Exercise 3: Answer

Describe the steps involved with the Rapid Evolutionary Prototyping Approach as it applies to developing a Web application. (Wikipedia) states that the process of prototyping involves the following steps

1. Identify basic requirements
Determine basic requirements including the input and output information desired. Details, such as security, can typically be ignored.

2. Develop Initial Prototype
The initial prototype is developed that includes only user interfaces.

3. Review
The customers, including end-users, examine the prototype and provide feedback on additions or changes.

4. Revise and Enhance the Prototype
Using the feedback both the specifications and the prototype can be improved. Negotiation about what is within the scope of the contract/product may be necessary. If changes are introduced then a repeat of steps #3 ands #4 may be needed.

Using the Rapid Prototyping Process as defined by (Federov) to develop a web site:

• A designer interprets the clients' ideas for the product goals and user experience, shaving out features that don't make a real impact and focusing on the core value
• The designer begins working immediately on Photoshop/Illustrator comps of high level pages such as Home, Registration, Account Dashboard and a set of style rules for Forms, Data Tables and Wizards
• One approval is reached, the designer begins coding out high level pages and linking them together in XHTML/CSS.
• All template pages are fleshed out in XHTML and can be easily modified, removed, added to or iterated upon.
• Different states can be developed to show errors, blank states, populated states, etc.
• Designers hand off templates to the client who then gets developers to respond visually and experientially.

References
Federov Alex. Blog: Fresh Tilled Ideas. Retrieved 3 June 2009, from http://www.freshtilledsoil.com/blog/defining-contrast-between-rapid-prototyping-traditional-development.html Wikipedia. Software prototyping. Retrieved 2 June 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_prototyping

Exercise 2: Answer

Web Quest to find 5 sites offering different business options:

1. Online shopping

• Umart Online is where I purchased the parts for my PC.
• Dell is where I purchased both of my laptops.
• CitySoftware.com cater predominantly computer industry items
• Amazon.com Purveyors of anything and everything. See Previous answer for further details.
• CORPSOFT.COM.AU

2. Electronic payments

• Australia post
• Commonwealth Bank
• eziwebpay
• ElectronicData Payment Systems
• EPS electronic payment systems

3. Database access

• EBSCOhost Online Research database
• US national library of medicine
• FamilySearch. Family Tree research database
• European portal on research infrastructures' services
• CSU library

4. WAP sites for mobile phones
I have a mobile phone that is used for only one thing, making phone calls. And I might make about 1 or 2 of those a month. So I am not what you would really call mobile phone savvy. Having said that, my plan will be up for renewal soon and I am thinking about application development in the work environment. So this may become much more relevant to me in the future.

• Freewarepark
• boltblue love your mobile
• mega-mobilegames.com
• partymob.com
• Cool

Exercise 1: Answer

1. Visit http://yahoo.com and http://zope.org as examples of online communities.
    a. What is meant by an online community and how is it important for e-commerce?

"An online community is: Where a group of people with similar goals or interests connect and exchange information using web tools." (Owyang)

This brings a community of like-minded people together. So an on-line community is good in enabling communication. From a commerce perspective it opens up the avenues available to the consumer, providing much greater choice and options. It also provides greater scope to the retailer by reducing the physical presence requirements that a traditional shop-front store entails.
However with the good comes the bad as expressed by (Malik)

References
Owyang, J. (December 28th, 2007). Retrieved 21 May 2009, from http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2007/12/28/defining-the-term-community/ Malik, O. ( Tuesday, October 18, 2005 ). Web 2.0, Community & the Commerce Conundrum. Retrieved 21 May 2009, from http://gigaom.com/2005/10/18/web-20-the-community-the-commerce-conundrum/ b. Visit the three auctions sites at http://ebay.com, http://ebay.co.uk and http://ebay.com.au:
         i.   Is there a common thread and a local community sense in action?

The 3 sites http://ebay.com/, http://ebay.co.uk/ and http://ebay.com.au/ are very similar.

They are localized and user aware. I was asked by both the US and the UK site if I would rather visit the Australia site. From a personal view that is very good as it starts you feeling welcome straight away.

The home page for eBay Australia(Tuesday 19 May 9:30pm) has the following:

        ii.  What electronic payment systems are used? Are they globally acceptable?

AU	UK	US
PayPal	PayPal	PayPal
Credit Card	Credit or Debit Cards	Credit or Debit Cards
Personal or Bank Cheques	Pay on collection	Moneybookers
Money Orders	Escrow	Paymate
Bank Deposits or Bank Deposit Express	Other payment methods	ProPay
COD		Pay on collection
		Escrow
		Other Payment methods

Some of these payment methods are globally acceptable, but not all.

         iii. What are the benefits to of an online auction sale to a buyer, a seller and E-bay owners?

(Wright) sums up the answer to this question perfectly:

eBay provides the legal framework, contractual templates and basis of commercial trading for C2C, B2C and B2B clients.

