Topic 11 – Web 2.0/3.0

Questions

Select five applications that you have not heard of before from Popular URL’s Web 2.0 awards or the webware awards and describe on your blog page how they could be useful to a business.

http://uncrate.com/style/

This is a great website that offers some unique products aimed at men. Businesses can use this website to promote products. The site does not seem to sell the products themselves but its more like a massive advertisement of all things men might be interested in. But many businesses can use this site to promote their products especially if it is a product completely new to the market.

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/

This site is basically an online magazine aimed at home makers. This is a great opportunity for websites to promote products anything from furniture to groceries. Users can subscribe to get newsletters emailed to them promoting new articles, the site also promotes an End the Hunger campaign which businesses can use to promote a healthy image.

http://www.engadget.com/

This site reviews products, mainly tech products and it is a good opportunity for businesses to promote products and their features compared to other similar products on the market. There is a downside to this though, if your product does not compare or surpass current similar products you could be buying bad publicity.

http://www.intomobile.com/

Another tech website but this one concentrates on mobile phones and all things concerning them. With this site businesses' can not only promote their phones but also their operating systems, hardware, mobile phone carriers, tablets and applications. Businesses that do not have anything to do with mobile phones such as banks, grocery stores and pet shops can use this site to promote their applications if they have the desire to create one, which in today's world is almost a must.

http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/011742.html

This site is basically a community dedicated to building a more sustainable future. This might not be a direct financial gain to businesses but it does offer them a way of promoting their brand. It offers the opportunity to collaborate with other professionals to address specific design challenges and in participating businesses can be exposed to new and innovative ideas that they can then implement, the can also provide ideas that might not have been thought of before.

Topic 10 - Trust

Questions 

Question 1 - What does this meant by the following statements?

Image from: http://www.freeimageslive.co.uk/search/imagesearch.cgi

Trust is not associative (non-symmetric)

Trust is not necessarily a two way street, just because Pieter trusts Paul does not automatically mean that Paul trusts Pieter.

Trust is not transitive

Trust does not automatically extend. Pieter and Paul trust each other but that does not mean that Pieter automatically trust the people Paul trust, and Paul does not automatically trust the people Pieter trust.

Trust is always between exactly 2 parties

Trust is established between 2 parties. If a third party joins the equation it trust is established individually between party 1 and party 3, and party 2 and party 3. 

Trust will involve either direct trust or recommender trust

Paul trust Pieter directly, based on Paul's opinion and experiences with Pieter. This is direct trust. Pieter recommends Paul get legal advice from Lily because she is trustworthy. Paul trusts that Lily is trustworthy because of this recommendation. This is recommender trust.

Question 2a -  Have a look at the following websites. What are some of the elements that have been incorporated to increase your trust in the sites? If there are also some aspects which decrease your level of trust describe them as well.

http://www.eBay.com.au

Increase Trust:

1. Customer Support
2. Policies
3. Feedback Forum
4. Reputation
5. Secure Payment - uses a known payment facility

Decrease Trusts:

1. I am bias where eBay is concerned, I have used it for many years and all distrust is based on individual sellers not eBay as an entity. A good example of "trust is not transitive".

http://www.anz.com.au

Increase Trust:

1. Contact us information
2. Secure Log-in
3. Security information

Decrease Trusts:

1. None that I can see

http://www.thinkgeek.com

Increase Trust:

1. Contact us
2. Privacy and Security Information
3. Customer Service
4. Returns and Exchange information
5. Log-in

Decrease Trusts:

1. None, I like the feel if this site. 

 

http://www.paypal.com.au

PayPal seems to have changed their site and not for the better.

Increase Trust:

1. Reputation
2. Past experience

Decrease Trusts:

1. Not intuitive anymore, hard to find:
1. Contact information
2. Policies
3. Security Information.

Question 2b - Find a web site yourself that you think looks untrustworthy.

http://goodrichjumps.com/index.html

1. No contact information - there is a phone number that cant be trusted.
2. The fact that the site has been badly designed gives the impression that it is not to be trusted.
3. The color scheme does not allow me to spend much time on the site so I cant really investigate its authenticity. But then again the short time spent there does not offer much.

 

Topic 9 - Channel Conflict

Discussion

See the discussion forum (in week 9) and comment on the microsoft article profiled there. Discuss the case on your blog in terms of channel conflict. 12 months on after the release of Windows 8, is it still an issue?

 I am not a fan of Microsoft, I believe it is a monster that is just growing and growing, I dont know why I have this dislike for Microsoft, I am sure I once had a reason a long time ago.... but I have forgotten and to be honest the reason has probably become redundant. And lets face it apart from my dislike to Microsoft, this would not be the first time that Microsoft acted like a villain. Just do a general search "Microsoft back stabs IBM" and Google will provide you with many stories, and the result will not only show Microsoft as the villain but IBM, Toshiba, and many others make business decisions that benefit themselves and harm the other.

