Monday, June 1, 2009

Week 12: Web 2.0

Exercise - 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.
After looking at the webware awards there were plenty of applications which I had not heard of. Web 2.0 has expanded over the years and become rather popular. Such applications as Safari, Firefox and internet explorer are internet browser which has emerged. Internet explorer has been a dominate application for the internet but over the past few years other applications have emerged. The five applications which I have chosen to discuss are:

· Skype
· Mint
· About.com
· Pandora
· Hi5


Skype is a program which allows people to communicate through text, voice and video-chatting through the internet (Skype, 2009). Skype can act as a device to communicate to other people by using the internet. Skype allows people to “call outside numbers, both long distance and international” (Skype, 2009). This would be useful for a business because it would be useful for meetings over the internet. By having meetings using Skype this would be more effective and efficient if a business has clients overseas or interstate. With having a function which allows people to communicate through video chatting this makes meetings easier and more convenient.


Mint acts as a financial function system. Mint manages your finances by keeping people up to date on their finances. Mint keeps track of clients spending by sending emails or mobile alerts when ‘bills are due, the clients account drops to a certain level, large purchases paid on credit card or any other high financial transactions’ (Mint, 2009). Mint would be beneficial for companies because this is a good way to stay on track of spending or owing. By having alerts send emails to the company of money due or transactions this would keep the company more informed. Mint also gives advice which could help the company (Mint, 2009).


About.com is an application which acts as a “how to guide and informational pages” (About.com, 2009). About.com has paid credible sources who have written the guides (About.com, 2009). About.com also allows people to discuss articles and topics through forums (About.com). About.com could be useful for a company if the company wanted to know an answer to a question. With About.com having credible sources who write about topics this allows companies to read topics from credible sources.


Pandora is a music service. Pandora acts as a music and recommendation service by recommending songs which Pandora thinks the client might like (Pandora, 2009). This service allows clients to pick which songs they like and dislike. When a client decides they like a song the application then puts up songs which they think the client might also enjoy because there from the same genre (Pandora, 2009). Pandora could be useful for a business because it could act as a way to keep the employees motivated. By introducing music into the workplace this creates a calm atmosphere and encourages the employees to work harder. Pandora acts as a type of playlist which allows clients to play songs which interest them.


Hi5 is a social networking site which has over 60 million users (Hi5, 2009). Hi5 is a network which allows users to create their own profile and upload pictures (Hi5, 2009). This application is similar to Facebook and Myspace which has similar types of functions although Hi5 over 80% of users are not in America (Hi5, 2009). This application could be useful for a business because it allows the business to be recognised in another country. Hi5 would give a business more recognition especially if the company wanted to break into a foreign market. By having a profile on a social networking site gives more recognition and is a great way to communicate.


References:

About.com.(2009). Webware 100 winner: About.com. Retrieved June 1, 2009 from: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13546_109-10237656-29.html


Hi5.(2009). Webware 100 winner: Hi5. Retrieved June 1, 2009 from: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13546_109-10237639-29.html?tag=mncol


Mint.(2009). Webware 100 winner: Mint. Retrieved June 1, 2009 from:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13546_109-10237665-29.html


Pandora.(2009). Webware 100 winner: Pandora. Retrieved June 1, 2009 from: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13546_109-10236913-29.html


Skype.(2009). Webware 100 winner: Skype. Retrieved June 1, 2009 from: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13546_109-10237739-29.html

Monday, May 25, 2009

Week 11: 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? i.e. legal, political, financial, personal etc. What action was taken in response to the privacy breach?
The article I have found about a privacy breach is the article “Online leaks splash confidential medical details on net” by Anna Caldwell. The article discusses how over 250 patients details were leaked. Such information as their ‘names, phone numbers, addresses and medical histories were exposed’ (Caldwell, 2009). This is a major breach of privacy due to all the information is private. The consequences of the breach were legal although no fines could be placed unless one of the affected parties (patients) lodged a complaint (Caldwell, 2009). Such issues as privacy breaches usually result in legal and financial ramifications. The people who have been affected could sue the business because their privacy has been breached and leaked onto the internet. The actions which have been put into place are that Privacy commission is looking into the issue. There have been more privacy breach issues which have been reported causing the Privacy Commission to look into more breaches (Caldwell, 2009).