References
Wright, C. (26 April 2009). Visiting EBay. Retrieved 21 May 2009, from http://itc565developersblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/visiting-ebay.htm

     c. Find three others examples of an online business using an online community approach.

• http://www.graysonline.com.au/ is an online auction house
• http://www.jetstar.com/au/en/index.aspx provides a one stop shop for holiday and travel planning
• http://www.dealsdirect.com.au is very similar to Amazon(see below)

2. Visit the famous online store front at http://www.amazon.com
    a. Why has it been a successful site? How does the purchase of a book work?

Amazon allows a consumer to browse for items of interest. If an item piques the interest of the consumer, Amazon will suggest alternatives and additional items that relate to the consumers choice. This suggesting is based upon previous choices by the consumer and others who have made similar choices.

The steps to purchase a book are as follows:

• Search for book/item
• Select book/item
• Choose other books/items
• Proceed to checkout
• Enter payment and shipping options
• Discount coupons can be entered at this stage
• Payment is validated and books/items are dispatched
• Await delivery of goods

    b. Is there any secure transactions not involving money?

Amozon allows multiple methods of paying for items as discussed above. It also allows for payment in the form of gift certificates, reward certificates, free offers if you purchase certain quantities and rebates on goods. It could be argued that these are all a form of monetary transaction, but to the consumer who is making the sale these can be seen as extra incentive. Maybe they are the straw that causes the consumer to make the purchase.

   c. What is the range of items that you can buy?
        i. List the steps involved and comment.

I think a better question could well be "What can't you buy?".

The list of purchasable items at Amazon seems to be growing every day.

This image is just the top level menu showing the departments within which a purchase can be made.

Here are the steps you need to follow to place an order.(Amazon.com)

1. Find the Items You Want
2. Add the Items to Your Shopping Cart
3. Proceed to Checkout
4. Sign In/Create a New Account
5. Enter a Shipping Address
6. Choose a Shipping Method
7. Provide Payment Information and a Password
8. Review and Submit Your Order
9. Check Your Order Status

I have purchased many books on Amazon, all of them computer related, predominantly with a Microsoft development mentality bias. I have found the process to be painless, cheaper than buying locally and worry free.

References
Amazon.com. Placing Your First Order. 21 May 2009, from http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_navbox_lnor_new?nodeId=524700

Exercise 4: Answer

1. Describe the IP protocol. What is DNS?

   
   According to (Wikipedia)

   The Internet Protocol (IP) is a protocol used for communicating data across a packet-switched internetwork using the Internet Protocol Suite, also referred to as TCP/IP. IP is the primary protocol in the Internet Layer of the Internet Protocol Suite and has the task of delivering distinguished protocol data-grams (packets) from the source host to the destination host solely based on their addresses. For this purpose the Internet Protocol defines addressing methods and structures for datagram encapsulation. The first major version of addressing structure, now referred to as Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) is still the dominant protocol of the Internet, although the successor, Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) is being deployed actively worldwide

   
   

   The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical naming system for computers, services, or any resource participating in the Internet. It associates various information with domain names assigned to such participants. Most importantly, it translates domain names meaningful to humans into the numerical (binary) identifiers associated with networking equipment for the purpose of locating and addressing these devices world-wide. An often used analogy to explain the Domain Name System is that it serves as the "phone book" for the Internet by translating human-friendly computer hostnames into IP addresses. For example, www.example.com translates to 208.77.188.166.(Wikipedia)

   
   

2. Describe the TCP protocol. How is it related to the IP protocol?

   
   

   The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is one of the core protocols of the Internet Protocol Suite. TCP was one of the two original components, with Internet Protocol (IP), of the suite, so that the entire suite is commonly referred to as TCP/IP. Whereas IP handles lower-level transmissions from computer to computer as a message makes its way across the Internet, TCP operates at a higher level, concerned only with the two end systems, for example, a Web browser and a Web server. In particular, TCP provides reliable, ordered delivery of a stream of bytes from a program on one computer to another program on another computer. Besides the Web, other common applications of TCP include e-mail and file transfer. Among its other management tasks, TCP controls message size, the rate at which messages are exchanged, and network traffic congestion.(Wikipedia)

3. Differentiate between intranets and extranets.

   
   

   Intranet is a internal computer network, normally housed behind a companies firewall, that can be accessed only by authorized persons, especially members or employees of the organization. Extranet is an online (internet) site with additional information, which is restricted to registered users only.(Ukobona)

4. Describe the different elements of HTTP protocol.

   
   

   HTTP is a request/response standard of a client and a server. A client is the end-user, the server is the web site. The client making a HTTP request—using a web browser, spider, or other end-user tool—is referred to as the user agent. The responding server—which stores or creates resources such as HTML files and images—is called the origin server. In between the user agent and origin server may be several intermediaries, such as proxies, gateways, and tunnels. HTTP is not constrained to using TCP/IP and its supporting layers, although this is its most popular application on the Internet. Typically, an HTTP client initiates a request. It establishes a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connection to a particular port on a host (port 80 by default; see List of TCP and UDP port numbers). An HTTP server listening on that port waits for the client to send a request message. Upon receiving the request, the server sends back a status line, such as "HTTP/1.1 200 OK", and a message of its own, the body of which is perhaps the requested resource, an error message, or some other information. Resources to be accessed by HTTP are identified using Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs)—or, more specifically, Uniform Resource Locators (URLs)—using the http: or https URI schemes.(Wikipedia)

   for a more in depth look at the protocol look at Craig’s blog entry.
   