From a business perspective I dont think Microsoft did anything wrong in creating its own tablet. What business does not choose to expand? If you see an opportunity take it. The business world is competitive, this is nothing new. Every one knows that if you have an idea you keep it to yourself or make sure you are protected against that idea being taken. In saying this I want to add I like nothing better than seeing the underdog win, and this in it self is just another cycle... the underdog wins and wins again and keep on going and soon the underdog becomes the top dog, it gets criticized and blamed and then there comes another underdog wanting to become the top dog.

I dont think this channel conflict is still an issue, technology grows at such a fast rate that issues need to be dealt with at a very fast rate, and new issues and ideas form even quicker.

Topic 8 - Online Auctions

Question 1

eBay is one of the only major Internet "pure plays" to consistently make a profit from its inception. What is eBay's business model? Why has it been so successful?

eBay implements the Brokerage model, it is successful because:

1. It has plenty revenue available, customers are willing to for transactions and other fees.
2. Advertisement does not cost anything, eBay gained its fame through word-of-mouth.
3. Little or no costs for selling or obtaining goods, goods are owned by the customers themselves, transactions are paperless, etc.
4. Listing payments are made in advance and immediately after the transaction have been completed , so there is no receivables to collect and there is no inventory because as mentioned above the customers owns the goods.

"eBay, one Internet business model that works." VentureNavigator Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2014. <http://www.venturenavigator.co.uk/content/ebay_case_study>.

Question 2

Other major web sites, like Amazon.com and Yahoo!, have entered the auction marketplace with far less success than eBay. How has eBay been able to maintain its dominant position?

Some of the reasons eBay has remained dominant is the same as the reasons listed above, there is very little spending compared to sites like Amazon. eBay is also very well known so a newcomer would struggle to offer any real competition any attempt to rival eBay would have to plan for the long fight.

Question 3

What method does eBay use to reduce the potential for fraud among traders on its site? What kinds of fraud, if any, are eBay users most susceptible?

eBay does not offer any long term fraud opportunities, sellers are ranked according to their selling history. If a sellers has a bad reputation buyers are aware of the risk they are taking. If a seller has no reputation you are aware of the risk that poses. As for fraud from a buyers point of view, a purchased article is not sent until payment has been received, so there is no opportunity to commit fraud.

A buyer is refunded if he or she does not receive a product or if they are unhappy with the received product. I am not sure if eBay carries the cost of refunding a person or if they have something in place so that the cost is taken from the seller. On one hand I cant see eBay carrying the cost, if that was the case I can see a great fraud opportunity and I cant see myself as the only person to think of this opportunity, for instance a selling something that the seller does not have. Then on the other hand I cant see eBay getting the funds from the seller if it is a matter of fraud. Like other fraudulent activities once you are aware that fraud has been committed the person or persons responsible is long gone.
Another possible fraud could be hijacking the website and posing a fake website, but again the time needed for this to pay of makes the option redundant.

Question 4

eBay makes every effort to conceptualize its users as a community (as opposed to, say “customers” or “clients”). What is the purpose of this conceptual twist and does eBay gain something by doing it?

I believe the purpose of doing this is to have the 'customers' feel they are part of something, it has a psychological effect, people have an inherit need to belong to something. This will encourage people to dedicate more time to the growth of their eBay business and this in turn helps the growth of eBay overall.

Question 5

eBay has long been a marketplace for used goods and collectibles. Today, it is increasingly a place where major businesses come to auction their wares. Why would a brand name vendor set-up shop on eBay?

Because it is a brand name, even brand named used goods has a big market on eBay. So why not sell on eBay yourself? I believe that eBay also makes it easier, a lot of people would rather just get it from eBay then going to the shop, and for some their is no option. Would you rather buy a used set of headphones from Sennheiser or a brand new set for $10 more?

Question 6

I have a few businesses, and I have used eBay for about 12 years on and off. Currently I have about 600 books listed on eBay (seller name ozrural). I stopped selling on eBay for a few years but they changed the rules this July and it is viable again (for me). What do you think changed?

I am not sure I have looked this up and though I can see several changes such as photo listings are required, changes to top seller listings, etc., I cant see what would make it viable for you to sell on eBay again.

Topic 7 - Automata

Questions 

Question 1 - Check this link to my ‘intelligent’ cybertwin which I also mentioned in the Powerpoint. You may like to create your own cybertwin as well. The more you 'train' your twin, the better the responses will be. While it is just a fun exercise, Think of the opportunities. Imagine if we had a cybertwin that could answer your questions about the course. Or perhaps a shopping assistant?

I do not really like the idea of a cyber twin, I like to experience my own life.

Question 2 - Write one paragraph describing the Turing test and another paragraph describing an argument against the Turing Test, known as the about the Chinese room.

The Turing test was created by Alan Turing and its purpose is to see if a computer program can trick a person into believing that the program is a person as well. Alan Turing's reasoning was that if the person talking to the computer thinks that he/she is talking to another person then that program must be just as intelligent as a human.

The Chinese room is an argument against the Turing Test proposed by John Searle and the conclusion of this argument is that just because a program make it seem like it understand what a person is "saying" to it does not mean that it really understands what is being said.

