I researched the demise of eBay (China) and the rise of it’s one-time rival TaoBao for my presentation on E-commerce. Overall, I felt that my presentation went well. I had originally thought that the presentations were only supposed to be five minutes long with a few minutes of discussion time afterwards and I tailored my presentation accordingly. Because more time was allotted to the groups in class I found that my presentation was short but the discussion questions I asked were adequate to fill the time and drew the interest of the majority of students I presented to. Besides the actual research and creation of the powerpoint, the project as a whole wasn’t too difficult but it still raised awareness in the same manner as a research paper. The only frustrating moment of the whole assignment was having to recreate a login for slideshare.com because I had forgotten mine and it’s just annoying sometimes to re-register. Overall, I enjoyed the experience.
Archive for February, 2009
Lecture delivered by Brianna Keller of the University of Washington Career Center February 23, 2009. This lecture’s content may appear on the upcoming exam.
Lecture:
Q & A:
Abstract: We’ve learned from the required reading this week, Circuit City goes Social, that the more ability users have in communicating with the company they want to purchase from the more popular that site becomes even if it’s understaffed, as was the case with Circuit City’s online forum. For my presentation, the concept of user interaction with e-Commerce and the effects it has globally will be discussed around the subject of eBay’s loss in China.
References:
Xiaojuan, Carol O., and Robert M. Davison. “Why eBay Lost to TaoBao in China: The Global Advantage.” Communications of the ACM 52.1: 145-49. EBSCO. University of Washington. 22 Feb. 2009 <http://offcampus.lib.washington.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=36002068&site=ehost-live>.
“Circuit City goes social: web-site review: new social-networking site shows potential.(ELECTRONIC RETAILING).” Chain Store Age 1 Jan. 2008: 1-2. 22 Feb. 2009 <https://eres.lib.washington.edu/eres/docs/147316/circuit_city_goes_ocial.pdf>.
The below entry sums up my experiences with electronic commerce:
Tealeaf found that 37 per cent of those who experienced problems when trying to complete an online transaction said they tend to give up on a sale entirely if they run into difficulties rather than try again.
from Phil Muncaster‘s article, How to Strengthen Customer Bonds. Amazon.com was the first e-commerce website to give me any trouble while making a purchase or setting up a shipping plan. I had originally ordered a book for my brother in law and the expected delivery time was four days. When the book still hadn’t shipped after four days of me trying to clarify just when exactly it would ship, I canceled the order and I haven’t returned to Amazon.com since. Thankfully, almost all my online purchases have been successful with my only other problem coming from a purchase I made on Ebay, but when I purchase from that site I almost treat it as a give in that if something goes wrong it most likely will take time to sort it out – which it did after a week of waiting for a response from the Ebay seller.
The article about Circuit City going social was interesting and revealed the common sentiments of online shoppers – at least for me. It was mentioned that the discussion board on the forum, where shoppers post questions about certain items, had slow response times because the board was short staffed and that the users actually didn’t slam circuit for this but instead posted suggestions on how to improve the site reveals that if you let people have a little say or influence on how things are run than they generally are supportive of the overall experience. In today’s busy world I think a lot of people just want to be heard and giving them the opportunity to do that through your online business is sure to draw in a lot of customers.
Q1. What do you feel are the greatest drawbacks to online shopping?
Q2. How would you improve the e-commerce process for the sites you purchase from?
Q3. What draws you to purchase from certain site rather than others?
Two down, two to go! It seems that if this had been posted with the readings or if all the assignments were posted on one schedule, I would have had this assignment done a long time ago. But either way, now it’s getting done. So far, it’s not too difficult to find what the Media Survey was asking for. I’m surprised with the poor quality of the newspaper websites design. The two I’ve completed so far felt very cluttered compared to the news websites that I usually frequent.
In terms of the media quality of the four websites, the NYTimes online is by far the most dynamic and provides the best media that I’ve come across. The videos download quickly and are sharp. The content is also far superior to the three other online newspapers that I viewed. I disliked the Kansas City Star in all fields and of the three websites visited they had the lowest quality multimedia. All the websites could do better if they simply uncluttered their page by skimming their front page out. All four were a strain on the eyes and I would never visit these sites again with the exception of watching some of the NYTimes video reports. The NYTimes was by far the best site in terms of quality, web layout, multimedia, and navigation.
Although the content of the NYTimes far exceeds it’s competition, layout like those found on NPR.org or RedState simply make it easier for the general websurfer to find interesting articles. They are simply less text heavy and easier on the eye.
