Richness%20Vs.%20Reach

1
Richness Vs. Reach

• Wurster, Philip, and Thomas Evans. Blown to Bits.
  Harvard University Press, 1999.

2
Content, space, use, and time are being confounded

• Modern ICTs work in many ways to confuse things
  that used to be certain
• The content-space connection seemingly has been
  broken
• The space-use connection has definitely been
  broken
• In addition, a third trend is happening the
  use-time connection is being eroded
• Also, the time-meaning/value connection is
  challenged.

3
The Good Ole Days

• In the past, these were certain
• There was a fixed relationship between content
  and where it could be distributed
• There was a fixed relationship between a physical
  object and where it could be used
• There was a fixed relationship between use and
  when use could take place
• There was a fixed relationship between when
  something could be used and what its use meant.
• Thus content meant something, and little else.

4
Breaking These Bonds

• Now, content, space, use, time and meaning are
  all independent.
• Any content can be distributed anywhere
• Any content can be used by anyone
• Any content can be used any time
• Any content can be used in any way, for any
  reason.
• How does this anarchy affect YOU?

5
Overcoming Space

• In the past, the amount of content has been
  limited by our geographical ability to distribute
  it. This is called the RICHNESS-REACH
  connection.
• This has now been broken.
• Almost limitless richness is available to
  distribute to everyone on earth (potentially,
  soon)

6
The Richness-Reach Tradeoff-1
7
The Richness-Reach Tradeoff-2
8
The Richness-Reach Tradeoff-3
Attempting to increase richness incurs costs,
which lower the available distribution reach
9
The Richness-Reach Tradeoff-4
The new media BREAK the relationship between
richness and reach. No reasonable move to
increase richness or reach will have any real
cost and hence no effect on the other
characteristic.