Question 2 - Have you been using Turnitin software this semester? If you have was it a positive or negative experience and why?
This semester I have not used turnitin although my first semester at university I used Turnitin. It has been a few years since I have used it although I must say I have mixed feelings about the process. Such as since everyone’s work has been submitted to the program any similarities are picked up considering the assignments are meant to be similiarish. Little things get picked up such as a sentence is similar to someone in another country who has a similar question which they have answered and sent to Turnitin. A rather bad aspect of the whole process is sometimes it takes days for turnitin to generate the result. This causes a lot of concern because the time that it takes to wait for the result there might be a few changes which you want to make. The time it takes to wait can also become alarming if the assignment is due within a couple of days. When your whole class has to submit through turnitin the process takes longer and become rather frustrating.



Caldwell, A.(2009). Online leaks splash confidential medical details on net. Retrieved May 25, 2009 from: http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,,25266776-3102,00.html

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Week 10: Trust

a) 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.
Ebay have certain elements which have been incorporated to increase trust such as having certain precautions as:
· Having Trust and Safety area on the website which consumers/buyers/sellers can read which explains precautions eBay has placed to protect clients.
· eBay has a feedback area which allows buyers and sellers to tell eBay about their experience and fairness of transactions.
· When making a transaction eBay recommends using such payment programs as Paypal which protects both the seller and the buyer.
· eBay have placed a security centre so people can have guidance when purchasing or selling items.
Ebay is rather formal which gives consumers and sellers more sense of trust. When a website looks rather professional and states how to be protected there is more of a sense of trust (eBay, 2009).

ANZ is a banking website which needs to give its clients and potential clients a sense of trust. ANZ has client’s details and banking details over the internet which causes a sense of worry. ANZ has to have precautions to ensure that clients feel that their information is protected. The bank has precautions such as:
· Security and privacy statements
· ANZ privacy statement
· Information explaining bout personal information
· Information about information collected
· The collection of the IP address
· Use and disclosure of information
This ensures clients feel safe and know what is happening with their information (ANZ, 2007).

Paypal is a transaction site which deals with sellers and buyers of products. Trust needs to be in place since there is a transaction of money. Such precautions Paypal uses to ensure clients trust are:
· An overview of the process
· What information is collected
· The use and disclosure of information
· Information security
· Accessing and changing information
· How to contact the company
Overall there has to be trust within these websites because these websites are all dealing with transactions. If a website does not look professional and does not evoke trust then people would not want to make a transaction (Paypal, 2009).

http://www.eBay.com.au
http://www.anz.com.au
http://www.paypal.com.au

b) Find a web site yourself that you think looks untrustworthy.
There are a few websites which I have looked into that seem trustworthy in which they look professional but yet there are still some sense of doubt. Certain websites which I have looked into such as TV series on DVD show that while the website looks good do not necessarily mean that everything is legitimate. I’ve looked at these sites and made a decision that i would not purchase the items because of my sense of doubt.


Paypal.(2009).Policies. Retrieved May 22, 2009 from: https://www.paypal.com/au/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/ua/policy_privacy-outside

eBay.(2009). About eBay. Retrieved May 22, 2009 from: http://pages.ebay.com.au/aboutebay/trustandsafety.html

ANZ.(2007). Website security. Retrieved May 22, 2009 from: http://www.anz.com.au/Help/ANZs-Web-Site/ANZ-Web-Site-Security-And-Privacy-Statement.asp

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Week 8: Auctions

Q1: 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 is a website which allows people to buy and sell objects over the internet. EBay business model is the broker model. The broker model is when people buy and sell over the internet making a transaction. EBay has been rather successful because most people have a rather good experience. EBay is a website which tries to ensure that people are being genuine. If and account seems to be fraudulent then eBay would delete their account. EBay has safety measures to ensure that people are not being ripped off.

