³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

Martha I think that people have patchy understanding of data on the web. ÌýIt's such an enormously complex subject, you know, retailers might use data in a completely different way to search engines, you know. ÌýI don't think anybody has ever had access to Google search algorithms and what that means if you are suddenly at the top of the search when you've searched for something or if you suddenly fall to the bottom, you know. ÌýThat's something that's very murky and behind the scenes, but similarly I think that retailers by, in large, have a pretty good open transparent policies. ÌýThey tell you what they are doing with your data, you read terms and conditions, you know, are always try to be very transparent with our own business lastminute.com, like every, you know, proper retailer now. ÌýSo, I think it's enormous in varying degrees. ÌýI think the big piece that's obviously come from nowhere in the last few years, the hot topic of social media, I think that people are only beginning to understand what it might mean to post things about yourself in a public forum that then might be looked at by people that you work with or might be looked at by people that might employ you in the future or, you know, that whole area I think, is where people are now only beginning to have a think about what that might mean for them.

Intv Um, in relation to that, do you think that there is a, kind of, a shift in terms of our expectations, to put in a simple way, it's a, I think it would have, it felt, kind of, it probably still does for some people, unimaginable that you would kind of put a picture of yourself drunk or something at a party or you wouldn't stick that on the wall outside your house probably, maybe you would. ÌýBut, you, people obviously are happy to do that on social reader sites and so on and it's an even more public declaration.

Martha I think the social media is interesting, you know, would you stick a picture outside your house, no, probably not, but you are always framed in social media context, in a world that you create. ÌýYou know, you don't have to accept people as your friends, you don't have to let the whole world see it, it's not really anonymous in the way that I think sometimes people get scared that it is. ÌýI think this all comes back to education and it's all very well for me to sit here in my mid to late 'can I bear it 30s', actually you need to look at what 11, 10, 9, 8 year olds are doing and how they're interacting with technology. ÌýAnd for me, they're the people that both can teach us but also need to be educated themselves and this is where I agree with Tanya Byron's report about technology that, you know, it's all good and to be embraced but you have to underpin it with proper education about exactly those issues of identity and privacy.

Intv Do you think there was a time, in that sense, in the way that, um, er, perhaps teenagers or even younger see the web compared to the way that, when their 20s, 30s, 40s or 50s.

Martha There's a massive generational difference in how people see the web and that's one of the things that I find most interesting and exciting, you know. ÌýNot only between classic generational breakdowns but much more split and atomised fragments of early 20s to late 20s to mid 20s, it's more about, kind of, the stage of life you're at as well, I think and where you are in the education cycle, you know, if I look now at how eight, nine, ten year olds use the web, it's completely different to how, you know, somebody aged 18 would use it, completely different to how I would use it again. ÌýAnd I think that one of the issues around the privacy questions that are now being raised are, have we taught children how to be safe online enough and are we, you know, aware enough, if we come at this later with technology, of all the different ways that information is used so, it's definitely a piece of education that needs to underpin all of the developments that are happening in technology.

Intv I think, one area that I suppose is particularly topical and controversial advertising, is relations behavioural targeting, do you have an opinion?

Martha I'm really not so vexed by behavioural advertising and targeting. ÌýI think that as long as it's transparent at some level and you, the consumer or the user have the ability to find out what is being, kind of used to your benefit, your supposed benefit then I feel quite relaxed about it and I actually think that it can be an exciting leap forward. ÌýI think where it becomes tricky is when it's not totally transparent to you, the user or there is no way of finding out and I think that that's one of the areas that perhaps we're only being able to grapple with now.

Intv If, when these stories look back in a hundred years and, as I assume they will do, um, what do you think they would say, this was the significance of the web.

Martha I think that it's too early to tell what historians in a hundred years will say. ÌýI mean I think that one of the things that's challenging, er, slightly terrifying and er, probably will make the historians life extremely difficult is the fact that this is a change that is constantly evolving. ÌýThere's not a moment in time where suddenly a change happened, you know, yes business models were broken, new businesses were created, people were able to talk to each other and to institutions in a different way, but I'm not sure that historians will be able to, you know, the war of the roses happened and then a whole set of other things happened. ÌýThe French Revolution happened and a whole set of other things happened. ÌýI think that the thing about the web is it's a moving feast every single year, every single week and so it's too early to tell. ÌýIt's too early to tell.

Martha Um, what do you think, what's the essence of the power of the web? ÌýWhat's the, why did it take off, if you could, if we can pick on one particular aspect of it?

Martha I think it's nearly impossible to pick on one aspect. ÌýI know that it's very helpful for people to have, you know, this one thing is the reason why we're successful, but the only way I can characterise it is that it's just a tool, you know. ÌýIt's a tool that makes things that we do in our every day lives so much more rich and easier and convenient and fun and the essence of it for me is that there isn't a pre-determined, you know, way of behaving on the web. ÌýIt's what you make of it and that's true for a business and that that's true for an individual and it's that tool and the power of that tool that you can use as an individual that I think is what makes it so, kind of, unquantifiable I guess. Ìý

Intv Um and again this is probably a unfair question, but I'd like to, you know, er, if you look back on 40 years and, kind of, the early Internet, 40 year Internet now through to the web, do you think it tells me anything about human nature? ÌýIf so, what does it?

Martha Yeah, I like the thought of whether the Internet over 40 years tells us something about human beings. ÌýI'm a positive person and an optimistic person and I think that the web has reinforced what I believe about human nature was that's it good and when put together, it can create great things, you know. ÌýI find the web a friendly place. ÌýI don't like this extremist view that the view is suddenly a danger zone where unpleasant people can more easily find their vulnerable targets, you know. ÌýThat's the extremities as it always has been in every society and as long as you educate to make people safe, I think the bulk of what happens on the web is interesting, exciting, supportive, fun and magic.