Beyond%20Design:%20Advertising%20on%20the%20Network

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Beyond DesignAdvertising on the Network

• Aims
• This talk aims at
• Finding out your views on Web advertising
• Identifying what is meant by advertising
• Examining current uses of advertising
• Summarising the pros and cons
• Reviewing our views

• Brian Kelly
• UK Web Focus
• UKOLN
• University of Bath
• Bath, BA2 7AY
• Email B.Kelly_at_ukoln.ac.uk
• URL http//www.ukoln.ac.uk/

UKOLN is funded by Resource The Council for
Museums, Archives and Libraries, the Joint
Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the
Higher and Further Education Funding Councils, as
well as by project funding from the JISC and the
European Union. UKOLN also receives support
from the University of Bath where it is based.
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Unsolicited Requests

• Dear Sir or Madam,I am writing to you on behalf
  of the publishing company, the XXX Group.
• We specialise in the production of microfilm
  collections of primary source material, aimed at
  a mainly academic audience.
• We are very interested in the possibility of
  advertising our forthcomingcollections in xxx
  and would be grateful if you could supply uswith
  more information concerning this publication.
• Could you please supply details of1. Your
  advertising rates2. Whom your publication is
  aimed at (e.g.acquistion (sic) librarians,academi
  cs)3. Circulation figures for last year

How would you respond to a message such as this?
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Advertising For or Against?

• The house believes that advertising on Web sites
  is a legitimate means of obtaining additional
  funding for public sector services

What do you think?
I agree, this is a sensible way of getting
additional funding Tell me how to do it
I strongly disagree the public sector should
not be forced into such a position which will put
trusted organisations in a compromising position
If you are against advertising, think about the
reasons why
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Arguments Against

• Philosophical
• Public sector orgs should be adequately funded
• Users expect us to be neutral
• We will lose the trust of our users
• Our model is the BBC, not Sky

• Practical
• Income from advertising is dropping
• Negotiating deals will be expensive and
  time-consuming
• Adverts will distract from the design of my Web
  site
• Adverts will slow down download time

What other objections do you have?
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UK Government
Example

• The Governments www.open.gov.uk Web site hosts
  advertisements

http//www.open.gov.uk/index/orgindex.htm
http//www.open.gov.uk/search/search.htm
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UK Government
Example
http//www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/innovation/2000/
delivery/indexFrame.htm

• although a Government report does acknowledge
  that policy guidelines are needed

http//www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/innovation/2000/d
elivery/creatingamixedeconomy/content4.htm
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British Library
Example
http//opac97.bl.uk/

• The British Library OPAC has an ad for
  Amazon.co.uk
• Amazon are sponsors of the OPAC97 service

Note current service is at lthttp//blpc.bl.uk/gt
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Essex Public Library
Example
http//www.essexcc.gov.uk/infoserv/ecc_lib/fsinfo_
l.htm

• Essex public Library also provide links to Amazon
  from their home page

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Links With Waterstones
Example
http//www.ull.ac.uk/

• Several Universities advertise Waterstones

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Who Else Links to Waterstones

• AltaVista.co.uk reports
• 358 links to Waterstones.co.uk from .uk.ac Web
  sites
• 2,311 links to Amazon.co.uk (and 2,822 to
  Amazon.com)

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We Link To Book Companies

• Many Universities provide links to companies such
  as Waterstones, Amazon, etc. in any case

Providing links to book shops is clearly a useful
service provided by Libraries
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More Than Books
Example

• Hampshire County Council host rotating banner ads

http//www.hants.gov.uk/library/
Hampshire CC use consider.net to manage the
display, management and billing of the
ads Consider.net are targetting local authority
Web site See ltwww.consider.net/la_adnet.htmlgt
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Sponsorship
Example
http//www.lib.ed.ac.uk/

• Edinburgh University provide images and links to
  their sponsors

http//www.ucl.ac.uk/
UCL has an image and link to sponsors on their
home page
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Special Offers For Members
https//msds.open.ac.uk/your-record/soffers.htm

• The Open University provides special deals for
  its members. These are available on the Web site
• Since trade unions and professional bodies (e.g.
  AUT, BCS) do likewise, what objections are there
  to using an Intranet to provide online access?

