DCSB: The Internet Consumer -- 1996 in Review & Predictions for1997

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                 The Digital Commerce Society of Boston

                              Presents
				        David Kaufman
	                         FIND/SVP
                 Emerging Technologies Research Group

  "The Internet Consumer -- 1996 in Review & Predictions for 1997"



                        Tuesday, February 4, 1997
                               12 - 2 PM
                   The Downtown Harvard Club of Boston
                     One Federal Street, Boston, MA


David is Managing Director of FIND/SVP's Emerging Technologies Research
Group with specific responsibility for "The Internet Consumer - Continuous
Market Advisory Service".

The group provides numerous Fortune 500 companies with detailed research and
analysis on behaviors and preferences of Internet consumers.

Mr. Kaufman will discuss the Internet as a consumer platform.   The growth
of the Internet has been getting a lot of press, most of it based
on speculation, not research.   Although good data is hard to find, it
does exist and can be used to approach the Interactive consumer.

During 1996 it became true that Internet consumers, who paid for
their own access, were one of the fastest growing market segments.
Currently, home and small business users are driving the demand for
interactive services such as online banking and financial planning.
Users also expressed an interest in locating information on such
diverse topics as travel, entertainment, parenting, and health.

Starting in 1997 consumers will be able to access the net from more
numerous locations and in different ways.  Internet appliances such as
WebTV will allow non-technology users to access the net.  As critical mass
develops, the net will become impossible to ignore for most marketers.
Based on research and some industry insight, Mr. Kaufman will present
FIND/SVP's predictions for the Internet Consumer in 1997 and beyond.

Prior to joining FIND/SVP's Emerging Technologies Research Group, David
was with BIS Strategic Decisions (now GIGA Information Group) at the time
it was a division of NYNEX Corporation. He has been employed by Metaphor
Computer Systems and XEROX Corporation in the marketing of the first
technology products from the Palo Alto Research Center.  David is a
Graduate of the University of Wisconsin.



This meeting of the Digital Commerce Society of Boston will be held on
Tuesday, February 4, 1997 from 12pm - 2pm at the Downtown Branch of the
Harvard Club of Boston, One Federal Street. The price for lunch is
$27.50. This price includes lunch, room rental, and the speaker's lunch.
;-).  The Harvard Club *does* have dress code: jackets and ties for men,
and "appropriate business attire" for women.

We will attempt to record this meeting and put it on the web in RealAudio
format at some future date

We need to receive a company check, or money order, (or, if we *really*
know you, a personal check) payable to "The Harvard Club of Boston", by
Saturday, February 1, or you won't be on the list for lunch.  Checks
payable to anyone else but The Harvard Club of Boston will have to be
sent back.

Checks should be sent to Robert Hettinga, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston,
Massachusetts, 02131. Again, they *must* be made payable to "The Harvard
Club of Boston".

If anyone has questions, or has a problem with these arrangements (We've
had to work with glacial A/P departments more than once, for instance),
please let us know via e-mail, and we'll see if we can work something
out.

Planned speakers for DCSB are:

March  Daniel Greenwood  The Role of State Government in Digital Commerce
April  Stewart Baker     Encryption Policy and Digital Commerce

We are actively searching for future speakers.  If you are in Boston on
the first Tuesday of the month, and you would like to make a
presentation to the Society, please send e-mail to the DCSB Program
Commmittee, care of Robert Hettinga, <mailto: rah@shipwright.com> .

For more information about the Digital Commerce Society of Boston, send
"info dcsb" in the body of a message to <mailto: majordomo@ai.mit.edu> .
If you want to subscribe to the DCSB e-mail list, send "subscribe dcsb" in
the body of a message to <mailto: majordomo@ai.mit.edu> .

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Cheers,
Robert Hettinga
Moderator,
The Digital Commerce Society of Boston

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-----------------
Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com), Philodox,
e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"The cost of anything is the foregone alternative" -- Walter Johnson
The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/rah/
FC97: Anguilla, anyone? http://offshore.com.ai/fc97/

Robert Hettinga wrote:
>                  The Digital Commerce Society of Boston
>                               Presents
> The group provides numerous Fortune 500 companies with detailed research and
> analysis on behaviors and preferences of Internet consumers.

> Mr. Kaufman will discuss the Internet as a consumer platform.

  As in "Make $$$Money$$$ fast?
  Does putting on a suit and writing 'executive-oriented' postings in a
pompous, pretentious manner raise this type of posting above the level
of ordinary UCE/Spam?
  I don't think so.

  Does moderation mean that UCE postings that promise 'champagne and
caviar' are acceptable, while 'crackers and cheese' post-conference
promises are 'spam'?
  Will 'Subject: Consumer Platform / Make $$$Money Fast' be an 
'acceptable' heading, whereas 'Subject: Make $$$Money Fast / Consumer
Platform' is 'not acceptable'?

