Abstracting Complexity
On "Abandon the Web" there is an interesting post about The Sky Ahead.
In it, there is a theory of how "The Net" will turn into "The Cloud" (which is a term that is already used to describe the internet) and the interface should become no more complex than a power point in the wall (which itself hides the complexity of the power grid).
This type of approach factors into our thinking with Touchstone.
How? Well the complexity that we geeks experience when finding, subscribing and using RSS is only the beginning when it comes to 'barrier to entry' for mainstream users. This barrier is being well looked after by Microsoft and Mozilla with their respective implementations of browser based feed subscription interfaces.
The problem is, though, that with hair trigger subscription mechanisms - we (and the mainstream) are going to run out of attention time.
This brings us to the second barrier - the one we are trying to solve - time. Mainstream users don't have time to read 200+ feeds like us geeks do.
So with Touchstone, we are trying to move the complexity of choosing what new items matter (and how much that change should interrupt the user) into the cloud. A decision making process that takes into account your interests, your feeds, your OPML profile, the current site your on etc...
Keeping informed should be as easy as glancing at your Touchstone news ticker.
In it, there is a theory of how "The Net" will turn into "The Cloud" (which is a term that is already used to describe the internet) and the interface should become no more complex than a power point in the wall (which itself hides the complexity of the power grid).
This type of approach factors into our thinking with Touchstone.
How? Well the complexity that we geeks experience when finding, subscribing and using RSS is only the beginning when it comes to 'barrier to entry' for mainstream users. This barrier is being well looked after by Microsoft and Mozilla with their respective implementations of browser based feed subscription interfaces.
The problem is, though, that with hair trigger subscription mechanisms - we (and the mainstream) are going to run out of attention time.
This brings us to the second barrier - the one we are trying to solve - time. Mainstream users don't have time to read 200+ feeds like us geeks do.
So with Touchstone, we are trying to move the complexity of choosing what new items matter (and how much that change should interrupt the user) into the cloud. A decision making process that takes into account your interests, your feeds, your OPML profile, the current site your on etc...
Keeping informed should be as easy as glancing at your Touchstone news ticker.
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