The conversation thing

While we’re at Channel 4 let’s take a look. It’s a gorgeously simple website. British like hell : perfectly balanced, colorfull, yet stylish and easy to read. Kinda old fashioned as I compare it to the new bbc beta face, but then again, channel 4 is more about entertainment than news, and even if it weren’t so, I would’ve still liked it.

Speaking of BBC, this personalised type of interface is going to mark a huge step for the mass-media. The news will no longer be delivered, but channeled while end-users will have different perspectives on the same amount of events the site provides. Normally, there will be a gaussian distribution in the users preferences, but still, 2 different users will access two different bbc homepages. This will bring a shift in media sociology: the provider of the news will no longer controll the way information is received. Maybe online ads will reflect your preferences, but a puzzling question is how will the user choices influence the posted information? TV works on ratings, but internet provides a more specific way of quantification… so will the change be major, what is your take?