Daniela's Blog

This article will argue that China will play an important role in the future of the IT market, though by 2010, exactly where it stands within the IT market is unsure. However, it is seen as one of the fastest growing markets, and has the greatest potential to improve.

• Asia is currently seen as seen as a rapidly growing market, with China being the fastest growing country in the region, holding 39.7% of the total Asia/Pacific IT market. It is placed second in the world in terms of sales of desktop computers and Internet usage. It has the world’s largest mobile phone market, with over 200 million subscribers. Some of the reasons for its success are outlined below.
• The Chinese government is actively involved in supporting and boosting the IT economy. This is a good sign for investment in terms of stability in the country. Former Premier Zhu has called for better efforts to boost the IT industry, and so $120 billion has been dedicated for spending over the next five years in the information industry: 500 billion Yuan will go to telecommunications, 50 billion Yuan to postal services and 400 billion Yuan to electronic information. Other preferential policies include taxes, high-tech parks and recreational facilities and other incentives to attract and develop the industry. The government also marked certain schools, such as top universities like Peking University, to focus on IT education so as to expand the pool of networking and software professionals.
• One fifth of the world’s population lives in China, and so has great potential for filling the skills gap in the IT industry. So, not only does the government support education, but companies have realized this potential and are pumping money into the education industry, with a focus on gaining IT and English skills. The annual number of IT professionals produced is estimated to be 200,000. For example, Cisco and the Chinese Ministry of Education, joined forces in 2004, to enable 35 software colleges to be part of the Cisco Networking Academy, so that students can learn how to use the firm’s products. IBM has implemented a similar procedure, allowing 400,000 students to be part of software development programs in 2004.
• Another reason is China’s rapidly developing consumer industry. It has one of the world’s largest domestic markets, with 480 million middle-class consumers. An interesting example of faith in this market, was eBay’s recent announcement that China could become its largest market within the next five years.
• China’s IT market has an 11.1% growth rate in its hardware market, 21% growth in its software market, a 32.9% rise in its IT services, with the general IT market growth of 16%. And with China’s entry to the WTO has ensured it 25% IT spending growth will improve for years.
• Despite all this evidence, exactly where China is placed in the ranks of the IT market by 2010 is not certain. Some analysts profess its places as first, some only third. And let us remember that 2010 is only five years away. The reality is that China is playing, and will play, a pivotal role in the world’s IT market, and from its position at the moment , especially with its government’s support and investment in education, it can only rise in its ranks.

Sources:

"IT market in China", available here

"IT Outsourcing to China", available here

"eBay eyes China for growth", Reuters, available here

"Can China Compete in IT Services?", The McKinsey Quarterly, available here

"Cisco gets behind China's IT education drive", CNet Asia, available here

"IBM to train 40,000 IT students in China", CNet Asia, available here

Keeping in mind that communication (in any form) is a key to political power, and hence can be used as a tool of oppression, and in light of the restrictions of the media during the Apartheid era, the Internet would have made Apartheid unsustainable.

It can be argued that online communities, by their definition and nature are highly exclusionary. In analysis of the representation of women and minority groups on the Internet, and keeping in mind the issue of the ‘digital divide’, it will be proven that this ‘global culture’ is a reality for a select group of people.

