Week 11

This week’s lecture was on management of web 2.0 delivered by Margaret McCann.

Web 2.0 is causing a splash as it stretches the boundaries of what Web sites can do. But in the rush to add features, security has become an afterthought.

"We're continuing to make the same mistakes by putting security last," said Billy Hoffman, lead engineer at Web security specialist SPI Dynamics. "People are buying into this hype and throwing together ideas for Web applications, but they are not thinking about security, and they are not realizing how badly they are exposing their users."

The risks of web 2 include the following:

• Privacy

• Information disclosure

• Loss of reputation

• Authenticity

• Transparency

• cyber stalking

There are a huge number of security risks associated with web 2.0 such as:

• Hackers

• Viruses

• Worms

• Adware

• Spyware

• Malware

• Spam

• Phishing

• Mobile devices such as wifi

Websense's State of Internet Security, released Tuesday, notes that attackers are focusing their attention on interactive Web 2.0 elements. Some 95 percent of user-generated comments on blogs, message boards, and chat rooms are either spam or contain malicious links, the security vendor warned.

The security company said its research during the first six months of 2009 indicated that community-driven security tools, which enable people to report inappropriate content, on sites including YouTube and BlogSpot are 65 percent to 75 percent "ineffective in protecting Web users from objectionable content and security risks."

According to Websense statistics, the number of malicious sites between January and June grew 233 percent over the second half of 2008, and 671 percent compared with the same period last year.

The security company also found that during the first six months of 2009, 78 percent of new Web pages with objectionable content such as pornography or gambling, contained at least one malicious link. Some 77 percent of Web sites with malicious code were compromised legitimate sites.

Ethics are important not only in business but in all aspects of life because it is an essential part of the foundation on which of a civilized society is build. A business or society that lacks ethical principles is bound to fail sooner or later

Internet, which hosts an enormous information base, has given rise to the concept of information privacy. The vast information on the Internet faces security needs. Unauthorized access to the information is undesirable. Data privacy refers to the association between the technology and the legal rights related to it. Whenever any information about a person or a person's data is stored, privacy needs arise. Internet privacy is the control one has over what information about oneself, the person wishes to disclose. Internet privacy deals with controlling the access to information over the Internet.

Internet privacy can be considered as a subset of computer privacy. Computer privacy consists of the data privacy relating to the avoidance of the improper disclosure of the personally identifiable information collected and stored by websites. The effective sharing of data while protecting the private information is the real challenge.

One school of thought denies the existence of Internet privacy while the other advocates the necessity of the Internet privacy. Complete anonymity is not the intent of Internet privacy. It rather intends to achieve a controlled disclosure of one’s personal information. Internet is a network of networks and when a person uses the Internet, he/she connects to it and is identified by an address. In technical terms this address is known as an IP address. For security reasons, a website may wish to track these addresses of its users. Websites may collect the non-personally identifiable information of their users. Such information is the one, which in no way can be used to uniquely identify a person. The disclosure of these forms of information is acceptable. It is actually the means by which websites track the users' Internet activities.

Some users prefer stricter forms of privacy such as anonymity to the Internet. Is it ethically right to allow users to use the Internet with a fake or an anonymous identity? While it caters to the privacy needs of some users, it may endanger the Internet usage for the others. Many users complain of being stalked by the anonymous users.

During the intellectual part of the lecture we discussed whether free music downloads is a means of stealing. The majority of the class disagreed that it is not stealing but Margaret said that it is stealing because you are getting something without paying it is a bit like going into an HMV store and stealing a CD from there then saying it is stealing. It made me realise how ethically wrong this is.

Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that allows artists, authors, publishers and musicians the option of creating and defining a flexible copyright for their creative works. Creative Commons was officially launched in 2001 by a group of intellectual property experts, lawyers and web publishers. Creative Commons licenses cover art, music, and writing, but is not designed for software.

A Creative Commons license allows creators to place conditions on their copyrights. Traditionally, copyrights restrict the rights of others from modifying or distributing copywritten works. Creative Commons licenses offer flexibility by allowing the creator (copyright holder) the ability to choose what limitations they want in place with respect to specific copywritten works.

