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Re: The Commercialization of Web Accessibility

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From: Peter Van Dijck
Date: Dec 19, 2001 3:59AM


| And thus the businessman is in necessary conflict with the
| activist.

Not necessarily so.

The businessman may realise that, if he doesn't charge sufficiently for his
services, the future of the resource/consulting/information/research may be
at stake. He will realise that companies who pay for a report may be much
more inclined to use it than companies who download it for free. He also may
realise that he can essentially provide all the information for free, AND
provide the information in a form where people will pay money for it, be it
through consulting, downloadable reports (do you think the Nielsen reports
reveal much that is not available from his site or from online resources
anyway, for free?), ...

So that is how the apparent conflict can be resolved, I believe. By
providing information and research for free, you not only help the sites
without money, but also position yourself as expert. Which in turns lets you
charge money for the same information (differently packaged, more detailed
maybe) and services, because people pay money for the TRUST, the authority,
not the actual information. They pay you money so they don't have to think
it our for themselves, basically. You provide an EASY way for them to be
accessible, for money.

Hope that made sense.
Peter



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