• Online communities are defined as giving people with similar experiences and interests, the opportunity to meet online, freed from the restraints of time and space. This is a variation of the understanding of what a ‘community’ is in a general sense – a group of people living in one place, bound by ethnicity or religion. It can be recognised that by virtue of the definition of a ‘community’, of any nature, that people are excluded from this group.
• A good example is how a select group of A-list bloggers who have emerged in the blogosphere, including, Dan Gillmor, Steve Rubel and Jonathan Dube. In a blog entry titled “Guys don’t link”, Shelley Powers makes an interesting observation that threads of discussions occur amongst groups of people, with John linking to Mark, who links to Dave, who links to John. This occurs even in all communities – look at the Mail and Guardian bloggers.
• However, consider the definition of a virtual community as “a group of people whose members are connected by means of information technologies, typically the Internet.” Keeping this in mind, the notion of a ‘shared global culture’ must be understood. The word ‘global’ infers notions of a culture that is far-reaching, and spans to the farthest corners of the world, impacting on all people, worldwide. Going back to the definition of a virtual community, it will now be shown that not all people are actually or equally ‘connected by means of information technology’, and so, they do not share in this apparent ‘global’ culture.
• In a study by Richard Copeland this year, it was found that 75% of blog readers are male. In a study by Clancy Ratliff, it was found that the Internet is prone to gender bias and hierarchy which is prevalent in day-to-day society. In Blogstreet’s top ten blogs it was found that all were written by men. In two of the sites, the blog was maintained by a group of men and women – in both cases, with a large number of men and only one woman. Furthermore, as Sylvia also confirms in her post, men most likely link to other men’s blogs. So we see a community which excludes women, as one respondent to Ratliff’s study said (in defining what she thinks the ‘blogging community’ is) “it’s mostly male, mostly white and very chummy… its still a very male dominated community.”
• The Copeland study also revealed that 43% of bloggers have a family income of $90 000. Thirty-six percent of the respondents admitted to buying plane tickets online, 52% bought computers online, and 46% bought consumer electronics. Thus, there is an online community of shoppers on the Internet, a group of people who have the means and income to buy luxury goods. However, there is the other side. Looking at statistics for access to computers, ‘The digital divide in 2000’ fact sheet, showed that only 22% of households with an annual income of less than $15 000 had home computers, while 86.3% of households with an income of $75 000 had them. Between 1998 and 1999, while the percentage of classrooms with Internet access increased in schools with lower concentration of poverty, the percentage stayed the same in schools with higher concentrations of poverty. These statistics show that online communities are privileged communities, and so those at the bottom end of the economy need to be represented.
• Furthermore, by 2000, despite average increases in access to the Internet, 23.5% of African American households and 23.6% of Latino households had Internet access. These were considerably lower than the national access statistic of 41.5%. Furthermore, 50% of worldwide Internet users are first language English speakers, despite the fact that English-speakers represent 5.3% of the world’s population. These statistics show that the online community is a raced community, with minority race groups severely lacking representation.
• On a broader level, the concept of the ‘digital divide’ as indicating the difference in technology infrastructure between the North and South also reveals a large disparity. This has been touched upon in the article "Underwater global Information highway increases Africa's internet usage” in this blog. But to refresh our memories – Africa represents only 1.6% of the world Internet users. In the top 20 countries with the highest number of Internet users, no African country features. A telling example is a site called the Internet Traffic Report, which said to it’s aim is to “monitor the flow of data around the world”, but did not even have statistics for Africa as a continent. It seems that in parts of the online community, Africa can be said to have fallen off the world map.
• What I have tried to show is that the notion of a ‘shared global culture’ is a reality for only a select group of people in the online community. It cannot be denied that minority cultures, races and genders do have access to the Internet and do form part of online communities, however, these statistics show that much more has to be done for better access to, and equality on the Internet. Only then can the term a ‘shared global culture’ really be meaningful, because only then will ALL voices truly be part of this culture.

Sources

“Blogads: reader survey” by Richard Copeland, available here

“The Digital Divide: A Fact Sheet” compiled by Paul Gorski, available here

“Internet users and population statistics” available here

“Whose voices get heard? Gender Politics in the Blogosphere” by Clancy Ratliff, available here

“Guys don’t link” available here

In the case of genomics, it can be argued that scientific discovery has impacted on knowledge management, rather than what is generally hypothesised that knowledge management impacts on scientific discovery. This is best illustrated in the relatively new field of Bioinformatics.