A variety of license options exist for the copyright holder. Assigning a Creative Commons license does not mean that the copyright holder is relinquishing rights to a piece of art, it merely means some conditions could be placed on the use of creative works.

Examples of Creative Common License Options

A Creative Commons license enables copyright holders to grant some of their rights to the public while retaining other rights.

• NonCommercial

A non-commercial license lets others copy, distribute, perform creative works and derivative works, but only for noncommercial purposes (anyone using the creative works cannot profit from it).

• ShareAlike

A ShareAlike license allows others to distribute derivative works under a license identical to the one held by the original copyright holder.

• NoDerivative Works

A NoDerivative Works clause allows others to copy, distribute, display and perform the exact copywritten works and no derivative works can be created.

Creative commons covers 4 attributes. The attributes states that you must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).

With the understanding that:

• Waiver

Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder.

• Public Domain

Where the work or any of its elements is in the public domain under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license.

• Other Rights

In no way are any of the following rights affected by the license:

o Your fair dealing or fair use rights, or other applicable copyright exceptions and limitations;

o The author's moral rights;

o Rights other persons may have either in the work itself or in how the work is used, such as publicity or privacy rights.

• Notice

For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. The best way to do this is with a link to this web page.

Two of the companies policy guidelines I found interesting are:

• Yahoo

AND

• BT

Yahoo! believes in fostering a thriving online community and supports blogging as a valuable component of shared media. The Yahoo! Personal Blog Guidelines have been developed for Yahoos who maintain personal blogs that contain postings about Yahoo!’s business, products, or fellow Yahoos and the work they do. They are also applicable to Yahoos who post about the company on the blogs of others. The guidelines outline the legal implications of blogging about the company and also include recommended best practices to consider when posting about Yahoo!.

LEGAL PARAMETERS: The following two bullets cover your legal responsibilities and non-disclosure obligations. Failure to abide by these two guidelines can result in serious ramifications for individual bloggers and/or individuals who post on the blogs of others.

• Legal Liability

When you choose to go public with your opinions via a blog, you are legally responsible for your commentary. Individual bloggers can be held personally liable for any commentary deemed to be defamatory, obscene, proprietary, or libelous. For these reasons, bloggers should exercise caution with regards to exaggeration, colorful language, guesswork, obscenity, copyrighted materials, legal conclusions, and derogatory remarks or characterizations. In essence, you blog (or post on the blogs of others) at your own risk. Outside parties actually can pursue legal action against you (not Yahoo!) for postings.

• Company Privileged Information

Any confidential, proprietary, or trade secret information is obviously off-limits for your blog per the Proprietary Information Agreement you have signed with Yahoo!. To obtain a copy of your agreement, please contact your HR manager. The Yahoo! logo and trademarks are also off-limits per our brand guidelines. Anything related to Yahoo! policy, inventions, strategy, financials, products, etc. that has not been made public cannot appear in your blog under any circumstances. see Yahoo! Guides 2. Disclosing confidential or proprietary information can negatively impact our business and may result in regulatory violations for the company.

BT recognises that its transformation into a global communication services company delivering software driven products relies on a workforce that can actively participate in collaboration and innovation with colleagues, customers, partners and suppliers on the web using social media tools.

Any BT person can use social media tools on the BT Intranet without approval. BT people may also use social media tools on the internet in support of their role and where there is clear business benefit provided they have permission to do so from their line manager.

Specific user guidance for blogging

Blogs can be used in two main ways:

• Personal blogs – these are personality driven channels

• Business blogs – these are content/issue driven channels.

Personal blogs – these are a vehicle for individuals to post business-related information in a personal context and some personal information about themselves. Internal personal blogs support knowledge management by:

• Providing searchable skills and experience information about BT people

• Providing searchable information about the issues/challenges individuals face in their work which can be shared and solved collectively

• Getting more data in the network where it can be searched and shared

• Providing a mechanism for building communities through which the collective power of the community can solve problems and issues individuals face

• Reducing duplication

• Sharing best practice across the organization and sharing good ideas and valuable experiences

• Encouraging innovation and inspiring and engaging BT colleagues.