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From Advertising to Ecommerce

• After advertising special offers (phone xxx to
  place an order) we can expect to see use of
  e-commerce
• Many large organisations (Universities,
  charities, councils) already provide branded
  credit cards
• Expect to see them promoted for use in ecommerce

http//www.oulinkwine.org.uk/oulinkwine/
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Integration of Local and Remote Services
http//www.essexcc.gov.uk/infoserv/ecc_lib/whatsi
n/music.htm

• Essex Libraries enables borrowers to borrow a CD
  from the Library or buy it from Amazon from the
  same page

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Advertising Can Be Useful
http//www.ucas.ac.uk/

• Well-targeted adverts may be useful and
  appreciated by readers.
• Wouldnt an advert for Endsleigh Insurance be
  useful for sixth formers using the UCAS Web site?

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Students Unions
Example
http//www.nusonline.co.uk/

• A look at Student Union Web sites may provide an
  indication of acceptance of advertising by
  students

Where your political views formulated in the
1960-70s, when students were radical? Havent
things changed?
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What Do Students Want?

• Survey of students at Nottingham University
• Want information on social events in Nottingham
• Why doesnt the University provide banner ads
  for pubs, clubs, theatres, etc?

http//www.thisisbath.com/

• Who should provide such community information
• Organisations, such as University, College
• Public Libraries
• Leave it to the commercial sector

Interested to hear from SUs whose websites
already have a commercial side to them,
advertsining (sic) sales, banner ads, sponsorship
etc. See discussion at lthttp//rabbit.stu.uea.ac.
uk/pipermail/uksu-www/gt
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Commercial Sector
Example

• If public sector organisations dont provide
  information on social events which their users
  expect, we can expect to see the gap filled by
  the public sector

http//www.wap4students.co.uk/
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Individuals Will Do It

• In Universities individuals will probably provide
  advertising / affiliate links ahead of /
  irrespective of organisational policies

http//catless.ncl.ac.uk/Lindsay/books2.html
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Students Spotting Opportunities
http//www.unibookstore.co.uk/mecheng/ http//www.
mechengbooks.co.uk/

• A student at Bath has set up a Web site providing
  affiliate links for recommended books
• If the University fails to provide this service,
  shouldnt such entrepreneurial endeavours be
  encouraged?

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Alumni

• At Mansfield College Oxford the Alumni magazine
  is extending use of Amazon affiliate links

http//www.mansfield.ox.ac.uk/alumni/emag/2000-01
.htm
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Images Can Improve Appearance
http//www.hillingdon.gov.uk/education/li

• Many organisations make use of company logos to
  make lists of links more interesting and more
  memorable
• If they do this, would there be any harm in
  getting money for doing so?

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Projects Migrating To Services
http//intarch.ac.uk/advert

• Many projects need to address issues of ongoing
  funding if they are to transition to long term
  services.
• Advertising provides one income stream

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Internal Notice Boards
http//www.bath.ac.uk/Noticeboard/

• Many large organisations may provide Notice
  boards for selling small items (which complements
  use of physical notice boards).

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Mirrors Do it
http//tucows.mirror.ac.uk/

• If your Web site hosts mirrored resources, you
  may find that you are hosting adverts.

The JISC-funded UK Mirror Service mirrors large
Web sites which contain adverts.
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E-commerce at Universities

• Universities are already developing e-commerce
  services e.g. Alumni service which sell
  stationery, pens, scarves, etc.
• Arent they likely to wish to advertise the goods
  they sell?

http//www.leeds.ac.uk/alumni/html/serve/shop_sta
.htm
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Advertising Charities

• Is advertising for charities acceptable?

http//www.huntingdon.ac.uk/links.html
http//www.cs.bham.ac.uk/gxb/rednose/
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Advertising Netscape Microsoft
http//www.gateshead.ac.uk/

• Many Web sites in the past have provided free ads
  to Netscape (initially) and Microsoft

http//www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/CSER/UOSAT/missions/tms
at/
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Advertising Your Own Resources
http//www.public.iastate.edu/CYBERSTACKS/Banara
ma.htm

• BaNaRAMa is a registry of libraries which provide
  promotional banner pages

http//www.villapark.lib.il.us/
ISSUE If it looks like an ad and have the
characteristics of an ad, is it an ad? Are your
criticisms of ads still valid?
Rotating promotional image
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Affiliate Links

• If your objection is to the intrusiveness of
  advertising images, would affiliate links be
  acceptable?

This links to the Web Tools Web site, via a
marketing company. Income is received for every
click through.
This also links to the Web Tools Web site, via a
marketing company. Income is also received for
every click through.
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Adware

• The Opera browser is now available as adware
  free software which is funded by hosting
  advertisements
• The cost of the software without ads is 39.

