By: tgt
Thu, May 04, 2006
For Xprss users, or anyone reading this blog, I must acknowledge some neglect on our part, with Xprss. I've temporarily stolen many of the developers off of Xprss, to work on our new online visual builder. The development schedule has been pushed back a bit as a result.
I hope this will be a case of a little pause that refreshes, and we can get a lot of the ideas we have on enterprise collaboration implemented soon.
I hope this will be a case of a little pause that refreshes, and we can get a lot of the ideas we have on enterprise collaboration implemented soon.
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By: tgt
Wed, Mar 22, 2006
Having realized that less is more for typical users when it comes to RSS readers, we find it interesting that users want and need a range of collaboration tools. One concern often raised is the need for better integration across these set of tools. We're seeing RSS as a way to give enterprise users that better integration across a variety of collaboration tools.
Knowledge workers are increasingly dependent on rapid sharing of ideas and information. A number of new collaborative tools have raised the level and efficiency of such sharing of information. With Wikis, RSS, Forums, and Blogs, enterprise workers are reaching higher and faster levels of productivty by collaborating more effectively. These tools provide many of the benefits of meetings and water cooler discussions, without needing everyone to be at the same place at the same time.
A couple of challenges have emerged in the midst of this increased spread and speed of information. One is information overload, which as we discussed before, needs to be addressed by providing the right tools for each individual. The other challenge is bringing all these disparate tools into some kind of cohesion. Often it is unclear to users whether the Wiki, Blog, Forum, or email is the right place to share something. Each user and team may make different choices, and usually some combination of the above. Thus it is often hard to know where to go to find something. And no efficient way to be kept aware of changes in each tool.
Email often serves as a way to get notified of new content, or to share specific information with a specific group of people. This is sometimes a good enough solution, if the level of information sharing is limited. However, in many cases users have trouble keeping up with subscriptions and managing all the information sources. And often users have to deal with a flood of emails, only a few of which need attention. People clearly need help on this, as the need for these email tips suggests. A much more productive model is to have the information automatically categorized, and available to be searched, filtered and reused as needed.
It's clear a better model of working across a set of collaboration tools is needed. Making more information and tools readily accessible via start pages and focused portals is important as well. All of this needs to be come with proper access controls for each kind of informaton.
Through many months of working with RSS technologies, as we refined our collection, search and distribution mechanisms for millions of feed articles, we discovered that RSS is a great integration technology. It's well suited for integration of collaborative applications, as it enables efficient notification of users, without overwhelming them with email messages. It's possile to easily manage access controls and ensure the right information is available to the right people.
It's now apparent to us that users want more from an RSS-enabled collaboration product like Xprss. Hearing from users, and from looking at our own use of Xprss and other tools, leads us to conclude enterprises would be well served by a set of new generation collaboration tools, with RSS as the integration glue across these tools.
Knowledge workers are increasingly dependent on rapid sharing of ideas and information. A number of new collaborative tools have raised the level and efficiency of such sharing of information. With Wikis, RSS, Forums, and Blogs, enterprise workers are reaching higher and faster levels of productivty by collaborating more effectively. These tools provide many of the benefits of meetings and water cooler discussions, without needing everyone to be at the same place at the same time.
A couple of challenges have emerged in the midst of this increased spread and speed of information. One is information overload, which as we discussed before, needs to be addressed by providing the right tools for each individual. The other challenge is bringing all these disparate tools into some kind of cohesion. Often it is unclear to users whether the Wiki, Blog, Forum, or email is the right place to share something. Each user and team may make different choices, and usually some combination of the above. Thus it is often hard to know where to go to find something. And no efficient way to be kept aware of changes in each tool.
Email often serves as a way to get notified of new content, or to share specific information with a specific group of people. This is sometimes a good enough solution, if the level of information sharing is limited. However, in many cases users have trouble keeping up with subscriptions and managing all the information sources. And often users have to deal with a flood of emails, only a few of which need attention. People clearly need help on this, as the need for these email tips suggests. A much more productive model is to have the information automatically categorized, and available to be searched, filtered and reused as needed.
It's clear a better model of working across a set of collaboration tools is needed. Making more information and tools readily accessible via start pages and focused portals is important as well. All of this needs to be come with proper access controls for each kind of informaton.
