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Spectra: Behind the Scenes Interview with msnbc.com's Catherine Captain

News Type: Event — Mon Jun 2, 2008 10:13 AM EDT

The Spectra screen with some news choices added

The NewsWare screen

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On May 19 I noticed and reported on Spectra, msnbc.com's new visual newsreader: MSNBC launches Spectra; you've really gotta take a look.... Afterwards, I realized that I had some unanswered questions, so contacted Catherine Captain, msnbc.com's Vice President of Marketing and the person who brought Spectra to the site. Here are the questions I posed and her answers.

Why did MSNBC decide to develop Spectra, and what is the development path it's likely to follow?

Spectra is one component of a larger effort at msnbc.com to surface our content in new, innovative ways. We recently pulled this all under the umbrellas of what we call NewsWare. This isn't just for sport…we've done extensive consumer studies and learned that one thing people truly love about msnbc.com is that it stimulates their spirit of discovery. We've tried to harness and expand that experience with developments like our two online games, NewsBreaker and NewsBlaster, which drop live RSS msnbc.com headlines while you play, and our screensaver, NewsSkimmer, also filled with headlines. Spectra is the latest and greatest in that family. We've coined the term "news-infusion" to describe what we're doing.

Who do you see being the audiences for Spectra, and for the other NewsWare apps?

It's clearly targeted at msnbc.com's news-exploring consumers. They delight in news exploration in and of itself. Spectra and the overarching NewsWare arena satisfies that craving. We also think we'll hit early adopter crowds. NewsWare is designed to be experimental so it's not necessarily mainstream. For people who love new technology and love the news, this is a place where those things are married in cool new ways.

We've gotten global blog attention on Spectra and NewsWare. One of my favorite quotes is from a blog by Josh Spear: "CNN news crawl, meet your younger, colorful, more animated brother." He hits on the resonating point we'd previously uncovered – that different people like to get news in different ways from different sources. Msnbc.com as a brand is uniquely positioned in our competitive set to straddle the traditional and the cutting edge. From a marketer's perspective, it's a tremendous place to be able to explore consumer needs and subsequent product development.

How and why did you decide to use Papervision 3D as the engine? Which came first, wanting to make a visual feed, or learning about Papervision and realizing how it could be used by your organization?

Wanting to make a visual reader came first. In fact, it was one of the very first concepts we developed with agency, SS+K, when we were brainstorming how to satisfy news explorers nearly two years ago. We wanted to create something immersive and engaging. The infographic nature of Spectra was a perfect fit with Papervision 3D. We partnered with an information design firm in The Netherlands called Fluid. (It didn't make for easy communications between Seattle and The Netherlands…but it sure did make for a beautiful display!) Papervision allowed us to creates something that was striking and that performs well.

Do you envision allowing people to save their settings, and add rss feeds of their own choosing (like blogs not listed in the upper selection boxes)?

The functionality to save settings is there. Are you viewing in Firefox? We're looking into a problem with Firefox and saving settings. Stay tuned!

Yes, we've talked about adding more RSS feeds. We wanted to launch with a distinct set of feeds so it's not overwhelming for new users. If it catches on, we'll add more and continue developing and growing Spectra.

What else would you like potential users to know about the service?

We want to keep building and growing the NewsWare family. It works for our brand and resonates with our users. One exciting upcoming development is showcasing Spectra at the msnbc.com digital café opening in New York this summer. (The café will be at 30 Rockefeller Center overlooking Rockefeller Plaza.) Spectra will be displayed on a 108" Sharp TV (coming this fall to the café) in auto mode and in web-cam mode so that café guests can interact with it. There will also be Spectra touchscreens in the café.

This is really all about combining content, technology and marketing in relevant ways for consumers. We plan to continue innovating in this direction and need to keep in touch with our users to do that. That's our mission.

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions, Catherine. Let's hear what Viners think. Comment away folks...

  • 8 Votes
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{"commentId":1874895,"authorDomain":"marilynl"}
Marilyn L

So, what else would you like to say about Spectra? Questions? Comments?