See defn. of adware at http//tucows.ukonline.co.u
k/help/glos.htmlAdware
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Ad or Sponsorship

• What is the difference between an advertisement
  and acknowledgement to a sponsor (e.g. a donator
  of hardware, software, services, etc.)?

http//www.mailbase.ac.uk/docs/acknowledges.html
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Externally Hosted Services (1)
http//www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue23/web-focus/

• There are many externally-hosted Web-based
  services available e.g. Web statistics, voting
  forms, chat systems, etc.
• They are often free and are funded by adverts
• If use of a sponsors logo is acceptable, is this?

CAVEAT (9 Mar 2001) Announcement from EZPolls of
the end of the free ad-based service (due to
decline in ad revenue) After 1 April your free
poll will be replaced by an advertisement for
MyComputer.com services
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Externally Hosted Services (2)
http//www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/conferenc
es/ili-2001/advertising/

• Externally hosted Web services (ASPs) can provide
  useful services (search facilities, maps, etc.)
  for free in exchange for advertising

http//www.thegrid.org.uk/
You can buy a service without ads, or develop
your own. But which is best use of taxpayers
money?
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More Than The Web

• Adverts can be sent using email or SMS messages
  on mobile phones
• This is not spam its normally a brief,
  unobtrusive message added to the end of message

Advert added to a message sent to an eGroups list
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Advertising The Case Against

• Some arguments against have been made to the
  author following an discussion on the
  website-info-mgt JISCmail list
• MRC discussed this last year and took a decision
  in the short term not to advertise partly from a
  philosophical viewpoint but also practical
  (revenue NOT EQUAL to costs and hassle).
• .. the reputation of British Universities is
  very high.  If we sell our name too cheaply then
  we downgrade our reputation and elevate that of
  organisations that may not be deserving, for we
  do indicate our approval of any organisation that
  we advertise. 
• Advertising doesnt work (e.g. click-though rates
  are dropping / income is falling) see
  lthttp//www.useit.com/alertbox/9709a.htmlgt

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Advertising The Case Against (2)

• Either the ads will be unrelated to the theme of
  the site and therefore distract (e.g. MacDonalds)
• Or if the ads are related to the interests of the
  organisation (e.g. health/research related for a
  medical body) there may be problems with the
  ethics, work or products of the sponsor -
  irrespective of disclaimers.
• On the practical front getting the technical bits
  worked out and the stats reported may be
  problematic then there is the income and
  accounting - who gets the revenue and will it
  cover billing costs?
• Also, who will police the ads to ensure it
  conforms with local policy (and legal
  requirements)
• Advertising revenue may lead to underfunding of
  core activities distraction from providing a good
  service for core activities.              

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Advertising The Case Against (3)

• Banner ads, Java applets, etc. clutter up Web
  sites and increase download times which would
  contravene certain public sector Web site design
  standards and cause accessibility issues
• Ads can be quite confusing and people may
  understandably mistake them for part of the Web
  site
• Are sites dedicated to public information
  suitable for ads? How can a site be claiming to
  offer unbiased community or public information if
  they include enticements for people to spend
  money on one or more companies' products or
  services?
• Depending on corporate investment for funding Web
  sites would be a dangerous precedent. Public
  sector sites would be open to criticism that
  sponsors are influencing the content of the site.
• At present .gov sites are generally regarded as
  being reliable sources of information due to
  their non-commercial content and editorial
  procedures. Including commercial advertising
  could compromise the reputation of public sector
  sites.

David Little
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Implementation Issues

• What should you think about if you decide you
  wish to consider use of advertising / sponsorship
  deals, etc?
• Other possibilities not yet discussed
• The need for organisational guidelines

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Google Affiliate Program

• Message to Web4Lib list on 6 June 2000
• Should the University of Arkansas Library join
  the Google affiliate program (the income could
  pay for our free printing service)?

http//dante.uark.edu/
What happened (paraphrased) If we provide a
search facility using Google, I thought we may as
well reap some financial benefit. Agreement was
reached with the Library and University. Before
implementing it, Googles prices had dropped from
3c to 1c, so we decided not to do it.
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Google
http//www.google.com/affiliates/

• Google Affiliate program
• Aimed at small medium Web sites
• Provide a search box and earn 0.01 per search
• See also Lycoss affiliate program at
  lthttp//www.lycos.com/affiliateprogram/and
  lthttp//affiliate-program.com/gt