I googled the Turing test and attempted to chat to the program, when I asked random questions for instance how are you, the program answered generic answers and I would have believed that the program is in fact a person. A few statements such as, "You did not understand that did you" gave me the impression that either I am speaking to someone who is cheeky or someone who does not understand what I am saying. So at this point I would probably be thinking that this might be a person I am chatting with. But strangely enough when I started asking logic questions it all went up in smoke. For instance "what is 1 plus 1" resulted in a reply of "huh" and then I tried '1 + 1' which resulted in 'yep'. I like the idea of artificial intelligence, I am not sure it is viable.

Question 3 - Can virtual agents succeed in delivering high-quality customer service over the Web? Think of examples which support or disprove the question or just offer an opinion based on your personal experience. Write you answer on your blog page or express an opinion on this voice discussion board (it's simple to join). 

Definitely not. After playing around with the cyber twin and the Turing test I have come to the conclusion that I would become annoyed very quickly if I try and explain an issue I am having with a product and the program does not understand.

Topic 6 - Digital Markets

Question 1

A)  What experiences have you had with shopping online?

I have had mostly positive online shopping experiences, to be honest I have only had 1 negative online shopping experience.

B)  Describe a good experience.

I have had many good experiences shopping online, one such experience was while shopping in a site called All the Deals, I purchased a family holiday.

C) What did you like about the online store you used? 

The site's response was fast and efficient. I received an email confirmation within an hour of purchasing the holiday. The product was presented in a realistic and honest way, and all information was shared prior to purchase.

D) Describe a bad experience.

Unfortunately I cant remember the website name, but it was an American based shop that offers Japanese products. I ordered a Japanese scroll with Kanji writing on it.

E) What problems did you have with the online store?

The scroll I ordered never reached me, I sent an email to the store asking if I can get an update on my purchase and I never received a reply. I sent another email a month after the first requesting a refund and again I did not receive a reply.

F) What features make an online store more appealing?

I prefer a clean look, I dont want to struggle to understand what I need to do to go from one page to another. No music or videos should start playing when the webpage load. Security is a big part of making a website appealing. Contact details need to be listed as well as a physical address. I prefer sites that offers purchase through PayPal, I am not a fan of entering credit card details.

G) What features make an online store less appealing? 

Cluttered design, does not follow IEEE security standards, misrepresentation of products.

H) Should we expect to see the prices of goods and services rise or fall due to the migration of consumers online?

Yes I believe prices will rise. More and more shopping will be done online but businesses will still need to have a physical shop. Since more revenue will be created online it might need to cover losses incurred offline.

Question 2

A) The dispersion of prices (that is, the spread between the lowest and highest price for a particular product) will narrow.

I believe this to be true, companies will become more competitive and therefore the spread between the highest and lowest prices will narrow.

B) The importance of brand names will decrease.

I am not sure this is true, I think that brand names to the average population have already decreased. Brand names like Armani, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Ferrari, etc. will not become more or less popular because of its availability but more because of it is not easily obtainable and online shopping will not make it more obtainable.

C) Price competition will make all products cheaper.

Yes I agree increased competition will lower prices.

D) Digital markets will become dominated by a handful of mega-sites, like Amazon.com. 

No I dont agree, it is easier to set up an online business, you need less capital to start off. I believe a lot of smaller online shops will start up.

E) How do you think the balance of power between buyer’s and seller’s will change?

If I am correct in the point made above (question 2  D) the power will be in the seller's hands. Since there will be so many online options available to choose from sellers will have to drop prices in order to stay competitive.

F) Prices are clustered online.

G) Online prices are elastic. ( i.e. immune to change up and down with demand)

No I don't agree, I think agree with an article in the Business Insider prices will fluctuate more often in order to compete with websites like eBay and Amazon.

H) Online prices are generally transparent (the extent to which prices for a given product or service are known by buyers in the marketplace.).

Yes I agree, although this might change in the future because of expected growth of online shopping. The shipping charges might not be included in the displayed price but I believe most shoppers will be aware of this.

Question 3

A) What types of m-commerce services does your cell phone provider offer?

The only m-commerce service I use is internet banking. My service provider does not offer any extra services but there are many applications available for my phone. My service provider does provide me with one gigabyte of internet usage, which I use for internet banking.

B) Which of these services do you use?

I use internet banking.

C) What types of transactions do you perform through your cell phone or other wireless device?

Phone:

Internet Banking

Other:

eBay
Audible

Amazon

D) What types of transactions would you like to perform, but are currently unable to?

None

E) What is your opinion of wireless advertising/mobile marketing

I think it allows you to reach a much wider audience. 

Topic 5 - Business Models

Look at the list of business models below and describe the features of each of these business models, on your blog page, giving an example of each. The basic categories of business models discussed in the table below include:

Brokerage

According to http://www.investopedia.com a broker is someone or something that facilitates the buying and selling of a product. There for a web based business model will offer products to be bought and sold. From my understanding this could either be a website like http://www.wotif.com that offers a service to customers, a website like http://www.alibaba.com/ that allows bulk buying to other companies or a website like www.ebay.com.au/ (auction broker) where individuals offer products to customers. Interesting to note that eBay also uses another broker within the site, PayPal which is a transaction broker.

