BAHINDWA KALALIZI
Title: ELECTRONIC COMMERCE
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Program: Bachelors
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INTRODUCTION
E-Commerce, abbreviation for electronic commerce, usually defined as the conduct of business online via the Internet. Until recently, e-commerce was limited mainly to large companies and their suppliers who connected their computers together to speed up ordering and payment systems. Today, millions of people are involved in e-commerce on the Internet when, for example, they visit World Wide Web sites to buy books, CDs, traveling tickets and so on, or to check their bank accounts.
In the narrow definition of e-commerce, the term covers the buying and selling of goods and services using computer communications. This might be done via a messaging system such as electronic mail, via the World Wide Web, via mobile or by direct computer-to-computer communications. Direct communications may use a standard form of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) such as Edifact (EDI for Administration, Commerce, and Trade).
Successful e-commerce ultimately leads to some form of payment, and ideally this will involve the Electronic Funds Transfer" (EFT): in other words, the payment will be made via an electronic message, not in a physical form such as cash or a cheque. So-called smart cards and stored value cards (credit cards that contain a microchip, telephone cards, and so on) should therefore be considered part of e-commerce. The communications element may not always be obvious, but somewhere in the background, computer accounts are usually being credited and debited.
Commerce, trade in goods, usually implying trade over a distance. The British economist Adam Smith wrote in The Wealth of Nations (1776) that “the propensity to truck, barter, and exchange one thing for another” is an intrinsic characteristic of human nature. Smith also observed that the expansion of commerce is a critical component of the process of modernization.
In ancient times, transporting goods over any significant distance was an expensive and risky enterprise. Thus, commerce was restricted mainly to local markets, and the most commonly traded articles were foodstuffs and clothing. Most people spent the bulk of their resources on food, and what they neither grew nor gathered themselves they obtained through trade. The same was true of clothing: garments were either produced and handed down within the family or acquired through trade. In addition to food, clothing, and shelter, the rich devoted their income to conspicuous attire, jewellery, and works of art. As a result, an important trade in luxury items developed
Internet, a collection of computer networks that operate to common standards and enable the computers and the programs they run to communicate directly. There are many small-scale, controlled-access “enterprise internets”, but the term is usually applied to the global, publicly accessible network, called simply the Internet or Net. By the end of 2002, more than 100,000 networks and around 120 million users were connected via the Internet.
Internet connection is usually accomplished using international standards collectively called TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol), which are issued by an organization called the Internet Engineering Task Force, combined with a network registration process, and with the aid of public providers of Internet access services, known as Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
World Wide Web (WWW), library of resources available to computer users through the global Internet. It enables users to view a wide variety of information, including magazine archives, public and college library resources, and current world and business news.
World Wide Web (WWW) resources are organized so that users can easily move from one resource to another. The connections to different source computers, or servers, on the network are made automatically without being seen by the user. These connections are made with the use of hypertext and hypermedia.
Users generally navigate through information on the WWW with the aid of a program known as a WWW browser, or client. The browser presents text, images, sound, or other information objects on the user's computer screen in the form of a page, which is obtained from a WWW server. The user can navigate through information by pointing to specially designated text or other objects on the screen. These objects link the user to other WWW pages on the same server or on any other accessible WWW server on the network. The WWW links exist across the global Internet, forming a large-scale, distributed, multimedia knowledge base through related words, phrases, and images. Smaller-scale implementations are present on the enterprise internets used by businesses. These implementations, known as “intranets” host private data and applications and can be protected from public access through a device known as a “firewall”.
WWW pages are formatted using Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), XML, Java, etc.), and WWW communication among computers uses the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or Wireless Access Protocol (WAP) for mobile phones. This communication is usually through the Internet via Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connections, but almost any kind of connection can be used.
The WWW was developed in 1989 by Timothy Berners-Lee, a British computer scientist at the CERN research facility near Geneva, Switzerland, to allow information-sharing among internationally dispersed teams of high-energy physics researchers. It subsequently became a platform for related software development, and the numbers of linked computers and users grew very rapidly to support a wide variety of endeavors, including a large business marketplace. Its further development is guided by the WWW Consortium based at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Current concerns include the efficiency of search engines, the security of transactions and privacy of users, as well as preventing Internet piracy. The main prospect for WWW is its development to form a basis for electronic business. Many applications have been developed to add payment, reservation, and other interactive facilities to WWW pages.