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Google in the UK

• Due to large nos. of hits (to popular Dinosaur
  site) department looked at income generation
  options to develop site
• Banner ads ruled out
• Google affiliate program chosen since
• Google was used in any case
• Easy to set up
• No unsightly / inappropriate adverts
• 14.80 made over 6 week period (19 Nov 3 Jan)
• Money to go to a departmental account

http//www.gly.bris.ac.uk/
STOP PRESS Google affiliate scheme ended on 1 Feb
2001
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LinkBaton

• LinkBatons are user-customisable links that can
  be placed on any website to enable user
  preference and to enhance website revenue.

http//my.linkbaton.com/get?sitePageconductor
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More Than Online Advertising
http//www.screensavers-online.co.uk/

• You may wish to host ads other than / as well as
  on your Web site.
• Companies such as Youth will manage
• Posters
• Bookmarks (distributed with books)
• Screensavers
• Web page sponsorship
• Online surveys

Revenues earned by our affiliate partners range
between 30,000 a few thousand pounds over the
course of a year.
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EEVLs Experiences
http//www.eevl.ac.uk/roddy/private/freebooks.html

• The idea is to get 'advertisers' to pay for
  promotional costs.  EEVL gets the publishers to
  pay towards the cost of fliers advertising the
  promotion, plus they are giving away a retail
  value of 1,250 books each.
• The sponsors get their logos on an appropriate
  part of the Web site, and on fliers. They also
  get a contact database, etc. EEVL gets promotion
  at low cost.  The users get free books. 
• Everyone's a winner!

With a v. low marketing budget (about 3K per
year, which includes web site design, etc) a
target audience within HE alone of 220,000
academics, such sponsorship is the only hope EEVL
has of promoting widescale to our audience.
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A Mixed Economy

• We are living in a mixed economy in which
  academic users will wish to access resources from
  both educational and commercial Web sites.
• The JISC Hybrid Libraries recognise this by
  integrating access to academic and commercial Web
  sites (such as Amazon, AltaVista, etc.)

The Agora Hybrid Library
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The Need For Guidelines

• This is a need for organisational guidelines
  which cover
• A definition of advertising / sponsorship /
  affiliate programs, etc
• Whether advertising is permitted
• And, if advertising / sponsorship, etc is
  permitted
• What type is permitted
• What is acceptable and unacceptable
• Who gets the income
• Internal procedures

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Government Guidelines
Government Sector

• 3.10 Advertising
• Government sites are permitted to carry
  advertising. In designing pages, departments and
  agencies should ensure that advertisers branding
  does not detract from the effectiveness and
  appearance of their own branding or that of the
  government as a whole. Particular attention
  should be given to avoid any implication of
  endorsement of products or services or of
  contradiction between government messages and
  those of advertisers.

Framework Policy for Web Sites Published by
Information Age Government Champions See
lthttp//www.citu.gov.uk/iagc/guidelines/websites/
web_contents.htmor lthttp//www.citu.gov.uk/iagc/pd
fs/websites.pdfgt
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Examples of Guidelines (1)
HE Sector

• Aberdeen University
• Policy on the use of University web pages for
  commercial advertising (June 2000)
• i Advertising should be applied in context that
  is, it should be relevant and advantageous to the
  subject matter of the web page. Sites
  displaying advertising must previously have
  completed the appropriate registration forms
• iii Advertising must not conflict with the
  policies or strategic aims of the University
• vii Advertising must not constitute more than 10
  of a single web page, and should not usually
  involve animations, frames, child windows,
• Revenue from advertising reverts to the
  department responsible for the pages. ... Each
  advertisement submitted for approval is subject
  to a charge, payable to the DISS (Directorate of
  Information Systems and Services).

http//www.aberdeen.ac.uk/diss/docu/forms/advertis
ing.hti
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Examples of Guidelines (2)
HE Sector

• Bristol University
• Webmaster Team Frequently Asked Questions
• Can I advertise/host a non-University
  organisation / event on the Web?
• What if someone want to "sponsor" a page
  displaying their logo?
• If a University server makes information
  available with the aim of furthering teaching and
  research, or any other activity which is
  consonant with the University's objectives, that
  is acceptable.
• If the content is pure advertising for a
  non-University organisation then this is clearly
  unacceptable (except possibly in the case where
  the subject of the advertisement is related to
  University activities - a conference being
  organised by a learned society, for example).

http//www.bris.ac.uk/Webmaster/faq.htmladvertise
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Examples of Guidelines (3)
HE Sector