 In each of the examples above the website itself is not in charge of selling the product nor do they have anything to do with the delivery of the product. They get a percentage paid to them for facilitating the transaction.

The brokerage model offers several strengths, its centralized, consider eBay again there are very few products that you wont find on this site. If you have a taste for all things Japanese eBay will provide you with an array of products to suit your taste and it does not matter if you are in England, Africa or Iceland.

The brokerage model can also facilitate trust, I might not know the seller "hotProduct98" but I trust eBay and therefore the chances are greater of me trusting this unknown seller. A negative aspect though is that is does not ensure protection, if you do not receive or the product is not the described quality there is very little that this third party can do.

Advertising

This business model is derived from the traditional media broadcast model, for example radio broadcasts. You have the privilege of listening to a radio station of your choice free of charge, in exchange the radio station will advertise throughout the day. The middleman (radio station) gets money from the companies that uses its advertising and in exchange the company puts itself and its product out there. The advertising model works on this same concept, you get to view the website for free but in exchange the website has advertisements.

Examples of the advertising model on a website is:

Banner

Sidebar

With the sidebar below, the add is on the right hand side and entices you to click and the image to enroll into classes that will teach you how to organize your photos

http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2013/06/nobakelemoniceboxcake.html

The strengths of implementing this type of model is that it allows access to all market types, it can also be used to track users.

Weaknesses are that there are a fine line between informing customers and annoying them, some websites play an advertisement the moment the website has loaded and do not offer the customer a way to mute the video. It is true that it will draw attention better than a static advertisement that does nothing, but most internet users will close the website and never return. The same is true for pop-ups, personally I can live with a website having one or two pop-ups, I have gotten so use to it that 90% of the time I close them before they load, but that in itself should tell the website implementing it that it servers no purpose and again if people are flooded with unwanted pop-ups the will close the website and not return.

Infomediary

The infomediary model collects and stores behavioral information of its users, this information is collected and then sold to other stakeholders or the stakeholders will approach the website and ask them to collect data for a fee. Google is a great example of this type of website, it will gather data based on searches done by users, this data is known as metadata.

Metadata is basically information about information, the next step is data-mining which will result in reports, for example in 2013 which country had the most searches on depression, hypothetically lets say it is Great Britain. The next step is data analytics, what does this mean, does people in Britain get more depressed, do they have a greater thirst for this knowledge than another country?

This information is extremely valuable to companies, for instance if you know what product appeals to what country you know where your start-up company or new product will be more successful, if you know what age group in this country is more interested you know what your target audience is and therefore you know who to aim advertising at. This does not mean you will be a success but it does allow you to make decisions based on calculated risks.

www.surveymonkey.com/ is a good example of the infomediary model known as audience management, this site gathers information on what products appeal to what type of person based on age, education level, geography, etc. Incentive marketing is another infomediary business model that offers you an incentive for taking part in something, an example of this is the chance to go into a prize draw if you shop at a specific site, or that you will get 5% discount.

One strength of this model is that can be paired with the advertising model and in this aids the effective use of advertising funds. Unfortunately the quality of the trade can not be ensured, personal data may be at risk and there are many legal, ethical and cultural considerations that come into play.

Merchant

This model is very old, think before the invention of the car, think before the invention of money. An example of this model is Harvey Normal selling its product online.

An example of a merchant business model business is www.audible.com they implement the bit vendor model and they only trade in digital products (audio books), another example is a virtual market which is a business that only has an online presence for example http://shopping.rediff.com/shopping/index.html.

The merchant model offers several strengths such as its simplicity, low transaction costs and the fact that it easily translates to the web, it also allows customers the benefit of 24/7 shopping. Weaknesses are that it is an easy target for online fraud, customer security and data are at risk and the inventory control and delivery systems used can pose problems it is also a highly competitive market.

Manufacturer (Direct)

In this model the normal retail channels is bypassed and the manufacturer sells its product directly to the customer. An example of this model is the lease for instance http://www.radio-rentals.com.au/ allows you to choose a product to rent for a specified time. Then you have License for instance http://www.adobe.com/ allows you to purchase a license in order to use their product.

The manufacturer model offers lower cost to customers, product customization and increased customer relations and communications. Unfortunately it offers lower profit margins to the business and has higher maintenance of supplier relations, this model can not be applied to all industries.

Affiliate

The affiliate allows another business or person to make a profit by implementing a click through link. An example of this is when a website offers you a discount when you shop on a certain website using a provided link, this is known as revenue sharing.

A big strength of this business is that it does not need a lot of start-up revenue, and offers a broader market base. Unfortunately the owner of the website can only make a profit based on 1 click-through and the website owner stands a chance of loosing its customers to the affiliated website.

