| Broadband: How wide should
the pipe be? |
| Investigating end-user constraints
on data accessibility |
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| by Fred
Voorhorst (Manno, 2001) |
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| Broadband, the next generation Internet
is at our doorstep. Technical advances have created
fast connections, so called pipes, with even the most
remote location possible. Anywhere, you will have
the information highway at your fingertips. But what
will this new technology bring us? Will it improve
the end-user experience? |
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Broadband
is maturing from an experimental stage and becoming
within reach of every consumer. Fibre technology
is dominating the market, allowing for data
delivery with near speed of light. Over the
last years network operators have invested a
lot in highspeed glass-fibre technology, even
more than there is demand for. As a consequence
the prices for high-speed connections have dropped
and have become affordable for every consumer
[1]. Broadband is truly getting out of the labs
and into the market place.
A nice example of this is the success shown
by the Fantastic Corporation, first in broad
band data communciation. Despite the huge potential we were not able to push the ideas through. |
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The type of connection determines the speed
in which you can send and receive data. The
connection is commonly referred to as 'pipe'.
In particular, the dimension of the pipe determines
the amount of data you have access to per time
interval. There are two factors of the pipe
influencing the transmission rate (see Figure),
its lengths and its diameter. The longer the
distance, the more time it takes to receive
or distribute data. A large diameter allows
for parallel transmission of data, increasing
the amounts of data per time unit received |
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The influence of the pipe dimensions
on the end-user experience is still unknown. Not surprisingly,
technical advances are driving the broadband market,
ignoring end-user experience. Contrary to technical
aspects, the end-user experience never has been investigated.
This paper aims to systematically investigate and
by doing so give insight into the effect of pipe dimensions
on the end-user experience. |
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As the focus for broadband is the consumer market,
the sizes of pipes used for the experiment reflect
those that commonly are available for house
appliances. The figure on the left shows the
two extremes (taken are the 20 percentile and
80 percentile of dimensions found).
A prototype to control the information pick-up
by end users was constructed. This prototype
will be referred to as 'GLobal Information SenSitive
Experience transducerS (from here on referred
to as GLASSES©, see figures below). |
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Subjects were presented twelve different
tasks, and asked to grade the page on a seven point
scale running from highly interesting to extremely
dull. Subjects were given as much time as they considered
required. As stimuli a twelve web pages were selected
ranging from full multi-media experience to a page
with text only. The stimuli were presented in random
order. Six subjects participated in the experiment.
All subjects were member of the Fantastic Corporation
R&D department. After making participation to
the experiment part of their MBO, subjects were found
to participate willingly and voluntarily. An aside,
using the MBO to motivate the participation in such
experiments might be the only useful application for
the still controversial MBO [2].
Stimuli and conditions were randomized for each subject.
Measured were the grading of the web pages and the
amount of time used viewing the page. |
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Pipe
dimensions were found to have most effect with
multimedia content (Figure right).
Pipe dimensions were found to be an important
factor on the time usage (see Figure far right),
both for the multimedia and the text only situation. |
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| For
text only pages only a small effect was found
if the differences between conditions are extreme
(a small and long pipe verses a short and wide
one). For the grading of the pages, the best
condition was found to be a short and wide pipe.
Pipe dimensions were found to be an important
factor on the time usage (see Figure far right),
both for the multimedia and the text only situation.
A short and wide pipe results in significantly
shorter time usage compared to a long and narrow
pipe. No differences were found between a long
but wide pipe and a short but narrow |
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During the experiment it was noticed
that with narrow pipes end-users start to compensate
the reduced information flow by active exploration,
by making head movements. It is known that information
pick-up closely relates to possibilities of action
[5].
Based on our observation it is believed that there
is room for improving network and web technology by
linking the behavior of the user to the data transport.
Further research will focus on how active exploration
of the end-user can compensate for the dimensions
of the pipe.
Further investigations will also focus on data filtering
by using semi transparent reception, the so-called
Partially OccLuding trAnsmission pROtocolair Information
Device (also known as POLAROID, see Figure above).
However, as the results of the experiment show, to
reduce data access, one could also use a longer and/or
narrower pipe.
In sum, despite its slow roll-out [e.g. 1] broadband
shows potential, and may have an extremely interesting
and promising future, provided technical constraints
are investigated and developed taking into consideration
end-user needs. |
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| References |
[1] Karlin Lillington (2001) A
ninety billion dollar mistake In: The Guardian. August
23, 2001
[2] Milkovich & Wigdor (1992) Pay for performance,
National Academy of Sciences, Washington DC.
[3] D. N. Adams. (1982) Life, the Universe and Everything.
Pan Books
[4] D. N. Adams (1986) Mostly harmless (the fifth
part of the hitch hiker's guide trilogy). Pan Books
[5] Gibson, J.J. (1979) An ecological approach to
visual perception. Lawrence Earlbaum Associates, London
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| Final comments |
| Reverse Engineering - Please read [4] for an in-depth
understanding of the implementation and possible application
of reverse-engineering techniques. |
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| Bistromatic - As Douglas Adams
[3] describes, Bistromatics is a novel approach to
mathematics based on new insights that, similar to
the fact that time depends on people's movements through
space, the value of numbers depends on people's movements
through Bistros. For an in-depth understanding of
Bistromatics and an overview of the non-absolute numbers,
please read [3] and preferably his entire work. |
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| Disclaimer: Ideas and opinions presented in this paper are personal and do not reflect those of The Fantastic Corporation. |
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| Download the full
paper (140kb) |
