Topic 7 Questions

Topic 7 Digital Automata

1.       Write one paragraph describing the Turing test and another paragraph describing an argument again the Turing test, known as the about the Chinese room.

The Turing test was introduced by Alan Turing in the 1950’s. The Turing test is a test of a machines ability to demonstrate intelligence. The test involves two humans and one machine. A human talks, in natural language conversation, with both one human and one machine, both of them trying to appear human. If the human cannot tell which the machine is and which is the human, then the machine is said to have passed the test.

The Chinese room was an argument against the Turing Test. It was developed by John Searle in 1980. Searle argued that the software ‘could pass the Turing test simply by manipulating symbols of which they had no understanding’.  Searle stated that without understanding, machines could not be described as ‘thinking’ in the same sense people do therefore the Turing test cannot prove that machines can think.

Turing, A (1950). As cited by Wikipedia (2011). The Turing Test. Retrieved on 13th of April 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_test.

2.       Can virtual agents succeed in delivering high quality customer service over the web? Think of examples which support or disprove the question or just offer an opinion based on your personal experience.

There are different types of agents. These include mobile, distributed, autonomous, fuzzy and intelligent agents. I think that virtual agent will eventually be able to successfully delivering high quality customer service over the web. As technology advances, so will virtual agents. The advantages of having virtual agents deliver customer service is no waiting in a queue on the phone to speak to another human but instant communication 24/7. A problem that could arise is the ability for the agent to pick up everyday language and interpret it and give the relevant answer. People may be annoyed if they were given irrelevant answers and therefore lead bad customer service.

Rappa, M. (2005) Automata. Retrieved on 13^th April 2011 from http://digitalenterprise.org/transcripts/automata_tr.html

Topic 6 Questions

Topic 6: Digital Markets

1.       a) What experience have you had with shopping online?

I have bought numerous items off Amazon.com and many other online stores.

b) Describe a good experience.

The items I bought off online stores were cheaper and easier to purchase than those in a normal store.

c) What did you like about the online store you used?

It gave me more variety of products compared to stores where I lived and tended to be cheaper, including the postage.

d) Describe a bad experience.

Some of the online stores don’t have a specific shipping date so you can wait up to 4 weeks for a certain product.

e) What problems did you have with the online store?

 I have not had any problems with online stores

f) What features make an online store more appealing?

An online store is more appealing to me when they have all the little information on the product such as specifications and include realistic pictures. It also is good when there is customer ratings of the product of those who have already purchased the product.

g) What features make an online store less appealing?

The first impression is somewhat vital when I am browsing for new products on the internet so the layout, colours and style of the web page is quite important.

h) Should we expect to see the prices of goods and services rise or fall due to the migration of consumers online?

I think that we should expect to see the prices fall due to the migration of consumers online. People are becoming more aware of the popularity of purchasing online. It draws in a lot of customers because it tends to be cheaper to purchase things on the internet compared to in a store. Online stores have much less costs involved and they can target a much larger audience compared to a store in a certain town, state or country.

2.       Please discuss the following statements and indicate if you agree with them or not. No right or wrong answers.

a)      The dispersion or prices (that is, the spread between the lowest and highest price for a particular product) will narrow.

I agree. I think that as more and more people are attracted to purchasing items on the internet, the competition will become very fierce. Rappa mentions that customers will become more aware of the pricings on the internet and easily be able to compare multiple sites and prices very quickly.

b)      The importance of brand names will decrease.

I disagree. I still believe that customers will remain brand loyal. Even today, customers are still buying items that are branded no matter the cost because of the image and style they want to uphold. I think that customers will try to find places where they can get their brands cheaper.

c)       Price competition will make all products cheaper

I disagree.  I think that this statement is applicable with some items but not all. People are still willing to pay high costs for what they believe to be a high quality product.

d)      Digital markets will become dominated by a handful of mega-sites like Amazon.com.

I agree. I think just as it has happened in the real world, there will be dominant sites over the internet. Also, just as the real world, there will also be speciality stores where online stores will be able to make sales but I believe that the giants will be dominate over the internet.

e)      How do you think the balance of power between buyers and sellers will change?

I think the balance will increase on the buyer’s side. They have more information available to them, being able to compare prices with multiple stores. Sellers will now have to compete with so many more businesses and constantly view competitor prices to make sure they are in level with them.

f)       Prices are clustered online.

It depends. I think that may be the case with some products where it can be lowered constantly but with other products such as brands and expensive items it becomes more complicated.

g)      Online prices are elastic (i.e. immune to change up and down with demand)

I disagree. I think that prices will rise and fall according to the demand of a particular product. The more a product is demanded by customers, the more sellers will stock them and a price war may erupt to gain potential clients.

h)      Online prices are generally transparent ( the extent to which prices for a given product or service are known by buyers in the marketplace)

Yes, I agree. Most buyers would do research on certain products based on price to see where they can source the product at the cheapest price.

3.       a) What types of m-commerce services does your cell phone provider offer?

Mobile bill payment, banking and financial services, wireless advertising, location-based services and games and entertainment, Bluetooth, emails.

b) Which of these services do you use?

I use emails, games and entertainment and Bluetooth.

c) What types of transactions do you perform through your cell phone or other wireless device?

I would check my emails when I am not at home, Bluetooth files and pictures and play games with my iPhone.

d) What types of transactions would you like to perform, but currently unable to?

I don’t have any because I prefer using my laptop. I tend only to use my iPhone if I am away from home to check emails or am bored.

e) What is your opinion of wireless advertising/mobile marketing?

