What Kind Of Features Do You Expect From Digital (Philatelic) Publications?

Here's a topic I've been thinking quite a lot over the past couple of years: what kind of features do people expect from digital publications that are related to stamps/philately?

(And with digital publication I mean any website/blog/ebooks/app that requires either one time payment or subscription.)

I admit that as author/owner of one such service I've got personal interests with this question, but I also think that a wider and more public talk on this topic might prove useful for anyone interested on becoming philatelic author/publishers as

a) there are already plenty of digital offerings and more will come, and

b) most of the existing services seem to struggle and fail miserably on various accounts.


Here's a list of things I've focused and implemented with my own stamp project:

* Ease of use (always subject for opinion) - checked

* Technical operability on wide range of devices - checked

* Original and interesting content (always subject for opinion)- checked

* Use of high quality/original stamp images - checked

* Possibility to save, download and print content - checked

* Search functionality - checked

* Access to archived content- checked

* Social aspect (possibility to discuss/comment/ask on topics) - checked

* Free trial - checked

* Low cost (once again subjective) - checked

* Support services - checked

* Privacy and security - checked

* Trust (testimonials, about page, etc) - checked

Does this seem like a good list of features to you?

And what other features would you expect a paid digital product / service to provide to you?

-k-

Kirks - I grew up listening the same guides, and they've been part of my approach ever since I wrote my first piece of code in early 1990s.

But good point about offering user adjustable presentation (font-size, colors etc) throughout the system. Though I'm relatively 'young', I do notice that far too often I'm adjusting my phones/mobiles display options to make some piece more easily readable.

-k-

Paid philatelic digital product? Hmm, that is a tall order. I hate making a sweeping generalization, but stamp collectors are errr… 'thrifty'. LOL

If I were paying for it, especially if it were an ongoing subscription, I would have to feel one of the following;
- Had a feature that I could not live without
- Had a feature that it save me so much time as to justify the cost
- Had unique content, was something that was not available anywhere else or
- Had constantly changing and captivating content

I don't see simply publishing a nice site, one with typical content, one with typical features, would ever drive me to pay for it. It would have to really stand out in terms of value for folks to step up and pay for it.
Don

There is one feature I an missing on this site and on SCB as well - the possibility to 'tag' someone, which will generate a notification to the person tagged. I have often missed questions asked to me because I have not revisited a thread. Would have been nice if e.g. @blaamand would generate a notification in my mailbox.

LOL indeed. The expression I use (for myself and other collectors) is 'penny-pinching scrooges'. But maybe 'frugal' would more polite way to express the reality, LOL.

(And pardon for all those who feel hurt by my lack of diplomacy. We Finns have a history with saying things the way they are, both in good and bad).




Well, that's the territory I'm chasing;)
Might sound hard, but if you truly study something, then coming up with tidbits and information that is either new or not mentioned elsewhere is not that big a deal.




Hmm.. Might add this on my 'to-do list'. In the end it should bepretty easy to implement. Instead of email maybe just a simply 'blinking icon' on top menu or something similar.


-k-

scb

I don't know what your particular focus is, but one thing that's been discussed here recently is the way in which excellent sites can vanish for one reason or another. The one I've particualrly noticed is France Timbres, which had album pages devised by French collectors for all of the French area and well beyond. Negotiating the hosting of some of that out-of-print type web material might be an inducement.

Geoff

scb




For me it's worldwide collecting... I know making 'generalism' a specialty might sound odd, but in the end its not that different from going deep with any other topic. A good example of more particular question is what are the specific boundaries of world collecting. Before I got started with my project there was no factual figures on the number of different stamps, just very rough and misleading ballparks. Or about the cost of collecting - now there are very precise numbers on costs of storage, cost of stamps by era/decade.





Precisely the reason I've went with 'readers must support financially' model (after seeing website after website disappear because of lack of personal funds / donations, death of owner or whatever reason). Free content/approach simply does not work when you plan on the long run (say 10-20-30 years), and I fear the day when Google announces they'll close down blogspot/blogger. It is not a question of if but when a number of great stamp blogs get wiped out.

Basically as long as there are enough subscribers/interest as long my hosting bills will get paid. It really doesn't depend one persons well-being or having ads anymore (though organizing technical maintenance and updates still requires manual work).





