2009

Research has come a long way over the years...

…And today we think we’re pretty sophisticated in our

online use.

But we’re heading in to the unknown.”

A place that could make 2.0 look as high tech as the fax machine.

(1)

A place dubbed “semantic web”

In its essence, semantic web is made up of two dimensions.

It leverages the wealth of data available online,

with the increasingly sophisticated thinking power of computers.

(2)

We are generating more and more data online, at an outstanding rate. We upload data, we blog, we share, we connect, we co-create, we upload some more we Google, we wiki, we meet people, we upload “more than 13 hours of footage to You Tube every minute.” (3)

We have reached a point where the World Wide Web now

“contains at least

(4)

We search for keywords and we get pages that contain those words, some of which are entirely irrelevant

At the moment, we can only do simple tasks on the web, like

order a pizza, check the weather in Paris and book a

holiday.

(5)

Which for research could mean we no longer need to ask questions, because the answers are already out there.

Computers are increasing their semantic ability. Meaning they will be able to gather and structure information in a more intelligent way.

With semantic web computers won’t just blindly retrieve information, they will understand more of the meaning behind web pages, so they will “perform more of the tedious work involved in finding, sharing and combining information on the web.” (6).

Has the research industry already missed the boat?

There’s some players in the market who are embracing this already, and they’re people you probably wouldn’t think of as researchers. Whilst their plans for 3.0 aren’t only about research, they’ve already started working in our industry.

What’s more impressive, is their use of the “system to mine the buzz on college websites to predict songs that would hit the top of the pop charts in the next two weeks. A capability more impressive than today’s market research predictions.” (9)

IBM have used the data mining “system to do market research for television networks in the popularity of shows by mining a popular online community site.” (8)

IBM say they regularly use the data on the World Wide Web for market research and branding projects for their corporate clients. (7)

And it makes sense, after all they are the masters of collecting, observing, collating information and making important decisions based on it.

There’s a range of technology companies that are developing software for this new era. Interestingly, some of the early research in this area was originally commissioned by intelligence and military agencies. (10)

It would require a 180 degree shift in thinking and change the entire way we go about our work.

We wouldn't need to ask behavioural questions, they’d already be out there. We wouldn’t need to ask people what they think of our brand, they would have discussed it already.

We would need to shift our perception of what’s available online. Seeing it as a robust, credible and logical dataset, and then use the semantic ability of search engines to

delve in to it.

There would be no more focus on trying to enhance them with sweeteners like cash incentives, points and games.

A focus on citizen insights’ would mean a

huge change in our relationship with

respondents.

There would be no direct interaction with respondents…

So it could mean our incentive costs drop right down to a big fat zero.

What will the so called respondents think when they find out their personal comments are being used for

commercial use?

Some argue that if the internet becomes open source, then we’re just using information that’s publicly available. And don’t bloggers want their voice heard? Isn’t that the whole point?

Is it really ethnography? Or have we crossed the line from observation to invasion?

If this is where we’re heading as an industry, there’s some serious ethical guidelines we need to consider.

Not only would semantic web change how we work, but also the skills we would need to stay ahead in the industry.

It could affect the way we approach training, the way we recruit, the kind of people that end up in market research

It could mean an entire transformation from this…

to this...

Only time will tell...

References Citations 1. 2 Radar Networks & Nova Spivack, 2007. Semantics of Social Connections. Retrieved 1 August 2009 from http://novaspivack.typepad.com RadarNetworksTowardsAWebOS.jpg 3. 5. 6 Wikipedia. You Tube. Retrieved 2 August 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_tube 4. Wikipedia. Semantic Web. Retrieved 2 August 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seman tic_web.jpg 7.8.9.10 Markoff, John. (2006, Nov 12). Entrepreneurs See a Web Guided by Common Sense. The New York Times. Retrieved 2 July from http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/12/business/12web.html

Thank You Lets Connect! Erica van Lieven Managing Director November 2013 www.directionfirst.com Linked in: au.linkedin.com/in/ericavanlieven/ Twitter: @erica_dfirst Email: erica.vanlieven@directionfirst.com