Community

Through this model money is earned from donations or products and services tied to the community.  Examples are social networking sites like MySpace or online broadcasting like The New Boston

The negative aspect of this type of business model is that management have very little control over the quality of the content generated by the users, the community also needs "critical content" in order to be sustainable. But this model ties in with existing communities and often evolves into this business model when the community has outgrown its free hosting, this model also allows exponential growth through word-of-mouth and member-to-member interactions.

Subscription

This model provide content to its customers for a fee, online paid newspapers and magazines are a great example of this type of model. Another great example is the content service provider Netflix or the person to person services site RSVP.

A strength of this model is that the service is available at all times and you have unlimited usage once the subscription fee is paid. But users that do not use the service often might feel overcharged, and the business that implements this model need to provide continuous content to keep customers interested.

Utility

In this model the users are charged based on the amount of the service they consume for example metered usage and metered subscriptions.

The fee structure of this model is a great advantage it offers users the choice to pay for some but not all of what is on offer, although the accuracy of the pricing might pose some problems.


"Broker." Investopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2014. <http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/broker.asp>.

Rappa, Michael . "Business Models on the Web | Professor Michael Rappa." Business Models on the Web | Professor Michael Rappa. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2014. <http://digitalenterprise.org/models/models.html#Brokerage>.

1) What is the Mobile phone use /100 population - compare Australia, USA, China, India, Your Country?

Mobile Phone Subscriptions
Country	Rank	Value
Australia	70	101.04
USA	88	89.86
China	113	64.04
India	117	61.42
South Africa	72	100.48

2) Internet use / 100 population - compare Australia, USA, China, India, Your Country?

Internet Usage
Country	Rank	Value
Australia	19	76
USA	22	74
China	76	34.3
India	124	7.5
South Africa	108	12.3

3) Compare main strengths and weaknesses of Australia or your home country in the survey?

Australia provides more access to its people, this allows more people to stay informed through the internet. I believe it also believe it shows that it is easier for people to afford what is seen as luxuries in other countries.

4) What does the survey suggest to you about the Information Technology readiness of Australian business compared to Australian consumers?

Australian Consumers and businesses have met technology with open arms and have grown with technological growths. Businesses are keen to take advantages presented to them with IT and consumers are keen to implement the advantages offered to them.

Topic 4 - Digital Design

Question 1

In two paragraphs explain why a customer centric Web site design is so important, yet so difficult to accomplish.

The internet has grown exponentially since its birth and you can no longer define a "typical" internet user. The internet has become mainstream and now we need to cater for a variety of users, with users over the age on 75 being the lowest percentage users. All good website designs concentrate on accessibility, usability, visual design and information design. The process of creating a website is not just placing words and pictures on a screen, its not just visual. You first need to grab a customer's attention so that he or she stays for longer than 3 seconds, then you need to keep him or her there.  A designer needs analytical skills, graphic design skills, information architecture skills, language skills, intuitive design skills, accessibility design skills and search engine optimization skills. All the skills just mention does not cover security, data protection, or any of the capabilities needed in the back-end.

A website is designed for the customer, therefor it needs to be customer centric. What is the point if your website does not attract any customers. There are so many websites that has so much to offer but because of its design or layout prospective customers just pass it by. For instance a really good website that implements pop-ups will often chase a customer away. If the language is incorrect you tend to close the window, a nice curly font might look really nice printed but on screen it makes reading difficult. You need to consider the target audience, you might find something easy to navigate from one page to another, but you designed it of course you know where to find something., but will your audience?

Question 2

Define the term ‘presence’. Write an additional paragraph that describes why firms that do business on the Web should be more concerned about presence than firms that operate in the physical world.

Presence is a state of being.

Having a web presence is easy, anyone can do it, but doing it well is what will set one site apart from another. With brick-and-mortar firms you need to consider location and reputation, once online location does not come into play unless you need to order something from a different country. Reputation does come into play but for a fraudulent site to close down and open in another name is no real bother. When someone is searching for a specific product on the web it takes 1 minute with the help of a search engine to find what you are looking for, because of instant access a customer will most likely not ask friends where the best place to find this product is. If a customer cant find the desired product then they might choose to ask others if they know where to find it. A firm needs a good web presence in order for it to do business and stay in business.

Question 3

*Usable Doesn’t Have To Mean Ugly ‘for a web design to be truly beautiful, it has to be functional, have purpose and contribute in some way to the website’s intuitiveness, usefulness and branding. All of these things contribute to the overall effect of a design’. This is a quote from one of the articles on web design linked on Web pages that suck. Find a web page that ‘does not suck’ and discuss the features that make it work

http://anyilu.com/

The website I chose is a good website because it is clean and minimalistic. The designer has made the site intuitive and it only offers one level, meaning you don't get lost going deeper and deeper into the website. The website does not take long to load and although you do not realize that they sell shoes from the start you do know it is fashion related. Once you scroll down you realize their main aim is selling shoes.

The bottom of the screen offers links to important sections like Contact Us, FAQ, Shipping and Returns, etc. As is the norm these days you can link what you are looking at to Facebook and other social sites, which in turn serves as advertising.