Business blogs – may be individual in personality (although not containing personal information) or run by a group of people as a group blog. These blogs will focus on content or issues but be delivered by a named and recognisable individual or individuals. A business blog may be associated with existing published material of some kind, be part of a marketing or communications campaign, or complement an existing process (e.g. it might be part of an existing web site; set up in response to the issuing of a hard-copy newsletter; or to gather feedback about an existing process).

I found these the most interesting because they were more detailed than the other and also seemed less strict than the others.

During the lab I finished my group activity and created a new wiki then put the information on that. Therefore it was nothing new that we got to do in the lab. However the lecture was very good because it made me think about the benefits and the problems with social networking and web 2.

Week 10

This week the lecture was about management of web 2.0. This is an important topic which has to be addressed because there is so much involved in web 2.0 that if it is not managed it will create serious issues in the future.


With all the hype that Web 2.0 has gotten, many companies are now looking at their existing Web CMS and wondering whether it meets the new paradigm’s needs or merely traps them in an earlier age of the Web, thereby missing new business opportunities and making them appear dated.

Some of the success stories that I found interesting are:

WholeFoods

Natural food retail giant Whole Foods makes an interesting case study because the company's use of Twitter points the way for enterprises such as retailers to keep both a national or international presence, as well as a local presence on social networks.

Whole Foods maintains a corporate presence on Twitter that has over 550,000 followers.

While many of the interactions between this national Whole Foods and its customers concern corporate policies and the company's social activism, many more interactions involve customer service issues related to specific stores. Such as

"Sorry to hear that your soup was cold. Let me know which store it was and I'll see if I can get you in touch with the [store team leader]."

"You'll have to check in your local store about that since they determine product selection. Thanks."

To address local concerns such as these, Whole Foods is bringing many of its local stores to Twitter. These branch accounts can directly respond to issues such as what the store stocks, issues around service or product quality in the stores.

VirginAmerica

Virgin America, an upstart US domestic carrier that is separate from Virgin Atlantic, has worked hard to craft a service-first, fun brand image to differentiate itself from its competitors.

That brand image has extended to its use of Twitter. Virgin America, therefore, is an interesting case study in how to promote your business using twitter.

Virgin America's Twitter presence is heavy on marketing, using "fun" language and attitude while giving details of new routes, new deals and overall corporate "feel-goodery".

It is also the home for some marketing stunts, including live Twittering on a flight (via in-air WiFi) by airline founder Sir Richard Branson. The airline also handles customer service issues addressed directly to its user name. Here is a recent exchange with a customer.

It is also significant that the airline has successfully managed to blend the its customer service interactions with other interactions, accurately reflecting corporate branding, while maintaining customer satisfaction.

There are so many issues involving management of web 2.0 such as:

Look out for repetitive strain injuries, twitter fans are warned

Trick or Tweet? Twitter launches crackdown after millions are duped by fake accounts

Michael Grove: All balls and Twitter: how the so called schools secretary is wrecking our children’s education for his political career

There are so many more headings which are all important issues which is shocking because this is growing as a big problem for many people.

McKinsey (2007) discusses how businesses are using web 2 technologies in a global survey. Overall, executives are satisfied with their previous investments in Internet technology, and most are investing in trends that promote automation and networking online.

The rising popularity of user-driven online services, including MySpace, Wikipedia, and YouTube, has drawn attention to a group of technological developments known as Web 2.0. These technologies, which rely on user collaboration, include Web services, peer-to-peer networking, blogs, podcasts, and online social networks.

Respondents to a recent McKinsey survey show widespread but careful interest in this trend.1 Expressing satisfaction with their Internet investments so far, they say that Web 2.0 technologies are strategic and that they plan to increase these investments. But companies aren’t necessarily relying on the best-known Web 2.0 trends, such as blogs; instead, they place the greatest importance on technologies that enable automation and networking.

