Chapter 7 - E-Business

There are many different markets to look at on the Internet.  You have direct marketing business to consumer, then you have business models, that can be used to target specific groups.  It is a shop-a-holics dream, if you have the money.  There are many retailers who only do business online and then you have businesses who target consumers in many ways.  They advertise, sign you up for emails, have direct marketing by mail or flyer's.  I always believe that in real estate it's location, location, location; and with the Internet it's the product, the product, the product.  If you have a niche in the market you are as good as gold.
Businesses have stretched their marketing and pennies to use the Internet.  In many cases you can use many of the tools to advertise for free, Twitter, Blog, LinkedIn to get your name out their.  You can also have a web site created with all the specifics about your services as well as products. You can use the services of companies who provide you with business to business or business to consumer data and marketing materials.  There are so many sites, search engines and tools that there is a infinite amount of possibilities for everyone on the Internet. 

http://www.btobonline.com/
http://www.btobb2b.com/

Chapter 7 - E-Business

There has been such an explosion of E-Business or E-Commerce that according to eMarketer, sales should exceed over 200 billion in a few years.  But it is interesting that the first forms of e-business began around the 1960's.  I really never thought or considered that e-business would have originated with EFT's and EDI's. But fast forward to today and the Internet, where almost every consumer has a computer or access to it.  Today the consumer is given the opportunity to be smart, do research on a product check the pricing and make a purchase right from their home.  Life is good for everyone. 

Marketing on line can really advance your business and your market but expanding nationally or even global.  You have to have the right product, geography and timing.  With the market be soft, people are looking to save money and they can if they are able to do the research in advance.  Companies market their products, give incentives or even discounts if a consumer purchases a product online.  The Internet has given businesses and consumers the ability to deal direct with each other, knocking out the middleman or the intermediaries.  In other cases, the intermediary can help by brokering their services in with others, such as hotels who are stuck with empty rental units.

http://search.rr.com/?q=Hotels.com&cat=web
http://www.emarketer.com/Rss.aspx

Chapter 6 - Go Animate

GoAnimate.com: CHAPTER 6 by Debbieswi

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!

Chapter 5 - Finance, Health and Fitness

When it comes to personal finance, more people use the Internet to do online banking, transactions and paying bills.  But this leaves the opportunity for Internet theft.  So it is very important to keep your passwords private. Also checking often to make sure that there are no discrepancies with any transactions.  You need to police your usage of any financial activities that you conduct and always make sure that the site is a secure one.  People are using the Internet to research health issues, such as Webmd. However, it should be your responsibility to make sure that you are visiting a site that accredited by the URAC or HONcode.  These organizations read, view and evaluate the sites for accuracy.  The same rules should be applied when viewing fitness and health sites.  Just because they say you should do something, doesn't mean that you can based upon your health and well being.  You should always consult a physician.

http://www.fitnessforhealth.org/

http://www.google.com/finance

Chapter 5 - Reseach & Reference

This section again reminded me of the importance of checking the sites credibility and that it is updated.  I always think that the scholarly sites are the best to use especially when doing research for school. Reference sites are important in getting the correct meaning and information about your topic.  Who needs to buy large expensive encyclopedia sets; when all you have to do it type in encyclopedia.com or refdesk.com.  These are both trusted credible sites.

Chapter 5

After reading this section about Google Maps and Google Earth, I was very interested in the updated version. So I checked it out and it's amazing. Just typing in the address and view it in a 3 dimentional image, and you are also able to drag a character so that you can view everything at street level. This is a great tool when planning a vacation, or if your relocating. My family and I spent about two hours checking out the place and area where we'll be vacationing. Since we've never been there before, we were able to see what restaurants are near by as well as how close we are to the ocean. This site also gave you additional information about what else was available in the area. As well as being able to get driving directions and traffic issues. This site was very easy to use and navigate, they even provided a tutorial that you could view prior to starting your search. I have posted this video below under a seperate heading.

