Technology’s Long Tail Transcript. Question 1

Technology’s Long Tail Transcript

Question 1

The graph I am going to describe is DVD: Critical Price. The graph shows how the DVDs experienced reduced consumption from the year 1997 to 2003. Given that DVD was introduced in the mid-90s, it was quite expensive during that time, but after technological changes and introduction of things like Netflix, it saw the demand curve for the product go down (Chris Anderson, 4:26). Also, the graph has shown a fall in the average price of the DVD and a rise in the number of units sold.

Question 2

 The general representation of the graph illustrates the distribution of the products best on their value. Thus, for example, the X-axis shows the value of DVDs from 1997 to 2003 while the y-axis shows the value of dollars from which the DVD fell between the years 1998 and 2003. Additionally, in most cases, the market distribution illustrates sales as the dependent variable of the y-axis and any data set as the independent variable of the x-axis. 

Question 3

Based on the graph display, the overall pattern shows the transitions between the falling and rising trend of the graph, signaled by looking at the average price and unit sold. From the graph, the overall pattern signals changes in the trend of both the average price and unit sold as it shows how the average price of DVD has been falling, yet the unit sold is taking of making it trend up.

Question 4

The two points I used to determine the slope are selected from the graphical line of average price. The points were (1998, $400) and (2002, $200), which I used to get the slope value through the formula of m=(y2-y1)/(X2-X1) or, in simple terms, change in the value of y over change in the value of x. Therefore, to get the slope value, you simplify the two. 

Question 5

The y-intercept shows the point where the graph crosses the y-axis at this point; the x-coordinate is zero. Therefore, I choose the y-intercept to be 200 because the slope is constant, and the x-coordinate is also constant. 

Question 6

In terms of interpreting the slope as a rate of change, this means that in the case of a negative slope. For instance, in the cases of an average value of DVD: Critical Price, the two variables are related negatively, which means when x increases, y decreases. However, for the graph of unit sold, it shows the positive slope, which shows that the two variables are related positively as when x increases, the same happens to why.

Question 7

I think my prediction is reasonable as, by 2025, the average price of DVDs will be low given that the world is changing digital. However, the unit sold will continue getting higher as the product would be used in adverts and other platforms. 

References

Anon, Available at: https://www.ted.com/talks/chris_anderson_technology_s_long_tail#t-261842 [Accessed August 2, 2021].