102

Introducing the e-newspaper –Audience Preferences and Demands: 

Introducing the e-newspaper – Audience Preferences and Demands Carina Ihlström Eriksson & Maria Åkesson

The DigiNews project: 

The DigiNews project Goal An end-to-end solution for the future e-newspaper, from production to distribution to consumer Participants Philips Applied Technologies, Belgium – project leader with company and university partners from Belgium, Spain, Sweden, England and France Duration 1/7-04 – 30/6-06

Partners: 

Partners

Designing Ubiquitous Media Services through Action Research – ”UbiMedia”: 

Designing Ubiquitous Media Services through Action Research – ”UbiMedia” ANYTIME, ANYWHERE IT convergence, media convergence, more mobile users ”Multitude of devices and contexts”

UbiMedia: 

UbiMedia Goal To explore how ubiquitous information environments can be designed to support production and distribution of profitable ubiquitous media services leveraging user value. Participants 9 Swedish newspapers, The Swedish Newspaper Publishers´ Association and Stampen (a parent company for several newspapers, printing houses and distribution companies). Duration 1/7-06-30/6-08

E-paper technology: 

E-paper technology

Sony Reader: 

Sony Reader Sony Reader 6-inch screen, 9 ounces, 7.500 page views, up to 80 eBooks Sony Connects

iRex iLiad: 

iRex iLiad 8.1 inch screen with 16 levels of grey and 160 dpi resolution De TIJD was tested on the iLiad Yantai Media Group has started to publish their newspapers on iLiads during 2006

Polymer vision: 

Polymer vision Concept Readius - rollable display technology

Plastic Logic: 

Plastic Logic Flexible e-paper

Fujitsu: 

Fujitsu Color e-paper in 2007

LG Philips: 

LG Philips LG.Philips' 14.1-inch color e-paper 4,096 colors

Tokyo display: 

Tokyo display

E-paper technology: 

E-paper technology

Motorola: 

Motorola "Electronic paper" has long been hyped as the future of newspapers and books, but products like e-books have been slow to take off. That may soon change, say executives involved in the pioneering technology. David Jackson, director of marketing and planning at E Ink, also points to the E Ink display on the circuit board for a Motorola cellular phone. Picture taken March 29, 2007. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

The e-newspaper: 

The e-newspaper ”A newspaper published on e-paper technology” Source: Svenåke Boström, Sundsvalls Tidning

The survey: 

The survey Table 1: Newspapers hosts for questionnaires and number of respondents 3.626 respondents

The evaluation: 

The evaluation User evaluations in 2006 10 families E-newspaper presented in iRex iLiad Duration 2 weeks Questionnaire Daily activites with online diary etc Semi-structured interviews – 90 minutes Questionnaire

Sundsvalls Tidning in iRex iLiad: 

Sundsvalls Tidning in iRex iLiad

Theoretical framework: 

Theoretical framework Table 2: Summary of factors related to use experience

Demographic and background data - survey: 

Demographic and background data - survey Table 3: Demographic and background data of the questionnaire respondents

Demographic and background data – test persons: 

Demographic and background data – test persons 3 women and 9 men with the average age of 39,7 Educational level: elementary (2) grammar (5) university level (5) Occupation: full time work (9) students (2) senior citizen (1) Media habits: subscribers (9), non-subscribers (2) online news readers (12) mobile service users (5)

Reasons for exchange: 

Reasons for exchange Table 4: Reasons for exchanging traditional newspaper

Preferences: 

Preferences Table 5: Added services preferences

Cost level: 

Cost level Table 6: Acceptable cost level

Finance of device: 

Finance of device Table 7: Finance of device

Willingness to exchange: 

Willingness to exchange Table 8: Willingness to exchange the traditional newspaper

Timeframe: 

Timeframe Table 9: Time frame

Influencing factors: 

Influencing factors Table 10: Influencing factors

Conclusions: 

Conclusions For a succesful launch of the e-newspaper: the e-newspaper need to contain archive functions providing added value by personalization and by offering community information would increase the potential adoption if the newspaper organizations offer added value according to the audience preferences, they could expect the same willingness to pay as for the printed edition as most respondents preferred to have the device financed by inclusion in the subscription, this could be considered as the initial alternative as almost half of the respondents stated that they were ready to start reading the e-newspaper already today, it is time for the newspapers to start preparing for the e-newspaper introduction however, before launching the e-newspaper, the navigation has to be improved as well as the refresh rate of the display

Thank you!: 

Thank you! Carina Ihlström Eriksson carina.ihlstrom_eriksson@ide.hh.se Maria Åkesson maria.akesson@ide.hh.se media-it.hh.se