Office Systems, equipment used to create, store, process, or communicate information in a business environment. This information can be manually, electrically, or electronically produced, duplicated, and transmitted.
The extensive automation and decentralization of many organizations over the past 20 years has engendered a burgeoning market for office systems. With the increasing incorporation of software control into office equipment, the line between the computer and other equipment has blurred. Most modern office equipment—including typewriters, dictation equipment, facsimile transmission (fax) machines, photocopiers, and telephone systems—now contain microprocessors.
At the same time, computers and specialized software packages are taking over tasks such as fax, voice mail, and telecommunications that were once performed by separate pieces of equipment. In fact, the computer has virtually taken the place of the typewriter and the calculator and is ubiquitous in graphic design, accounting, and publishing. In industry, computer-aided design/computer-aided manufactures are widely used techniques.
Smart Card, card which has a plastic strip with some integral memory and processing capacity. Also known as an “intelligent card”, it has external connectors but does not usually have keys or buttons like a calculator. The familiar credit card is not a smart card, as it is only equipped with a magnetic strip which stores information. It cannot be readily reprogrammed, and it can only interact with other computers in a simple way.
The smart card is far more advanced. It can be used as an electronic purse or a multifunction security pass. This is because it is, in effect, a computer. Its small size limits just how much it can do but it is capable of all the basic computer functions: retaining information (such as personal details, security privileges, credit levels); processing (such as calculating cash balances); and communicating with other computers.
The first smart cards were introduced in France in 1981. They were jointly developed by Philips, the Dutch consumer electronics company, and electronics research laboratories in France. Subsequent trials of smart cards have been held throughout Europe. In 1989 the Midland Bank in Britain offered smart cards for banking to staff and students at Loughborough University. Even so, the only significant uptake so far is in France, with the rest of Europe preferring simpler and less capable magnetic stripe cards.
The potential of the smart card is well illustrated by its use as an electronic purse. There are several well-known examples of this application, the most familiar being Mondex. The general idea here is that the card can be used just like a purse or wallet. It can store currency, can be filled up (either over a telephone link or by plugging into a cash dispenser), and can be used to pay for goods at any outlet that accepts that particular smart card (both directly, and remotely over the telephone).
The Mondex smart card, jointly developed by British Telecom and the Nat West and Midland banks, was launched in 1995 and promises to lead to more widespread use of smart cards in the United Kingdom. Mondex can store up to five different currencies and is designed with a security feature that allows the cardholder to lock the card using a personal code.
In general, the smart card can have any permutation of processing power, memory, and security features. Current technology is capable of producing cards that can carry out the complex mathematical calculation needed to encode data to allow for safe transfer over networks. The memory on a card can be reprogrammed about a million times; failure rates are virtually negligible, and the cost of the smart card is comparable to that of a phonecard.
Despite smart cards being far from widespread (at least outside of France), smart card formats are already being standardized so that one card can be used for several purposes. The telecommunications industry is developing a standard for smart phonecards to cover payment of bills and user identification as well as all the more widely used telephone functions.
The general reluctance to adopt smart cards in many countries is something of a mystery to some observers. There appears to be a widespread lack of confidence in entrusting valuables to a plastic piece of electronics, and a fear of having personal and financial records in this form, which may be seen as a threat to individual privacy. Those in favor claim that the smart card offers more security than many other options. None the less, there are many hurdles in the way of social acceptance.
Credit Card, card that identifies its owner as one who is entitled to credit when purchasing goods or services from certain establishments. Credit cards originated in the United States in the 1930s; their use was widespread by the 1950s. They are issued by many businesses serving the consumer, such as oil companies, retail stores and chain stores, restaurants, hotels, airlines, car rental agencies, and banks. Some credit cards are honored in a single store, but others are general-purpose cards, for use in a wide variety of establishments. Bank credit cards, widely used in Europe, are examples of the general-purpose card. Establishments dispensing almost every form of product or service are honoring such cards, and it is predicted that credit cards might some day eliminate the need for carrying cash.
When a credit card is used, the retailer records the name and account number of the purchaser and the amount of the sale, and forwards this record to the credit card billing office. At intervals, usually monthly, the billing office sends a statement to the card holder listing all the charged purchases and requesting payment immediately or in installments. The billing office reimburses the retailer directly.