• Dundee University
• Advertising on University Web Servers
• Broadly speaking, online advertising could be
• a Commercial (e.g. software, books, etc. for
  sale, )
• b Non-commercial (e.g. Web site for charity, ad
  for academic journal, ...)
• Both commercial and non-commercial
  advertisements can be mounted in department web
  space. Personal web space must not be used for
  commercial adverts. Likewise, a personal
  advertisement should not be published in a
  department web space.

http//www.dundee.ac.uk/main/webadmin/advertising.
htm
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Examples of Guidelines (4)
HE Sector

• Oxford University
• Advertising Material on University Web Pages
• The University Rules for Computer Use forbid use
  of University IT or network facilities for
  "commercial purposes without specific
  authorisation" and offering "commercial services
  through web pages" except with permission. The
  reason is that computer and network
  facilities are subsidised from public funds
  for academic purposes.
• The rules are intended .. to bar advertising of
  outside, ie non-University, commercial services
  on University web pages.
• However statements of sponsorship are
  permissible, logos and links are permissible, ..

http//www.ox.ac.uk/it/rules/ads.html
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Examples of Guidelines (5)
HE Sector

• Unnamed University
• Draft Policy
• The University will only enter into a contractual
  arrangement with a 3rd party where
• The advertising material is of direct relevance
  and benefit to the staff and students
• The advertising material does not infringe any of
  the Universitys regulations or codes of practice
  (e.g. JANET AUP)
• The advertising material does not impact on the
  Universitys professional standing

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Examples of Guidelines (6)
http//www.hants.gov.uk/TC/hantsweb/advertising-di
sclaimer.html

• Hampshire County Council
• Advertising on Hantsweb
• .. advertising banners appearing on Hantsweb are
  part of a six-month trial to evaluate use of
  advertising
• Advertisements are arranged via a third party
  working on behalf of Hampshire County Council and
  certain other local authorities. The advertisers
  have no influence over the editorial content of
  the web site and Hampshire County Council staff
  are not involved in negotiations with potential
  advertisers.

Local Government Sector
Latest .. belief in Council that the presence of
advertising undermines the authority of
information on the website, and that adverts make
it look 'cheap' and 'tacky ... issues over HCC
business units where the banners ads interfere or
conflict with other sponsorship arrangements.
low revenue return
Email message, 9 March 2001
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A JISC Study

• JISC call for tender for a Study into Advertising
  on JANET given in THES (8 Dec 2000)
• JISC wishes to commission a study of the
  opportunities that advertising and associated
  activities can offer for income generation, the
  impact that its introduction will have on the
  network and services and the implications for
  policy in a number of areas.
• Opportunities For Income Generation
• The study must identify the opportunities that
  exist for, and provide some indication of the
  likely revenue generation from
• Sponsorship of web sites and services.
• Advertisements on web pages on institutional web
  sites or JISC services
• Sell-through from web users visiting commercial
  sites with a percentage of sales returned to the
  JISC or institutions ..
• Commercial companies funding JISC services in
  order to acquire marketing information on the
  behaviour of students or staff in education

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A JISC Study (2)

• Impact of Advertising
• Advertisements will increase the traffic across
  the network, will reduce the amount of usable
  space on web pages, can increase the download
  time .. and may be a distraction to serious
  study.
• The report should identify the impact of
  advertisements on
• The total network traffic across JANET
• The effective reduction of bandwidth in critical
  areas
• The usability of JISC services delivered through
  Web interfaces
• Policy Implications
• There are several areas of concern about the way
  commercial activity could threaten academic
  independence. ..
• The report should provide information on ..
• Impartiality Acceptability
• Screen real estate Multiple deals

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A JISC Study (3)

• Advertising Service
• It is feasible for each institution or service to
  seek its own deals for advertising or
  sponsorship. The study should investigate whether
  it may be more efficient if there is a single
  JISC advertising service that is responsible for
• marketing the potential of advertising in the
  sector
• striking deals on behalf of all JISC services
• meeting or exceeding revenue targets agreed with
  the JISC
• offering to broker deals on behalf of
  institutions, or projects which expect
  advertising to offer a feasible exit strategy
• giving advice to institutions on advertising
  and sponsorship issues

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Conclusions

• To conclude
• There are a wide range of income generation
  options which may be classed under the term
  advertising
• Public sectors organisations are increasingly
  interested in such possibilities
• A simple decision to ban advertising outright
  may well be unacceptable or difficult to
  implement
• A decision to allow any form of advertising is
  probably also undesirable
• Organisational guidelines are clearly needed
• The JISC study is likely to be of interest