In the May issue of Capital M, Metropolitan Washington Mensa's monthly journal, we asked readers to rank their preferences for a future high-capacity Internet-like service. We posted four questions and asked readers to rank them in order of probability. Although we did not request identification, most respondents chose to give us their names. They presumably had some interest in information services, since many had E-mail addresses.
Before you look at the responses: If you want to participate, fill out the survey form (print it out if necessary) and mail us your response. We'll continue to compile results of this survey. If there's sufficient response, we'll consider redoing this as an interactive form.
Question 1: Picture a next-generation Internet-like on-line service on your television set or computer that is fully interactive, with text and graphics, hyper-links, and full video and sound. Sufficient speed and bandwidth to handle any data is assumed. Through what medium would you expect this service to be delivered? Rank the probability of each with 10 the highest, 0 the lowest.
Fully Interactive Semi-Interactive ___Cable TV ___Broadcast video ___Traditional phone network ___Broadcast satellite ___ISDN ___FM sideband ___Cellular phone system ___(Don’t care) ___Combined technologies ___Other:
Question 2: Who would you expect to control what appears on the opening screen, regardless of the technology employed? (Rank by probability.)
___Broadcaster (network or local) ___Government ___Cable programmer (CNN, HBO, etc.) ___Hollywood ___Cable provider (your cable company) ___Tokyo ___Newspaper/news magazine publisher ___You ___Online service provider (AoL, CIS, etc.) ___No central control ___Operating system (Microsoft/IBM etc.) ___Someone new ___Phone company ___Other:
Question 3: Who would you prefer to provide such on-line services?
___AoL/CompuServe/Prodigy etc. ___National BBS (e.g. The Well) ___Cable programmer/provider ___Newspaper/news magazine ___Internet access provider ___Phone company ___Microsoft/IBM etc. ___Traditional broadcaster ___Landmark Network ___Other:
Question 4: How would you prefer to interact with such a service?
___Keyboard ___Other pointer ___Infrared remote ___Joystick ___Eye movement ___Pocket omputer ___Mouse/trackball ___Voice command ___Other: ___Touch screen ___Virtual reality
167 Mensans responded, a low percentage for a local chapter with nearly 5000 members. Here's what they said:
Most respondents expect the service to be delivered either by cable TV link or by the traditional phone network, with cable ranked slightly higher. Half as many favored ISDN, the phone company's high-speed alternative to standard service. Except for cellular technologies, few expect the service to be broadcast.
Who will control the content of the opening screen? Who would users prefer to provide on-line services? Respondents split evenly between the phone company (a surprise to us) and traditional information providers like America Online, Compuserve, and Prodigy. There was less, but still significant, support for cable programmers and cable service providers. Very few expect the Government or Hollywood (or users themselves, surprisingly) to be running the show.
Respondents expect to interact with a future service with either a mouse or keyboard--no surprise there. We were struck by how few people expect to use advanced technologies. Virtual reality got no backing, even though a consortium of 18 equipment and software providers are currently working on an Internet VR standard. What do they know that we don't?
Our thanks to all those who participated. We'll post numerical results here when we get a chance. We would like to set up an ongoing interactive survey and will be exploring that, too. If you have comments or wish to participate, contact us at Landmark@Landmark.org.
url: http://www.landmark.org/survey1.html