• Knowledge management is the systematic capture, integration, distribution and application of information within any organisation (whether business, academic, government, science or media related). Very simply, any organisation that deals with information can be aided by a knowledge management system because it devises strategies for building and categorising databanks of information. Central to knowledge management then, is information.
• Knowledge management is particularly applicable to scientific research and development. Because of the interlinking nature and vast amount of information, a traditional ‘linear flow of information’ is ineffective. Rather a dynamic, circular approach to knowledge management is needed, so that information capture and integration is cost effective and speedy. It essentially allows research and development in the scientific, biological and pharmaceutical fields to occur much faster.
• Related to this is the field of Bioinformatics. Bioinformatics is a scientific field which integrates biology, computer science and information technology. There are three sub-disciplines:
  1. the development of algorithms and statistics to assess relationships between large sets of data
  2. the analysis and interpretation of that data (for example amino acid sequences and protein domains)
  3. the development and implementation of tools that enable efficient access and management of different types of information. As Thomas Durso describes it “loosely defined, bioinformatics is the management and analysis of biological information contained in databases.”

• That’s where KM fits in – knowledge management is integral to bioinformatics because it allows the systematic capture, integration, distribution and application of scientific information.
• A good example of how these two operate together, and their importance, was in 2000, when IBM announced a $10 million investment to improve business development in life sciences, particularly because the requirements of the life sciences (one of them being bioinformatics) correspond with IBM’s ability to provide data and knowledge management solutions.
• Tracing the short history of bioinformatics, we see how the emergence of genomics formed this field. Genomics is the study of genes and their functions, not only in humans but in plants, animals and bacteria. With this study, ‘strings’ of DNA information are produced, and the patterns and sequences which are the building blocks of biological organisms, need to be decoded. Computers excel at recognising and discovering patterns, and so it is logical that computers would be used to decode this data, thus we see the emergence of the field of bioinformatics.
• A white paper by the Canadian Genetic Diseases Network, states that “the completion of the Human Genome project will truly herald the beginning of the ‘genome era’, where the effective use of sequence-based data will have the potential to guide work leading to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of many disorders having a genetic basis.” So we see that the emergence of genomics is central to the formation of the field of bioinformatics, pivotal to which is knowledge management, as shown above.

Sources:

"The promise of bioinformatics" by the Canadian Genetic Disease Network, available here

"As Genomics grows, future for bioinformatics is bright" by Thomas Durso, available here

"Knowledge management in drug discovery R&D" by Roland Carel and Jack Pollard, available here

"Compox glossary", available here

Computer games have a negative impact on the development of children, especially contributing to aggressive and anti-social behaviour. Playing computer games has a greater negative effect because it involves interactivity which impacts on learning processes of the child.

• Numerous studies around the effects of violence in television, movies and video games on children have taken place over the last twenty years. The outcomes of various studies have shown that there is a negative effect of consuming violent media.
• When it comes to computer games, however, research by Douglas Gentile and Craig Anderson, indicates that violent computer games have an even stronger effect on children’s behaviour because of its interactivity.
• The General Aggression Model (GAM) has been developed to integrate recent findings in aggression theory and research with earlier models. In this model, the performance of aggression is based on learning, activation and application of aggression-related knowledge stored in memory.
• It suggests that violent media causes short-term increases in aggression. Various studies were performed to prove this statement, involving exposing young adults to violent computer games, and testing their reaction to stimuli. The result was a quantifiable impact on the individual’s ‘internal’ state, the conclusion being that “violent media increases aggressive cognition (including previously learned aggressive scripts and aggressive perceptual schemata), by increasing arousal, or by creating an aggressive affective state.”
• The long term effects involve learning processes. The model puts forward the idea that each encounter with violent media, is essentially one more learning trial, since knowledge structures are built on how humans perceive, interpret, judge and respond to events based on interactions in the real (in the family or at school) or perceived (the media) world.
• As stated earlier, the impact of computer games are especially influential since:
1. the games are highly engaging,
2. children are rewarded by violent behaviour, and
3. children repeat this behaviour over and over as they play.
• Psychologists know that these three methods (active involvement, rewarding, and repeating) improve learning. Link this to a psychological term called ‘social learning’, where a child learns by watching or imitating others, as opposed to his/her own experience, and we have a process where a child’s behaviour is negatively influenced by the aggressive, violent nature of computer games.
• Now take into account the fact that, according to a study by DeGaetano and Bander, computer games send the following false messages to players:
1. Problems can be solved quickly and with little personal investment,
2. The best way to solve a problem is to eliminate the source of the problem,
3. Problems are clear-cut: right or wrong, black or white,
4. Use instinctual rather than thoughtful problem solving,
5. Personal imagination is not necessary for problem solving,
and we see that the impact is far reaching, not only in terms of reaction to stimuli, but also through the absorption of morals and ethics, and approaches to problem-solving.
• Furthermore, it is argued that playing computer games reduces ‘prosocial’ behaviour and sensitivity. Olivier discusses the process whereby players adjust their emotional reactions to acts of violence on the ‘real’ world, based on the internalisation of violence present in the computer games they play.
• On a chemical/biological level - studies in brain science show that children’s experiences during their brain’s growth spurts have a greater impact on their brain’s wiring than at any other time of their lives. This has also been proven to continue during adolescence. The latest brain research shows that violent games activate the anger centre of the teenage brain while dampening the brain’s ‘conscience’.
• And on a physical level – playing computer games are said to negatively affect the health of players. Research has documented the negative effects of computer games as including obesity and postural, muscular and skeletal disorders.
• So, computer games have far-reaching negative effects, and these are heightened by its interactive nature.