Through many months of working with RSS technologies, as we refined our collection, search and distribution mechanisms for millions of feed articles, we discovered that RSS is a great integration technology. It's well suited for integration of collaborative applications, as it enables efficient notification of users, without overwhelming them with email messages. It's possile to easily manage access controls and ensure the right information is available to the right people.
It's now apparent to us that users want more from an RSS-enabled collaboration product like Xprss. Hearing from users, and from looking at our own use of Xprss and other tools, leads us to conclude enterprises would be well served by a set of new generation collaboration tools, with RSS as the integration glue across these tools.
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By: tgt
Tue, Mar 14, 2006
As indicated in the Applibase blog, we need to go back and revamp the Xprss preview we released to be more in line with what enterprise users want. Here are some lessons from the preview feedback we're applying to the redesign.
One size does not fit all
Seeing the feedback from Xprss users and other opinions on the web, it seems clear one size does not fit all when it comes to RSS. This applies to the folder-style interface we and most other RSS readers use. This took a while for me to appreciate why having all those great sources deliverd to your doorstep can turn into a bad case of information overload. Often one has to experience something before you can see the other side. For example, I often get blank stares from the young people at Applibase when I talk about email overload and spam. For people that get only a few emails (this happy situation is usually only at the start of their careers), it can seem like much ado about nothing.
So it is with RSS readers and the typical user. Initially, the ability to subscribe to many feeds and get immediately notified when there is something new to read allows us to experience a joy of discovery. It's easy to enjoy finding new feeds and the interesting writers who don't seem to hold anything back. If you are tired of sanitized, uncritical reporting in the media, this can be a refreshing change. So you start to find new feeds, and get pulled into the blogosphere.
Then one day you fire up your reader as usual and find yourself confronted with a long list feeds, each with countless unread items. This is akin to coming back from a break and finding hundreds of unread emails, mostly spam, and you face the chore of digging out the few messages that matter. Some soldier on for a bit, but the typical user is no match for the vast forces of content being generated by RSS. This activity was supposed to be informative without requiring us to work too hard. And so the typical user often gets turned off by this RSS overload.
The power reader
Before we look at what can be done about this, it's important to state that for some the folder-style model of tracking the many sources they want to read is a perfect fit. These are your power readers that spend a good deal of time absorbing information by reading from a number of sources. These are often your information junkies that seem to be plugged-in to anything and everything.
Often, this type of individual is quite valuable in a team, in bringing new information and ideas quickly to the attention of the rest of the team. And in reality, it could be a combination of people, each active in this way at different times. The trick though is to make this kind of information available to other team members, without overwhelming them with information.
The solution
So what about RSS readers and what is the right interface for a user? As we mentioned, many users get turned off by the folder-style interface, with that long list of feeds that have to be tended to in some way. Should I just click and mark them read, or could there possibly be something useful there for me I'd be missing if I did? Hard choice.
The answer, it appears, lies in mixing a couple of models of consuming RSS. The majority of users want to know what their colleagues find interesting and bring to their attention. This kind of selection of information is most valuable. So the ability for those power readers to easily share information for the benefit other team members is central to the solution. Typical users need a simple interface, that provides them the information being shared by the information junkies on their team. Those junkies, pardon the expression, need a powerful RSS reader to do their daily or hourly or more frequent reading.
So loook for Xprss to soon provide a simpler model of reading RSS feeds for the majority of RSS consumers. But we'll not stop there. We're seeing RSS as an enabler for a broader level of collboration, and we hope to bring the benefits of that increased information networking to our users.
One size does not fit all
Seeing the feedback from Xprss users and other opinions on the web, it seems clear one size does not fit all when it comes to RSS. This applies to the folder-style interface we and most other RSS readers use. This took a while for me to appreciate why having all those great sources deliverd to your doorstep can turn into a bad case of information overload. Often one has to experience something before you can see the other side. For example, I often get blank stares from the young people at Applibase when I talk about email overload and spam. For people that get only a few emails (this happy situation is usually only at the start of their careers), it can seem like much ado about nothing.