It is clear that companies using Web 2.0 technologies have developed a new way of bringing technology into businesses. And, according to many participants, this new approach is easier to implement and more flexible than traditional top-down approaches. Discussion participants are seeing some business impact from these technologies and seem generally optimistic about their benefits, particularly in how they help a company refine its strategy.

McKinsey Quarterly published an interesting article this month how companies can successfully use Web 2.0 tools. McKinsey has studied in the past two years the experiences of more than 50 early adopters of Web 2.0 tools in corporate organizations. The experiences are equally balanced between enthusiastic and dissatisfied. However, basis for success lies in the acceptance of the disruptive characteristic of Web 2.0 and the understanding how to create value with these tools.

Based on these results McKinsey has identified six critical success factors for the use of Web 2.0 technologies:

• The transformation to a bottom-up culture needs help from the top

Web 2.0 projects depend on bottom-up involvement of people throughout the organization. However, involvement of senior management is paramount as they will act as role models that will encourage participation of the rest of the organization.

• The best uses come from users – but they require help to scale

Successful use of new technologies depend on the involvement of the users in the development and implementation of it. Failure is at risk when management tries to dictate their preferred uses of the technologies used. Mckinsey’s research demonstrates that the applications that drive the most value through participatory technologies are often not those that were expected by management.

• What’s in the workflow is what gets used

When developing Web 2.0 applications make sure that the users are able to create the time within their daily workflow to participate in these new collaborative initiatives. Initial enthusiasm will fade rapidly if users experience that participation is another add-on to their already crowded to-do lists.

• Appeal to the participants’ egos and needs – not just their wallets

Financial incentives do not work in collaborative technologies. They create content, but of low quality. More effective is it to bolster the reputation of participants in relevant communities, rewarding enthusiasm, or acknowledging the quality and usefulness of contributions.

• The right solution comes from the right participants

Be sure who to target. To select users that will have valuable contributions takes thorough preparation. Look across the borders of the traditional experts but also involve other disciplines within the organization. If done correctly, it can create great benefits beyond expectations. Sales forecasts predicted by participants with a more diverse base in operational knowledge were more accurate than those of the company’s experts.

• Balance the top-down and self-management of risk

Web 2.0 by definition is disruptive and stads for authenticity, open and free communication. these factors feed many companies with fear for these technologies. However, Web 2.0 is not equal to total anarchy and some control over the content produced is prudent in corporate environments. Some security functions can, and should, be installed, such as prohibiting anonymous posting. Ultimately, successful participation means engaging in authentic conversation with participants.

Acceptance of Web 2.0 tools in corporations is growing. Spenditure on Web 2.0 technologies is currently estimated at $1 billion by McKinsey, but in the coming five years an annual growth of 15% is expected, despite the current recession. I fully agree with this view. Even stronger, due to the unique characteristics of Web 2.0 (e.g. cost effective, participative, collabrative, very effective harvesting of tacit knowledge) it is the distinctive technology in times of economic downfall. After all, if one thing survives in a recession, it’s innovation. And Web 2.0 is such an innovative technology that makes the difference

The barriers to success are as follows:

• Culture

• Security

• Lack of engagement

• Lack of commitment

• Risk

I think that security is the most serious issue therefore a positive, confident and competent approach is to look at the security implications and deal with them. Blocking access to applications is too often the first approach, when it ought to be the last. A good IT department should be looking for ways that it can help, not hinder. In any instance, an information department really should have access to just about anything, up to and including Facebook and YouTube because they’re useful information tools. If the question is rather more ‘we can’t trust our staff’ then that’s an entirely different conversation which shouldn’t get tied up with security/access to resource queries.

If it’s considered too dangerous to put material onto an external website that’s a good reason not to use a product, and that sort of security should be paramount. In most cases however, that’s going to be quite rare, and it shouldn’t hinder the use of other sites for more general material

This lecture was very difficult to understand as I did not actually get what was being discussed properly. I did some research on this lecture in order to get a better understanding but it was still hard to digest so much information at one time. Also Margaret did not finish the lecture therefore the last part was completely not understood.