{"commentId":1874895,"threadId":"275981","contentId":"1531199","authorDomain":"marilynl"}
  • 2 votes
Reply#1 - Mon Jun 2, 2008 10:18 AM EDT
{"commentId":1878069,"authorDomain":"pwtenny"}
Paul William Tenny
.. what else would you like to say about Spectra?

Nifty idea, but ultimately one I think is a comer-and-goer. It doesn't solve any perceived problem which makes it a toy, for the most part. Just my thoughts.

{"commentId":1878069,"threadId":"275981","contentId":"1531199","authorDomain":"pwtenny"}
  • 5 votes
#1.1 - Mon Jun 2, 2008 6:54 PM EDT
{"commentId":1878100,"authorDomain":"marilynl"}
Marilyn L

Well, that's one way to look at it, and for a heavy user of rss feeds, it may not be as useful as a text-based newsreader, but I enjoyed the visual way of seeing the news. It certainly establishes msnbc.com as interested in serving younger internet users, too.

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  • 2 votes
#1.2 - Mon Jun 2, 2008 6:58 PM EDT
{"commentId":1878755,"authorDomain":"tang"}
Calvin Tang

The path to innovation is through experimentation. Not all experiments lead to paradigm shifting solutions that change the way the majority of people do things. But, without experimenting at all, we resign ourselves to maintaining the status quo. I like the fact that we can have a variety of offerings. Some are intended for the masses, and others (including Newsvine?) are intended to satisfy people with a more specific appetite.

{"commentId":1878755,"threadId":"275981","contentId":"1531199","authorDomain":"tang"}
  • 2 votes
#1.3 - Mon Jun 2, 2008 9:08 PM EDT
{"commentId":1878777,"authorDomain":"marilynl"}
Marilyn L

Right, it probably also depends on whether you're a visual person or not. I am, so love to see new visual paradigms like Spectra. I had a potential client who needed a solution like this, but I had no way to help him with it. I now wonder about contacting him again. I see this approach as paradigm shifting.

{"commentId":1878777,"threadId":"275981","contentId":"1531199","authorDomain":"marilynl"}
  • 1 vote
#1.4 - Mon Jun 2, 2008 9:12 PM EDT
{"commentId":1879185,"authorDomain":"tang"}
Calvin Tang

Actually, one of Mike D.'s original ideas about how to present the news in a visual way involved a reader that has some overlap with Spectra (3 different ideas we were tossing around at the time were eventually combined and the result was Newsvine).

{"commentId":1879185,"threadId":"275981","contentId":"1531199","authorDomain":"tang"}
  • 1 vote
#1.5 - Mon Jun 2, 2008 10:25 PM EDT
{"commentId":1879212,"authorDomain":"marilynl"}
Marilyn L

Well, actually since they added the extra Newsvine selections, you could check out Newsvine alone through Spectra, at least for top articles. So, the interface IS actually available for Newsvine.

{"commentId":1879212,"threadId":"275981","contentId":"1531199","authorDomain":"marilynl"}
  • 2 votes
#1.6 - Mon Jun 2, 2008 10:31 PM EDT
{"commentId":1879361,"authorDomain":"bigmomma"}
rottlady

I had to check out the Newsvine selections and I could barely read them due to the white type on yellow background, is there a way to change the color scheme?

{"commentId":1879361,"threadId":"275981","contentId":"1531199","authorDomain":"bigmomma"}
  • 2 votes
#1.7 - Mon Jun 2, 2008 10:59 PM EDT
Reply
{"commentId":1900140,"authorDomain":"sbutki"}
Scott (Scoop) Butki

Good interview, Marilyn. Way to be a citizen journalist. Clipped to Newsviner's Picks.

{"commentId":1900140,"threadId":"275981","contentId":"1531199","authorDomain":"sbutki"}
  • 1 vote
Reply#2 - Thu Jun 5, 2008 10:27 AM EDT
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