Most of the work involved in credit card operations is now handled by computers. Charges for the use of a credit card are sometimes paid directly by the card holder, and sometimes borne by the retail establishments that accept them. In the latter case, the cost is absorbed into the price of the merchandise. Credit card issuers usually charge interest to credit customers who do not settle their bills within a month. A continuing problem involved in the use of credit cards is the ease with which they can be used fraudulently if stolen or lost, although the liability of the owner is limited. Another possibility, and potential problem, is the development of “smart cards” containing microchips or other forms of high-density digital memory, allowing considerable information (including details of the holder's finances) to be held on the card.
Questions regarding the civil rights: Human Rights and Civil Liberties, the liberty and justice that a citizen or person expects, or is entitled to expect, in the content and operation of the law. The terms are not defined in law: they overlap and are often used to mean the same thing. Rights may be regarded as positive, as they confer the freedom to do something, whereas liberties are negative in that they place limits on the state’s power to control the individual. Examples of civil liberties include the prohibition of torture, while perhaps the most basic of commonly recognized rights is the right to life.
The consumer protection: Consumer Protection, rights granted by law and political pressure to those who buy goods or services, not in the course of business, but as private citizens for their own consumption or use. Consumers are afforded protection both in respect of the quality of the goods and their safety, by controls imposed on the goods during their production, sale, and use. Similar rules apply to services provided, and, in particular, to goods provided in the course of a service. Let’s note that the implications of these two developments (civil rights and consumer protection) have already been raised.
Banking, transactions carried on by any individual or firm engaged in providing financial services to consumers, businesses, or government enterprises. In the broadest sense, banking consists of safeguarding and transfer of funds, lending or facilitating loans, guaranteeing creditworthiness, and exchange of money. These services are provided by such institutions as commercial banks, savings banks, trust companies, finance companies and merchant banks or other institutions engaged in investment banking. A narrower and more common definition of banking is the acceptance, transfer, and, most important, creation of deposits. This includes such depository institutions as commercial banks, savings and loan associations, building societies, and mutual savings banks. All countries subject banking to government regulation and supervision, normally implemented by central banking authorities.
The type of national economic system that characterizes developing countries plays a crucial role in determining the nature of the banking system. In capitalist countries a system of private enterprise in banking prevails; in a number of socialist countries (for example, Egypt and Sudan) all banks have been nationalized. Other countries have patterned themselves after the liberal socialism of Europe; in Peru and Kenya, for instance, government-owned and privately owned banks coexist. In many countries the banking system developed under colonialism, with banks owned by institutions in the parent country. In some, such as Zambia and Cameroon, this heritage continued, although modified, after decolonization. In other nations, such as Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, the rise of nationalism led to mandates for majority ownership by the indigenous population.
Banks in developing countries are similar to their counterparts in developed nations. Commercial banks accept and transfer deposits and are active lenders, especially for short-term purposes. Other financial intermediaries, particularly government-owned development banks, arrange long-term loans. Banks are often used to finance government expenditures. The banking system may also play a major role in financing exports.
In the poorer countries an extensive but primitive non-monetary sector usually continues to exist. It is the special task of the banking community to encourage the use of money and instill banking habits among the population.
Telecommunications, communications over a distance using technology (purposeful human activity which involves designing and making products as diverse as clothing, foods, artifacts, machines, structures, electronic devices and computer systems, collectively often referred to as “the made world”.) to overcome that distance. It usually means the transmission of words, sounds, pictures, or data in the form of electronic signals or impulses, sent either as an individual message between two parties or as a broadcast to be received at many locations. While broadcasting is far removed from private communications, a new range of one-to-one communication services (including video-on-demand, and other personal information and entertainment services provided over cable networks and so-called “Webcasting” over the Internet) will blur the current clear distinction between the two, assisted by a move towards replacing conventional standalone televisions with integrated “media centre” computers or “infotainment machines” that are used for entertainment as well as computing, messaging, and other information processing.
Since its invention in the 1860s and 1870s by Alexander Graham Bell and others, the telephone has become the most familiar form of telecommunications. More recently, voice telephony has been supplemented by a range of computer-based telecommunication services. These have become popular through the Internet and World Wide Web—vast computer networks that provide many people with the means to exchange information. With low-cost broadband connections reaching ever more homes and offices, this delivery mechanism is beginning to offer not only high-speed Internet service but new premium (paid-for) content including streamed video and audio programs (so-called narrowcasting), educational resources, online sophisticated shopping and banking facilities, gaming and personal dating services, online access to archived films and television programs, and much more yet to be devised.