So it is with RSS readers and the typical user. Initially, the ability to subscribe to many feeds and get immediately notified when there is something new to read allows us to experience a joy of discovery. It's easy to enjoy finding new feeds and the interesting writers who don't seem to hold anything back. If you are tired of sanitized, uncritical reporting in the media, this can be a refreshing change. So you start to find new feeds, and get pulled into the blogosphere.
Then one day you fire up your reader as usual and find yourself confronted with a long list feeds, each with countless unread items. This is akin to coming back from a break and finding hundreds of unread emails, mostly spam, and you face the chore of digging out the few messages that matter. Some soldier on for a bit, but the typical user is no match for the vast forces of content being generated by RSS. This activity was supposed to be informative without requiring us to work too hard. And so the typical user often gets turned off by this RSS overload.
The power reader
Before we look at what can be done about this, it's important to state that for some the folder-style model of tracking the many sources they want to read is a perfect fit. These are your power readers that spend a good deal of time absorbing information by reading from a number of sources. These are often your information junkies that seem to be plugged-in to anything and everything.
Often, this type of individual is quite valuable in a team, in bringing new information and ideas quickly to the attention of the rest of the team. And in reality, it could be a combination of people, each active in this way at different times. The trick though is to make this kind of information available to other team members, without overwhelming them with information.
The solution
So what about RSS readers and what is the right interface for a user? As we mentioned, many users get turned off by the folder-style interface, with that long list of feeds that have to be tended to in some way. Should I just click and mark them read, or could there possibly be something useful there for me I'd be missing if I did? Hard choice.
The answer, it appears, lies in mixing a couple of models of consuming RSS. The majority of users want to know what their colleagues find interesting and bring to their attention. This kind of selection of information is most valuable. So the ability for those power readers to easily share information for the benefit other team members is central to the solution. Typical users need a simple interface, that provides them the information being shared by the information junkies on their team. Those junkies, pardon the expression, need a powerful RSS reader to do their daily or hourly or more frequent reading.
So loook for Xprss to soon provide a simpler model of reading RSS feeds for the majority of RSS consumers. But we'll not stop there. We're seeing RSS as an enabler for a broader level of collboration, and we hope to bring the benefits of that increased information networking to our users.
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By: tgt
Sat, Feb 04, 2006
Despite the seeming widespread awareness of Blogging and RSS, this article shows the more typical state of awareness within the broader business community.
Many small businesses see value in online forums today, and it will be a while before that kind of penetration can be expected for the new tools.
Hyde and his team are evaluating the Six Apart and WordPress services and have concrete plans to add a blogging section to the site in the near future. He envisions it as a place for Go Clothing customers, clients and suppliers to share ideas and feedback.
"We didn?t really conceive it for the site until Yahoo announced [the WordPress and Six Apart deals], but the more I think about it, it makes a lot of sense," Hyde said.
Many small businesses see value in online forums today, and it will be a while before that kind of penetration can be expected for the new tools.
Referred Article: Yahoo advocates blogging for small businesses
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By: svk
Tue, Jan 03, 2006
Web is all about content, and RSS is about how the content is accessed.
Disruptive technology with major benefits
RSS is a disruptive technology. It will change how we use the web. We no longer need to hop from one favourite site to another looking for fresh content. Instead, we can rely on viewing content from all our different sources in one place using the RSS reader. While the primary benefit of RSS for consumers is time savings, and convenience, the more significant benefit is however the ability to find relevant content based on recommendations and buzz from community of users.
Into Mainstream
7 years after the initial version of RSS has been designed, 2005 has finally seen RSS entering the mainstream. Leading online players such as Yahoo, Google and Microsoft released RSS readers, while most publishers have started providing the content in one of the syndication formats (RSS / ATOM / RDF).Still, according to a recent survey, only 12% of online users are aware of RSS. Many more (27%) unknowingly use it without through start pages such as My Yahoo and My MSN.
Challenges
The abundance of feeds and articles will make it hard for users to keep abreast of new content. Here, filtering of feeds and articles based on keywords, community recommendations are important features.
Set for growth
RSS is set to become the dominant medium for content distribution on the web in 2006. RSS readers and aggregators such as Xprss will strive to improve the user experience.Enterprises will probably see some limited adoption of RSS, but 2007 could change that once Microsoft's Vista with RSS support (set for release in Oct 2006) gains deployments.
We welcome the new year and are excited about the opportunities ahead of us.
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