The ORA Framework: Expanding Business Opportunities by 350%

Leading a user study to identify the value proposition for the ORA licensing framework focusing on opportunities in the creative industries

Executive Summary

Our goal was to identify and validate the value proposition for a new kind of technical licensing protocol. Over 4 months, I had to learn how this new licensing protocol worked and find a way of translating the business opportunities of this technology to creative professionals. This resulted in 9 new use cases and business opportunities for product growth, an increase in 350%, and increased reach for the DECaDE research centre by 11%.

Role: Lead Researcher

Timeframe: Oct 23 - Jan 24

A Solution Without a Problem?

The ORA licensing framework developed as part of the DECaDE research centre, presents a novel approach to media ownership and rights management, leveraging the C2PA metadata standard and blockchain technology to enable content creators take control over their content as it is shared and remixed online.

We know how tough it is in maintaining attribution, rights management, and ownership of creative media as it is shared and reused online. GenAI has only worsened this effect for creatives.

The C2PA metadata is a unit-level approach to storing metadata for a media asset in the file

But what is the real value of ORA to industry? And how do we know ORA could support creatives across the board? Our goal was to identify and evaluate the value proposition of ORA for key stakeholders in this field. In doing so, we were also met with the challenge, how do we demonstrate and explore the potential business opportunities for ORA?

How do we demonstrate and validate the potential business opportunities of ORA?

Doing Our Homework

Before approaching users, we first needed to break down our own thinking of ORA's value proposition to form a hypothesis, identify industry forces, and identify key stakeholders to refine our focus.

In an internal workshop with our partners Digital Catapult and the DECaDE team, we applied business analysis, design thinking, and product management tools to explore and map ORA’s value proposition. Through this process, we were able to identify 14 market forces that helped us to shape the why, how, and what for this new licensing protocol.

A close up image of a participant writing up their reflects during the workshop activity

Thinking Beyond the Technology

ORA is an abstract concept made up of a complex set of technologies. Our goal was to find a way to communicate this to our intended target users so that they can both understanding and consider how this might align with their own business objectives and needs.

The creative industries is also often defined as a homogenous industry but the reality is that how creatives approach distribution and reuse of content varies widely, meaning the value proposition and potential impact of ORA will be different.

We felt a workshop was the most appropriate method based on these needs. We targeted this workshop at organisations and individuals who could be early adopters.

How do you communicate something as complex as ORA in a way that enables users to understand and align with their own business needs?

Designing Problem-Centred Methods

Paper prototyping is useful tool in representing digital products to help realise concepts, communicate an idea quickly, gather feedback, and enable stakeholders to build shared understanding of the opportunities and pain points of a digital product.

Leveraging this approach, I worked with a designer to create our own paper prototype of ORA which would enable potential users to understand and discuss how ORA would work in their business or practice.

Crucially, I started with the user's challenge and then framed the prototype to probe into this challenge and how the different features of the ORA licensing system might apply.

An example of the workshop activity materials asking the participant to reflect on the challenges they face sharing content online

By focusing on the our participant's challenges before setting out the technology, we were able to gather detailed insights into how ORA might work in different creative settings.

In total we had:

30 participants from our target user groups
50% of those who attended were interested in learning more
13% of those who attended followed up with the team to discuss further opportunities

A desk covered in the workshop activity examining the user's problem and ORA

Who Came and What Did We Learn?

Where Did This Take Us?

The workshop enabled us to gather inputs and insights from industry stakeholders which we analysed through keyword analysis, thematic analysis, ecosystem analysis, and value proposition refinement.

9 Use Cases

We identified 9 use cases of ORA, opening the business opportunities for this tech (increase by 350%)

Policy Contributions

Our insights were used as evidence in DECaDE research centre's contribution to the UK Government Copyright and AI consultation.

Expanding Reach

This workshop provided targeted outreach for the DECaDE research centre, increasing reach by 11%.