This note is part of my proposal for collaborating with VIDEOCON INTERNET TV , which was planned to be launched in 2001 .
My focus was on enabling TV viewers to be able to carry out following activites ONLINE , on this INTERNET TV :
> Search for JOBS
> Submit their RESUMES
> APPLY against any advertised job
This internal not was sent to colleague on 18 June 2001
hemen parekh
WHAT SHOULD WE DO TO BE ABLE TO USE/OPERATE AN iTV WITH A “REMOTE” (– as far as possible)
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Select 30 Topics/Subjects, e.g.
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News
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Films
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Sports
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Health
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Education
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Jobs
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Music
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Politics
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etc.
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For each of these 30 topics, select 10 TOP/BEST WEBSITES, making a total of
10 × 30 = 300 URLs. -
Hardcode these into memory of iTV’s SET-TOP BOX (or any other chip embedded into iTV).
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Create a “remote” which enables a person to select any of these 300 URLs by pressing keys/buttons.
On the Remote:
Diagram showing buttons:
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Power on/off
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Volume
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Scroll Screen
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Submit / Reset
Topic (left side) | Sites (right side):
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Portals → ① Helloworld
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Jobs → ② 3pjobs
... -
Search Engines
→ 10 (popular websites)
Instructions:
A person first presses “TOPIC” button (i.e., Topic Selection) — out of 30 topic buttons.
Then, he can click on ① to ⑩ buttons on right-hand side to select the most popular websites (URLs).
KIND ATTN: Mr. Nitish Tipnis, Mr. Naveen Mandhana
If he wishes to go to any other URL,
he should be able to type-in the URL in the infrared keyboard.
Maybe the remote could have a built-in facility to “RECONFIGURE/RESET” the 10 sites (URLs) of a user’s choice.
For this resetting/reconfiguring, the set-top box should contain URLs of 2000 most popular websites.
Surfer should be able to scroll these (up/down) on iTV screen and then press a button “Select” by pointing the laser-beam on that URL on the screen.
Presto! It gets added to the temporary memory of the remote.
USE OF “REMOTE” TO NAVIGATE 3pjobs
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Whether 3pjobs.com or any other website, any link should be clickable using laser-beam from the remote.
Perhaps this feature is already incorporated. -
It is obvious that to use an iTV, a surfer should not have to use 3 different devices, viz:
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a keyboard → for 10% use
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a remote
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a mouse → these must be combined for 90% of the use
Using an iTV from home. If he is a Personnel Manager, he would most likely log onto 3pjobs from his office and use a regular computer (unless he too wants to submit his resume and/or conduct a jobsearch! — something he would not dare to do from his office).
As far as a "jobseeker" is concerned, he would want to use the following features of 3pjobs from the privacy/comfort of his home:
#1 ▶ Submit Resume
#2 ▶ Conduct Job-Search
#3 ▶ Use "Resume Forwarding Service" (i.e. instruct our webserver to send his resume to ABC "job-advertiser").
In future, we propose enlarging the scope of this service whereby a jobseeker can instruct our webserver to forward his resume to anyone of (maybe) 50,000 companies whose names he can click upon, on our website — even if such a company has advertised or not.
Of course, for such PUSHING of "unsolicited" resumes, we will need advance permission of concerned companies. Otherwise, we will annoy a lot of our existing/prospective client-corporations.
We will work out a method to get such a permission, before uploading the name (and of course, email address) of the company on our website.
#4 ▶ Receive "Job-Alert" emails & check-up "job-adverts" stored in his job-alert box.
#5 ▶ Search several other databases available on our website.
Let us examine each one of these.
#1 SUBMIT RESUME
Currently this requires use of a keyboard.
For a TV user, it is cumbersome to switch between a remote & a keyboard every few minutes! It is inconvenient/annoying!
Can an iTV user,
▶ click on a “field” & then speak out (voice-recognition) the data?
Implications:
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Sound card / microphone /
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V-R Software / voice-enabled website?
▶ Use of IVRS (thru ordinary telephone — which most iTV homes may have) after clicking on a “field” in the resume-form, displayed on iTV screen.
Most (or all) of dropdown list selections should be able to be carried out with laser-beam/click on the remote.
Perhaps, what a jobseeker "enters" thru IVRS, can appear instantly on iTV screen, so that he knows if entry is correct.
If not, he can “type-in” the corrections.
Even if these “solutions” are technically feasible, the most important question to be asked — and answered — continuously is:
"Will this solution simplify matters or make it worse?"
Each so-called “solution” must be tested on users who do not know how to use a computer/keyboard.
#2 CONDUCT JOB-SEARCH
| Job Search Parameters | |
|---|---|
| Ind-ustry | |
| ------------------- | ----------- |
| IT Jobs | ▼ |
| Non-IT jobs | ▼ |
| Entry-level | |
| Vocational/Designated Staff Jobs |
From the above chart, it is clear... (text continues on next page)
"Posting City" → will need to be typed in (since it is a free text box)
Even here, it is possible to have a dropdown list of some 200/300 bigger cities/towns for clicking; with a provision to type in any other name. We are anyway considering this.-
Ind / Function / Desig / Position / Category / Trade
All of these are in the form of dropdown lists. It should be possible to point the laser-beam on the desired value & then click the remote.
As far as "Short Display" & "Long Display" are concerned, either there are:
▶ Links (clickable)
OR
▶ Check-boxes ☑ (clickable)
RESUME FORWARDING SERVICE
(Whom do you want us to forward your resume to?)
This form contains:
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UserName: ______
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Password: ______
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Job Advt. No.: ______
I suppose, these are best typed in using the keyboard.
We should, however, consider the following (simplified) solution:
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First step:
Jobseeker, upon entering “Job-Search” area/section, types in his Username & Password. -
Next step:
Whichever job-advt. (or company name) he sees (in whatever type of search-results), he simply points the laser-beam & CLICKS.
That takes care.
RECEIVE JOB-ALERT
If he logs on through his email (online), he will be taken to his personal page where he sees all the “matching/suitable” job-adverts stored.
Each job-advert should carry ☑ check-box. If interested, he simply points & clicks to forward his resume (i.e. apply online).
The fact that he has been able to “access” his PERSONAL PAGE, means the server knows who he is (i.e. Username / Password / PEN) and can pick up his “Long Display” resume from the database & forward.
This means, he need not enter his Username / Password again, if he is “Returning the Job-Alert Call”!
SEARCH OTHER DATABASES
For all of these (i.e. accessing these), we plan to introduce a REGISTRATION.
This means, to access these databases, a surfer would need to type in his Username / Password.
