E-COMMERCE

WHAT IS E-COMMERCE?

Ä E-commerce (or electronic commerce) is used to describe business that is conducted over the Internet using any of the applications that rely on the Internet, such as e-mail, instant messaging, shopping carts, Web services, FTP, and EDI (electronic data interchange), among others.

ÄElectronic commerce can be between two businesses transmitting funds, goods, services and/or data or between a business and a customer.

Ä Includes:

Ø  Online business to business transactions

Ø  Online business to consumer transactions

Ø  Digital delivery of products and services

Ø  Online merchandising

Ø  Automated telephone transactions eg phone banking

Ä E-commerce can be divided into:

Ø E-tailing or "virtual storefronts" on Web sites with online catalog, sometimes gathered into a "virtual mall“

Ø The gathering and use of demographic data through Web contacts.

Ø  EDI, the business-to-business exchange of data.

Ø  E-mail and fax and their use as media for reaching prospects and established customers (for example, with newsletters)

Ø  Business-to-business buying and selling.

Ø  The security of business transactions.

Ä Example of e-commerce:

Ø  Online Shopping

Ø  Electronic Payments

Ø  Online Auctions

Ø  Internet Banking

Ø  Online Ticketing

Ä Type of e-commerce:

Ø  Business to Consumer (B2C)
When businesses sell electronically to end-consumers, it is called B2C ecommerce.

Ø  Consumer to Consumer (C2C)
Some of the earliest transactions in the global economic system involved barter - a type of C2C transaction. But C2C transactions were virtually non-existent in recent times until the advent of ecommerce. Auction sites are a good example of C2C ecommerce.

Ä Advantages of e-commerce:

Ä Disadvantages of e-commerce:

WHAT IS E-BANKING?

Ä Online banking (or Internet banking or E-banking) allows customers of a financial institution to conduct financial transactions on a secure website operated by the institution, which can be a retail or virtual bank, credit union or building society.

Ä Must have personal Internet access - must register with the institution for the service, and set up some password (under various names) for customer verification.

Ä An Internet banking customer accesses accounts from a browser— software that runs Internet banking programs resident on the bank’s World Wide Web server.

Ä Provides account balances and some transactional capabilities to retail customers over the World Wide Web. Internet banks are also known as virtual, cyber, net, interactive, or web banks.

Ä The common features:

SECURITY (ONLINE TRANSACTION)

}     Exchanging sensitive information without the appropriate encryption technology or security measures can make a computer user or identity particularly vulnerable.

}  Online transactions take place at record speed, oftentimes faster than a standard credit card transaction or check processing.

}   Online transactions can be monitored, recorded, and key logged by a variety of hackers and third parties without the knowledge or consent of the user.

}  There are several ways to help ensure safe transactions on the Internet:

1. Stored-value cards (cards that you can buy with specified, loaded dollar amounts)

2.  Smart cards (cards that can act as credit cards, debit cards and/or stored-value cards)

3.     Point-of-sale (POS) devices (PDA or mobile phone)

4.     Digital cash

5.     E-wallets

6.     Online payment services like PayPal

}  The following list provides some tips on how to make sure your transaction is secure:

1.       Use the latest Internet browser.

2.      Look for digital certificates

3.    Read the privacy only use one credit card for all of your online purchases.

4.     Never give out passwords or user ID information online unless you know who you are dealing with and why they need it.

5.      Keep records of all of your Internet transactions.

6.  After you've made purchases online, check your e-mail Not sharing passwords with any other person.

ENTERPRISE WIDE TECHNOLOGIES AND METHODOLOGIES

}  Collaboration Key Breaking Barriers

}  Supercharged Kiosks 

}  IM's New Role 

}  Speeding Things Up

}  On the Same Page 

}  Wireless e-commerce 

COLLABORATIVE ONLINE LEARNING

ONLINE FORUM

Ä  Equivalent to traditional bulletin board and a technological evolution of the dial-up bulletin board system.

Ä People participating in an Internet forum may cultivate social bonds and interest groups for a topic made from the discussions.

Ä  Most Online forums require registration to post. 

Troll

Ä  Is a user that repeatedly and intentionally breaches netiquette, often posting derogatory or otherwise inflammatory messages about sensitive topics in an established online community to bait users into responding, often starting flame wars

Spamming

Ä  Is a breach of netiquette where users repeat the same word or phrase over and over, but differs from multiple posting in that spamming is usually a willful act which sometimes has malicious intent.