Chapter 5 Google Maps/Google Earth

Chapter 5 - Getting More...Portals

Portals are gateways to surfing the Internet.  With a little imagination, innovation and information these portals can be very helpful.  There are a few different types of portals, consumer, vertical and Industry.  Consumer portals have a wide range of content, search tools, news and weather.  Popular portals for consumers are Lycos, MSN.  Horizontal portals are more personalized and customized to fit your individual needs. These interactions are person to person or person to business.  Vertical portals or vortals, target specific interests based upon a persons search inquiry.  Then you also have business to business exchanges, these corporate portals are also called EIP's or Enterprise Information Portals.  Business to business partners share and conduct day to day operations.  However, access to business records are secure and access to this data may be limited to the users chain in command at their place of employment. 
Examples of portals are:

http://www.earthweb.com/

http://www.cancer.gov/

http://www.usa.gov/

Chapter 4 - Junk E-Mails

It seems that no matter what blockers you have to protect yourself from spam; they still appear.  These hackers do whatever they can to manipulate you into thinking that they have some money for you, or that a friend needs your help and that there could be a financial windfall.  They are all scams, and I forward them all to my spam abuse folder.  A problem that does occur if you block the spam, you could also be blocking messages of importance.  It's buyer beware, if your not sure where it came from or who sent it, then delete it.

http://www.ehow.com/how_5097840_stop-spam-junk-mail.html
http://www.fraud.org/tips/internet/phishing.htm

Cyber Bullying Animation

GoAnimate.com: Cyber Bulling by Debbieswi


Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!

Chapter 4 - Cyber Bullying

Cyber bullying is a problem not only for the young but adults as well. It's a shame that a simple click on the internet can destroy someones life. People of all ages are harassed, made fun of, false information is given about them, horrible pictures are doctored and then posted on websites such as facebook for all to see. Most people are afraid to ask for help until it's too late, something horrible happens or a person is so distraught that they take their own life. Bullying is out there and tolerated to an extent, and some people just ignore it. When my kids were in school and I was a member of the PTA, I helped to bring awareness to the schools administration. We did our researched and reached out to all parents and students to partake in a non-bully program. It shouldn't be tolerated in any situation. Laws have also been put in place to hold these bullies accountable for their actions.

http://blogs.findlaw.com/law_and_life/2010/01/cyberbullying-suicide-shows-need-for-cyberbullying-laws.html
http://stopcyberbullying.org/
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/27/more-teens-victimized-by-cyber-bullies/

Chapter 4 - Viruses

Viruses can severly damage your computer system. All that you need to do is open mail, an attachment or a link and you have a virus or a worm. They are created to wreck havoc on a personal site or business site. It can damage your hardware, your drives and personal information. Viruses, worms, trojan horses and spyware cause millions of dollars worth of damages each year. They damage your system, which are costly to repair as well as steal your personal data, possibly damaging you financially. Businesses are constantly updating their protection and changing passwords in order to protect themselves as well as their clients personal information. These hackers are criminals and laws have been enacted in order to make them accountable.
http://antivirus.about.com/od/securitytips/a/emailsafety.htm
http://www.techrepublic.com/topics/e-mail+and+viruses++and++worms
http://www.justice.gov/criminal/cybercrime/cclaws.html

Mobile Technology - During a Crisis

At times I think that technology is overwhelming and people forget how to converse face to face. Then tragedy strikes in Japan, knocking out or limiting their communications. I can't imagine the pain and angst of people who are desperate to here from their loved ones. This is where social media rises to a whole new level. People are using their cell phones and laptops to communicate. They are skyping, using cell phone videos to show the world the catastrophe. People are using facebook and blogging to families and loved ones to let them know they are fine. People are also passing on information for others who are unable to communicate. Google has also set up a crisis site to help in anyway they can. Pray for them and their families.

http://mashable.com/2011/03/11/google-japan-earthquake/

GoAnimate.com: Sunshine by Debbieswi


Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!

Symbaloo 2

I updated my symbaloo, adding my links to
Audioboo, Linked In, Blogger and Vimeo.
This is a good concept of having everything at
your finger tips.

