At the current ‘evolutionary stage’ of E-Business technologies, the multi-tier architecture (illustrated in Figure 1) utilised by Picture Rights can be regarded as a more traditional design. As a common business approach, this multi-tier architecture is relatively mature and stable with the advantage of being well-supported. When based on standards, this architecture allows for future developments because each tier can be readily exchanged due to defined interfaces between tiers. This model automates many activities of the business processes, for example, a client could submit a web form with a picture attachment to request a quote. However, the model fundamentally relies on the human operator as input to the process so the level of automation is ‘capped’ e.g. the user may have to re-submit multiple forms. The Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is an alternative approach whereby the most relevant group of technologies is the Web Services Architecture (WSA). The primary goal of adopting a WSA approach is to enable automation by providing interfaces between the company’s electronic business systems and external or internal software applications. Figure 2 outlines the operation of web services. The WSA does not replace the existing architecture but is complementary: the web service still uses a web[…]
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Jeff Bezos setup Amazon in 1994 and began trading on the Web in 1995 in the initial, subsequently regarded, commercialisation period of the Internet’s development. Many consumers adopt technology in a relatively passive process, likened to following fashion (as opposed to making informed decisions about standards or scalability) – demonstrated by a study of mobile phones in colleges (Katz, 2006). By default, one may therefore see Amazon’s business success from a hard-deterministic perspective i.e. the availability of technology enabled Amazon to (luckily) thrive. However, Amazon’s strategy, in its early adoption of e-business technology, involved a process to co-construct the e-business technologies (i.e. Web) to bring about change – the ‘digital revolution’. Amazon’s innovation lay within the use of technology to transform commercial and the social landscape so this essay focusses on Amazon as a retailer of books in its first decade of growth. The Digital Revolution The ‘digital revolution’ describes the “changes to society and business, beginning in the 1990s, that were brought about by technologies such as digital networks, computer software and new digital media” (T320, Block 1 Part 1, p.26). Despite a widespread acceptance in contemporary society that the digital revolution is humanity’s most radical technological leap, some[…]
Read moreThis was a supplement I prepared on the first introductory sessions to using a knife for the Explorers.
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I have an upcoming exam for a business module of my degree. It’s 3 hours long written exam. When our lecturer told us about it, I didn’t think much of it to be honest. The it dawned on me: I haven’t hand-written anything at length it over 10 years – apart from the odd letter – 2 sides max. My first primary school was a state primary school, which I believe is still going 30 years on. I moved to a private school, St Joseph’s Convent, and I remember practising my handwriting at length, special ‘penmanship paper’, but I was really behind the other pupils – I couldn’t write cursively. Indeed, I learned to write cursively eventually but after fracturing my little finger in secondary school (before I learned to punch properly!), I reverted to print form. People do comment I have nice hand-writing and I do enjoy calligraphy but achieve legible writing takes me ages. Writing does not feel natural to me like typing (although I can only touch type if I’m not paying attention – as soon as I realise I am touch typing, I fumble). I have to ‘go back to school’ to learn to write again[…]
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I made a really cool ‘photo mosaic’ – this is basically a large image made up of lots of other images. You have to decide on the master photo and then choose all the other photos. There’s a few software packages that will do this but I opted from AndreaMosaic (it’s free). The result is below – you may need to squint your eyes to see the overall image.
Read moreBrief guide written for Explorer Scouts and parents on buying outdoors equipment.
Read moreI wrote a kit list for Explorer Scouts going on expeditions or camping. The ides is to use this as basis for developing your own.
Read moreI had to create a 90 second video clip about social media for a module I’m studying, here it is: How I made the video. Using an open source application Freeplane, I did a brainstorm of ideas for the presentation. I concluded that I would need to deliver the presentation as audio-visual to include the many ideas, although the majority of initial points were eventually omitted due to time constraints on the video. I then completed a storyboard to help me put the seemingly disjointed ideas into a logical order. I planned each section and then viewed the media resources available to include one image per point raised. The media was useful but because I didn’t have time to listen to all the music available, I decided to select a commercially available piece to help create the atmosphere I desired. (Corner Stone Cues – Requiem for a Tower). Due to file size constraints, in order utilise the 60-90 seconds available to me; I decided the final presentation needed to be 640 x 480 resolution (with 1500 bps) and having PAL-compatible 25 frames per second. I found Google Picasa too restrictive for this purpose and it didn’t allow me to crop[…]
Read moreCrowdsourcing is the model by which a party can outsource activity to a larger unspecified group of people. Activity may range from processing, assessing through to, in the case of Kickstarter, financial funding ad benefits are gained from the size and variety of a crowd. As discussed in the interview from The Strand (2010), Kickstarter allows “micro financing” small projects in a non-traditional investment model where projects tend to be “driven more by creative expression than some sort of commercial interest”. A project’s success mutually benefits stakeholders and relationships tend to be relatively more involved between investors and organisers. Kickstarter operates through a website that enables individuals or groups to list a creative project that requires financial funding. Projects need to have clear goals with something produced on completion and are only successful if funding goals are met or exceeded. Potential funders are encouraged to donate by the project’s goals and (strictly non-financial and non-equity) rewards such as crediting funders or receiving an item from the project’s limited initial production. Different tiers of donations are rewarded differently. Kickstarter handles payments securely through third-party payment processing providers to ensure money if protected. Card details may be given but no money is[…]
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