User groups

Ä  Privileges and rights are given based on user groups. The privileged is set by the administrator.

Ä  An unregistered user of the site is commonly known as a guest or visitor.

Ä  Guests are typically granted access to all functions that do not require database alterations or breach privacy.

Moderator

Ä  The moderators are users of the forum who are granted access to the posts and threads of all members for the purpose of moderating discussion and also keeping the forum clean.

Ä  Have access to all posts and threads

Ä  Moderators also answer users' concerns about the forum, general questions, as well as respond to specific complaints. They also can do anything to lend a helping hand to a user in need.

Administrator

Ä  The administrators manage the technical details required for running the site.

Ä  Promote members to moderators, manage the rules, create sections and sub-sections, as well as perform any database operations.

Ä  Administrators often also act as moderators.

Post

Ä  A post is a user submitted message enclosed into a block containing the user's details and the date and time it was submitted.

Ä  Members are usually allowed to edit or delete their own posts.

Thread

Ä  A thread (sometimes called a topic) is a collection of posts, usually displayed – by default – from oldest to latest, although this is typically configurable:

Ä  A thread is defined by a title, an additional description that may summarize the intended discussion, and an opening or original post (common abbreviation 'OP', which can also mean original poster) which opens whatever dialogue or makes whatever announcement the poster wished. A thread can contain any number of posts, including multiple posts from the same members, even if they are one after the other.

Private message

Ä  A private message, or PM for short, is a message sent in private from a member to one or more other members.

Ä  Private messages are generally used for personal conversations.

Emoticon

Ä  Emoticon or smiley is a symbol or combination of symbols used to convey emotional content in written or message form. Forums implement a system through which some of the text representations of an emoticons (e.g. XD, :p) are rendered as a small image. Depending on part the world the forum's topic originates (since most forums are international) smiles can be replaced by other forms of similar graphics, (e.g. *(^O^)*, (^-^)b).

WIKIS

Ä  Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser.

Ä Wiki is a combination of a CGI script and a collection of plain text files that allows users to create Web pages “on the fly.”

Ä Wiki supports hyperlinks and has simple text syntax for creating new pages and crosslink between internal pages on the fly.

Ä Wiki is unusual among group communication mechanisms in that it allows the organization of contributions to be edited in addition to the content itself.

PODCASTING

Ä     A podcast is a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and downloaded through web syndication.

Ä  Podcasting is a method of publishing audio files (usually MP3s) to the Web, which are then made available through subscription and automatically downloaded to a personal computer or portable MP3 player.

Podcasting in Education

       Ä  One obvious use of podcasting in an educational context is to create an archive of class lectures that students can listen to at their convenience.
  Ä As podcasting is relatively new, educators everywhere are still exploring the possibilities. 

Ä  Podcasting could be used for:

Ø  News/updates;

Ø  Guest lecturers;

Ø  Student presentations;

Ø  Student-produced podcasts;

Ø  Interviews with guest experts;

Ø  Tours/fieldwork;

Ø  Internships/residencies;

Ø  Feedback/evaluation of student work;

Ø Supplementary material such as speeches, music, or other audio recordings; and

Ø Short language lessons or other lessons that help students develop listening and speaking skills.

Issues

Ä  Podcasting involves a shift from e-learning to m-learning.

Ä E-learning, or electronic learning, refers to any computer-based learning that enables students to access and make use of course materials at a distance and at their convenience.

Ä  M-learning, or mobile learning, capitalizes on the increasing ubiquity of wireless networks and devices such as laptops, PDAs, wireless phones, MP3 players, and of course, iPods.

SECOND LIFE

Ä  In Second Life participants use avatars, virtual selves that reflect the creators’ personalities, to interact with one another within the online environment.

Ä  A free client program called the Second Life Viewer enables its users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars.

Ä Residents can explore, meet other residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, and create and trade virtual property and services with one another, or travel throughout the world

Ä Through this feature Second Life can bring people, ideas, and subject matter together in a fuller representation of real human relationships

Ä For example, Second Life allows for online interactions that mimic the face-to-face conversations of the campus classroom while minimizing the formality that usually prevails in academic discussion forums.