Sources

"Ninth annual mediawise video game report card", by David Walsh and Douglas Gentile, available here

"Violent video games and hostile expectations: a test of the general aggression model" by Brad Bushman and Craig Anderson, available here

"Violent video games and aggressive thoughts, feelings and behaviours" by Craig Anderson, available here

"Effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, aggressive affect, physiological arousal, and prosocial behaviour: A meta-analytic review of the scientific literature" by Craig Anderson and Brad Bushman, available here

"The effect of violent computer games on children and juveniles", by Karen Olivier available here

Application Server Providers (ASPs) are the most popular and useful form of web application, especially when tied to Customer Relations Management (CRM) software in terms of customer services in the consumer market.

• Lets begin the article by untangling the relationships of these terms. Firstly, what is an application? Application software generally refers to a class of software that uses the capabilities of a computer to perform a task specified by the user. Examples would be word processors like Microsoft Word and media players like Winamp.

• Now, a web application would be an application delivered to users over the Internet. So, a web application would produce a set of HTML documents, ultimately creating an interactive experience, so the user puts in information, and the web browser interprets and displays the information. Examples would be webmail services or pages on Amazon and E-bay, or online banking.

• ASPs are application software companies that provides web application services, i.e. computer-based services over the Internet.

• ASPs are very popular: by 2003 ASPs in the U.S. had a market range from 1.5 to 4 billion dollars.

• They are particularly useful for CRM – it sees the marriage of the Internet and conventional CRM products, making the process simpler, more effective and yielding powerful results. (See the article “CRM software for PDA's improves services” I wrote recently, for reasons why CRM is useful for online businesses.)

• What this translates to is a situation where a provider makes a CRM software application available via the Internet (no software is installed on the user's PC), to a user for a monthly subscription fee. Along with the application, the provider deals with the data and provides related service support.

• So, these are reasons why ASPs are useful both in general and in relation to CRM:

1. There is no software ownership, meaning less administration and management issues.

2. Closely related, there is a significant decrease in cost. Traditional CRM software could costs millions, and take months to install. ASPs provide a low-cost solution, since they don't need a large capital investment, at a very low risk – if you don't like it you can return it. This is particularly useful for small-to medium sized businesses.

3. End-users can be installed and running the software in a matter of minutes.

4. And they have service support, disaster recovery, security and back-up.

5. There is a certain amount of flexibility. Customers cannot change the source code but can “add more fields or tweak the software to a certain extent. They have less flexibility, but too much flexibility is not good”, as Laurie McCabe, an analyst at Summit Strategies states in this article.

6. As the article continues, “the CRM and ASP model are a nice combination because they provide anytime-anywhere access. If you have a sales force in the field, they can access customer information 24-hours a day.”