Q2: 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?
EBay has been able to maintain its dominant position because of how eBay has been operated. Amazon allows consumers go onto the website and buy items which Amazon has in stock. Amazon is more of a company where as eBay allows anyone to put items up for auction. After an item has been sold on eBay, the website receives a commission from the sale. EBay allows consumers to bid for items and who ever offers the most for the item wins the bid. EBay taps into people competitive nature which for some consumers makes it more worthwhile to bid and try to win.

Q3: 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 has such methods of having information on their website to ensure that people know about security on their website. Such information on their website is in the security centre. The security centre tells consumers and sellers about what to do to reduce risk such as using Paypal. This is a function which eBay trusts and has a protection element for buyers and consumers (eBay, 2009). Such programs as Paypal are put in place to protect buyers and sellers if they use this program on eBay. If the buyer/seller uses another paying method then the Paypal protection does not apply to them (eBay, 2009). EBay also relies on feedback to know about who is being fraudulent. This allows EBay to know about people trying to scam the system.
The types of fraud eBay users are susceptible to are:
· Identity thief
· Sellers fraud
· Buyers fraud
· Fraudulent emails

Q4: 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?
EBay does this because eBay wants people to come back onto the website. EBay interacts as a community to give people a good experience since people can buy and sell not having to rely on a shop. EBay allows people to search for items which might be unusual or items which you cannot purchase in stores. This means people rely on trying to sell products. Such items as concert tickets people try and sell for the best price because the tickets may be hard to get. People sell items on eBay such as tickets to try and receive a profit. EBay gains because more people will come back to eBay since items are different and ordinary everyday people sell the products.

Q5: 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?
In my opinion brand name vendors would set up shop on eBay because more people are buying items online. With the internet being more convenient more people are shopping online. With eBay increasing in popularity it would be logical to think that more businesses would sell on eBay to increase in popularity and increase recognition. EBay would allow consumers to buy brand items at a bidding price which might not be extremely high.


eBay.(2009). Security centre. Retrieved May 22, 2009 from: http://pages.ebay.com.au/securitycentre/index.html

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Week 7: Automata

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


Turning test:
The turning test can be described as a way to test a machines (system) “capability to demonstrate thought” (Turning, 1950). This demonstrates a computer/system operating without the need of a user (operator). The turning test, tests “whether or not a system is intelligent” (University of Alberta, n.d). When looking at turning testing Alan Turning came up with the test and described it as when a person/human is having a conversation on the computer/system. If the person/human cannot “distinguish the machine from a human” (University of Alberta, n.d) the system would be deemed as intelligent. This can be interpreted as when a person is on a computer and receives replies the person does not know it is a computer not another person replying to their instructions.


University of Alberta.(n.d). Dictionary of cognitive science. Retrieved May 3, 2009 from: http://www.bcp.psych.ualberta.ca/~mike/Pearl_Street/Dictionary/contents/T/turing_test.html



Chinese room:
In contrast the Chinese room argument shows that if the system uses Chinese symbols then the system would pass the turning test. This argument shows that if the system replies with Chinese symbols the user may think it’s another human which it is not. This in theory would be a successful turning test but the system might just send out Chinese symbols but the symbols do not make sense with the question or conversation. Searle states that a Chinese speaker communicates with the system can the system responds in Chinese the person might think it is another person but the system might not actually be intelligent (Eliasmith, 2004). This demonstrates that the Chinese speaker may think it is another speaker who may not know how to read the symbols properly.

Chris Eliasmith.(2004). Chinese room. Retrieved May 4, 2009 from: http://philosophy.uwaterloo.ca/MindDict/chineseroom.html


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.

There are many different categories concerning agents. Such categories are:
· Mobile agents
· Distributed agents
· Autonomous agents
· Intelligent agents
· Fuzzy agents


Knox,I.(2009) Automata week 7 power point presentation.