 The designer also kept in mind that the customers have different screen sizes and the screen content minimizes when you resize it. I also opened the link on my mobile phone and that has also been catered for. The designer definitely aimed to reach as many people as possible on as many devices as possible. The color scheme is neutral and has a very classy feel to it so it would not put most people off except maybe an adolescent audience.

Topic 3 - Security and Privacy

Question 1

See if you can find an example of a privacy breach that was reported in the Australian or international news in the last 6 months. What were the consequences?

Target admitted that between November 27th and December 15th 2013 approximately 40 million credit and debit card accounts may have been impacted due to a security breach. On January 10th target said that the hackers stole personal information from as many as 70 million customers. According to Target their first priority is preserving the trust of their clientele. Based on reported data target alerted authorities and financial institutions immediately after it was made aware of the breach. They later admitted that they ignored early signs of a Data Breach, security software picked up suspicious activity after the cyber attack was launched. The loss did not only impact individual customers but it also tarnished the brand, the U.S. chain reported declining sales of 6.6% in the fourth quarter in 2013.

On March 16th Target reported that 80 actions have been filled in multiple states and they expect more to be filled. Target's Chief Information Officer Beth Jacob resigned on Wednesday 5th of March, although it is reported that the resignation was Jacob's decision, many feel that she was forced to be the scape coat.

Target is partnering with a forensics firm to conduct an investigation of the breach. It has come to light that the breach started as an attach on one of Target's vendors. According to a fraud analyst Target could be facing losses up to $420 million as a result of the breach, Target will also need to upgrade its retail system to handle the more secure chip-and-pin credit and debit cards. This upgrade carries a cost of $100 million.

Security is a major concern in today's world, in the case above half a billion dollars of damage was caused to the second largest retailer in the U.S. due to a smaller business with an estimated $12.5 million in annual revenue. Target would have been protected against a direct attack and to bypass this obstacle the hackers concentrated on a vendor through phishing attacks that was introduced to the Target network. In this scenario the human element was the greatest risk and I believe this will remain the case, there are several very secure networks in existence and networks will become more secure due to necessity but the human element will remain the weakest link.


Lessons learned from Target breach's malware attack. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.tennessean.com/story/money/tech/2014/03/21/lessons-learned-target-breachs-malware-attack/6673499/

Report: Cyber Security has $1.5B impact to San Diego - 10News.com KGTV ABC10 San Diego. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.10news.com/news/report-cyber-security-has-15b-impact-to-san-diego-032014

Target Admits It Ignored Early Signs Of Security Breach « CBS Miami. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://miami.cbslocal.com/2014/03/16/target-admits-it-ignored-early-signs-of-security-breach/

Target Confirms Unauthorized Access to Payment Card Data in U.S. Stores | Target Corporate. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://pressroom.target.com/news/target-confirms-unauthorized-access-to-payment-card-data-in-u-s-stores

Target Says It Ignored Early Signs of Data Breach | Top Tech News. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.toptechnews.com/news/Target-Admits-to-Early-Mistakes/story.xhtml?story_id=11100CG36UN0

Target CIO resigns in wake of massive data breach. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cnbc.com/id/101449488

Question 2

What AmI technologies are identified in the case?

Technologies identified:

Iris Scanner (Biometrics)
Video
Profiling Technologies
Location Implants
Sensor Networks
Surveillance Systems
4G Mobiles
High Capacity Optical Storage Devices

What drives DMC’s officers to take the actions they took?

 In my opinion the main drivers of DMC's actions are money and secrecy. No one was aware of the data being collected on them so from their point of view they stood little chance of being found out. If they admitted the breach they would not only be advertizing that they have been gathering data but government agencies would not be so willing to approach them. The amount of money they would get from government agencies would be large, just consider the severance package paid to the DMC president.

If the Governments mentioned where aware of the security breach they themselves would have agreed not to make the security breach public, it would cause unrest amongst their citizens if they became aware of the government gathering information on them.

DMC is the clear market leader in the aggregation of AmI data. Are there any comparisons you can make to technology companies today?

There are multiple companies that gather data in today's world from social networking sites like Facebook and Google Plus to Online Survey Companies. Now admittedly these are not seen as technology companies although Google is a definite contender. Facebook has introduced several online technologies as well as having made social networking very popular. Recently they bought a mobile phone application, WhatsApp, and many have raised their concern about this application posing further opportunities for Facebook to gather personal data. Data Mining is a very lucrative field and I believe this will just grow.

How realistic is the description of governments using the technology and prohibiting immigration from states with no AmI data aggregation information?

Very realistic, it is already difficult for people from certain countries to obtain visas to visit other countries. For example Pakistani's have difficulty obtaining visas to both America and Australia based on their history with terrorism. Although I disagree that a whole country should be punished because of the actions of few, I do understand why they have put this measure in place and I support their underlining reasoning. If they can find a way to narrow the span of this discrimination why not use it? But it would not be wise to rely on this data alone, they should not stop someone from entering a country based on an assumption that someone MIGHT do something.

What would be the impact of this digital divide?

