Multichannel in a complex world

The proliferation of devices and channels has brought new challenges to just about every organisation in delivering consistently good customer experiences and effectively joining up service provision with marketing activity, data and content. A good multichannel strategy and execution is increasingly becoming essential to marketers and customer experience professionals from every sector. This report seeks to identify the key issues, challenges and opportunities that surround multichannel and provide some best practice insight and principles on the elements that are key to multichannel success. As part of the research for this report, we spoke to six experienced customer experience and marketing practitioners from large organisations across different sectors. In Multichannel Marketing: Metrics and Methods for On and Offline Success, Akin Arikan (2008) said: ‘Because customers are multichannel beings and demand relevant, consistent experiences across all channels, businesses need to adopt a multichannel mind-set when listening to their customers.’ It was clear from the companies interviewed for this report that it remains challenging for many organisations to maintain consistency across so many customer touchpoints. Not only that, but the ability to balance consistency with the capability to fully exploit the unique attributes of each channel remains an aspiration for many. The proliferation of devices and digital channels has added complexity to customer journeys, making issues around the joining up of customer experience and the attribution of value of key importance to many. Whilst senior leaders within the organisations spoken to seem to be bought in to multichannel, this buy-in was not always replicated across the rest of the organisation and did not always translate into a cohesive multichannel strategy. A number of companies were undertaking work around customer journey mapping and customer segmentation, using a variety of passive and actively collected data in order to identify specific areas of poor customer experience and create action plans for improvement. Others were undertaking projects using sophisticated tracking and tagging technologies to develop an understanding of the value and role of specific channels and to provide better intelligence to the business on attribution that might be used to inform future investment decisions. A consistent barrier to improving customer experience is the ability to join up many different legacy systems and data in order to provide a single customer view and form the basis for delivery of a more consistent and cohesive multichannel approach. Whilst there remain significant challenges around multichannel, there are some useful technologies allowing businesses to develop better insight into customer motivation and activity. Nonetheless, delivery of seamless multichannel experience remains a work-inprogress for many

Epälineaarinen televisioitu urheilu – käyttäjätutkimus viivästettyjen sisältöjen katselukokemuksesta

Engaging with television is increasingly moving from viewing of linear broadcasts to time-shifted content. Sports is one of the most important but also one of the most time-dependent content genres. The objective of this thesis is to categorize time-shifted sports viewing behavior and clarify whether non-linear options can offer enjoyable viewing experiences. Our user research included contextual interviews, a survey and analysis of real-life usage data. The results confirm that live viewing is the dominant and preferred type of sports viewing experience. However, we identified three different paradigms of time-shifted viewing as well. They were perceived as secondary options, but relevant within certain circumstances. Our research shows that a number of peripheral activities affect non-linear viewing of sports. Social interactions, media use and betting are among the factors that seem to diminish the advantages of time-shifting. The findings support further development of services that offer non-linear sports content. Such services should let the viewers choose between a laid- back type of experience and more active involvement.Television katselu on yhä enemmän muuttumassa lineaarikanavien katselusta epälineaarisiin sisältöihin. Urheilu on yksi television tärkeimmistä mutta myös aikasidonnaisimmista ohjelmatyypeistä. Tämän diplomityön tavoitteena on luokitella urheilun epälineaarista katsomista ja selvittää, voiko se tarjota nautinnollisia katselukokemuksia. Käyttäjätutkimuksemme koostui kontekstuaalisista haastatteluista, kyselystä ja käyttödatan analysoinnista. Tulokset vahvistavat suorien lähetysten olevan suosituin tapa katsoa urheilua. Tunnistimme kuitenkin myös kolme erilaista epälineaarisen katsomisen mallia. Niitä pidettiin toissijaisina, mutta tietyissä olosuhteissa olennaisina vaihtoehtoina. Oheistoiminta vaikuttaa urheilun epälineaariseen katsomiseen. Sosiaalinen kanssakäyminen, median käyttö ja vedonlyönti voivat vähentää epälineaarisen katsomisen etuja. Löydökset tukevat epälineaarisia urheilusisältöjä tarjoavien palveluiden kehitystä. Uusien palveluiden tulisi tarjota mahdollisuus sekä rentoon ja passiiviseen katselukokemukseen että aktiivisempaan katselutapaan

Epälineaarinen televisioitu urheilu – käyttäjätutkimus viivästettyjen sisältöjen katselukokemuksesta

Engaging with television is increasingly moving from viewing of linear broadcasts to time-shifted content. Sports is one of the most important but also one of the most time-dependent content genres. The objective of this thesis is to categorize time-shifted sports viewing behavior and clarify whether non-linear options can offer enjoyable viewing experiences. Our user research included contextual interviews, a survey and analysis of real-life usage data. The results confirm that live viewing is the dominant and preferred type of sports viewing experience. However, we identified three different paradigms of time-shifted viewing as well. They were perceived as secondary options, but relevant within certain circumstances. Our research shows that a number of peripheral activities affect non-linear viewing of sports. Social interactions, media use and betting are among the factors that seem to diminish the advantages of time-shifting. The findings support further development of services that offer non-linear sports content. Such services should let the viewers choose between a laid- back type of experience and more active involvement.Television katselu on yhä enemmän muuttumassa lineaarikanavien katselusta epälineaarisiin sisältöihin. Urheilu on yksi television tärkeimmistä mutta myös aikasidonnaisimmista ohjelmatyypeistä. Tämän diplomityön tavoitteena on luokitella urheilun epälineaarista katsomista ja selvittää, voiko se tarjota nautinnollisia katselukokemuksia. Käyttäjätutkimuksemme koostui kontekstuaalisista haastatteluista, kyselystä ja käyttödatan analysoinnista. Tulokset vahvistavat suorien lähetysten olevan suosituin tapa katsoa urheilua. Tunnistimme kuitenkin myös kolme erilaista epälineaarisen katsomisen mallia. Niitä pidettiin toissijaisina, mutta tietyissä olosuhteissa olennaisina vaihtoehtoina. Oheistoiminta vaikuttaa urheilun epälineaariseen katsomiseen. Sosiaalinen kanssakäyminen, median käyttö ja vedonlyönti voivat vähentää epälineaarisen katsomisen etuja. Löydökset tukevat epälineaarisia urheilusisältöjä tarjoavien palveluiden kehitystä. Uusien palveluiden tulisi tarjota mahdollisuus sekä rentoon ja passiiviseen katselukokemukseen että aktiivisempaan katselutapaan

