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Tuesday, April 6th, 2004
Pretty neat trick they pulled off in the upcoming issue of Reason. From the NY Times:
When the 40,000 subscribers to Reason, the monthly libertarian magazine, receive a copy of the June issue, they will see on the cover a satellite photo of a neighborhood – their own neighborhood. And their house will be graphically circled.On one level, the project, sort of the ultimate in customized publishing, is unsurprising: of course a magazine knows where its subscribers live. But it is still a remarkable demonstration of the growing number of ways databases can be harnessed. Apart from the cover image, several advertisements are customized to reflect the recipient’s particulars.
Gillespie writes at Hit & Run that the cover story actually empahsizes the good that comes from harnessing database power — with all the proper caveats, of course.
This is great publicity for Reason Magazine! :-)
What exactly would the good be?
I’m looking forward to getting it in the mail, although my roommate is going to freak out if he sees it.
Look up and smile! Someone is watching.
Scary — not good — Orwellian.
“Scary — not good — Orwellian.”
Not scary. Not bad. Not Orwellian.
Orwellian would be if the government had a guy assigned to watch your house and call you to tell you to stop nude sunbathing in your back yard.
And to answer Billy Jay, the good would be when you step into your Lexus in a strange city and tell your in-dash GPS/radio/OnStar/kitchen-sink you want dinner in a 5-star restaurant. It brings you the locations of several and their ratings, as well as maps and directions to get to each. Right in your dashboard.
If this means I’ll some day be able to buy a magazine without so many damn subscription cards because the publisher knows I hate those things then I’m all for the harnessing of various databases. Not only that, if these databases along with improved printing technology can create a custom magazine made especially for me I think that would be great. Who wouldn’t want to have one magazine, made especially for you, covering all your interests. Libertarian viewpoints on page 152, Cooking Light recipe on page 153.
Ah, heaven.
>>>Who wouldn’t want to have one magazine, made especially for you, covering all your interests. Libertarian viewpoints on page 152, Cooking Light recipe on page 153.
>Scary — not good — Orwellian.
I’m not exactly sure why people seem shocked to find out that Reason knows the home addresses of its subscribers.
Luca -
What’s on page 151?
My guess is, a full page ad for the latest version of Xenadrine, or for ‘natural male enhancement’…
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