That is real snakes nest, with questions on copyrights, compensations and other legal issues.

For example I know there's been lots of talk of folks taking over the Gerben van Gelders StampWorldHistory, but AFAIK all Dutch websites (like most of the Europeans) are indexed and saved for future researchers (by National libraries and archives of respective countries). Very likely the France Timbres is also saved somewhere within BnF (French National Library). The true difficulty might be with accessing the data, as most national libraries except you to physically visit their premises in order to get access on particular piece of archived data.

And yes, I know that Don/51studebaker has worked hard to salvage and republish a number of philatelic websites. Possibly the most important question is whats ahead after Don passes? For example institutions might refuse to accept such donation simply because figuring out the 'web of copyrights' could be hugely expensive (especially when and if copies of those websites contents are already archived elsewhere)... But I guess/hope this would make another conversation topic (not trying to drift off-topic from my original question).

-k-

Free, No Advertisements, Proprietary Content that can not be found elsewhere and that is WANTED by your audience.

FREE is the most important feature for site survival. Find another way to monetize your site - like provide additional services for a fee.

I'm going to go a different route.

1. Mobile optimization. I should be able to easily read the site on my desktop/laptop, my phone, and my tablet with equal ease.
2. Fast load times. I'm not saying this is a problem necessarily with philatelic publications, but I don't want to wait too long. This can be a problem with graphic-heavy sites, and or sites that simply don't invest enough in their hosting.
3. Easy search. Flip pages prevents easy search.

The biggest challenge, I think, is the unique content. You can have all the technical pieces, but without unique content I WANT that can't be found elsewhere, you are dead in the water.

Therein lies the problem.

Example. I think American Philatelist (APS' magazine) is an incredibly good, high-quality publication. However, very very few articles apply to me and my collecting areas. Would I pay just for it on its own, even with its high quality and admittedly unique content? Maybe, but I doubt it.

Stamp Smarter is currently self-sustaining via donations. Through the generosity of hobbyists, it should be able to stay published as long as folks continue to make small donations. No human intervention is required for this, so whether or not I am around is not an issue. Donations go directly into the account which cover the hosting and domain fees. Community members also can add to the various databases although this represents only part of the content. I have had offers to assume control of the site but obviously everyone has a life span so keeping it published for >50+ years could be an issue.

I do not see an issue with a site covering the fixed monthly costs. But I would agree that covering the development costs through donations is probably not feasible.

I have had discussions with APRL (including even this week) about accepting digital donations. scb's point about copyright concerns is very valid and there are other additional challenges that would need to be resolved before I see this as a valid path.
Don

@Richard Frajola...




Um... This is like saying 'go flip some burgers at McBurgers so that your readers can enjoy the free ride' (again, pardon me for being a Finn and saying things straight). I was fool enough to try this for a while (did stamp appraissals and wrote for stamp magazines), but it was not just like having a second job. IT WAS a second job.

(I do not expect to make a living out of my philatelic authoring, it is more on the lines sharing my personal notes and observations with othesr. But unlike so many DIY/wannabe-authors I also refuse to go with the standard model where you literally end up paying for the pleasure of having your stories published)

But in the end this whole free vs. paid debate is somewhat the same as democrats vs. republicans. Both say 'my system is better', but both suffer from various flaws. With free model you get buried with cost of free readers, with paid model you always suffer from very low reader counts. Don has found a haven with donations but for me they are not an option (Finnish legislation does not allow asking for donations. Even placing the Paypal Donate button on a page would be a legal offense... Might sound crazy, but Europe is very different place from the USA)


@ecmorgan...



Precisely my kind of thinking... Some time ago I did some house cleaning and went through four years editions of American Philatelists (a gift from friend who is APS member and had no need for the back issues). Hours later I had cut down the pile to five articles I wanted to keep for future reference, the rest (thousands of pages) went to recycle bin. Same story with most philatelic magazines I buy/subscribe/read. Cannot even understand why 30,000+ people subscribe to something such as Linns - it's pretty horrible these days (but I've heard it used to be MUCH better before).