Simulating activities: Relating motives, deliberation, and attentive coordination

Activities are located behaviors, taking time, conceived as socially meaningful, and usually involving interaction with tools and the environment. In modeling human cognition as a form of problem solving (goal-directed search and operator sequencing), cognitive science researchers have not adequately studied “off-task” activities (e.g., waiting), non-intellectual motives (e.g., hunger), sustaining a goal state (e.g., playful interaction), and coupled perceptual-motor dynamics (e.g., following someone). These aspects of human behavior have been considered in bits and pieces in past research, identified as scripts, human factors, behavior settings, ensemble, flow experience, and situated action. More broadly, activity theory provides a comprehensive framework relating motives, goals, and operations. This paper ties these ideas together, using examples from work life in a Canadian High Arctic research station. The emphasis is on simulating human behavior as it naturally occurs, such that “working” is understood as an aspect of living. The result is a synthesis of previously unrelated analytic perspectives and a broader appreciation of the nature of human cognition. Simulating activities in this comprehensive way is useful for understanding work practice, promoting learning, and designing better tools, including human-robot systems

The Internet, Aesthetic Experience, and Liminality

This work analyzes the transitional activities and experiences that are inherent to accessing and navigating the Internet. Under established anthropological fieldwork of liminality theory by Victor Turner, as well as John Dewey\u27s claims in experiential aesthetic theory, aesthetic experiences of the Internet are characterized. This paper concludes that such internet experiences abide by liminal thresholds and therefore comprise aesthetic distinction and significance. While Dewian aesthetics can only characterize this aesthetic distinction to a certain degree, Blanka Domagalska provides an alternative liminal explanation towards classifying such experience and its effect on individuation. Conclusive classifications of internet experiences in turn lend to greater metaphysical considerations regarding humanity\u27s manifestation of being in a hyper-mediated, internet accessible world

Youth and Digital Media: From Credibility to Information Quality

Building upon a process-and context-oriented information quality framework, this paper seeks to map and explore what we know about the ways in which young users of age 18 and under search for information online, how they evaluate information, and how their related practices of content creation, levels of new literacies, general digital media usage, and social patterns affect these activities. A review of selected literature at the intersection of digital media, youth, and information quality -- primarily works from library and information science, sociology, education, and selected ethnographic studies -- reveals patterns in youth's information-seeking behavior, but also highlights the importance of contextual and demographic factors both for search and evaluation. Looking at the phenomenon from an information-learning and educational perspective, the literature shows that youth develop competencies for personal goals that sometimes do not transfer to school, and are sometimes not appropriate for school. Thus far, educational initiatives to educate youth about search, evaluation, or creation have depended greatly on the local circumstances for their success or failure

CHORUS Deliverable 2.1: State of the Art on Multimedia Search Engines

Based on the information provided by European projects and national initiatives related to multimedia search as well as domains experts that participated in the CHORUS Think-thanks and workshops, this document reports on the state of the art related to multimedia content search from, a technical, and socio-economic perspective. The technical perspective includes an up to date view on content based indexing and retrieval technologies, multimedia search in the context of mobile devices and peer-to-peer networks, and an overview of current evaluation and benchmark inititiatives to measure the performance of multimedia search engines. From a socio-economic perspective we inventorize the impact and legal consequences of these technical advances and point out future directions of research

Re-written by machine and new technology: Did the Internet kill the Video Star

The traditional way of understanding television content consumption and viewer reactions may be simply summarised: information about the program, viewing at airing time, and interpersonal discussion after the program. In our digital media environment due to crossmedia consumption and platform shifts, the actual trend in audiovisual, and traditionally television content consumption is changing, the viewer’s journey is different across contents and platforms. Content is becoming independent from the platform and the medium is increasingly in the hands of technologically empowered viewers. Our objective is to uncover how traditional content expressly manufactured for television (series, reality shows, sports) can now be consumed via other platforms, and how and to what extent audiovisual content consumption is complemented or replaced by other forms (text, audio). In our exploratory research we identify the typical patterns of interaction and synergies of consumption across classical media content. In this study we used a multimethodology qualitative research design with three research phases including focus groups, online content analysis, and viewers’ narratives. Overall, the Video Star stays alive, but has to deal with immediate reactions and has to change according to his or her audiences’ wishe

Media content choice: dynamics of selection in the new television ecosystem

This paper expands existing understandings of how entertainment content viewers conceptualize, encounter, evaluate, and select entertainment video content in the emerging television ecosystem. Special attention is paid to the influences that create awareness around a particular media product and the decision-making dynamics that influence viewers as they move through the selection process. Patterns of awareness, discovery, selection, and adoption relevant to a theoretical understanding of media content choice are identified and discussed