The IEEE Annals: An experiment in selective dissemination

Over the years, a great deal of attention has been paid to the cost of disseminating scientific and technical information. Unfortunately, a similar amount of effort has not been expended on determining the economic value of that information to the user. While Innumerable user preference surveys have been conducted, such surveys are notoriously useless in determining questions of price. For over a year now, the IEEE has been conducting an experiment aimed both at testing a selective dissemination system and, from the subscribe; behavior, determining the price elasticity of material presented via that system. Our initial data indicate that early adopters of such a system behave in a fashion analogous to that observed in early adopters of other technological innovations. Over approximately an 8-to-1 range, their price elasticity is essentially zero. Based on these early data, the program is being extended in order to determine price elasticity in an equilibrated system.