all is not lost, and the rich array of valuable and real information is expanding at a tremendous rate. As long as one knows where to look, the information can be found. Happy surfing!