When discussing whether or not a virtual agent can succeed in delivering high quality customer service over the web, there are a few different things to consider. The internet has many virtual agents. Such companies as Google have agents which when a user/customer put in a word or question into the search engine the agent gives a reply with similar websites relating. This can be successful but also frustrating in my experience. When putting in a word of phrase into the search engine the response is not necessarily correct and might not even be completely relevant. In such cases as Google and other search engines which require agents this demonstrates not always does the agent give high quality customer service. The agent ideally gives the best customer service it can but does not always give the customer what they ideally want (Rappa, 2005).


Rappa,M.(2005) Automata. Retrieved May 2, 2009 from: http://digitalenterprise.org/transcripts/automata_tr.html

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Week 6: Digital markets

Question 1
a) What experiences have you had with shopping online?
The only online experience I have had is looking for items online at the JB hifi store. JB hifi has an online store and a physical store. You can either order items online or just look at the items online and see prices which helps you make decisions to whether or not you want to purchase. I look at the JB hifi store to see if they have what music/TV shows or movies that I want. If they do not have it then I won’t go to the store until the website states that they have it.


b) Describe a good experience.
My experiences have been good. I have purchased a few items because of the online presence. I tend to look at the items and price to determine whether ill purchase the items or not. A good experience is when the consumer goes on the online store and purchases items which they want. The experience is good when you purchase the item and receive the item in the stated time.


c) What did you like about the online store you used?
The things I liked about the online store I used were that I could look at the items and see what for example special features that the DVD comes with. The last item I purchased from Jb was One Tree Hill season 5 which I looked at the online store before purchase. I looked at the price and to see when the DVD was coming out. The online store allows you to see different editions of movies such as Twilight I was looking at which DVD was better. To whether the special edition was better than the original version or not.


d) Describe a bad experience.
A bad experience of online shopping is that the site does not work properly. When trying to make a transaction if the site does not work properly you might not get the item which you want. I have yet to have a bad experience but I’m sure that a lot of people have.


e) What problems did you have with the online store?
There were no real problems which I have encountered when looking online or ordering. The only issue that I have come across is the store not having the item when I wanted it. For example the store did not have the movie which I wanted at the time and I decided not to purchase until I have the item.


f) What features make an online store more appealing?
Personally when looking at an online store I prefer to look at the items. The items have to say how much the item costs whether in stores have the items and what are on the item such as movies features.


g) What features make an online store less appealing?
In my opinion online stores which have little information about what they are seeing is very unappealing. I want to know exactly what I am purchasing. The appearance of the online store is very important. It has to look professional. If the website looks dodgy I won’t look or even order from it. Such websites as the banks have to have a professional feel since if they did not many people would not bank online.


h) Should we expect to see the prices of goods and services rise or fall due to the migration of consumers online?In my opinion I think it depends. There are a lot of consumers who still do not shop online. The introduction of eBay has increased people in using the internet to shop and purchase online. In my opinion it depends on the product or service. Such things as CD’s have significantly changed. Buying music online is cheaper than buying physical CD’s. Overall prices change depending on the product.


Question 2
a) The dispersion of prices (that is, the spread between the lowest and highest price for a particular product) will narrow.

In this case I agree. Consumers generally always look for products and compare the prices. Most of the time consumers look at products from different stores not necessarily just in store but online also and decide which to buy through the price. If an online store has a product cheaper than a physical store then the consumer will be more incline to buy from the online store to save money.


b) The importance of brand names will decrease.
The importance of brand names in my opinion will not decrease. A lot of consumers are very brand loyal. Some consumers will buy a certain product because of the brand no matter the cost. For example consumers will buy Ford cars even though there might be a cheaper car will the same features and just as good quality.


c) Price competition will make all products cheaper.
I agree that when stores compete on price that the product becomes cheaper. Such items as iPods when people purchase them they look around at the price since the product is the same in each store.


d) Digital markets will become dominated by a handful of mega-sites, like Amazon.com.
I agree that digital markets are dominated by mega sites. Sites such as Amazon, eBay and other sites dominate since are well known so consumers turn to them first.