Audioboo

Audioboo is a cool application that can be used on the go on your iphone, itouch, etc. I think it would work well for people who are out of town, such as grandchildren, or if your in the military.  If you are temporarily unable to speak with someone or are out of commission, you can leave a video message. However, I don't have a microphone on my computer or on my I Touch, so this is something that i'll need to get.  I do think that it could aid in social networking but I don't think that it will replace Facebook or Twitter. I also checked with my older kids to see if they've heard of it, and they haven't. Since is has already been avaliable for a couple of years (2009), I don't think it will have as big as an impact as Twitter and Facebook.  I also joined Vimeo, not sure if i'll use it but they seem to come hand in hand.

http://audioboo.fm./

Google Reader

Checked out and subscribed to the

google reader. Here I think that it is easier to
view other blogs. It says that it will help
manage my blogs easier.  I'm not sure how
much better it will assist me.  But we'll see.
I also subscribed to my peers.

Goggle Docs - Continued

 I did a basic disclaimer form/document as an example. I also did a survey, and a spreadsheet.  This is something that I would like to take more time to research.  I reviewed the help links and using docs videos.
There are twenty five videos to help you use google docs.  This would almost be a class topic in itself.  I will follow through after school is done because this will be beneficial to my business.

I was also looking at the new just launched section and the connector in drawing is very interesting. Not sure if I would ever have a need for it.
Google cloud will also aid with your business because you can connect anywhere including your mobile devices. 

Goggle Docs

Viewed and followed the tutorials. I really like google docs because I have two computers and one laptop, all with differents office products on them.  Now I can work at home, office or anywhere with my laptop and be able to work on my projects.  I was able to do a basic document as well as a spreadsheet. 

Linkedin

I did sign up an account for Linked In, in my business world I don't find it necessary.  However, maybe because I'm working full time and taking four classes, it doesn't leave me much surfing time. I also went back this morning to view again, thinking that I might change my mind on it, but couldn't login.  I didn't realize that you have both a user ID and an email ID, and I don't remember the email ID.  I tried to reset it, but it says that it doesn't hold the email ID.  I might have create a new account, if I don't figure it out.

Mobile devices in Businesses

In business today it is important to keep in contact with your customers as well as employees.  With mobile devices you can track your shipping, your employees, check on a job site(have pictures sent to you if there's a problem) as well as having that instant communication.  We are communicating wherever and whenever we choose.  You may have the option of sitting at home in your pajamas while on a conference call or out on the golf course, receiving data from your stock broker.  Technology has brought us the ability to email, twitter, blog, video conference anywhere in the world.  In some cases thought, people need to take five and disconnect.  I hate going to a restaurant and hearing (not by choice) a business call.  One downside is that technology is growing so quickly with mobile devices that security features can't keep up with the pace. Therefore, private information could be out there for the taking. You can view this article on mobile devices.

http://www.aicpa.org/Press/PressReleases/2011/Pages/2011TopTechnologySurvey.aspx

One thing that I find interesting and that I'm looking into is the credit card kit that you can attach to your cell phone, and you are able to swipe a customer's credit card.

Jing Images - Chapter 3

Finally, please find below my pictures from the sites I visited based upon chapter three's topics.  This site is about Jerry Yang and

David Filo. How they

began Jerry's Guide,

and the transition to

Yahoo.

Fact Monster, Mamma, 90 Search Engines, Google Scholarly and Find Law are all different types of search options.

This directory is cool, never knew it existed, and maintained mostly by volunteers.





I thought this was a good site for social media content and information.



Picture of my Symbaloo

Cited Sources for Chapter Three

These are the sites that I often use:
http://scholar.google.com/scholar_preferences?hl=en&as_sdt=0,33
http://www.90searchengines.com/texis/open/allthru?area=aboutus
Article about Jerry and David, and story behind DMOZ:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/misc/history.html
http://www.dmoz.org/docs/en/about.html
Additional search engines that I never new about:
http://www.mamma.com/about.php
http://www.altavista.com/about/
Good sources and information on Social Media:
http://webtrends.about.com/od/web20/a/social-media.htm
http://www.socialmedia.biz/about/

Searching the Web - Post #4

Social Media has exploded, twittering, facebook, blogging. You can share anything with a few clicks, pictures, videos, news as it's happening. Not only is social media being used personally, but businesses have realized that they also need to capitolize on this media frenzy. There is non-stop advertising as well as ad placements everywhere. Businesses can also save money, instead of traveling the globe, they can now video conference and share information at a moments notice. Shoppers can also enjoy the ease and comfort of shopping online and comparing prices on their favorite things. Here you can be a smart consumer and research the product and see if the company has a good reputation.