   

5. What do you know about building e-business applications as an Intranet, Extranet, Web portal, B2B, B2C or Virtual Private Network (VPN)? Find some examples on the Web.

   
   According to Creative Web Solutions (a web design company located in Mumbai India),

   B2C Portal is like a store front where you can display your products, catalogue, price etc. The customer comes to your store visiting the website and chooses the items/products which he requires; once choosing products gets completed he is shown the total amount to be paid for the items he has selected. He is given an option for paying to complete the transaction.

   Approaching Payment Gateway Service Provider

   Now the Payment Gateway Service Provider comes into picture that is authorized to accept credit card on behalf of the merchant. It may be a Bank or authorized Company who can accept and process the credit card online. They provide the merchant with the payment gateway software that needs to be integrated with the website to enable a secure transaction.

   Integrating Payment Gateway with the Website

   This is the last stage of building a B2C Portal. The Payment Gateway software is integrated with the website to carry online transaction safely and securely.

6. What role can a VPN play in business-to-business e-commerce?

   A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is an enabling technology that allows companies to build cost-effective private e-marketplaces or extranets that can typically operate within a sector. The Australian Automotive Network Exchange is an example of a VPN.(DCITA)

References

DCITA. Contemporary developments in B2B e-commerce. Retrieved 23 May 2009, from http://www.archive.dcita.gov.au/2001/10/b2b_e-commerce/developments
Ukubona. Retrieved 23 May 2009, from http://www.ukubona.com/Inter/Intra/Extranets-2660.htm
Wikipedia. Internet Protocol. Retrieved 23 May 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Protocol
Wikipedia. Domain Name System. Retrieved 23 May 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System
Wikipedia. Transmission Control Protocol. Retrieved 23 May 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_Control_Protocol
Wikipedia. Hypertext Transfer Protocol. Retrieved 23 May 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP
Wright, C. (13 May 2009). Visiting EBay. Retrieved 23 May 2009, from http://itc565developersblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/http-protocol.html

Exercise 1: Weirdness, response to Karens comment

The issue I was trying to bring to light can hopefully be better explained by the following 2 screen shots:
The first image shows the gap I am talking about.
The second screen shot displays the code that is somehow generating the gap.

Exercise 1: Getting weird and unexplained layout using a table.

You may be able to see my problem that is causing me to lose hair. Have just wasted umpteen minutes trying to get the table positioned correctly in the blog. But as you can see it is appearing WAY down the page. Has anyone experienced this before. I am not a html expert, have done very little in fact so not sure why this table is being pushed down. Hoping that someone could provide a hint.

Exercise 4: Chapter 2 Review questions

1. Describe the IP protocol. What is DNS?
2. Describe the TCP protocol. How is it related to the IP protocol?
3. Differentiate between intranets and extranets.
   
4. Describe the different elements of HTTP protocol.
   
5. What do you know about building e-business applications as an Intranet, Extranet, Web portal, B2B, B2C or Virtual Private Network (VPN)? Find some examples on the Web.
6. What role can a VPN play in business-to-business e-commerce?

Exercise 3: Finding some common ground

1. Describe the steps involved with the Rapid Evolutionary Prototyping Approach as it applies to developing a Web application.

Exercise 2: Technology and the evolution of business options

1. Web quest: Find a range of five sites each offering different business options: online shopping, electronic payments, database access, WAP sites for mobile phones. Key words for your search engine: M-commerce, T-commerce and E-wallet.

Exercise 1: Analysis of the online communities paradigm

1. Visit http://yahoo.com and http://zope.org as examples of online communities.

     a. What is meant by an online community and how is it important for e-commerce?
     b. Visit the three auctions sites at http://ebay.com, http://ebay.co.uk and http://ebay.com.au:
         i.   Is there a common thread and a local community sense in action?
         ii.  What electronic payment systems are used? Are they globally acceptable?
         iii. What are the benefits to of an online auction sale to a buyer, a seller and E-bay owners?
     c. Find three others examples of an online business using an online community approach.

2. Visit the famous online store front at http://www.amazon.com
    a. Why has it been a successful site? How does the purchase of a book work?
    b. Is there any secure transactions not involving money?
    c. What is the range of items that you can buy?
        i. List the steps involved and comment.