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Civita: The Paradox of Disintermediation

In December 2007, Antonio Maccanico, director, Associazione Civita in Rome, Italy, asked me to contribute an essay to a forthcoming publication focused on new information and communications technology. The full essay will not appear in print until later in 2008, but I wanted to highlight several of the points in my essay because each is germane to the tumultuous search and content processing sector. When the Italian language publication becomes available, I will post a link to the full text of my essay “Open Access and Other New Communication Technology Plays: The Temptation and Paradox of Disintermediation Roulette”.

First, the title. One of the issues that arises when a new search or content processing technology becomes available is its usefulness. Few vendors assert that their newest system brings numerous benefits to a licensee, user, or business partner. A positive, optimistic outlook is one of the essentials of mental health. However, I’ve learned to be conservative when it comes to benefits. This essay of Associazione Civita reminds the reader that many new information technologies are powerful disintermediators.

Disintermediation means cutting out the middle man or woman. If it is possible to buy something cheaper direct from manufacturer, many people will. The savings can be a few pennies or orders of magnitude. Information technology disintermediates. In my experience, this is a categorical affirmative. The benefit of information technology — particularly search and content processing — is that it creates new opportunities. We are in the midst of a information discontinuity. Publishers — classic intermediaries between authors and readers — are learning about disintermediation as I keyboard this summary. Libraries continue to struggle with disintermediation as student rely on Google, not reference books for research. The paradox, then, is that dislocation is inevitable. So far, the information revolution has created more opportunities overall. Users are “winners”. Some entrepreneurs are “winners”. Some traditional operations are trying to adapt lest they become “losers”.

Second, the core of my argument in this essay for Associazione Civita boils down to three issues. Let’s look at each briefly. Please, appreciate that I am extracting a segment from a 20 – page essay:

1. Web sites, Web services, and Web applications do not guarantee success. In fact, inexperience or bad decisions about what to “Web – ify” can drag an organization down, and, in terms of revenue, plunge the operation into the red. Therefore, significant effort is required to create a browser experience that attracts users and continues to build usage. The costs of development, enhancements, and sales are often far greater than expected. In terms of search and content processing, customers learn (often the hard way) that there is neither money nor appetite for making the system perform as advertised. I see no change in this paradoxical situation. The more you want to do with content, the farther behind you fall.
2. Information on its own won’t ensure success. Users are now savvy when it comes to access, interface, ease of use, and clarity. I learned yesterday about a new search system that uses the Apple iPhone “flipping page” metaphor to display search results. A list of relevant results in the view of the venture firm pumping millions into this start up is that interface, not relevance, is as important as clever algorithms. I never thought I would say this, but, “I agree”. A flawed user experience can doom a superior search and content processing system within 30 seconds of a user’s accessing the service.
3. Assumptions have to be verified with facts. Echoing in my mind is a catch phrase from someone in either President Reagan’s or President Clinton’s administration. The catch phrase is, “Trust but verify”. One of the twists in the information world is that the snazzier the demonstration, the greater the gullibility factor. A “gullibility factor” is a person’s willingness to accept the demo as reality. Assumptions about what search and content processing can do contribute to most information retrieval project failures. We stop at “trust” and leap frog over “verify”.

What happens when a system works well? What takes place when an entrepreneur “invents” a better mouse trap? What takes place when senior management uses a system and gets useful results quickly and without an engineer standing by to “help out the suit”?

Disintermediation. When systems work, the likelihood of staff reductions or business process modification goes up. The idea is that software can “reduce headcount”.

This issue is particularly sensitive for libraries, museums, academic institutions, and certain citizen – facing services. The more effective a system is, the easier it is to justify marginalizing certain institutions, people, and manual work processes. As we pursue ever more potent search and content processing, keep in mind that the imperative of disintermediation follows closely behind.

Stephen Arnold, March 19, 2008

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