Week 12 - topic

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?

Sony faced legal action across the globe after hacker where able to steal names, addresses and credit card details of users of playstation. Sony did not tell users about the theft until 6 days after the fact. This incident affect around 77 million users.

The legal issues with this is that countries will put in place tougher laws to be put into place over the protection of pesonal information and also the information that companies can ask for and hole. Financially Sony's stock price has dropped by 10% due to consumer trust.

Countries like Australia and America have allowed Sony to Re-access the PlayStation Network users details. Where as Japan has banned the network until sony can prove it has put measures in place to protect cilents information.

*irish news

*http://www.smartcompany.com.au/information-technology/20110516-sony-begins-restoring-playstation-services.html

 

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.
* http://www.wufoo.com/
This website is an way for business to create form easliy and quickly. This website also collects data that clients entre when filling out these online forms.
This is very useful to an organisation as it will reduce production time, therefore reducing human resources which will then reduce employment costs. Not only does using this service reduce a lot of things it helps to improve the speed inwhich business' receive information.

* http://www.hulu.com/
This is a video site that is provided from NBC, Universal and Fox Entertainment groups. This site allows veiwers to what ful lenght movies and TV shows on their computers. Youtube is one of its mean competitors however Hulu comes directly from these larger entertainment companys and not from the users of this service. Hulu has a policy in place where content on the site expires after it has been on there for a set amount of time. This site could be useful to very large organisations as they may be able to produce advertisment that will be played during these Tv shows and movies.

* http://www.dimdim.com/
This is a website that would help in the business world to set up meetings without having to travel interstate, or overseas. This website hopes to make conferencing between business' and between business' and potential investors more time efficient.

* http://www.etsy.com/
This site is like an ebay like art store, in the meaning that you are able to purchase someones goods at a lower cost than in a store.
This is a great website for small business' or not known artists to get their homemade works sold to the public.
This website is very bright and easy to use that it helps to attract potential customers to it.
http://elizabethgilhome.blogspot.com/2011/05/week-11-tutorial-questions-25511.html

* http://www.about.com/
About.com is a website that provides users with pages and pages of imformation on how to do things and why things are the way they are. About.com can be useful to companys if they wish to find the answers on a specific topic, they could also place a how to for their own organisation on this website.
http://leishysblogs.blogspot.com/

topic 10 - trust

Questions
1) What does this meant by the following statements?
Trust is not associative (non-symmetric)
When giving a description of trust it is not being associative impling that it doesn't apply to the same extent to both parties involved. An example of this is when a buy is purchasing either a service or product they have a great trust in the business sell the product/ service then the business has in the consumer.
Trust is not transitive
This implies that trust can't be transferred from one party to another, further on down the chain of a business dealing.
Trust is always between exactly 2 parties
Most often trust is kept to 2 parties however there is some complex situations where trust will extend into groups, such as groups, clubs and larger communities that we have dealing with in our lifes.
Trust will involve either direct trust or recommender trust
Direct trust is where trust is developed from a relationship or experience with that party. Whereas recommended trust is when trust is placed on a party because of someone else experience.

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/
ebay has many features that give customers the trust they desire these include:
* paypal insurance
* sellers ratings
* members recommendations
* advice services given by ebay
http://www.anz.com.au/
ANZ banking uses a number of protection process to ensure the safety of users, the use of passwords and questions entries. This help customers know feel the trust that everything is being done to protect their information
http://www.thinkgeek.com/
When looking at thinkgeek i was worried about my information based of the fact there was no clear security features. If i was to use this site i would be worried if my personal details would be protected from hackers.
http://www.paypal.com.auPayPal is recongized as being one of the safest sites when it come to customer details. It has a good reputation for having a large number of proctection process and safety features making it hard to hack into for peoples details.
2b) Find a web site yourself that you think looks untrustworthy.
When running I found that limewire.com was a very untrustworthy site as you were able to pay for a version of music downloading program or you could also pay for a version. When paying for the version it would jump about from page to page and would never comfirm that your payment had been put through. This lead me to believe that maybe my credit card details weren't handle with privacy that they should have been.

Week 7 Digital Automata

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 checked the Cybertwin site but did not make my own. I think that this form of technology may became useful in the future I however dont think it will be able to bet the feeling consumers get when having human interaction. Therefore I dont think that this technology will be able to answer question about this course or for shopping. It wouldnt be able to replace the human interaction that as consumers we want.

2) 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.

The turing test is a propsal for a test of a machine's capbilitiy to demonstrate thought. This test was developed in 1950's by Professor Alan Turing. The test iss a theory of the concept that a computer can act as a human. For the device to pass the test it must be able to have conversations with a human and the human is unable to tell if the device is actually a piece of technology then it therefore passes the test.

The Chinese room was brought about by a man John Stearle (1980) where he debates that the turning test is reliable and actually has a high rate of success. This is due to his belief that the devices should be able to read symbols that it would not be able to read unless human.

