EXPERIENCE FOCUS
Under Formation
Teleport Experience Network is under formation. If you or your organization finds our mission worthwhile and relevant, you are welcome to join as a founding member of the organization.
The aim of the organization is to improve, deepen and streamline the participants' experience of web-delivered events. Web-meeting technology could be so much more and so much nicer than it is today. Apparently no single company is able to lift this industry to the next level. Even if there was such a company, maybe we'd prefer a more pluralistic development of the industry.
Teleport Experience Network is about defining new applications, and set requirements to make them better adapted to human behavior and needs. To actually realize these applications and experiences will be up to the industry.
Crash Course in Web Meetings
Recently, the world has received a crash-course in web-based meetings. In many ways, this is really good. Reduced travel saves time, money and the planet on a large scale.
Unfortunately, current web based events have many limitations, and even plain simple meetings often don't match the in-person meeting experience. Tellingly, the most common greeting phrase in recent months is "Can you hear me now?"
KEY AREAS
Slide left and right.
DIFFERENTIATION
Confidence in the Experience
You are arranging a web-based training (or conference, concert, sports event), and invested in studio grade equipment to get the quality right. Still participants are hesitant to buy tickets, because they don't know that. Confidence in a good experience is key for the willingness to invest time and money.
Teleport Experience Network aims to define experience quality levels that content and equipment providers can use to differentiate their products. A headset with three year warranty and microphone with built-in background noise removal might qualify for the label "TEXP Mic level 3".
MORE EXPERIENCE
LESS TRAVEL
The Problem
Traveling has two parts; the part of going there and back, and the part of being there. While the going part can be an opportunity to get away from the daily routine, maybe get some alone time and possibly be treated well as a customer, in most cases, it is the being part that people are really looking forward to.
If there was a way to travel without the going part, there would be a huge market for the service. This is actually so attractive, we have even invented a name for it long before it's being offered. It's called teleportation.
While we don't know how to send matter through space at light speed, we can emulate some of that experience. That's called video conferencing. Still, this is so far removed from teleportation that most people are surprised when the two are mentioned together.
The world has received a crash course in digital meetings during the last year. A lot of people have been awakened to the potential, and business travel is probably never going back to what it was. Most of us have also become acutely aware of the many limitations of current digital meeting technology. There are still many situations where physical travel outperforms digital meetings, despite its hassles.
We all understand how to do presentations on line. Informal and semi-formal meetings are fine too. But how about a board meeting with anonymous voting? How do we emulate an exhibition with booths? A classroom situation? How about having a lunch with someone? How can we make concerts or stage performances feel immersive? How do we celebrate a birthday on line? Romantic dinner? Can I take a walk in a forest or a guided tour? How would I develop a piece of software with my colleagues?
Many organizations are working on related topics, but there is little work to connect the dots, establish a common language, drive the industry as a whole. There is no "GSMA", "3GPP" or "IETF" -like organization for this emerging industry. There is no Teleport Experience Network.
MISSION
Set the requirements; products and services will follow
Teleport Experience Network is not going to produce any new gadgets. Nor become a superior service provider. Many great gadgets and service providers already exist.
Instead, our mission is to research and harmonize. Set requirements and point to standards. Make sure the good solutions work well together. Get rid of bad components that ruin the experience for everyone. Make sure our natural social interaction patterns work across the technology, rather than us adapting to limitations in the tools available today.
Then publish our findings and requirements for the everybody's benefit.
So, who should be involved in this work? If you are involved in the communications industry, this is obviously relevant. But our needs go far beyond that. We will also need researchers of human social interaction. We need home and office styling experts, as this needs to be integrated in people's homes and work places. We need the content providers, like museums, sports arenas and all kinds of live entertainment. There will surely also be narrowly focused applications. We have already seen as diverse fields as medical surgery, air traffic control and the mining industries showing off their needs for teleportation.
Looks like you were interested enough to read through to the end. Have a look at the options for getting involved.
CONTACT TELEPORT EXPERIENCE NETWORK
Teleport Experience Network
Attn: Jan Lindblad
C/O Cisco Systems AB
Box 47205
100 74 Stockholm
Sweden
+46702855728