Searching the Web - Post #3

There are also many search engines out there, general ones such as Google, and Ask.com, then there are specialty search engines such as "Factmonster.
You can also use Metasearch engines, that are used in compiling data from several sources into a single search list, for example Mamma.com. But I really think that when you are doing any research you automatically go to larger known companies such as Google. Checking out Mamma.com, the searches resulted very quickly, I was impressed. And unless you stumble upon or read about these other sites, you might not visit them. Other searches are specialized, where someone might be looking for people and information on businesses. Empire has great links in their library, and for business I will often use the Gale site.

Searching the Web - Post #2

Jerry Yang and David Filo created directories, known as Jerry's Guide was interesting. Compiling these lists, sharing them and then realizing that they had become such a resource, hence creating Yahoo.
As I search the web you just find new sites and resources that you just didn't realize were out there. I just found a new information site called Knowhow.com. It's new and not complete, stating that it's coming soon. Another site referred to in the book was Searchme.com, that site no longer exists as of July of 2009, due to a lack of financing. The site DMOZ, also known as the open directory project, is the the largest of it's kind and is maintained mostly by volunteers.

http://blog.dmoz.org/

Searching the Web - 1 of 4

Searching the Internet can be a confusing task. However, as I read on and follow the tasks in this chapter it's not so bad. Learning that there are many more search engines and tools other that Google, isn't suprising; but when you are looking for information thats the first place I go. Learning the shortcuts and properly using the search query, stopwords and what search engines to go to can save you time. Deciding if you are looking for a targeted or open-ended search will either narrow or broaden your search as well. Also checking the authority, credibility, objectivity and quality of the site is vital, especially when doing research. I use scholarly sites for my projects when possible.

Tesla - An early inventor of communications

Just wanted to share this with you, I seen a special on the discovery channel about Nikolas Tesla. It was very interesting, after his death the government had stolen many of his ideas, patents etc. So I found this short story on youtube. Deb

The History of Nikola Tesla - A Short Story

Next Class

I checked my calender, and I the next class that I have listed for Web 2.0 is March 3rd..is that correct or am I missing one. Deb

Go Animations....

Hey I really enjoyed the new animations, I definitely will be working on another. I'm slow at the twittering, I'm not posting, but I'm reading. Much of the information in the business world is the same, how the ecomony is doing great, then someone saying that it's not...looking for something with more depth. Deb

go animate

GoAnimate.com: DebbieSwi by Debbieswi

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!

Browsing the Web

Chapter two has been very informative.  When your online you just go through the motions and click here or open this.  However, reading this chapter has put everything in perspective.  The difference between the personal sites and home pages versus the e-business world and all the links and information that is posted on their sites.  Understanding why character's and cartoons and popping images are done to get your interest once you are on a site.  I never understood what the IP Address was and why on occasion it was requested for something I was doing; now I can locate it.  Learning about domain names and what the abbreviations stood for makes a lot of sense now.  This really seperates the sites, so when you are looking up a government site and it doesn't state .gov, then you should avoid it.  Something that I do use quite often is a Web Portal.  I always use this type of a web site when we vacation.  For example, we are going to Cocoa Beach, Florida in April, we've never been their before so I will search for an offical site for this town.  I look for sites that have many links, such as city life, what to do, local fare, weather, news, attractions and more. Here is a link for Cocoa Beach, Florida, I hope you enjoy it.        http://www.cityofcocoabeach.com/

Assignments

Just catching up with my assignments.  I've had an infection in my eyes and so my doctor advised me to take a break with reading, computer, and tv.  Yeah, right...getting behind is not fun, nor is having pain in your eyes.  I've done minimal these last few days and I feeling better.  Now I'm stressed because i'm a little behind. 