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). If you choose this option please link (live in an hour or so) to it from your blog page.

I dont think that virtual agents will be able to provide high quality customer service over the internet. I have come to this conclusion as I believe that customers want human interaction, as many people dont like ringing phone companies as they are all voice monitors that can become confusing. Also the virtual agent may not be able to assit the client in the best possible way and only be able to give general information.

Online 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 site that allows people to buy and sell goods and services. Ebay is a broke model due to its structure. The reasoning behing why Ebay is so successful and popular is because people trust the site through their own experiences and dealing with it and also other peoples dealing with the site in a positive manner.Ebay has in place policies and prodecures to help in the safety and privacy of personal details, to pervent people getting 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?

The difference between a site like Amazon and Ebay is that Amazon is more of a company trying to sell products whereas Ebay allows anybody to place items for sale on the website. Ebay is a very popular site and is able to reach a large number of people through advertisment. Ebay receives commission for every item that is sold on their website, therefore most of the profit from the sale goes to the person how has placed the item on the site. Ebay also allows people to bid on items which is pretty unique in itself, this may give customers some excitment and competitiveness to see if they are able to win or not.

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 in place a number of methods to help protect the customers of their site, some of these include, authentication of identity, create customers own account, provide unique passwords, submit the feedback to their management central. These measures help to prevent fraud in search for a safe trade while maintaining a good trust with the larger community and marketplace.

http://liuzhaofu0902.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html
Retrieved may 4th 2011

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?

By ebay conceptualizing their community gives their audience a  feeling of loyalty towards the community not to a business. Ebay gains because more people that are likely to be return users to the site seeing as the profile of the business is everyday people selling every kind of item or service.

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?

As the public are moving towards purchasing from the internet due to it being convenient, easy and possibly cheaper it is reasonable to think that the popularity of ebay will increase and the number of businesses selling on ebay will also increase. ebay allows to purchase brand name products and services at a bidding price which may or may not be the same as a retail price.

Q6. 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?
Ebay changed its rules of payments in July 2010. The change in payment options was used to increase the security of transactions and to help make it easier for consumers.

http://fatmah-ballarat.blogspot.com/2010/10/online-auctions.html retreived may 4th 2011

Digital Markets

Question 1
a)What experiences have you had with shopping online?
I have had very little experience when it comes to shopping online. I look often at things online I have every intension to purchase products however very rarely end up doing so.

b) Describe a good experience.

A good experience I had with shopping online was that I was able to purchase DVD that werent yet available to buy in Australia at a very cheap price that I wouldnt be able to get if I had of got them in a store

It was also a good experience because the deliever time was every small only 7 days

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

I like the online store because of the easy nature of how to navigate my way around the site and the prices were much lower.

d) Describe a bad experience.

It wasnt a experience i have had with shopping online but a friend order shoes online and they never turned up and she was never able to get her money back.

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

I have issue with knowing how to pay for things and understanding all the different ways you are able to pay and working out which would be the best for me.

f) What features make an online store more appealing?

To me the features to shopping online would be the easy accessability of it. The prices of items are normally cheaper then if you went into a store and purchased it in person. I also think that it is a great way to compare products and prices easily

g) What features make an online store less appealing?

The only thing that I think would make shopping online less appealing to people would be the uncertainty of if the person or company selling the product can be trusted.

h) Should we expect to see the prices of goods and services rise or fall due to the migration of consumers online?I'm unsure on this one as I think it could go either way as businesses could rise prices as they arent making the same profit as they once where and therefore need to make up the difference. however on the other hand they could also drop prices to be able to compete with online stores. I think it will be up to the individual business on how they deal with this.

Question 2

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

I agree with this statement as I believe that business will try to compete this online stores and online stores will also online stores will compete with eachother therefore prices between highest and lowest prices will narrow.

b) The importance of brand names will decrease.

I also agree with this statement as consumers will be looking at products on price not by brand name and if the product is very similar then a brand name product but cheaper consumers are more likely to go with the cheaper option.

c) Price competition will make all products cheaper.

I disagree with this statement as same business pride themselves on being the best and have high prices to show to their target market that they are the best. Therefore I dont think that all products will become cheaper.

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

I disagree with this statement as I believe businesses will have their own sites and clients will use these to purchase products that they desire.

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

I think that the balance will change slightly in the fact that buyer's may be to hold the power more easily as if prices or products arent to their liking they are able to use other companies more quickly and easily.

f) Prices are clustered online.

I agree as the online stores try to compete not only with eachother but normal shopping centre stores.

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

I disagree with this statement because I have always had the experience that online are there for the customer and are more able to have lower prices.

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 with this statement because buyer's now if they can get products or services cheaper or for better quality in everyday stores. therefore buyer's know what to expect with online prices.

Question 3

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

My phone company offers * location based services. * games and entertainment *content and products and also * moblie bill payment.

b) Which of these services do you use?