Commercial electronic publishing began in the mid-1970s with the development of databases of scientific, legal, and business information. These were used mainly by information specialists in large companies and universities, and ran on mainframe computers or minicomputers. Few small businesses or people at home used any form of electronic publication, since the information itself was too specialized, and the software and hardware needed to access it were too expensive.
Electronic Publishing, the distribution of information and entertainment in digital format, usually including software that allows users to interact with text and images. Most forms of information can be published electronically, but users normally require a personal computer and sometimes a connection to a network or the Internet to access the information. The advent of graphical user interfaces (GUIs) in the late 1980s made electronically published information much more marketable than it had been previously. This, along with more widespread availability of CD-ROM drives and intense interest in the potential of the Internet, has turned electronic publishing into a mass-market industry after years of being limited to specialist information.
Online services offering databases of specialist business, scientific and legal information on subscription made up the early professional market for electronic publication. Such databases are still heavily used, but are now mostly available on CD-ROM or on the World Wide Web. Business news services are now also part of the professional market for electronically published information, with subscribers receiving only those news stories relevant to their interests.
The consumer market for electronic publications is coming to be dominated by the World Wide Web. Many newspapers now have Web sites where news can be updated hourly or more frequently, although these sites are not yet very profitable, since their advertising revenue is not nearly as substantial as revenue generated from traditional print advertising. Consumer reference products such as encyclopedias and to some extent dictionaries, atlases, and other reference works make up a large part of the CD-ROM market and some may in time be accessible over the World Wide Web. These products are more marketable in electronic format than other types of book because they benefit more from the kind of automated searching and incorporation of multimedia elements (such as video and animation) that software allows. Educational publishing has also benefited from CD-ROM delivery for some of its products, as multimedia content is both attractive to students and can help them to understand complex concepts.
Multimedia games on CD-ROM are also a substantial part of the consumer market. These allow users to interact with characters and participate in adventures in virtual worlds that are often intricately designed and very complex. Multimedia games are usually not based on existing games but have largely grown out of the potential to manipulate images, video, and sound made possible by increasingly powerful personal computers.
Marketing is process of identifying, anticipating, and satisfying customer requirements for consumer goods or services. Early marketing techniques involved little more than making potential consumers aware of a product’s existence and benefits, and getting it to the market. Now, however the marketing process starts even before decisions are taken about what products should be made.
Marketing concentrates on the buyers, or consumers, determining their needs and desires, educating them with regard to the availability of products and to important product features, developing strategies to persuade them to buy, and, finally, enhancing their satisfaction with a purchase. Marketing management includes researching, planning, organizing, directing, and controlling decision-making regarding product lines, pricing, promotion, and servicing. In most of these areas, the marketing department has complete control; in others, as in product-line development, its function is primarily advisory. In addition, the marketing department of a business is responsible for the physical distribution of the products, determining the channels that will be used, and supervising the efficient flow of goods from the factory or warehouse.
Merchandise generally similar in appearance, that is, in style or design, but varying in such elements as size, price, and quality is collectively known as a product line. Product lines must be planned according to consumer needs and wants.
In order to develop a line effectively, market research is conducted to study consumer behavior. Changing attitudes and modes of living directly affect the demand for products. For example, the trend towards informal dress has changed clothing styles dramatically. Also, a high-income economy triggers a demand for products very different from those selected in a declining business cycle. The availability or lack of disposable income, meaning income over and above that spent for basic necessities such as food, shelter, and clothing, affects the buying pattern for so-called luxury products. Similarly, the purchase of durable or long-lived goods, such as refrigerators, cars, and houses, may be deferred when the economy is declining and may increase rapidly in periods of prosperity. Staple products, such as food and clothing, tend not to be seriously affected by the business cycle.
The life cycles of products require careful study. Virtually all product ideas lose in time the attraction that initially drew people to buy them. Manufacturers may also accelerate the obsolescence of a product by introducing new, more desirable products or versions of the existing product. Consumers today expect product innovations and tend to react favorably to new features. This has an important bearing on the usable life deliberately designed into a product, which in turn has a significant effect on the costs to the manufacturer and ultimately on the price to the consumer. Competition between manufacturers of similar products naturally accelerates the speed of changes made in those products.
The two basic components that affect product pricing are costs of manufacture and competition in selling. It is unprofitable to sell a product below the manufacturer’s production costs and unfeasible to sell it at a price higher than that at which comparable merchandise is being offered. Other variables also affect pricing. Company pricing policy may require a minimum profit on new product lines or a specified return on investments, or discounts may be offered on purchases in quantity.