I am not sure what the impact would be, I think there will be 2 major groups. One that screams discrimination and the other would scream "It's about time". This question poses a real dilemma to me, I am against discrimination, any type, I am a firm believer that people can change. Look at Australia, this is a country came to be what it is today in part because of convicts being sent here. I come from a country riddled with racism thanks to Australia I have lost all my inhibitions related to race.
BUT I firmly believe that a country has a duty to protect its people first.

List some of the ‘unintended consequences’ described in the case.

1. It was unintended that the breach became public knowledge.
2. Government agencies would not have wanted it be known that they have been purchasing information.
3. I believe public trust would be impacted.

 

Topic 2 - Navigating the Web

Part 1

A. What are the four (4) main points Michael Rappa makes about search? Please write them on your blog page.

1. Search engines allow users to find services or products online. Because of this companies need an online presence, companies can opt to pay search engines a fee to list their advertisements.

2. Users are not aware of the many ways to search, from a users prospective it only takes a word or phrase to get the needed results. Google for instance provides ways to search news articles, educational publications and journals. An approach of less is more would result in better results.

3. Michael Rappa states that users do not understand what a search engine is and describes it as a database with a list of URLS and key words.

4. He then moves on to discuss the ranking algorithm used by search engines that determines how the results are presented to the user. 

B. Watch or read the Marissa Mayer interview. Marissa says ‘search is in its infancy’. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? What is your personal experience with search?  There are no right or wrong answers here, I just want your opinion.

I do not believe that search is in its infancy, not that I mean to say that search is all grown up but my opinion is that search is probably at the toddler stage. The video we viewed are 5 years old and technology grows at tremendous speed. For instance if you do a Tafe course as a stepping stone to get into Uni, let say Advanced Diploma of Computer Systems Engineering, after completing this course you decide to take time off, either to travel or maybe to work in order to save money for uni. You can only take 2 years off before your Advanced Diploma becomes irrelevant. 

My experience with Search has been positive, the more I have been searching the better my result seems to be. In part I believe this is because I have learned which type of searches give the best results and in part due to the growth of search.

C. Please watch the Bill Joy video, and it will give you a good background to the Internet and particularly to the emergence of the World Wide Web. 

1. So what are the 6 webs?

Near Web - Which means you are near the computer ie sitting in from of the computer.

Here Web - This means that the web is with you at all times, example of this is a smart phone.

Far Web - This means using the web where you are 'far' from the device. An example is watching TV from your couch.

Weird Web - Web controlled through, for example Bluetooth.

B2B web - Business computers communicating with each other.

D2D - Bill Joy describes this as embedded machine intelligence in ordinary life.

2. Could there be more?

Yes there could be more.

3. What does it mean for business?

Businesses need to adapt to technology. They need to be aware of the potential growth and exposure offered by technology.  I believe businesses are adapting well, for instance if you look at smart phones and the multitude of applications provided by businesses keep growing. I can use internet backing on my phone and it allows me to use a 4 digit pin instead of a 8 digit customer reference number and a password.

Topic 1 – Introduction to eBusiness

Week 1 

Questions

 

1 - Internet risks – give examples of four things that can go wrong with a transactional site?

 

Virtual vs Brick & Mortar:

A survey conducted on British Consumers shows that 88% of adults are not willing to accept lower levels of customer service offered by online businesses compared to the level of customer service in store. A business stands a chance of loosing customers to competitors if they do not ensure customer service is up to scratch.

Ease of use:

       Often times the designer of a website does not consider the user's level of IT understanding
       when creating a website. It might be creative to add extra bells and whistles to a website but it
       can make the website difficult to navigate. If a business does not take care in design phase of a
       website it stands a chance of loosing potential clientele to competitors.

Security:

      A Major concern of any transactional website is SECURITY, not just for consumers but for the
      business itself. Not only does the business stand a chance of loosing customers but the business
      integrity also stands to diminish.

Double Booking:

       Although online consumerism has grown exponentially there are still chances of a transaction
       being possessed more than once, not only due to some technical issue such as transaction
       queuing but also because while the transaction is being processed the user is not aware that
       clicking the wrong button might cause the transaction to go through more than once.


West, Claire. "Fresh Business Thinking, Information, advice, ideas, inspiration from practitioners." Fresh Business Thinking, Information, advice, ideas, inspiration from practitioners. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. <http://www.freshbusinessthinking.com/business_advice.php?CID=3&AID=663&PGID=1#.UyTsYoWjLdM>.

Adams, Chanel. "The Disadvantages of Online Transaction Processing." eHow. Demand Media, 29 Apr. 2010. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. <http://www.ehow.com/list_6403498_disadvantages-online-transaction-processing.html>.

2 - Write down a definition for each:

A) E-commerce:

A type of business model, or segment of a larger business model, that enables a firm or individual to conduct business over an electronic network, typically the internet. Electronic commerce operates in all four of the major market segments: business to business, business to consumer, consumer to consumer and consumer to business. It can be thought of as a more advanced form of mail-order purchasing through a catalog. Almost any product or service can be offered via ecommerce, from books and music to financial services and plane tickets."