Super Sunday

Hey everyone, have a Super Sunday....I'm cheering for Green Bay.  Eat, drink and be merry and do your homework on Monday.     Debbie

twitter

I hope you can check the link.
http://twitter.com/

I do, however, enjoy blogging.  Debbie

twitter

What's all the rave in a twitter, I know its a useful tool for many, it's also a great way for people to keep in touch.  Also if you have the time to invest it is interesting.  I checked with all my friends, and none of them twitter.....so the use of twittering for me is going to be minimal.  If that's your forte - awesome - I love it!  Working full time, taking four classes, being a wife and mom leaves me no time to twitter.  But I will check in occasionally to see whats up.  Debbie

updated my blogger site

Ok, I went for it and updated my blogger site.  Sometimes it comes up as the new one and other times it comes up as my original...i'm trying to figure that out.   Let me know if you are able to view the Newer one.

PLN & Symbaloo

Reading and doing the research about a personal learning network was interesting.  What i've gathered is that networking is about using data and information to either promote yourself or your business.  That you can grow your personal learning network by being motivated by staying on task with blogs and twitters etc.  To have a clear goal and objective to what you want to do or to learn.  That it's ok to think outside the box and take a risk.  To learn new things and form new connections with others.  That you can also express your emotions through blogs and twitters and that you can share directly or indirectly with others. 

Starting the symbaloo was interesting.  I cleared all the suggested content..and then stared at it for a while.  Then the sites came to me.  So I I though of it as a core circle with the closest important things first, so I completed my inner circle (actual rectangle - I know).  It is a great concept to have everything at your finger tips at one location.  So my goal is to complete every tile in a month, or shortly after.  So I will follow the concepts of the PLN and learn new things. 

Symbaloo & PLN

Just doing my research on the symbaloo and PLN.  Looking at different topics.  I feel a little lost. 

Module #1 Chapter #1 The Internet part #2

The Internet has come a long way in such a short time, intially created for government and educational use it is now used for every mode of life.  It is indeed an information super highway.  Users are from every walk of life from the young to the seniors, students and teachers, government and business.  The Internet has revolutionized the way information is received and sent, with speed connections from kilobits to gigabits. It's all within our reach depending on how much we want to pay for the connections and service.  We have the ability to do our shopping on line, order food, do our banking, send pictures.  We can email, chat, send instant messages or join discussion groups.  We are able to download and upload files, music and movies, log on from remote computers, use Wi Fi from a family of wireless networking. Then there's e-commerce, almost every business will use a computer in some way to conduct business, such as banking, web sites, checking suppliers or competition, or just selling their goods.  Families can stay connected and save money on long distant calls by social networking. In conclusion, I hope that I am able to gain all the knowledge from this study to have the confidence to perform all of the tasks and leave my fears of the Internet behind.

Module #1 Chapter #1 The Internet part #1

The Internet has evolved so quickly since its inception in 1957.  Learning how academia, industry and government all came together to develop the technology initally for national security, was indeed quite
interesting.  With the advancement of data networking and packet switching, a new network was created called ARPANET.  Government contracts were made to companies to help create programming, design and hardware for IPM's. With growing technology and development of TCP's, IP's, DARPA was able to mandate the use of this suite of communications now referred as TCP/IP to communicate.

Interesting facts that I learned, in 1971 the first email was sent, and the first international connections to the internet were England and Norway in 1973.

Amazingly, no single organization owns or controls the internet. Many organizations and groups however, work to oversee and standardize the development of the internet.

Blog Assignment

Just took the time and viewed the different sites about blogging.  I enjoyed the article from Chris Brogan, about how to blog almost everyday and how to juggle what topics could be interesting and just by reading something new each day could be helpful.  Especially when you go outside your comfort zone. 

Blogging could also help you let off some steam...if you do it right. 

I also appreciate March Ambinder's statement " Write causually but clearly".  Keep it simple but interesting...I like that.

Blogging your way to a sucessful business was interesting.  My concerns would be what would happen if you got one bad comment - could it ruin your business.  Then how would you survive.

Darren Rowse blogs on "Use It of Lose It", definitely makes sense.  It is a commitment and if you have many followers then you must stay committed.  Can you do a blog and stay anomous? 

My first blog.

I'm married with two young adult (children) who are making their own paths in life.  So now it's my time to follow my dreams.  I own a small business and started it from scratch.  I'm currently in my third term at ESC, and i'm seeking an associates degree and then going for a bachelors in business.  This has been an exciting journey for me with it's ups and downs and learning how to juggle everything.

my video - very short!