Number 197 - October 1999

Third Voice Lets Users Weigh In On Web Sites
by Hiawatha Bray (C) The News Tribune - Tacoma, Washington
We've all sat in front of the television, listening to lying politicians and ignorant film stars, and responded with a litany of insults. When interactive TV finally arrives, it'd be fun to have a ticker tape running at the bottom of the screen during "Larry King Live," featuring snide remarks from jaded viewers. But currently, all of these bilious comments go to waste.     Even the interactivity of the Internet has its limits. If you'd like to pick a public quarrel over something you read on the Globe Web site, you can send an e-mail to the editor. But even if your note is published, many visitors to the site never will see it.     But suppose you could add your own commentary to any article on the Globe Web site, or any other document on the Internet? On those rare occasions when I write something stupid, you could say so, right on the same Web page containing my blunder.     Such power is now yours, thanks to the efforts of some clever programmers from Singapore. Their new product, Third Voice, makes any Web page your own, by letting you add comments and criticisms that can be read by other visitors to the site.     It's been called digital graffiti, but Third Voice is far more sophisticated than a can of spray paint. Besides, it does no harm to the Web sites on which it's used.     The system uses Third Voice's own server computers, and a piece of client software downloaded from the Third Voice Web site (www.thirdvoice.com) and run on the user's machine.     When you want to comment on something at, say, the CNN Web site, you can select the text, and use the Third Voice client to attach a note. This note resides on the Third Voice server. CNN's own Web content is completely unaffected.     Nobody will see your note unless he or she is also running the Third Voice client software. Visit a page with a note attached, and a small icon flashes red, to let you know that a fellow Third Voicer has weighed in on the subject.	The designers of Third Voice have added a stack of features that enhance the value of their product. You can add personal notes to a site, for viewing only by you. You also can set up groups of users, and post notes only they can read. This way, Third Voicers can create impromptu discussion groups at any site.     You might think that Web sites would hate the idea that another company is piggybacking on their popularity. But Leo Jolicoeur, Third Voice's vice president of business development, believes otherwise. In fact, Jolicoeur is scrambling to set up deals with major Web portals to promote Third Voice. The portal sites are desperate for ways to increase their "stickiness"--the amount of time visitors spend at the site.     Third Voice is a clever idea, though not an original one. A band of open source software writers came up with the same idea a couple of years ago and turned it into a Web site called Crit. But like that other famous open source program, the Linux operating system, Crit is hard to use. As a result, few people bother with it--though you're welcome to try, at crit.org.     Of course, not many people currently use Third Voice, either. The product premiered only a couple of weeks ago. Besides, the Third Voice software now works only with Microsoft's Internet Explorer 4 browser.     Other problems loom. No doubt we'll see people posting libelous material under phony names, as they've been known to do at Yahoo's Web bulletin boards. And I've already come across a new form of spam--get-rich-quick notes attached to unsuspecting Web sites.     Still, Third Voice is too good an idea to be entirely ruined. And it's come along just in time for next year's elections. Already, candidates are setting up their Web sites. In a few months, when those sites are covered with snarky retorts from cynical Third Voice users, the pols may wish they'd skipped the Internet and stuck with "Larry King Live."     Hiawatha Bray writes on computer issues for The Boston Globe. You can send him electronic mail at bray@globe.com. June 04, 1999
Number 197 - October 1999