Comment Remote Approach in the House - Shields Up (Score 1) 248
Hi Folks,
I'm John Bielby from Remote Approach. I was hoping to jump in and answer some of your questions and concerns. I'm very open to discussion of the concept and the company. We didn't start Remote Approach for reasons beyond giving PDF publishers the same measurement tools that web publishers have. The origin was actually a colleague of ours was trying to advocate PDF use within their company but hitting a lot of brick walls because there was no way for the client to know how people were using their documents. If they posted something, it was permanently in the ether and either 100 or a million people could be using it. They wanted instead to stick with HTML so they could track direct readership, sacrificing the usability the PDF provided the users.
A few responses to comments:
hummassa commented that with web analysis no one knows if you copy the page and send it to a friend. That's not really true. It really depends on the design of the page and with the vast majority that use graphics, and in particular advertising, the links to the live images (or javascript, etc) will be saved and called everytime you open the page. That's not to say a savvy user can't suck it down and edit the html to make sure everything resolves locally, but that's a lot of effort and I think it's fair to say not something the average user would do, or want to do.
Rolan advocated that users shouldn't read PDF documents that use this technology so they won't use it. The reverse is also true. Using this technology will allow publishers ot create more PDF resources. In our beta tests this Spring, for example, we found that one clients had their private documents being distributed to an audience 30% larger than they had any idea existed. Based on those numbers, they will be removing the registration/login features from their site and making the existing - and more - documents available to the general public. Before, they really had no idea if people were actually reading their documents and were happy to find they were providing a free service that could be expanded to help promote their business. A case study on them, and a few other clients, should be going up shortly.
sanityspeech questioned a feature being beta tested right now that would check for an internet connection. While that particular feature is only available to a few beta clients right now, it's intent is only for PDF documents that required a high level of security and responsibility(for example, a business plan or a project proposal meant for a few eyes only). Documents like manuals and other public material shouldn't use this feature. It's for a similar reason that documents like that are often unsuitable for Digital Rights Management in general (e.g. with a username/password or keyed to your hard drive). We will work with our clients to make sure they understand that - both for their benefit and for their customers. BTW, our feedback from our clients so far has jibed on this thinking. They don't want to lock down documents - they want to prove the business case behind distributing them so they can produce more of them.
An Anonymous Coward pointed out that the http reference contains the name/path of the file being viewed.We already had filters in place to ensure that any information of this sort is not saved and accordingly not available in any type of audience measurement or analysis but are investigating whether it is possible to change the way Acrobat deals with the Internet in general (since any interaction of any PDF file - tagged by Remote Approach or not - with the Internet would pass this same information).
Redwing brings up an interesting point that he feels web logging is ok because he expects it but does not expect it in PDF files. I think most people would agree that the majority of average users don't actually know about web logs or session states or even understand how cookies really work.
The fact is that for PDF documents to grow as a viable distribution method some sort of audience measurement is needed. If no one knows if anybody is reading their docs, a company has no reason to continue investing in the creation of them. Many in this, obviously a very technical audience, have accepted and expect some level of measurement when they interact with a web site, many applications, etc. The same business models that make that measurement necessary for web publishers is also necessary for many PDF publishers. It's a force for good, not ill, that will allow them the metrics to continue and expand develop of what we think is an excellent format.
I'm looking forward to continuing the discussing. I think it's a valuable one.
John
I'm John Bielby from Remote Approach. I was hoping to jump in and answer some of your questions and concerns. I'm very open to discussion of the concept and the company. We didn't start Remote Approach for reasons beyond giving PDF publishers the same measurement tools that web publishers have. The origin was actually a colleague of ours was trying to advocate PDF use within their company but hitting a lot of brick walls because there was no way for the client to know how people were using their documents. If they posted something, it was permanently in the ether and either 100 or a million people could be using it. They wanted instead to stick with HTML so they could track direct readership, sacrificing the usability the PDF provided the users.
A few responses to comments:
hummassa commented that with web analysis no one knows if you copy the page and send it to a friend. That's not really true. It really depends on the design of the page and with the vast majority that use graphics, and in particular advertising, the links to the live images (or javascript, etc) will be saved and called everytime you open the page. That's not to say a savvy user can't suck it down and edit the html to make sure everything resolves locally, but that's a lot of effort and I think it's fair to say not something the average user would do, or want to do.
Rolan advocated that users shouldn't read PDF documents that use this technology so they won't use it. The reverse is also true. Using this technology will allow publishers ot create more PDF resources. In our beta tests this Spring, for example, we found that one clients had their private documents being distributed to an audience 30% larger than they had any idea existed. Based on those numbers, they will be removing the registration/login features from their site and making the existing - and more - documents available to the general public. Before, they really had no idea if people were actually reading their documents and were happy to find they were providing a free service that could be expanded to help promote their business. A case study on them, and a few other clients, should be going up shortly.
sanityspeech questioned a feature being beta tested right now that would check for an internet connection. While that particular feature is only available to a few beta clients right now, it's intent is only for PDF documents that required a high level of security and responsibility(for example, a business plan or a project proposal meant for a few eyes only). Documents like manuals and other public material shouldn't use this feature. It's for a similar reason that documents like that are often unsuitable for Digital Rights Management in general (e.g. with a username/password or keyed to your hard drive). We will work with our clients to make sure they understand that - both for their benefit and for their customers. BTW, our feedback from our clients so far has jibed on this thinking. They don't want to lock down documents - they want to prove the business case behind distributing them so they can produce more of them.
An Anonymous Coward pointed out that the http reference contains the name/path of the file being viewed.We already had filters in place to ensure that any information of this sort is not saved and accordingly not available in any type of audience measurement or analysis but are investigating whether it is possible to change the way Acrobat deals with the Internet in general (since any interaction of any PDF file - tagged by Remote Approach or not - with the Internet would pass this same information).
Redwing brings up an interesting point that he feels web logging is ok because he expects it but does not expect it in PDF files. I think most people would agree that the majority of average users don't actually know about web logs or session states or even understand how cookies really work.
The fact is that for PDF documents to grow as a viable distribution method some sort of audience measurement is needed. If no one knows if anybody is reading their docs, a company has no reason to continue investing in the creation of them. Many in this, obviously a very technical audience, have accepted and expect some level of measurement when they interact with a web site, many applications, etc. The same business models that make that measurement necessary for web publishers is also necessary for many PDF publishers. It's a force for good, not ill, that will allow them the metrics to continue and expand develop of what we think is an excellent format.
I'm looking forward to continuing the discussing. I think it's a valuable one.
John
