Monday, November 27, 2006

Flash: Iliad and De Tijd eNewsPaper (1)

On the 24 of November there was a conference on digital newspapers in Maastricht organised by the European Journalism Centre (EJC). Amongst others a lecture was presented on the results of the iLiad pilot with the Belgian financial newspaper De Tijd. This is the press release.

Ghent, 24 November 2006 – The IBBT ePaper project intended to test users’ reaction to real life newspaper content on a dedicated electronic device, in this case the Iliad e-reader (using e-ink technology). A field test involving 200 users finished June 30th 2006, and the project consortium is pleased to present interesting results on several levels.

As it turns out, users did not seem to compare the ePaper experience to internet news-sites, but rather to their existing ‘classic’ paper version. They were in fact expecting the same look and feel. They were also looking for the newspaper’s editorial concept. Getting last minute updates or the RSS style micro news seemed to be of less interest.

Many considered the device to be a complementary tool, ideal for mobile use. Users did consider it probable, however, that devices like the e reader would replace the paper version in the future. Over 45% of the participants indicated that they would consider the purchase of a next-generation e-reader device. If left up to the reader, newspapers will survive, but on new paper…

The project also yielded insights in business models, network distribution technology, content and device usability, and digital rights management. Short summaries of the research results can be found in attachment.

The following partners participated in the ePaper project: De Tijd, Philips, iRex Technologies, Belgacom, Agency.com, iMerge and IBBT.


I have received from ibbt a number of documents about the pilot and will be dealing with them in the coming week.

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