Sources:

“Why ASPs grab a piece of the CRM market” by Bob Weinstein, available here

'CRM application Service Providers, risks and rewards” by Paul Sweeney, available here

“Is 'CRM as ASP' Ready for Prime Time?” by Ken Mullen, available here

“CRM: Implement in-house of outsource?” by Alan Earls, available here

“Web application”, “Application Service Provider” and “Application,” by Wikipedia

I have finished the Sudan Tribune homepage, click here to have a look.

And just to remind you, have a look at the real Sudab Tribune here.

The impact of litigation by the RIAA and the MPAA, has not halted peer-to-peer (p2p) software and technology. The outcome has been the development of more private and discrete means of using this technology, namely through private p2p file sharing.

• Firstly, what is the big deal about p2p? P2p is a technology that allows the sharing of resources (for example MP3’s, documents, movies) from computer to computer. It is about sharing resources, with the permission of the content provider and the end user. However, in most cases the files being shared are copyrighted work, and so of late, p2p has become synonymous with the phrase ‘copyright infringement.’
• Who are the main actors in this debate? The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Motion Picture Association of America have recently attempted and succeeded to close down p2p service providers, such as Napster and sued individuals (from 13-year-old teenagers to grannies) for copyright infringement.
• Despite all this action, there are arguments for the use of p2p, some of which are:
  1. Artists do not necessarily lose money due to p2p file sharing because they receive most of their money from concert tours and radio play, not necessarily cd sales.
  2. Artists receive recognition from file sharing, so downloading music does not necessarily mean that the number of CD sales have fallen. Rather, inspired by what they hear, people are induced to go out and buy CD's.
  3. Sharing over a network can be seen as playing or taping a song for a friend, as long as the copy is not sold, how can this be a problem?
  4. Restricting file sharing can be equated with restricting freedom of speech.

• So, despite the technology developed, major corporations are preventing the use of p2p. The answer, however, has been the development of private p2p, a more discrete way to share files, because of its small scale.
• Private p2p are seen as the ‘country clubs of the file-sharing world’ because access to the network, depends on knowing the right people, and having a wealth of content to share with the group. You essentially have to ‘socialise’ your way into the network.
• Benefits of these private p2p networks are:
  1. Members can avoid legal action as their identities and actions are masked behind technology used to protect online credit card transactions.
  2. It is a more private process, involving sharing with a group of select people, in some cases, people they know or friends, meaning that you aren’t dealing with suspect files, but rather depend on your friends’ good name and reputation.

• A good example of a private p2p is software called Grouper. Like other private p2p networks, it functions on a smaller scale involving groups of up to 20 people. But another way it attempts to dodge legal issues from the RIAA and MPAA industry specifically, is that it operates by streaming, as opposed to downloading music and movie files, while it permits downloads of other content.
• Therefore, the impact of litigation by the RIAA and the MPAA hasn’t succeeded in shutting down p2p file sharing services, rather technology and software has been developed to get around the issues that this litigation imposes. The answer then, is with private p2p for the future.

Sources:

"Bounty-raising for encrypted, private P2P sofware", available here

"Secret network protect music swappers", by Powell Fraes, available here

"Former AOLers bet on private p2p app" by Ryan Naraine, available here

"P2P goes private" by Cade Metz, available here

"New p2p software could end illegal music squabbles" by Ashlee Vance, available here

Remote database management systems (RDMS) require Structured Query Language (SQL) as a standard to allow interoperability to effectively integrate exchange and share data across databases. But the diversity of SQL dialects and the lack of a functioning standardised database protocol, has made interoperability difficult and the notion of SQL as the standard language more of an ideal that a reality.
 