This is also the primary reason why I began writing my stamp stories in the first place: I was dead bored with the low quality content on which philatelic magazines were made of. I can also well understand why forums such this and others are and remain so successful. The amount of interesting content here alone exceeds what you can find from Linns or American Philatelist (or even Gibbons Monthly) by order of magnitude.

-k-

If you expect it to get read -- one word: Quality!

Scb,
As you know we have had many discussions about the state of our hobby today and the impact of technology/internet. In my opinion we are lagging so far behind the curve it has hard to even have these discussions anymore. Major organizations like APS are just now implementing PayPal and do not even have a budget for a responsive website design that can be displayed on the devices that over 50% of all online user have. Companies like Amos and SG have struggled with making the transition to the new way we all interface with our hobby.

To illustrate just how far we are falling behind…. This morning I walked into my kitchen and said, 'Alexa turn on the lights'. They came on. Then I said 'Alexa, set the thermostat to 68', the furnace came on. I said, 'Alexa, what is the weather and I heard the current weather and forecast. Then I said, 'Alexa what is a Penny Black?' and heard a brief history of this stamp. Lastly I had the device play some commercial free streaming jazz music while I ate breakfast. Note: I do not own some high-tech multi-million dollar home. In fact it is a humble 1962 brick rancher with some aftermarket, consumer installed stuff for less than $500.

But I know you understand technology and can probably see where this is going. Voice recognition is exploding and will soon become predominate on mobile devices. No more needing to tap, swipe, or type. Think Dick Tracy watches with more computing power than your desktop. You and I both know that the future of desktop computing is not looking good.

I would recommend to get ahead of the curve and develop an Echo type app (called skills on Echo, don't know what they call the Google equivalent). They can be done in Lambda or JAVA; you can get developer info from their site. I have read through it and it seem pretty straight forward. I will probably start on something myself in a month or two. You can voice enable your existing site content and/or build some other stamp-related app. I have a philatelic Glossary of terms that I will probably give this a try. But imagine something like a voice enabled forum!

If you has a voice enable Echo app for your website content I would pay for that and it would put you light years ahead of others. (and well positioned for the future.) I would only expect a person like you to have the vision to do something like this; I have given up on APS and the other major philatelic players. They have fallen behind and I don't see them ever catching up.
Don

Hi Don,

Actually I've toyed with voice enabled websites in professional sense for good time. Back in the early days (early 2000s) the trick was to use aural-CSS with some special software, for the past 2-3 years all modern browser have had (slightly varying) native support for speech synthesis and speech recognition APIs. So making websites/apps that listen, understand and talk to user is not hard, it is actually ridiculously easy (few lines of JavaScript gets the ball rolling if you use libraries like annyang, but all native code is not hard neither).

Possibly the biggest reason I have not jumped with 'speech wagon' with SCB is that being first is not easy. Either people don't get the idea, or they are worried on their privacy (anything that involves access to microphone means 'big brother' is listening) etc. And collectors are even more conservative than average web users.... But I'm definitely all set & prepared for the day when voice becomes main stream on the Internet. The fact that people get used to using voice commands with Google Search is a good start, and the day websites like New York Times or BBC go ahead with it will be the day I start adding speech features to SCB.

I agree with you on the importance of being ahead of the curve. The false belief that APS and other major names seem to hope is that technological advancements would stop some day. Anybody within the industry can say it will not happen. The pace is only getting faster and faster, and with every passing year the gap between the 'ancient' and modern way will increase. Eventually it will lead to situation where some things that used to work, no longer work ( a good example of this being lack of responsive websites - you can still view them, but they surely don't work the way end users expect them to).

Like you I'm hugely disappointed with philatelic organizations and major players (maybe with exception of Michel which is kind of doing the right things, but could still improve a lot). Not just with their technological skills (and lack within), but in general also for their lack of 'being industry leaders'. Those who say its a money question are talking pure BS (pardon the soul of this foul mouthed Finn). Basically the whole modern philatelic landscape is built by 'one man bands' like you, me or Marios (of EZstamps) which is more than saddening.

But enough of me ranting. Maybe Scott English some day knocks on my door and says 'here's some money, save us!'. LOL.

-k-

Key for me offline access. I refuse to ever buy another digital catalog from Scott, since they don't offer offline access and don't plan to.