Toto
"Moderate suits, not jeans."
(I've got some fine suits, thank you very much. I wear them at weddings,
funerals, and whenever I want to 'screw' somebody.)

On Wed, 15 Jan 1997, Toto wrote:

> Robert Hettinga wrote:
> >                  The Digital Commerce Society of Boston
> >                               Presents
> > The group provides numerous Fortune 500 companies with detailed research and
> > analysis on behaviors and preferences of Internet consumers.
> 
> > Mr. Kaufman will discuss the Internet as a consumer platform.
> 
>   As in "Make $$$Money$$$ fast?
>   Does putting on a suit and writing 'executive-oriented' postings in a
> pompous, pretentious manner raise this type of posting above the level
> of ordinary UCE/Spam?
>   I don't think so.
> 
>   Does moderation mean that UCE postings that promise 'champagne and
> caviar' are acceptable, while 'crackers and cheese' post-conference
> promises are 'spam'?
>   Will 'Subject: Consumer Platform / Make $$$Money Fast' be an 
> 'acceptable' heading, whereas 'Subject: Make $$$Money Fast / Consumer
> Platform' is 'not acceptable'?

	The finer SPAMS of life..what else would you want.
	 
> Toto
> "Moderate suits, not jeans."
> (I've got some fine suits, thank you very much. I wear them at weddings,
> funerals, and whenever I want to 'screw' somebody.)

	How often is this??

At 3:40 am -0500 1/15/97, Toto emetted onto the livingroom carpet:

>  As in "Make $$$Money$$$ fast?
>  Does putting on a suit and writing 'executive-oriented' postings in a
>pompous, pretentious manner raise this type of posting above the level
>of ordinary UCE/Spam?
>  I don't think so.
>
>  Does moderation mean that UCE postings that promise 'champagne and
>caviar' are acceptable, while 'crackers and cheese' post-conference
>promises are 'spam'?
>  Will 'Subject: Consumer Platform / Make $$$Money Fast' be an
>'acceptable' heading, whereas 'Subject: Make $$$Money Fast / Consumer
>Platform' is 'not acceptable'?

I fished this out of my killfile. Ironically, I had just plonked Toto
yesterday because I saw no compelling merit in anything he has posted to
cypherpunks since he got here, and given the quantity of his posts, he was
starting to waste my attention. However, this morning, as my mail was
coming down in Eudora, I saw that he had replied to this month's DCSB
announcement, and, frankly, I knew that it had to be something like this.

However, I couldn't, heh, let sleeping dogs lie...

When I sent the posting in question to the cryptography groups, I figured
that this month's DCSB meeting would not not be especially on topic, even
for cypherpunks :-). However, there are lots of cypherpunks who come to
DCSB meetings, and I expect that some cypherpunks will come to this one,
too. Suits, champaigne, caviar, and all. ;-). More like suits, iced tea,
and chicken-of-the-month, but, hey, the view's nice, anyway.

By the way, Find/SVP is a well known market research company, and since a
lot of us on cypherpunks sell our stuff on the net, if not directly to
consumers, I figured the topic might be at least tenuously useful to those
here. There's even a (very!) shaky privacy/crypto connection both in the
methods for collecting these kinds of data, and, of course, in the data's
use in building crypto applications and policy. In addition, most companies
pay for this kind of information. David will be presenting it free, almost
immediately after it's collation.

Anyway, I apologize to anyone this has offended. Except, of course, for
certain, um, dogs.

<Now, where's Toto? It looks like he needs a physic... Toto!!! Here, Boy!
Waaalkies!!!!>

Cheers,
Bob Hettinga
Moderator,
The Digital Commerce Society of Boston


-----------------
Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com), Philodox,
e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"The cost of anything is the foregone alternative" -- Walter Johnson
The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/rah/
FC97: Anguilla, anyone? http://offshore.com.ai/fc97/

Robert Hettinga wrote:
> I fished this out of my killfile. Ironically, I had just plonked Toto
> yesterday because I saw no compelling merit in anything he has posted to
> cypherpunks since he got here, and given the quantity of his posts, he was
> starting to waste my attention. However, this morning, as my mail was
> coming down in Eudora, I saw that he had replied to this month's DCSB
> announcement, and, frankly, I knew that it had to be something like this.

  Why do people feel compelled to 'explain' how they 'chanced'
to read items in their 'killfile'? It always seems to me to be
for the purpose of insulting someone while keeping egg off of
their own face.

> When I sent the posting in question to the cryptography groups, I figured
> that this month's DCSB meeting would not not be especially on topic, even
> for cypherpunks :-). 

> Anyway, I apologize to anyone this has offended. Except, of course, for
> certain, um, dogs.

  I didn't consider it particularly off-topic, myself. I was jes'
fishin.
 
> <Now, where's Toto? It looks like he needs a physic... Toto!!! Here, Boy!
> Waaalkies!!!!>

  And it looks like I 'caught' one.

Toto