This week in our lab time we were given our coursework task which was okay to do but I just wish we had got it before the Easter break because I would have finished it during this time. Now there is too much to be done and so little time getting very stressed about things. The activity in the lab was okay because it made us address questions that we could pick up on in our report therefore it was fine. Also the team worked well together developing on each others ideas.

Week 9

This week’s lecture was about Social Marketing which was presented by a guest speaker called Arlene Newbigging Grady. Arlene gave us an introduction on what marketing is and highlighted the 5ps of marketing and then went on to discuss how and why companies use social marketing. This weeks lecture was very interesting because she discussed the topic very well with good backup of examples. It was also good to discuss a different topic and get a guest to come from outside and tell us how Heineken the company that she works with uses social marketing.

Marketing is a philosophy called the marketing concept which simply means that the organisation puts the consumer at the heart of the business.

Some benefits of marketing include the following:

·         Consumers get up to date products they need and want

·         Organisations achieve revenue, profit and survival objectives

·         Organisations can compete more effectively and efficiently

·         Prosperity for individuals, organisations and nation

The 4ps of the marketing mix are:

·         Price

In the marketing mix it is very important to choose the right price for the market conditions.

·         Place

This usually refers to how the product is distributed via chain of intermediaries.

·         Product

This may be a crucial element for many functional products since people buy things for what they can do.

·         Promotion

This aspect is about how the company communicates with its market and is crucial in certain markets.

Example of a successful company that uses the marketing mix is Ben Sherman.

Ben Sherman

Ben Sherman is a globally recognised lifestyle brand which established in 1963. They sell their brand in 35 countries around the world.

Product

Ben Sherman has to decide whether to create a product and then market it to target customers or find out what the market wants and then provide it.

To achieve both, the company produces a wide product range that appeals to all its target market segments. The range includes casual clothes, formal wear, denim, footwear, and lifestyle acces

Price

The price of a product relates to it’s perceived value. Lower priced items will expect a higher volume of sales, whilst fewer sales of ;luxury products may achieve the same revenue through higher pricing. Ben Sherman has to assess which markets its products are aimed at and set a price to match. Therefore they mostly produce medium price range products.

Place

This refers both to the places where Ben Sherman products may be bought and to the channels of distribution used to deliver the products to these places.

Ben Sherman use three traditional distribution channels such as their own stores where the brand is the strongest, independent fashion stores and department stores.

Promotion

Ben Sherman use independent media to reach a wide audience easily and also reach customers by direct mailing.

Many companies are using social marketing to promote their products to reach a wider range of customers. Social marketing is when companies use a network to link consumers with computers and mobile technology.

Arlene showed us two examples of companies that used viral marketing campaigns and looking at their campaigns it was so difficult to even imagine that they were Volkswagen and Samsung campaigns. This was because it was hard to understand what message these companies were actually trying to put forward to their customers. There was no meaning to these campaigns because most people in the lecture did not actually understand them.

Companies use social marketing:

·         To adapt to ever changing needs and to adapt objectives in a rapidly moving environment.

·         To engage the brands with consumers and to fit with their consumers and to fit with their lifestyle and social needs.

I had a look at the 5 semantic search engines by asking different questions and I felt that Hakia and Google were the fastest and gave answers which could be understood. I did not like Powerset because it had a lot of responses therefore it took time to actually filter through and find the actual answer.

This lecture could definitely become useful in the future because every company uses marketing tactics in order to reach potential customers. Therefore if we are aware of different things that companies then we are more likely to bring success to the company. I really enjoyed discussing this topic because it is something that I would enjoy doing in my future career.

In this week’s lab we were presenting our presentations. It was good to see other peoples presentations and compare it against my own as it allowed me to notice my strengths and weaknesses of my presentation. I think that my presentation was good even though my group did not work well as a team we still managed to deliver our presentation well. I wish that we could have used some kind of media to enhance our presentation but because the rest of the members in my team did not want this then I had to agree with them. Overall the presentation went well and I was happy with it.

sories.