Attempts to fix resale prices normally violate competition laws, which usually prohibit manufacturers from controlling the prices set by wholesalers and retailers. Such control can still be maintained, however, if the manufacturers market directly through their own outlets.
Attempts have also been made, generally at government insistence, to maintain product-price competition in order to minimize the danger of injuring small businesses. Therefore, pricing decisions are reviewed by the legal department of the marketing organization.
Advertising, personal (face-to-face) selling, and sales promotion are the methods for inducing people to buy.
The primary objective of advertising is to pre-sell the product—that is, to convince consumers to purchase an item before they actually see and inspect it. Most companies consider this function so important that they allocate extensive budgets and engage specialist advertising agencies to develop their program of advertising. By repeatedly exposing the consumer to a brand name or trademark, to the appearance or package of a product, and to special features of an item, advertisers hope to incline consumers towards a particular product. Advertising is most frequently done on television, radio, and billboards or other large displays; in newspapers, magazines, and catalogues; and through direct mail to consumers. In recent years, advertising agencies have been joining forces to become giants, making it possible for them to offer their clients a comprehensive range of worldwide promotion services.
As the costs of personal selling have risen, the role of salespeople has changed. It is relatively rare now for salespeople to need to explain in detail how a product works and why it is needed; instead, their role tends to focus on persuading consumers to buy their product rather than a competing brand, and on negotiating price and arranging terms of payment. In many cases, the actual product has already been pre-sold through advertising.
The purpose of sales promotion is to supplement and coordinate advertising and personal selling; this has become increasingly important in marketing. Often it is necessary to work closely with the dealers who handle a manufacturer’s products to make sure that satisfactory sales levels are achieved. Displays must be supplied and set up, and cooperative advertising programs may be worked out. Shop staff should be trained so that they have knowledge of the manufacturer’s products. Often the manufacturer must provide services such as installation and maintenance for a specified time period. On the consumer level, sales promotion may involve special merchandising inducements such as discount coupons, contests, a premium (gift) with the purchase of a product, or a lower price on the purchase of a second item.
Services are intangible goods, which can be sold despite not being actual objects. Consumers pay for a service as they would for manufactured goods. Already more people are employed in the developed economies in the provision of services than in the manufacture of products, and the service sector shows every indication of expanding even further. Services familiar to most consumers are in the fields of maintenance and repair, transport, travel, entertainment, education, and medical care. Business-oriented services include computer applications, management consulting, banking, accounting and legal services, stockbrokerage, and advertising.
Services, like products, require marketing. Usually, service marketing parallels product marketing with the exception of physical handling. Services must be planned and developed carefully to meet consumer demand. For example, in the field of temporary personnel, a service that continues to increase in monetary value, studies are made to determine the types of employee skills needed in various geographical locations and fields of business. Because intangibles are more difficult to sell than physical products, promotional campaigns for services can be even more aggressive than those for manufactured goods. Through extensive promotion, temporary-personnel agencies have convinced many companies that hiring on a temporary basis only in times of need is more economical than hiring permanent, full-time personnel.
Market research involves the use of surveys, tests, and statistical studies to analyze consumer trends and to forecast the size and location of markets for specific products or services. The social sciences are increasingly utilized in customer research. Psychology and sociology, for example, by providing clues to people’s activities, circumstances, wants, desires, and general motivation, are keys to understanding the various behavioral patterns of consumers.
Coupled with applications from the social sciences has been the introduction of modern measuring methods when surveys are carried out to determine the extent of markets for a particular product. These methods include the use of statistics and the utilization of computers to determine trends in consumers’ desires for various products. Scientific analysis is being used in such areas as product development, particularly in evaluating the sales potential of new product ideas. For example, use is made of mathematical models—that is, theory-based projections of social behavior in a particular social relationship. Sales projections become the basis for many important marketing decisions, including those relating to the type and extent of advertising, the allocation of salespeople, and the number and location of warehouses.
Many industry commentators believe that the Internet in general and the World Wide Web in particular will come to play a central role in electronic publishing, although speed of access at present is too slow to allow multimedia applications to run acceptably on it. Digital Versatile Disk Read-Only Memory (DVD-ROM) is likely to be a successor to CD-ROM, its main advantage being increased storage capacity for space-intensive multimedia elements such as video and audio files. However, DVD-ROM development costs are likely to be even higher than those for CD-ROM, and there is no compelling reason to believe that DVD-ROM will do better in the marketplace than CD-ROM. A small number of manufacturers are now producing simple set-top boxes that allow consumers to use their televisions for access to the Internet, but the convergence between broadcasting, personal computers, and the telephone that has been predicted for some while has yet to come about.
