Friday
Jul162004
288 - Geo-Location and Learning: Where You Are Determines Content You Access
July 16, 2004
TRENDS by Elliott Masie - July 16, 2004
#288 - Updates on Learning, eLearning and Training
47,793 Readers - The MASIE Center - www.masie.com
Geo-Location and Learning
Where You Are Determines Content You Access
Here is a phrase to add to your technology radar screen:
"Geo-Location"
This is the ability to use the location of a user as the key to determining what content they view through their browser. Open up Google and type the word “dentist”. Where you are might determine what results come up on your screen. You might get either a paid listing or a general preference sort for your locale.
Now, let's apply Geo-Location to learning. Let's say I am interested in learning about Compliance Issues. Once again, my request for information, even when hitting a link entitled "Learn About Compliance" might use my geographical location to give me a very different answer depending on the nation, state or even city where I am located.
Your IP number, the nature of your ISP and other technological factors can reveal to a webserver the location of the mouse driving the click. And, that can be used to sort, refine, profile or localize the web experience.
The user location could determine factors including:
- Language
- Local Culture
- Local Regulations
- Local Context
- Local Procedures
Customer based learning can also be greatly influenced by geo-location, where products can be taught and additional options marketed through localized content. For example, the product can be shown being used in a local photograph (eg. A car in front a popular local landmark).
Here are some other examples of Geo-Location from a recent article by
Wired:
A French court considered Geo-Locaion when it directed Yahoo in 2000 to prevent French Internet users from seeing Nazi paraphernalia on its auction pages. America Online sees Geo-Location as one way to comply with the French Nazi ban as well as a Pennsylvania child porn law.
But for the most part, any online restrictions appear to come from commercial companies, not governments. (China and other countries that censor the Internet use filtering technologies rather than geolocation.)
In the past few months, RealNetworks began offering soccer games and movies restricted to specific countries while Art.com coded its website so Americans automatically see prices in dollars, Germans in euros.
Here is how Geo-Location works:
*Each computer on the net has a unique ID that is like a phone number, called an IP address. It is linked to an internet service provider and also to a server at an organization. This links to a database that shows location of the server.
*Companies such as Akamai and Quova trace specific data packets as they go through the network routers to get an even better fix on the location of the requesting browser vs. the location of the corporate headquarters.
*Providers also overlay on Fortune 500 companies and their industries, so websites can target ads, say, to high-tech personnel. It also marries ZIP codes with census data to create demographic profiles.
Geo-Location also has a good number of challenges and skeptics, including false results and privacy/civil liberty issues.
The MASIE Center is tracking Geo-Location as a key technology, both in terms of browser improvement, content personalization and also enriched filtering capacities.
Upcoming MASIE Center Services & Events:
- Rapid e-Learning Development Seminar/Roundtable: Las Vegas Sept 8-9,
2004
- e-Learning Briefing: Baltimore Sept 2, 2004
- e-Learning Skills LAB: Saratoga Springs Oct 6-8, 2004 Information &
- MASIE Center e-Learning CONSORTIUM: 180 Companies Joined Together to Innovate in Learning
Information: http://www.masie.com
#288 - Updates on Learning, eLearning and Training
47,793 Readers - The MASIE Center - www.masie.com
Geo-Location and Learning
Where You Are Determines Content You Access
Here is a phrase to add to your technology radar screen:
"Geo-Location"
This is the ability to use the location of a user as the key to determining what content they view through their browser. Open up Google and type the word “dentist”. Where you are might determine what results come up on your screen. You might get either a paid listing or a general preference sort for your locale.
Now, let's apply Geo-Location to learning. Let's say I am interested in learning about Compliance Issues. Once again, my request for information, even when hitting a link entitled "Learn About Compliance" might use my geographical location to give me a very different answer depending on the nation, state or even city where I am located.
Your IP number, the nature of your ISP and other technological factors can reveal to a webserver the location of the mouse driving the click. And, that can be used to sort, refine, profile or localize the web experience.
The user location could determine factors including:
- Language
- Local Culture
- Local Regulations
- Local Context
- Local Procedures
Customer based learning can also be greatly influenced by geo-location, where products can be taught and additional options marketed through localized content. For example, the product can be shown being used in a local photograph (eg. A car in front a popular local landmark).
Here are some other examples of Geo-Location from a recent article by
Wired:
A French court considered Geo-Locaion when it directed Yahoo in 2000 to prevent French Internet users from seeing Nazi paraphernalia on its auction pages. America Online sees Geo-Location as one way to comply with the French Nazi ban as well as a Pennsylvania child porn law.
But for the most part, any online restrictions appear to come from commercial companies, not governments. (China and other countries that censor the Internet use filtering technologies rather than geolocation.)
In the past few months, RealNetworks began offering soccer games and movies restricted to specific countries while Art.com coded its website so Americans automatically see prices in dollars, Germans in euros.
Here is how Geo-Location works:
*Each computer on the net has a unique ID that is like a phone number, called an IP address. It is linked to an internet service provider and also to a server at an organization. This links to a database that shows location of the server.
*Companies such as Akamai and Quova trace specific data packets as they go through the network routers to get an even better fix on the location of the requesting browser vs. the location of the corporate headquarters.
*Providers also overlay on Fortune 500 companies and their industries, so websites can target ads, say, to high-tech personnel. It also marries ZIP codes with census data to create demographic profiles.
Geo-Location also has a good number of challenges and skeptics, including false results and privacy/civil liberty issues.
The MASIE Center is tracking Geo-Location as a key technology, both in terms of browser improvement, content personalization and also enriched filtering capacities.
Upcoming MASIE Center Services & Events:
- Rapid e-Learning Development Seminar/Roundtable: Las Vegas Sept 8-9,
2004
- e-Learning Briefing: Baltimore Sept 2, 2004
- e-Learning Skills LAB: Saratoga Springs Oct 6-8, 2004 Information &
- MASIE Center e-Learning CONSORTIUM: 180 Companies Joined Together to Innovate in Learning
Information: http://www.masie.com
Reader Comments