• Remote Relational Database management systems (RRDMS) allows for the definition of data structures, storage and retrieval by organising the data in tables. A table is a collection of records and each record contains the same fields, and each field is designated as a key, and they all link up together.
• Look at this diagram to show how remote relational database management systems work. The client requests, for example, a spreadsheet application from a remote relational database management system, and the spreadsheet application sends SQL statements to the host systems and retrieves the data and then sends it back to the host.
• SQL is used to create, modify and retrieve data from a relational database management system. It has been adopted as a standard by the American National Standards Institute. A document named ‘Computing and Telecommunications Architecture Standards – Operating and Database Management Systems’ is a good example of how the SQL standard is upheld as a means to ‘migrate to a computing environment that encourages connectivity, portability, scalability, and interoperability permitting an authorised computer user to access computer-based information resources”
• But the SQL standard has been criticised on the basis of its lack of portability, mainly because of the complexity and size of SQL resulting in most databases not using the whole standard, and because it does not specify database behaviour in certain important areas. The result is that when porting to other database systems, major modifications and structural changes need to take place first.
• The emergence of SQL dialects also challenges its status as ‘the standard’. Examples of alternatives to SQL is MySQL, a GPL version of an SQL language for RDMS, or Hibernate Query Language (HQL) which looks like SQL but is object orientated.
• So, SQL as a standard isn’t as effective and all-pervasive as is described, and it needs to be re-defined to meet the need for interoperability across databases.

Sources:

“Computing and Telecommunications Architecture Standards - Operating and  Database Management Systems” by the Information Services Board (ISB) available here: http://www.dis.wa.gov/portfolio/702S.htm

“Remote relational database management systems (RDBMS)” available here:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/iosswrel/ps1826/products_feature_guide09186a0080080eca.html

‘Interoperability of Geographic information’ available here: http://www.ncgia.ucsb.edu/other/ucgis/research_priorities/paper5.html

“Open Database Access and Interoperability” by Antonio Gualtieri, available here:
http://www.opengroup.org/dbiop/wpaper.htm

“SQL”, available here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL

On its own, Document Management (DM) software provides a marginally effective service with limited uses. However, combined with Content Management Software, it becomes a more powerful tool for holistic information management.

● Originally document management systems were computer programs which could track and store images of paper documents. It has evolved to include check-in, check-out, storage and retrieval of electronic documents in the form of word processor files.
● So, document management systems are file orientated, with content created in Microsoft Office or WordPerfect which are converted to a PDF, and indexed in a database. This excludes other file formats and types, such as HTML files, image files, such as JPGs, and multimedia files such as Quicktime files.
● The fact that the source file is a PDF means that users can only upload and access a file, and do not have the ability to alter that file in order to improve it. The system is critiqued  because of its traditional view of content as 'files', as opposed to discrete bits of information.
● So, document management systems are considered to be advanced filing systems, used for document access in legal and accounting firms or project management.
● Content management (CM), has its roots in the principles of DM. It is a set of processes which allows for the evolution of digital information. The pivotal feature of CM is that it allows digital content to be created by many authors, keeps track of those changes through an Internet orientated system.
● So, content management is a more diverse system, dealing with a variety of file formats, and works to manage dynamic content. Essentially content management focuses on how information should be packaged using work flow to identify how the information is created, while document management focuses on the finished products, and uses workflow to identify the files needed to run a business.
●  So, CM and DM are complementary systems, and convergence of the two is inevitable. For example, Ektron and IBM, amongst many others, have released integrated document and content management systems. The fusion of the two provide useful features which cut document search time, ends the paper chase, allows easy access to information and speedy updates to developing data.
● So, while document management system provide the basis for content management and other information management systems, its uses are limited. But fusion with content management systems creates a tool which is more widely applicable in this information age.

Sources:

"Content Management/Document management What's the difference" available here

""7 Reasons to integrate your content and document management strategies" available here

"The IM product universe" by Tony Byrne, available here

"Document management systems" available here

"Content management systems" available here

Look at here to see the original Sudan Tribune and my redesign. Now read on to find out more about it...

The findings of Eyetrack III applied to the redesign of the Sudan Tribune

Page 1 – The Homepage

According to Eyetrack III, the eyes most often fixate upon the upper left hand corner of the page. Viewers enter the pages by first viewing the nameplate and then moving down the page. It is appropriate then, that my nameplate, the most important part of the page, is placed in the top left hand corner.

The next most obvious graphic is the photograph. The report showed that generally photographs do not attract as much attention as text, however larger people-orientated photos do impact the viewer. This vertical picture is relatively large, and shows close-up faces, which will hopefully attract the viewes' attention. Generally, I tried to use very few photographs, averaging one photo per page.