"Electronic Commerce - ecommerce." Investopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. <http://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/ecommerce.asp>.

B) E-business:

 "E-business (electronic business), derived from such terms as "e-mail" and "e-commerce," is the conduct of business on the Internet, not only buying and selling but also servicing customers and collaborating with business partners."

"e-business (electronic business)." What is ?. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. <http://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/e-business>.

 The distinction between E-commerce and E-business is that E-commerce a faction of E-business, while E-business encompasses not only transactions but also services clients, internet based interactions, etc.

3 - What is the difference between buy side and sell side eCommerce?

Buy side e-commerce are online transactions between a business and it suppliers.

Sell side e-commerce are online transactions between a supplier a business and its customers.

4 - Describe the different types of eBusiness

Business - to - Business (B2B)

A website that sells a product to a middle-man that then sells its products to the customer falls under the B2B model.

Example of B2B website - Constantcontact.com


Business - to - Consumer (B2C)

A website following the B2C model sells its product directly to the customer.

Example of a B2C - http://www.pumpkinpatch.com.au/

Consumer - to - Consumer (C2C)

A Consumer-to-Consumer website is a website that offers me the chance to sell something to you.

Example of a C2C - http://www.ebay.com.au/


Consumer - to - Business (C2B)

A website, for example a foodies blog, that markets a product for a fee for a business is a Consumer-to-Business website.

Example of a C2B - https://www.ipoll.com/


Business - to - Government (B2G)

A business website that sells its product to the Government follows the B2G model.

Example of a B2G - http://www.b2gmarket.com/

Government - to - Business (G2B)

This model is used by the Government to approach businesses.

Example of a G2B - https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-business-innovation-skills

Government - to - Citizen (G2C)

This website is used by the Government to approach citizens for example to register a birth or auction repossessed property.

Example G2C - http://www.humanservices.gov.au/

"Tutorials Point - Simply Easy Learning." E-Commerce Business Models. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. <http://www.tutorialspoint.com/e_commerce/e_commerce_business_models.htm>.

5 - Which digital technology has the highest penetration rate? Explain and source your answer.

Smart Phones has the highest penetration rate. The demand for smart phones have grown and keeps growing yearly. The reason for this is that smart phones offer more than just the ability to make a call or send a text. We use it to browse the internet, fill in and submit forms online, navigate us to our chosen destination and play games, to name a few. In some countries smart phones are the only device used to access the web as can be seen in the chart below from http://mobithinking.com/mobile-marketing-tools/latest-mobile-stats/b#mobile-only

Smart phone usage are forecast to 1.7 billion in 2017. Apart from this technology offering us so much and being small enough to take anywhere its price is also decreasing, which obviously makes it more accessible to more people.

Below is the predicted growth by region:

"Global mobile statistics 2013 Home: all the latest stats on mobile Web, apps, marketing, advertising, subscribers, and trends... | mobiThinking." Global mobile statistics 2013 Home: all the latest stats on mobile Web, apps, marketing, advertising, subscribers, and trends... | mobiThinking. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. <http://mobithinking.com/mobile-marketing-tools/latest-mobile-stats>.

"Australia's Content Marketing Blog." Smartphone Use in Australia. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. <http://blog.marginmedia.com.au/Our-Blog/bid/81865/Smartphone-Use-in-Australia-The-Advantage-for-Marketers>.

"Global mobile statistics 2013 Part A: Mobile subscribers; handset market share; mobile operators | mobiThinking." Global mobile statistics 2013 Part A: Mobile subscribers; handset market share; mobile operators | mobiThinking. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. <http://mobithinking.com/mobile-marketing-tools/latest-mobile-stats/a#smartphoneforecast>.

"Global mobile statistics 2013 Part A: Mobile subscribers; handset market share; mobile operators | mobiThinking." Global mobile statistics 2013 Part A: Mobile subscribers; handset market share; mobile operators | mobiThinking. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. <http://mobithinking.com/mobile-marketing-tools/latest-mobile-stats/a#topsmartphonecountries>.

6 - List: Four drivers to adoption of sell-side e-commerce by business.

1. Increased Sales - online presence provides more exposure which in turn brings in more customers 
2. Reduced Operating Costs - there is no need to have business premises in a prime location which reduce real estate costs for example.
3. Reduced Marketing Costs - The costs are reduced since the marketing is done online as compared to TV advertising and Radio advertising.
4. Competitive Pressure - An online pressence allows a business to compete with competitors.

7 - List: Four barriers to adoption of sell-side e-commerce by business.

1. Start Up Costs - If the costs of the proposed e-commerce site is to high it might not be a viable solution.
2. Running Costs - An online presence needs to stay current and in most cases have running costs, a small business might not have the capital to support this.
3. Lack of Time and/or Resources - A business might not have the resources nor the time available to dedicate to an online presence.
4. Lack of Skills - An online business needs staff to have at least basic knowledge of the internet.

8 - What are some examples of Digital Information?

1. DVD's
2. CD's
3. Memory Cards
4. Internet
5. The Cloud
6. Portable Hard Drives and USB's