I think it is a very effective way of marketing to people as most have mobile phones compared to internet at home. It would be, however in my opinion very frustrating to be bombarded with mobile advertising while I am trying to perform tasks on my phone.

Topic 5 Questions

Topic 5: Business Models

Moodle Discussion (Collaborate Consumption) – ‘I agree with Cheyne on the meaning of collaborative consumption but i also fell it has a lot to do with money. Yes it brings out the idea of sharing but it also looks at other possibilities of receiving income as opposed to investing capital or funds into a business. In a way, it's a cheap way to make money if you have underused assets. on the other hand it can be the stepping stone for people to be able to travel cheaper (swapping houses in another country). I think the idea of collaborative consumption was raised after the recession and people were trying to find ways to either make a bit of extra 

money or travel cheaper. Let me know if I'm totally off what it means'

Question 1: Describe the features of each of these business models, giving an example of each.

Brokerage: The main aim for brokers is to bring the buyer and seller together to consummate a successful transaction. They usually charge a fee or commission for each transaction. Brokering occurs literally everywhere, therefore brokerage models can vary between businesses with a particular industry, and across different industries. The web is nicely suited for the brokerage model as there are large numbers of customers that can be matched up with a large number of potential sellers. An example of this is EBay (Auction broker). Other examples of brokerage models include marketplace exchange, buy/sell fulfilment, demand collection system, transaction broker, distributer, search agent and virtual marketplace.

http://ubonline.ballarat.edu.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=51561

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brokerage_firm

Advertising: the web advertising model is a further technological advance of the tradition broadcasting model where websites provide content and services mixed with advertising banners. Advertising has become more important in two ways; the basic image advertising has evolved to become ‘rich media’ with the help of advanced technology, and the introduction of the ‘paid placement’ approach. An example of this is Google, use adwords and adsense as more efficient way to advertise. Portals, classifieds, user registrations, contextual advertising, intromercial and ultramercials are all different types of elements in the advertising model.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising

http://www.digitalenterprise.org/models/models.htm

Infomediary: The infomediary model refers to mass data relating to consumers and their consumptions habits to help understand a particular market for use by marketers or advertisers. An example of this is Nielson.  The different types of models include advertising networks, audience measurement services, incentive marketing and metamediary.

http://www.digitalenterprise.org/models/models.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infomediary

Merchant: The merchant model consists of wholesalers and retailers of goods and services in the attempt for a profit. They are intimately involved with in the distribution so it becomes a more complicated business, logistically, to managed, compared with brokerage. There are four types of merchant models; virtual (Amazon.com), catalogue (Lands’ End), Click and Mortar (Barnes and Noble) and bit vendor (Apple iTunes Store).

http://www.digitalenterprise.org/models/models.htm

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/merchant

Manufacturer (Direct): This model relates to the notion to reach buyers directly, therefore compressing ‘the distribution channel’. This is an advantage as customers may feel more secure when dealing with the manufacturer compared to an online shop. An example of this is Dell Computers who sell their products directly to customers.

http://www.digitalenterprise.org/models/models.htm

Affiliate: the affiliate model refers to companies who offer financial incentives to affiliated partnering sites. This includes banner exchange, pay-per-click and revenue sharing. An example of this is Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

http://www.allbusiness.com/glossaries/affiliate/4943862-1.html

http://www.digitalenterprise.org/models/models.htm

Community: the main function of community business model is for consumer loyalty and the notion that customers will continue to go back to that specific site or shop. This could range from anything between open sources and content to public broadcasting and social networking services. An example of the community model is Flickr where this social networking site allows opportunities for companies to advertise on and users to subscribe for premier services.

http://www.digitalenterprise.org/models/models.htm

Subscription: the subscription model is the basic concept that users are charge a periodic fee, whether it is daily, monthly, or yearly to subscribe to a particular service. This includes content services, person to person networking, trust services and internet services providers.  An example of this is Netflix

http://www.digitalenterprise.org/models/models.htm

http://ubonline.ballarat.edu.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=51561

Utility: This model is referring to the ‘on demand’ concept where a user pays for what they use. This tradition means of usage is now being outdated by things such as phones plans and broadband. This model includes the metered usage, which measures the amount owed based on user usage, and metered subscriptions, which allows users to purchase a given amount of content, e.g. number of pages viewed.

http://www.digitalenterprise.org/models/models.htm

Question 2

Spend time looking at the Technology report. Use some of the data analysis tools to answer the following-

a)      What is the Mobile phone use per 100 population. Compare Australia, USA, China, India, Your Country.

Australia 105.0, USA 86.8, China 47.9 and India 29.4

b)      Internet use per 100 population. Compare Australia, USA, China, India, Your Country.

Australia 72.0, USA 74.0, China 22.3 and India 4.4

c)       Compare main strengths and weaknesses of Australia or your home country in the survey.

The main strengths of Australia are the E-Participation index, time required to start a business, number of procedures required to start a business and the level of competition.

The possible weaknesses of Australia are the fixed telephone lines tariffs, the mobile cellular tariffs, the total tax rate and the business monthly telephone subscription.

d)      What does the survey suggest to you about the Information Technology readiness of Australian Business compared to Australia consumers?

This information shows that the information technology readiness of Australian businesses are ranked 22^nd in the world whereas the information technology readiness of Australian consumers are ranked at 13^th. This shows that business still have to be with par to be able to utilise the technology available for their business. Australian consumers are very technology savvy, therefore leaving a wide gap that businesses need to use to the full extent.