Installment Buying and Selling, in commerce, an exchange of consumer goods whereby the purchaser makes an initial payment, or down payment, and agrees to pay the balance of the purchase price in a series of periodic payments. The purchaser takes possession of the goods at the time of the first payment, but does not obtain legal title until the final payment has been made. The purchaser's failure to meet the periodic payments entitles the seller to recover the goods. Virtually every type of merchandise is marketed by installment selling; the principal commodities are durable consumer goods, such as cars, furniture, major household appliances, television sets and audio equipment, and certain articles of clothing.
Installment buying involves the extension of credit to the consumer. The periodic payments include interest and service charges, as well as the outstanding principal. Consumer installment credit is financed mainly by commercial banks, sales finance companies, credit unions, and consumer finance companies, as well as by retail outlets. The sales finance companies specialize in this type of credit operation; they advance the entire purchase price of the goods to the seller and secure promissory notes from the purchaser. Under their contracts with the purchaser, they claim the right to repossess the purchased goods if payments are not met.
Retail installment buying and selling originated in the United States in the 19th century, when it was introduced by the furniture industry. It became important during the prosperous years of the 1920s; many economists believe that the inflation of credit that resulted from installment buying during this period helped to bring about the economic crisis of 1929 and the Great Depression of the 1930s. In most countries consumer credit and installment plans are now closely regulated by commercial law.
The broadest definitions of e-commerce may also include other electronic forms of doing business, such as fax, Telex, video conferencing, and even telephone calls. Usually these are not e-commerce, but they could be regarded as such, depending on how they are used.
Companies invest in e-commerce systems to eliminate human input: orders and payments are made by machines rather than by people. This has several advantages. It cuts the cost of each transaction; speeds it up; and also makes it more convenient, because transactions can be performed at any hour of the day or night, often regardless of location.
The key question, then, in describing a transaction as an example of e-commerce is not which communications system is used, but whether or not the transaction has been automated. With a telephone-based bank account, for example, a user may wish to make a payment via the telephone. If a human assistant takes the instruction and types it into the bank's computer that cannot be described as e-commerce. However, if the call is answered by a speech recognition system (software running on a computer), which verifies the user’s identity and makes the payment without human involvement, that is e-commerce. Much e-commerce may soon be performed using a mixture of voice recognition and text messaging from mobile telephones.
Advertising Federation of Australia
The Advertising Federation of Australia presents a guide to its work in promoting the advertising industry, together with information on advertising regulations in Australia.
http://www.afa.org.au/
Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section
The Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) of the United States Department of Justice provides information about the Computer Crime Initiative, a comprehensive program designed to address the global computer crime problem.
http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/index.html
Deams, P. Candace (2005). E-commerce and M-commerce Technologies. Publication: Hershey: Idea Group Publishing, 2005.
Department of Trade and Industry
The official home page for the Department of Trade and Industry outlines the department’s objectives and provides transcripts of speeches and recent press releases.
http://www.dti.gov.uk/
Glossary Search
This commercial site provides a searchable glossary of computer-related technical terms.
http://www.geek.com/glossary/glossary_search.htm
Internet Advertising Report
These Web pages offer in-depth information and analysis of the Web advertising and marketing industry.
http://www.internetnews.com/IAR/
The KnowThis.com: Marketing Virtual Library
The KnowThis.com Web site's Marketing Virtual Library is an online resource for those involved or interested in marketing, advertising, selling, promotion, market research, and e-commerce. Topics include Web and Internet advertising.
http://www.knowthis.com/
The World Wide Web: Origins and Beyond
This privately maintained site presents a history of the World Wide Web.
http://homepage.seas.upenn.edu
GREAT EDUCATORS HAVE ALWAYS KNOWN THAT LEARNING IS NOT SOMETHING THAT'S LIMITED TO THE CLASSROOMS, OR THAT SHOULD BE FORCIBLY UNDERTAKEN UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF TEACHERS.
BILL GATES
"BEING DOES NOT MEAN ACCEPTING WHAT ONE IS; IT MEANS CREATING ANOTHER SELF THAT DOES NOT EXIST."
J. CHATEAU
