Task 9: E-commerce Credibility

Retail site owners must invest in user research to better understand their users’ pain points and take appropriate, course-corrective actions. Specifically, they should focus on being more honest – both trustworthy and transparent – in order to increase customer retention. Paying special attention to the elements of their sites that customers associate with credibility can go a long way towards establishing and maintaining the trust they seek. Rajlakshmi Borthakur (2012),

Credibility through design

B.J. Fogg of Stanford University‘s Persuasive Technology Lab states in his maxim for credible design that “to increase the credibility impact of a website, find what elements your target audience interprets most favorably and make those elements most prominent.” Interestingly, Fogg also compares the credibility of a site to its “believability.”

Reference

Accessed on 6/November/2012.
Available:http://www.uxbooth.com/articles/enhancing-your-ecommerce-sites-credibility-part-1/

Task 8: Is Twitter a reliable source?

Almost nothing on the Internet can be considered "reliable information,' since anyone can publish anything. There certainly is some good stuff out there, but in a situation where accuracy is important I always try to confirm it elsewhere.

Twitter is a micro-blogging service where anyone with access to the Internet, either by way of a computer or cellphone, can post updates of 140 characters or less to their followers. These updates also enter the public Twitter stream where anyone, follower or otherwise, can access them.

This has lead Twitter to become a main resource for citizen journalism, with ordinary people being able to report on news stories taking place in their local area. Journalists the world over, as well as bloggers, and just people seeking the latest news reports from around the world, can therefore use the service as an alternative to more traditional forms of news media.

 

Reference

Accessed on 14/November/2012,

<Available:http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2008/11/27/is-twitter-a-reliable-news-source/>

 

Reference.
Accessed on 31/October/2012, Available:
<http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090814130332AA5f73x>

The mainstream media gets it wrong to" is that you are equating a 1-to-1 correlation. But that's not the case. The media does have safeguards to reporting false information, even if those safeguards sometimes fail. Twitter has none. This leads to Twitter reporting false info more frequently and to that false information being far worse than what the media would report.



Reference.
Accessed on 31/October/2012, Available:
<http://www.tomstechblog.com/post/Oliver-Wendell-Holmes-Turning-Over-In-His-Grave.aspx>

Task 7: Protecting minors who use facebook.

Advice for Minors.

1. Dont share your password with anyone.
2. Only accept friend requests from people you know.
3. Dont post anything you wouldnt want your parents or teachers to see.
4. Be aunthetic, the real you is better than anything you might pretend to be.
5. Learn about privacy settings, and review them more often.

Report Abusive Content

Be sure to always report abusive content whether it’s on your profile page, or someone else’s. You can also report inappropriate Pages, Groups, Events and fake or impostor profiles. (Remember that reporting is confidential, so no one will know who made the report.)

Think Before You Post

It’s easy to get caught up in the moment and write or do something that may seem hilarious at the time. But remember, what you say can really hurt someone, or come back to haunt you. Think before you post. It only takes a second or two. Ask yourself if you really want to say it. Make sure you don’t mind if your friends, classmates, or teachers hear about it later.
Also remember that any information you post – whether in a comment, a note, or a video chat – might be copied, pasted, and distributed in ways that you didn't intend. Before you post, ask yourself would I be OK if this content was shared widely at school or with my future employer?
At the same time, we all make mistakes. If you find yourself wishing you hadn’t said or done
something, it’s never too late to apologize.

                                                          
Reference:

Accessed on 31/October/2012, Available:http://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/minors#!/safety/groups/teens/

Accessed on 31/October/2012, Available: http://www.wonderoftech.com/poll-should-facebook-let-kids-under-13-join/

Task 4: Internet Infrastructure

Internet Infrastructure.

Definition:
 According to (Bitepipe),its the physical hardware, transmission media, and software used to interconnect computers and users on the Internet. Includes Internet Servers, Web Servers, Internet Storage, Internet Network Equipment, and Infrastructure Software


1. The first layer, the telecommunication infrastructure, facilitates Internet traffic flows. Internet data can travel over a diverse range of communication media: telephone wires, fibre-optic cables, satellites, microwaves, and wireless links. Most of the telecommunication infrastructure is owned by private companies. To what extent can the principle of network neutrality apply to the telecommunication infrastructure? Should telecom companies be requested to treat all digital traffic equally?

2. On the second layer, Internet technical standards and services, the Internet comes into existence through various protocols and services (such as TCP/IP: Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol; DNS: Domain Name Services; SSL: Secure Sockets Layer). Most of the current network neutrality debate, including this paper, focuses on this layer.

3. The third layer, content and application standards (e.g. HTML: HyperText Markup Language; XML: eXtensible Markup Language) makes the Internet fully functional by enabling various uses of the Internet, such as the World Wide Web. The emerging debate on network neutrality on this layer focuses on the risk of locking Internet users into the ‘walled’ Internet developed by companies such as Apple and Facebook.

4. Apart from ‘layered’ discussion, some issues cross different layers. For example, Google and Verizon primarily address network neutrality on the second layer (Internet traffic), but they also influence the first layer by suggesting differences in treating wired and wireless Internet traffic.

