VRM Research opportunities

Research ideas

Should be...

• testable
• of use for doc in his new book
• non-anecdotal
• something concrete
• hard output
  • measurable
• provide businesses with fodder that they need to help make his case internally for opening up user control
  • Ben from Zeo needs a list of benefits to openness to bring to his investors: We need to provide that.
  • What are the benefits to vendors of VRM?
  • What are user data control?
  • Relationships -> what's the vendor benefits?
    • eliminate guesswork
• appease the berkman gods with productive research efforts

For example...

• Talk to organizations who have opened up and have them describe the benefits
  • What's measurable here?
• Test the hypothesis: A free customer is worth more than a captive one
  • "worth more" means defining customer value and measuring it
  • is the customer valuing the vendor more?
  • what is free vs. captive?
• before and after giving users their data
• altimeter group
  • engagementdb.com: report that shows that those who do social media are most profitable
• case studies (e.g. HBS format)
• backward analysis?
• report on personal informatics
  • what data comes out of personal informatics?
• Company experiences with launching api's?
• interviews, surveys
• What are some open data efforts?
  • VRM spotting -> what are some user-driven organizations?
• What are possible frameworks / scenarios for measurement / testing / research
• What are the intention economy principles?

What is VRMness (user-drivenness?) that might be testable?

• individual is the POI
• individual gets a copy of their data
• individual controls use of data
• users initiate
• user contribution is a core value
• user choice
• belongs to user - user owns / controls the system
• service portability / substitutibility