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CS5038 The Electronic SocietyLecture 18: Communities, Mobile and Future TrendsLecture Outline

• Elements of Interaction in a Community • Example Communities • Commercial Aspects of Communities • Failure and Success for Communities • Mobile Advantages • Mobile Commerce Drivers, Hardware, Security• Mobile Commerce Applications • Intelligent Home • Web Services – machine-to-machine interaction• Semantic Web – machine readability of webpages• The Future of Electronic Commerce

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Elements of Interaction in a Community

Communication Bulletin boards (discussion groups) Chat rooms/threaded discussions

(string Q&A) E-mail and instant messaging Private mailboxes Newsletters, netzines Web postings Voting

Information Directories and yellow pages Search engine Member generated content Links to information sources Expert advice

EC Element Electronic catalogs and shopping carts Advertisements Auctions of all types Classified ads Bartering online

Q. What is a community? A. User-user interaction

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Example CommunitiesAssociations with web presence – aria.com.au

Ethnic Communities - elsitio.com

Affinity Portals (special interest) – workingfamilies.com

Games – halflife counter-strike, yahoo games

Fantasy Communities – Ultima Online

Shrine - Buffy

Mega Community – Geocities

B2B online communities – Exchanges are also communities PlasticsNet

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Commercial Aspects of CommunitiesWays to transform a community site into a commerce site:

Understand a particular niche industry Its information needs The step-by-step process by which it finds information to do business

Build a site to provide the information (maybe partner with existing provider)

Site should mirror the step-by-step process Build a community that relies on the site for decision support Start selling products and services that fit into the decision-support process

Advantages for sponsoring organisations / Creating economic value Customer participation and feedback increases

their attitudes and beliefs demographics/psychographics information needs of the community

= Valuable marketing information

Customer loyalty increases Increased repeat traffic Drive new traffic to the site Visitors have a specific demographic and interest Communities charge fees for downloading articles, music, or pictures

Sales andadvertising

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Failure and Success for CommunitiesFinancial viability of communities

Based on sponsorship and advertisement Expenses are very high because of the need to provide:

Fresh content Free services Free membership

This model did not work well, companies sustained heavy losses in 2000-2001; too few members, too few purchases

Eight principles for community success:

1. Increase traffic and participation in community

2. Focus on needs of members (use facilitators and coordinators)

3. Encourage free sharing of opinions and information

4. Financial sponsorship is a must

5. Consider the cultural environment

6. Communities are not just discussion groups; provide tools and activities

7. Members must be involved in activities and recruiting

8. Guide discussions, provoke controversy, raise sticky issues

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Mobile Advantages

Local-based services Cost of GPS declining – may become standard in mobile devices Access to local information – good for customer and advertiser

Restaurant, hotel, hospital, ATM, mapping – vindigo.com Instant connectivity to the Internet – no booting or modem call

Greater potential for personalisation and context sensitivity Information tailored to who you are, where you are and what you are doing

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MobileMobile Commerce DriversDevices widely availableHandset becoming cultureNo need for a PCDeclining prices Improvement of bandwidthCan overcome digital divide

Typical Hardware:Mobile phones – NokiaPDAs – Palm Interactive pagers

Security is more difficult on mobile devicesDevice can be stolen – how to authenticate user - biometrics

LimitationsUsability problemInsufficient bandwidth3G licencesPower consumptionNot enough WAP enabled sites

Attachable & projection keyboardScreenphones - NokiaE-mail solutions - blackberryConvergence

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Mobile ApplicationsVoice applications

Hands free, eyes free, portable Useful in many situations and for disabled people

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Voice portal technology: check inventory, delivery, diagnostics Get paid to listen to ads – flop in US, success in Singapore – singtel.com

Wireless access provided to existing B2C applications Example: getting stock exchange information and doing transactions,

online banking, news, weather, gambling, etc. Shopping – buy.com, amazon.com – perform comparisons Mobile music and radio – store mp3 and stream audio from radio stations

Location-based applications – uses Global Positioning System (GPS) NextBus (in San Francisco) Telematics – integrate wireless, vehicle monitoring, vehicle location

Personalised information to dashboard + monitor vehicle faults Context sensitive advertising

Bill payment charged through telephone operators Examples: car parking, vending machines, car washes

SMS-based applications – congestion charge

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Intelligent Home

Prentice Hall, 2002

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Web Services Web service = Software system designed to support interoperable

machine-to-machine interaction over a network.

Application components interoperate seamlessly in platform neutral manner Provide interface to your application for other applications

Interface described in a machine-processable format Agreed standard protocols using XML and HTTP Web Services Description Language (WSDL)

Other systems interact with Web service using Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) messages SOAP envelope framework defines what is in a message; who should

deal with it, and whether it is optional or mandatory. Includes XML-based encoding rules to express instances of application

defined data types within the message. Defines an XML-based convention for representing the request to the

remote service and the resulting response. Ideal for business computing where platforms vary

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Semantic WebSemantic Web = Extension of the current web in which information is given

well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to work in cooperation. - Tim Berners-Lee Web of machine readable data (Currently it is only human readable) Web of structured data based on Resource Description Framework

(RDF), uses XML RDF is metadata about Web resources Example for a report:

<? xml version="1.0" ?><RDF xmlns = "http://w3.org/TR/1999/PR-rdf-syntax-19990105#" xmlns:DC = "http://purl.org/DC#" >

<Description about = "http://dstc.com.au/report.html" > <DC:Title> The Future of Metadata </DC:Title> <DC:Creator> Jacky Crystal </DC:Creator> <DC:Date> 1998-01-01 </DC:Date> <DC:Subject> Metadata, RDF, Dublin Core </DC:Subject> </Description></RDF>

- An Idiot's Guide to the Resource Description Framework

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Trends and the FutureIncreasing Internet usage Mobile - no need for expensive PC more people to WebSecurity and trust - Significant improvement is expectedPayment systems – will be standardised and globalisedGoing global Barriers will be reduced at a slow pace One of the most appealing benefits of Internet for

Commerce/Society

E-government – becoming comprehensiveImprovements in efficiency: Business: internal supply chain Government: e.g. between departments Health: e.g. data mining to improve best practise

Integration – computer, TV, telephone, mobile

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SummaryElements of Interaction in a Community – user-user, news, EC element

Example Communities – Ethnic, Games, B2B

Commercial Aspects of Communities – better sales and advertising

Failure and Success for Communities – sponsorship/ads insufficient

Mobile Advantages – localisation, personalisation, context sensitivity

Mobile Drivers, Hardware, Security

Mobile Applications – voice, wireless access to existing

Intelligent Home – integration in appliances

Web Services – machine-to-machine interaction

Semantic Web – machine readability of webpages

The Future of Electronic Commerce – increasing, integrating

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Questions 18

4. Community of women - I didn't use this classification

9. & 10. we didn't do SMEs - but have a go

stop at 10.

3. Reachability - but I think any answer is good

skip 5 to 12 inclusive

Questions 19 - if time