A technical and comprehensive approach to the question of network neutrality should focus on the three main layers that enables the Internet, as it is presented in this illustration.

References
Accessed on 29/October/2012.
Available on: http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=9185222755265928474#editor/target=post;postID=3646530346962161048

Accessed on 6/November/2012.
Available on: http://www.bitpipe.com/tlist/Internet-Infrastructure.html

Task 6: Five Key Social Media Trends Predicted for 2012

Convergence Emergence. For a glimpse into how social will further integrate with "real life," we can look at what Coca Cola experimented with  all the way back in 2010. Coke created an amusement park where participants could "swipe" their RFID-equipped wristbands at kiosks, which posted to their Facebook account what they were doing and where. Also, as part of a marketing campaign, Domino's Pizza posted feedback  — unfiltered feedback — on a large billboard in Times Square, bringing together real opinions from real people pulled from a digital source and displayed in the real world. These types of "trans-media" experiences are likely to define "social" in the year to come.


Social Television. For many of us, watching television is already a social act, whether it's talking to the person next to you, or texting, tweeting, and calling friends about what you're watching. But television is about to become a social experience in a bigger and broader sense. The X Factor now allows voting via Twitter  and highlights other social promotions, which encourages viewers to tap social networks while they watch. Another way media consumption is becoming social comes from a network called Get Glue  which acts as something of a Foursquare for media. Participants can "check-in" to their favorite shows (or other forms of media) and collect stickers to tell the world what programs they love. Watch for more of this this year as ratings rise for socially integrated shows.


The Micro Economy. Lastly as we roll into 2012, watch for a more social approach to solving business problems through a sort of micro-economy. Kickstarter  gives anyone with a project, the opportunity to get that initiative funded by those who choose to (and patrons receive something in return). A crowdsourcing platform for would be inventors called Quirky lets the best product ideas rise to the top and then helps them get produced and sold while the "inventor" takes a cut. Air BnB turns homes into hotels and travelers into guests, providing both parties with an opportunity to make and save money. These examples may point to a new future reality where economic value is directly negotiated and exchanged between individuals over institutions.


The Cult of Influence. In much the same way that Google has defined a system that rewards those who produce findable content, there is a race on to develop a system that will reward those who wield the most social influence. One particular player has emerged, Klout, determined to establish their platform as the authority of digital influence. Klout's attempt to convert digital influence into business value  underscores a much bigger movement which we'll continue to see play out in the next year. To some degree everyone now has some digital influence (not just celebrities, academics, policy makers or those who sway public opinion). But for the next year, the cult of influence becomes less about consumer plays like Klout and more about the tools and techniques professionals use to "score" digital influence and actually harness, scale and measure the results of it.

Social Sharing. Ideas, opinions, media, status updates are all part of what makes social media a powerful and often disruptive force. The media industry was one of the first to understand this, adding sharing options to content, which led to more page views and better status in search results. What comes next in social sharing is more closely aligned with e-commerce or web transactions. For example, Sears allows a user to share  a product or review with their networks directly from the site. Sharing that vacation you just booked, or recommending a product, or service from any site to a social network is where sharing goes next. We probably don't know what we are willing to share until we see the option to do it.



















Accessed on 10/October/2012.
Available on:http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/12/six_social_media_trends_for_20.html.

Accessed on 10/October/2012.
Available:http://www.thoughtden.co.uk/blog/2010/09/coca-coola-real-world-facebook-integrated-marketing/

Task 3: Media types on my Phone.

A Blackberry Curve Menu.

Camera - 2 MP camera with fixed focus, no flash, 5x digital zoom.

Media Player - Audio format support: .3gp, MP3, MIDI, AMR-NB, Professional

Notification - Tone, vibrate, on-screen and LED indicator; notification options are user configurable.

Memory- 256MB Flash Memory

Ringtones - 32 Polyphonic - MIDI, MP3, SP-MIDI, WAV 

Reference:

Accessed on 10/October/2012, Available:< http://crackberry.com/blackberry-curve-8520-features-and-specifications>

Accessed on 10/October/2012, Available:< http://www.technipages.com/blackberry-curve-set-tone-notification-for-sms-text-message.html>

Task 2: Three differences between a Blog and a Wiki.

Wiki: 

- Edited by a group or team.
- Continuously changing and growing rapidly.
- Many-to-many communication.

Blogs:

- Usually a single author. Sometimes can have multiple contributors.
- Opinion Sharing.
- One-to-many content.





Reference:

Accessed on 9/October/2012
Available: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_a_blog_and_a_wiki.

Accessed on 2/November/2012.
Available:http://www.google.co.za/imgres?imgurl=http://mikesansone.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/10/30/talkshow_2.png&imgrefurl=http://www.dq.winsila.com/internet/differences-between-a-blog-and-wiki-explained-simply.html&usg=__4b70yyzom3E3UmXXsrISx9LQqeg=&h=234&w=438&sz=97&hl=en&start=1&sig2=GVf4-EG352xHyQQqVY9ENQ&zoom=1&tbnid=94tmZGNzly1ksM:&tbnh=68&tbnw=127&ei=18mTUNO_FYat0QW-1YGIDw&um=1&itbs=1