In recent years, we have all experienced a Digital Media Explosion on the internet. The dramatic advancement in technology has resulted in a superior quality of digital audio, video and other types of content media as well as (almost) instant delivery of rich content to the consumers. The improved infrastructure has resulted in a reliable and fast internet access to the common public all over the world. Apart from content produced by media companies like BBC, CNN, Apple iTunes, Sony Music, FOX etc., contributions by individuals cannot be ignored. WordPress alone has over 800,000 bloggers churning out blogs, Youtube has made home videos popular and publicly available…
It is very easy to get overwhelmed by this mind-boggling amount of information and content available to you 24/7/365. This has resulted in an Information Overload that can easily negate the effectiveness and usefulness of such information. Too much information also results in confusion (can’t understand the information or have doubts about validity) and inaccessibility (don’t know where to find it or don’t know if it exists).
How can I avoid information overload and still get relevant information/content regularly? Enter Personalization or P13N in short. P13N is probably the answer to the problem created by the exploding digital content on the internet. Can I get the content that I like, or will probably like, delivered to me? And can that happen without me having to search the internet?
Many online service providers have already implemented P13N in some form. The most common examples are Amazon’s Recommendation Engine or the latest push from Google to personalize search results. I applaud the idea and would love to see its effectiveness. What I don’t like in both these cases is that I have to register with them. Where is my anonymity?