In terms of organizing, fund-raising, and getting a candidates’ message out to the masses, the internet has had an impact on politics unmatched since the creation printing press. With out straying to far from the assigned reading, it’s clear to almost everyone that the internet has made the world much smaller and the messages or mistakes of politicians known in a heartbeat. What immediately comes to mind is the macaca gaff of former Senator George Allen, who said,
This fellow here over here with the yellow shirt, Macaca, or whatever his name is. He’s with my opponent… Let’s give a welcome to Macaca, here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia.
This statement was video taped and because of the internet the news spread like wild fire. Allen ended his campaign. Besides the quote provided, it goes without questioning that the internet impacts politics in a big way. The advancement of technology that gives people the ability to record everything they see and hear and software that allows users to post these recordings on the web in a matter of seconds has far reaching impacts. This advancement means an even less private life for those who campaign and hold office.
I agree with the premise of the authors because the numbers simply show that the internet has certainly changed many aspects of politics today. The numbers from the Dean campaign are simply amazing and the fact that you can get people to do almost all of the organizing and campaigning for free is a new reality. It’s so much easier for the average citizen to donate what little they have via a computer. Unless a candidate in insanely rich, he or she will have no choice but to also run a dynamic internet campaign in every election here on out.
Q1. How has the internet changed the way you think about politics?
Q2. What’s your ideal campaign website (design, features, etc.)?
Q3. Where do you see the recent technological innovations leading the future of politics?
Title: YouTube
URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube
The YouTube article is a brief overview of the foundation of the website, its history since then, the controversies surrounding it, and the impact that it has had on the world since its inception. The article itself was created at 6:18 p.m. on December 25, 2005 and has had well over five hundred changes made to it by numerous authors since then. I chose this topic because this is a form of digital media that I use on a daily basis, it has created more opportunities for individuals to broadcast their ideas or events they have witnessed, and it’s the first idea that comes to my mind when thinking of digital media.
After having read through the article I have found that it is definitely one of the better Wikipedia articles available. The article has eighty one total references and although I didn’t check every single reference, every time that I did check there source it always turned out to have a link that worked. This is a difference to many other Wikipedia articles that I’ve read before in which the links are usually not working. An interesting point about the YouTube article is that it’s Semi-Protected, which is defined by Wikipedia as:
Semi-protection
Semi-protection prevents edits from anonymous users (IP addresses), as well as edits from accounts that are not autoconfirmed.
Administrators may apply indefinite semi-protection to pages which are subject to heavy and persistent vandalism or violations of content policy (such as biographies of living persons, neutral point of view).
From reading the article I learned that YouTube is apparently banned in places like Turkey and Iran but after reading the “Discussion” page it appears that there might be a factual discrepancy for the policy in Iran at the moment. The article cited, Censorship fears rise as Iran blocks access to top websites from the Guardian online, was disputed by Lordfkiller, a Wikipedia user who apparently resides in Iran. He claimed that YouTube had indeed been blocked in 2006 but that is no longer the case. The response to this information was that although what Lordfkiller had written may be true, it needs to be verified with a reliable source.
The main controversy that surrounds YouTube has been the copyright infringement issues that it has faced due to users uploading their favorite television shows and other forms of media and to the website. This led to Viacom bringing them to court and then winning a case against them which allowed that company the possession of many of YouTube’s viewers and members’ IP addresses. The article touched very briefly on these points because like other sections in this article, there is enough information about it to have an entirely separate article, which it does. For the sake of brevity, I believe that the YouTube article on Wikipedia expounded on the issues enough for the average reader to understand what the controversy is without delving to greatly into the details.
The other article I harnessed for my essay was obtained from the International Journal of Cultural Studies and is entitled: YouTube as archive: Who will curate this digital Wunderkammer? by Robert Gehl. The main assertion by Gehl is that YouTube won’t present the views of the many but rather, the views of the technological middlemen who have the skills to harness the technology. From the onset the article is biased in that it’s proving a point rather than informing the public about what exactly YouTube is. His main thesis, although well researched, I don’t believe will hold weight given the history of open source media programs. What he fails to take into account is that many times if programming does become too complicated for users to participate with they will simply find or create a new program that is more suitable for their needs. The whole idea of technological middlemen to me, although well researched and certainly against the norm, in my humble opinion, won’t hold wait.
For those who simply would like an overview and short history of YouTube would find themselves surprisingly satisfied with what Wikipedia has to offer. If they want debate over the controversies surrounding it than they should consider searching academic journals.
References:
Gehl, R. (2009). YouTube as archive: Who will curate this digital Wunderkammer? [Electronic version] International Journal of Cultural Studies, 12(1). from EBSCO.
YouTube. (2009, February 13). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:03, February 13, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube
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