The information superhighway facilitates information on demand in a way that puts the yellow pages to shame. In the yellow pages, I can find ads for dive shops that tell me their location, their phone number, their hours, and whether or not they offer compressed air or scuba lessons. That's about it.
On the Internet, it's a different story. I log in to a World Wide Web index, type in the keyword "scuba" and get back 36 listings -- equipment reviews, dive condition reports, information on diving destinations, a "wreck database" of diveable shipwrecks, and on and on. Kind of makes the yellow pages pale by comparison. While I'm checking out reviews on masks and snorkels, I see something else that catches my interest -- underwater casings for 8mm camcorders. Now, this is something that I never would have even thought about, and probably if I had gone to a dive shop here in Austin, I wouldn't have seen any. But, I think to myself, wouldn't it be nice to shoot some underwater video on my trip to the Caribbean. See how well this information on demand think can work!!
Now, let's look at this example a little bit longer and analyze what happened. I wanted information on a mask and snorkel and found lots of it very quickly. While looking through it, the online scuba vendor "suggested" that I might be interested in an underwater housing for my camcorder. I did the equivalent of saying, "sure, tell me more" by clicking on the appropriate link. The scuba marketer gave me details on features, sizes and prices.
Now, what did all of this cost the scuba equipment retailer. What was the incremental cost to provide this useful information to me? Probably close to zero. Maybe a few cents at most. How many people could this scuba retailer serve at any given time on the Internet? Thousands. Now, what if I had gone to a dive shop and had the same interaction? First of all, most dive shops probably would not have carried the camcorder housings -- not enough of a market to justify the inventory costs. On top of that, it would have cost the retailer time and money to show me the housings and explain all the features of each one. That would have taken 15 to 20 minutes. A single employee could only do that about 25 times a day, assuming there was enough traffic and that it was evenly spaced throughout the day. See what the information superhighway makes possible? A level of service that is just not justifiable with traditional marketing methods.
People are becoming more and more accustomed to information on demand. In business, in entertainment, in their personal lives. Look at the rental video industry. Just a few years ago, when you wanted to watch a movie, you looked in the paper and checked to see what was on at the local theaters. If you lived in a small town, you may have only had one theater and one or two movies to chose from. You had to arrive at the theater at the right time, pay your money, and then sit and watch the movie. If you needed to go to the bathroom, or wanted to go buy some popcorn, you missed the part of the show that continued running in your absence. Now, things are drastically different. When you want to see a movie, you go down the street to your neighborhood video store and pick the film you want from thousands of titles that are available. Even in a small town you have a substantial choice of films. You rent the film, take it home, and watch it exactly when you want to. If you're interrupted by an important phone call, or if you want to fix yourself a snack, you can stop the film while you tend to these activities.
Or look at the way that news is delivered. Not too long ago, if you wanted news on television you had to wait until 5:30 in the afternoon when the network news came on. Now, you simply tune in CNN or CNN Headline News and watch the news whenever you want to. Want to read the latest issue of Time Magazine, or the New York Times? There's no need to buy the paper & ink version, which is already "old news" by the time it's printed and distributed. Simply put your personal computer online and download the very latest stories from these, and many other, publications.
This is a trend that is going on in every area of our lives. Information on demand. Voice mail is a part of this, allowing you to talk to people when you have the time and allowing them to listen to what you say when they have the time. You can hold extensive conversations with people without ever talking "live" to them.
Cyberspace is the ultimate implementation of information on demand. Since everything (voice, text, pictures) is digitized and stored in computers, any piece of information can be used by anyone, anywhere at any time. Flexibility to the nth degree. Online, time and location do not matter. Only pure information, which can be easily accessed to the exact specifications and terms of the user.
© 1995 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. All rights reserved.