Briefing Paper by:

Dr. Jim M. Namaste, Director of Marketing and R&D
Enterprise Holdings

    The Internet has been developing very rapidly and it seems that web communications is already entirely commercialized. In less than five years commerce has taken over the Internet. You cannot surf the Net without seeing many banner ads and all sorts of other commercial messages.

    Even though the search engines, internet portals and push technology have been developing at break-neck speed, for most people their web experience is quite limited. From web page to web page and message to message people are exposed to a lot of information that is of no interest to them. The reality of Internet communication is still very far from what's possible.

    To understand how far the Internet still has to go we need an in-depth analysis of how web communications really works as it relates to the needs and wants of human beings. It is beyond the purpose of this review to do such an analysis, but I shall highlight the main issues and possibilities.

The Internet Experience: Surfing and the Efficiency of Human Information Processing

    As with many human activities, there has been such a rush to get on and make money that few have asked whether the Internet communication model that is being used makes the most sense. In fact I believe that it does not, but to see why it does not you have to dig a little deeper, stand back and ask what the Internet is about.

    The answer is actually quite simple, but us humans have managed to make a mess of many simple things, and the Internet is no exception. THE WORLDWIDE WEB IS ABOUT EFFICIENT COMMUNICATION OF INFORMATION.

    No great secret here, but go ahead, dig a little deeper. You get on the Internet. You use a search engine. You participate in a chat group. You do a lot of seeing, some reading, some listening. You click on lots of things, including some banner ads. You open your email. What are you getting for what is presented? Not as much as you might think!

IEQ:  Your Information Efficiency Processing Quotient

    There is lots of information that you can process, most of which barely reaches your consciousness. THEN HOW IS THE INFORMATION YOU PROCESS RELATED TO WHAT YOU NEED AND WANT?  The answer to this question is probably more important to you today then just about anything.  Why is the answer so important?  Because it determines practically everything else that happens to you, whether you know it or not.

    Put another way, what is the ratio of the information that's put in front of you versus the information you actually need, want or use? Is it closer to 2:1 or 1000:1?

    I am guessing 1000:1 for all the time that you put in and the overwhelming amount of information that goes through your screen and speakers.

    A 1000:1 ratio is not too efficient. 10:1 is not efficient. Most people get very upset when they waste one hour out of two. That's 2:1. (So we don't get tied up into arguments about efficiency versus other values, just substitute "best" for "efficiency". The analysis is still pretty much the same.)

    As a matter of fact, the Internet can probably be set up to achieve better than 2:1 efficiencies. Its efficiency potential is so great that it may be the greatest development in human history with respect to the good that can be done. That is, if we don't screw it up!

The Information Matching Problem

    If we want to get a better handle on the issues involved, we need to understand the nature of the information exchange that takes place on the Internet.

    Think about it. You are on the Internet because you want to get some kind of information for whatever reason. You are willing to pay for it, up to a point.

    At the same time there are many who want to push information at you, but you may not want that information. This is basically an information matching problem. How can you get the information you want in the most efficient, optimal way from those who want to spend money to send it to you?

    Time is limited. Practically all human beings want to get the most out of life, if only they knew how. The Internet is just another aspect of this most general life problem. Let's say that an average person will eventually spend seven hours per week on the Internet, including related off-line activity. Shouldn't they get the most out of that seven hours, and how would that happen?

    We seek efficiency, optimization, the best potential. We prefer better over worse. (I don't know anyone, who is sane, who prefers worse over better.) Internet communications can do a lot to improve our lives, but will it? And how can it be made to happen?

    We have Internet etiquette to try to control how information flows. Emotions can run high when someone pushes the "wrong" information at others. Spam and anti-spam activity take up lots of energy and emotion. But as many have pointed out, one person's spam is another person's food.

    So we are back to the efficient matching problem. How can the Internet be set up so that you can choose only the information you need and want from others who push just that information at you, in the least amount of time? This is a challenge that we have thought about at NetPartners Marketing (NMC) for several years. We believe that we have some answers.

The Information Cost Factor

    Although information in general is cheap today, millions of times cheaper than it was just 20 years ago, GOOD INFORMATION is still not that cheap, and the RIGHT INFORMATION is expensive.

    To get the right information to us, in the right way and at the right time, requires much more organization plus some pretty sophisticated technology that still needs to be further developed and tested. The cost of all that ultimately will be in the hundreds of billions of dollars. That is not cheap at all, and somebody has to pay.

    A big problem of course is that the Internet is not free. The overall cost of setting up and maintaining the Internet hardware infrastructure is greater than the monthly connection charges that we pay. This is where advertising comes in. But current Internet advertising presents a lot information that most people don't want. Perhaps we just have to be satisfied for the rest of our lives with having ads thrown our way every minute that we are online. That doesn't sound too attractive, does it?

    IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE THIS WAY! Maybe you believe that it is too late to do something about it, but we do not think so. The challenge is to separate the web surfing experience from electronic advertising, including all types of information presentation.

    NMC and VRCities have entered into a joint venture to do exactly this. They are developing an Internet communication system that will optimize human electronic interaction by eliminating unwanted information from the web surfing experience.

Interfacing Community and Enterprise

    There are things that we do because we enjoy them and other things that we do to survive or improve our material conditions. Sometimes, of course, the two overlap. This distinction has been important throughout human history.

    With respect to Internet communications we can apply the above distinction to community interests and enterprise activity. Both are important and interrelated, but need to be better separated to improve our quality of life. The VRCities online community and InfoChoice^SM model will make the distinction between commercial and non-commercial information more explicit.

    For those who want it, we can create an ad-free web surfing environment and still maintain the commerce to pay for it. We are doing this by creating an interface between two parallel electronic information systems: (1) VRCities' ad-free online communities, where people can interact effectively, without being exposed to advertising, and (2) Choice-based commerce, where people select the kind of commercial information that they are interested in receiving.

    The Choice-based system will include a form of opt-in email and guides to commerce web pages. The idea is to let the user choose when and where to get commercial information!

    VRCities will establish two independent but related Internet channels. The VRCities online community will present information that matches personal and community interests without distracting advertising. At the same time VRCities commerce web sites will be operating in parallel and will be used to pay the costs of the ad-free web environment. We believe that this approach will greatly improve each type of activity on the Internet.

    By setting up two parallel systems with an integrative interface, people will be able to surf VRCities' world without commercial interruptions. The system will be paid for by choice-based commercial information that will be sent to people through the InfoChoice^SM interface. This interface is similar to the systems set up by some of the search engines and free email companies such as Juno. The InfoChoice^SM model is an important advance because users will not be bombarded by advertising while they are surfing on VRCities web communities.

Personalizing Your Information Needs for Community and Commerce

    To make both the community and commercial web activity work well it is necessary that the presentation of information be matched with surfers' interests. This will be done through the InfoChoice^SM survey, tracking technology, and relevant software applications. The overall goal is to develop a self-enhancing system that will continually improve people's experience as they go about their Internet activities.

    Surfers will be able to choose and limit the information that they want presented to them. At first the match between presented and chosen information categories will be broad and general, but as the system develops its efficiency will increase rapidly and become very accurate. The model will also be dynamic, people can change the choices they make so that they information they receive will also be changed.

Conclusion

    The ideas presented here are not particularly new, but their application is. VRCities and NMC are working to create a designed Internet environment that will separate commercial and non-commercial activity, AND will better match surfers' interests. That is something no one has attempted to date. We believe that it is the next step in the evolution of the Internet's development and will significantly improve the quality of Internet activity.