e) How do you think the balance of power between buyers and sellers will change?
I think that the balance of power will change between buyers and sellers are that people will be looking online for things. The buyers have to make sure that their prices are competing with other stores. If other stores are cheaper than consumers are more incline to go elsewhere. Sellers have more opportunity now since they can go online and see where they can get a product for a cheaper price.


f) Prices are cluster online.
This statement I am unsure about. I believe that the prices online vary. If products can be purchased online this does not mean that the prices are all the same.


g) Online prices are elastic. (I.e. immune to change up and down with demand).
I think this depends. Most prices would most likely stay the same due to demand always varies. Such items go through waves of popularity. If the items continually change through demand then the prices will change throughout the seasons. The price for a product might reduce for a certain amount of time but I do not think that prices online are elastic.


h) Online prices are generally transparent (the extent to which prices for a given product or service are known by buyers in the marketplace.).
I agree that online prices are transparent. Online prices would be close to the marketplace prices. Certain products are known for their value so if the online price is more expensive than other prices then consumers would purchase elsewhere.


http://moodle.ballarat.edu.au/file.php/24/Digital_Markets/MIT_price_paper.pdf

Question 3
a) What types of m-commerce services does your cell phone provider offer?
My mobile provider which is Optus provides such m-commerce as:
· paying bills online,
· emailing
· Bluetooth
· Games
· Internet


b) Which of these services do you use?
The only service that I use when it comes to my mobile phone is games and entertainment. I tend to use Bluetooth to send photos to my laptop and send files but I do not bank through my phone and generally do not use the internet on my phone.


c) What types of transactions do you perform through your cell phone or other wireless device? I generally do not make transactions on my phone. I send messages and call people but apart from that I hardly use it for much else. Many people I know use their phone to do many things. Some people use their phone to go onto the internet such as facebook and bank using their phone to know their bank balance.


d) What types of transactions would you like to perform, but are currently unable to?
Personally I don’t really want to make transactions on my phone since I have the internet at home which allows me to check things which need to be checked. On my phone I can go on the internet and download ringtones and download games.


e) What is your opinion of wireless advertising/mobile marketing?
In my opinion wireless advertising is a smart idea such as more people has a mobile then has the internet at their home. With people always on their phones it makes sense that marketers would tap into this trend. By making it easier for people to make transactions using their phone this helps people do things faster. With the introduction of iphones people have seen this as the latest craze since it allows consumers to go onto the internet to do normal things they would do on their computer. The iphone is bigger and easier to take anywhere.

Week 5: models

How does Australia rate?The Global Information Technology Report 2008-2009 was released at the world economic forum in the past few days (March 2009). See http://www.weforum.org/en/index.htm A countries 'Technology readiness' is an important part of its eBusiness readiness.Spend some time looking at the Technology report, particularly the country profiles and rankings. Use some of the tools to answer the following -


1) What is the Mobile phone use /100 population - compare Australia, USA, China, India
· Australia: 102.5
· USA: 83.5
· China: 41.2
· India: 20.0


2) Internet use population - compare Australia, USA, China, India
· Australia: 54.2
· USA: 71.9
· China: 15.8
· India: 6.9

3) Compare main strengths and weaknesses of Australia in the survey.
Strengths:
· Political regulory environment
· Infrastructure environment
· Individual readiness
Weakeness
· Market environment
· Business readiness
· Government readiness
By looking at the survey Australia was not ranked completely low. There was afew areas which Australia needs to improve on to become ranked higher.

4) What does the survey suggest to you about the Information Technology readiness of Australian business compared to Australian consumers?
This survey suggests that Australian business readiness is ranked 22 compared to individual Australian consumer which is ranked 13. This shows that the Australian consumer is ranked higher than Australian businesses.


All information is sourced through this website:
World Economic forum.(2009). The global information technology report. Retrieved April 25, 2009 from: http://www.insead.edu/v1/gitr/wef/main/fullreport/index.html