Out of the above services I use Games and entertainment

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

I only use my phone for text messaging and phone calls.
d) What types of transactions would you like to perform, but are currently unable to?

I would like to be able to pay bills of all kind through the use of my phone not just my phone bill. I would also like to be able to transfer money between accounts.

e) What is your opinion of wireless advertising/mobile marketing?

I dont have a strong opinion on this as i dont use it. i think that companies have to do the best they can with technology to be able to reach a larger audience.

 

topic 5 - business models

Brokerage - Brokers are market-makers: they bring buyers and sellers together and facilitate transactions. Brokers play a frequent role in business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), or consumer-to-consumer (C2C) markets. Usually a broker charges a fee or commission for each transaction it enables. Brokerage models include marketplace exchange, buy/sell fulfillment, demand collection system, auction broker, transaction broker, distributor, search agent and virtual marketplace. An example of brokerage model is eBay which is an auction broker.

Advertising - The web advertising model is an extension of the traditional media broadcast model. The broadcaster, in this case, a web site, provides content and services (like email, IM, blogs) mixed with advertising messages in the form of banner ads. The banner ads may be the major or sole source of revenue for the broadcaster. The broadcaster may be a content creator or a distributor of content created elsewhere. The advertising model works best when the volume of viewer traffic is large or highly specialized. Example: Yahoo

Infomediary - 

 

Merchant - Wholesalers and retailers of goods and services. Sales may be made based on list prices or through auction. Example: Apple iTunes Music Store

Manufacturer (Direct) - The manufacturer or "direct model", it is predicated on the power of the web to allow a manufacturer (i.e., a company that creates a product or service) to reach buyers directly and thereby compress the distribution channel. The manufacturer model can be based on efficiency, improved customer service, and a better understanding of customer preferences. Example: Dell Computers

Affiliate -

 

Community - The viability of the community model is based on user loyalty. Users have a high investment in both time and emotion. Revenue can be based on the sale of ancillary products and services or voluntary contributions; or revenue may be tied to contextual advertising and subscriptions for premium services. The Internet is inherently suited to community business models and today this is one of the more fertile areas of development, as seen in rise of social networking. Example: Wikipedia

Subscription - Users are charged a periodic -- daily, monthly or annual -- fee to subscribe to a service. It is not uncommon for sites to combine free content with "premium" (i.e., subscriber- or member-only) content. Subscription fees are incurred irrespective of actual usage rates. Subscription and advertising models are frequently combined. Example: Netflix

Utility - The utility or "on-demand" model is based on metering usage, or a "pay as you go" approach. Unlike subscriber services, metered services are based on actual usage rates. Traditionally, metering has been used for essential services (e.g., electricity water, long-distance telephone services). Internet service providers (ISPs) in some parts of the world operate as utilities, charging customers for connection minutes, as opposed to the subscriber model common in the U.S. Example: Slashdot

Information retrieved from http://digitalenterprise.org/models/models.html

In contrast to the generalized portal, which seeks to drive a high volume of traffic to one site, the affiliate model, provides purchase opportunities wherever people may be surfing. It does this by offering financial incentives (in the form of a percentage of revenue) to affiliated partner sites. The affiliates provide purchase-point click-through to the merchant. It is a pay-for-performance model -- if an affiliate does not generate sales, it represents no cost to the merchant. The affiliate model is inherently well-suited to the web, which explains its popularity. Variations include, banner exchange, pay-per-click, and revenue sharing programs. Example: Amazon

Data about consumers and their consumption habits are valuable, especially when that information is carefully analyzed and used to target marketing campaigns. Independently collected data about producers and their products are useful to consumers when considering a purchase. Some firms function as infomediaries (information intermediaries) assisting buyers and/or sellers understand a given market. Example: DoubleClick
1) What is the Mobile phone use /100 population - compare Australia, USA, China, India.
Australia - 54.19
USA - 71.94
China - 15.81
India - 6.93

2) Internet use / 100 population - compare Australia, USA, China, India.
Australia - 71.98
USA - 74
China - 22.28
India - 4.38

3) Compare main strengths and weaknesses of Australia or your home country in the survey
Strenghts: how Australia is ranked in relation to others
Government usage index - 5th
Environment Component Index - 14th
Market Environment - 14th
Usage Component Index - 17th
Individual Usage - 20th
Business Usage - 30th
Weaknesses: how Australia is ranked in relation to other countries in the following caterogies
Fixed Telephone tariffs 82nd
Business monthly telephone subscriptions  - 97th
Total tax rate- 90th

4) What does the survey suggest to you about the Information Technology readiness of Australian business compared to Australian consumers?
Australia has a ranking of 25 when looking at the overall readiness component index, so we can assume that Australian business is better than that of the countries individual readiness

Ref: http://cgthornton.blogspot.com/2010/04/5.html
http://ebonybell.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html