B Y K A R L M O N T E V I R G E N

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Questions Concerning The SpaceBetween Content Experience and

Product Experience

I N T R O D U C T I O N

The purpose of this presentation is to engage the elusive spacebetween the operational notions defining common business contentpractices and the disruptive potential enveloped within the conceptualand material elements comprising those practices.

If we can generate novel ideas only by asking relevant questions thatlead to uncertainty--open-ended questions whose answers are noteasily accessible--then this piece is an attempt at initiating andsustaining that state of inquiry.

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What are the boundaries defining product experience?

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Does the experience of product functionality define the limits ofproduct experience?

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Can we limit product experience to the moment ofengagement between product and user?

Can product experience also include materials, contexts, andexperiences that are remotely related, or perhaps evenunrelated, to a product, its functionality, or moment of usage?

Does product experience also include product features andattributes that are not directly related to functionality (e.g.aesthetics, brand status, monetary value, etc.)?

Do the various effects of product use over time also count asproduct experience, an extension of that experience, or anextension of the product itself?

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Might a product’s "effect" over time (e.g. heightened capabilities;product-enabled accomplishments; re-framed perspectives; etc.)be considered an integral part of the product?

If there is truth to Kathy Sierra's notion that a user who refers toan “awesome product” is really referring to him/herself--”I amawesome," should we think of product/user interaction as amode of convergence (or concrescence) between product anduser?

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Does this convergent interaction define product experience?

If users can extrapolate different qualities from a product on anindividual basis so as to create different effects or differentmodes of application, what role do users play in shaping ortransforming the product?

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Given the diverse set of knowledge, skills, habits andtendencies that different users bring to the table, andconsidering the diverse range of effects produced throughproduct/user interaction, can we then say that the time ofproduct experience both precedes and follows the use of aproduct?

Are these external factors, unrelated to one another in terms ofcategory or operations, conjoined in the event of productexperience?

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If it can be said that product experience includes elements andconditions existing beyond the product itself and its time of use,then what are the boundaries defining product experience?

What boundaries define a product?

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In most business contexts, do you think that content isviewed as a mere “deliverable"--an end product--or as anactive relay facilitating the flow of organizational action?

What if we were to define organizational content as everymode of communication, from text-based content--e.g.internal memos, written procedures, contracts anddisclosures, marketing brochures, support and techmanuals, etc.--to digital media, to verbal interactions, all ofwhich are geared toward serving organizational goals?

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Is content “containable” within an organization’s strategicframework?

If so, to what extent is a company’s capabilities “contained”within the potential of its content?

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Can the "presentation" of a single piece of data yield multiple,perhaps incompatible, meanings?

Can a direct proposition inadvertently express otherpropositions that are incompatible with the originalproposition?

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If so, is content a fluid and heterogeneous “occurrence” ofinformation whose consistencies transmit a refracting set ofpotential meanings?

Is the "atmosphere" of a message--the intangible and qualitativeelements accompanying a proposition-- as critical to themessage as the proposition itself?

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Considering the wide range of content accompanying aproduct’s lifecycle--marketing, sales, technical and customersupport, upgrades, supplemental communications(newsletters, blogs, etc.) and related product promos--howmany layers of customer experience, or “CX,” are generatedwithin a single prospect-to-customer cycle?

Do the various forms of content--e.g. marketing, sales,technical, newsletter, etc.--constitute different spacesoperationally (for the business) and experientially (for theconsumer)?

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Is CX (customer experience) the totality of thesesequences of content and product experience?

How common is it for these spaces to exhibit heterogeneousdifferences causing divergence between business goals andcustomer expectations?

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Can we view product content as an abstraction of productexperience?

Can these abstractions prefigure, support, create, ortransform product experience?

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Can these abstractions also interfere with, counter, or ruinproduct experience?

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What distinguishes content experience from product experience?

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Karl MontevirgenContent Creator

kmontevirgen@gmail.com