The report showed that a navigation bar at the top of the homepage performed best, followed in popularity by the right and left hand navigation bars respectively. I used all three navigation bars on my site, keeping in line with the original website, creating pages encompassed by navigation bars allowing for easy movement through the site.

Eyetrack findings showed that smaller type encourages more focused viewing. Thus, I tried to keep the size of my font face as small as possible, while maintaining legibility. The report also showed that larger type promoted lighter scanning, so the font face was kept small for this reason too.

I tried to avoid underlined headlines, with the aim of implementing navigation through buttons and roll over links. This is apporpraite in light of the findings that visual breaks in the form of rules discourage further reading. While rules have been used on all the pages, I have tried to use them as little as possible.

Page 2 – Contents Pages

As this is a contents page, there is a large number of linked headlines as a base for further navigation around the whole site. Once again, I have tried to avoid underlined headlines as explained above.

I decided to include blurbs beneath each headline, as a means of informing the reader about the article before they attempt to read further. While the report showed that blurbs tend to be ineffective because readers skim over after reading the headlines, I attempted not to create too much of a size and colour distinction between the headline and blurb. The Eyetrack report showed that a large size differences between the two and a bolder headline indicated to the reader that the headline was more important and so encouraged skim-reading the blurb.

Eyetrack III revealed that web viewers do scroll beyond the first screen view, looking for something to grab their attention. That is why I changed the format of the page half way down - while columns are used, further down the page they are discarded in favor of one column, for reasons outlined below. In this case, viewer's eyes will focus on interesting headlines and not content, thus my reason for providing linked headlines from this point forward.

 Page 3 – Story Pages

The findings showed that shorter paragraphs were read more intensely than longer ones. I tried to keep the paragraphs short, in some cases only consisting of one line. One column paragraphs were also more easily read, and this applied to my redesigend site, with one column of text running straight down the page.

I also used the idea of a bold-faced introductory paragraph, which according to Eyetrack III saw 95% of the participants read all or part of it.

The report also showed that dominant headlines most often draw the eye into the page, especially when in the upper left hand corner. Keeping this in mind, I placed the headline in this position, above the photograph. This was also deliberate considering the findings of the tests that showed that images do not necessarily act to lure viewers into the page as compared to text. However, as stated above, the image chosen focused on a human face and was relatively large, which according to the study, encourages the viewer to view it.

The same basic structure is found on this page, and so the critique concerning the nameplate, the use of rules and navigation bars outlined above applies to this page too.

Source:

“The best of Eyetrack III: What we saw web we looked through their eyes” by Steve Outing and Laura Ruel, available here.

Customer Relations Management (CRM) software has recently been applied to Personal Digital Assistants (PDA’s), allowing companies to improve their services by allowing employees to access important information from any place in the world.

• CRM allows businesses to serve their customers by creating trustworthy processes and procedures to interact with customers. This is implemented firstly through installing software which gathers that data, and secondly, by implementing a CRM policy within the organisation. We will focus on the first method.
• CRM software allows organisations to effectively and efficiently track inventory, improve internal marketing communication, and keep up-to-date with customer requests.
• The result is improved customer services, for example, providing product information and technical assistance, identifying problems efficiently and dealing with complaints swiftly.
• Mobile CRM is certainly not a new undertaking, but the most recent undertaking has been connecting this software to PDA’s, allowing employees involved in sales and field work to access information in real time. 
• The PDA works by interacting with the organisation’s server through broadband or a dial-up connection, accessing important information across the Internet.
• As IT project manager at Berlex Canada, Terry Yimlin said, “Siebel Handheld Sync allows us to engage in well researched, informed and focused conversations while in the field. The main feedback we receive from our representatives is that they are more accurate in their post-call notes and make more efficient use of their time between appointments.”
• With reports that more that 60 percent of the American workforce will be using wireless devices this year, mobile CRM is predicted to grow in popularity. Experts forecast the use of wireless CRM to increase by 36% until 2008.
• So, it seems that mobile CRM is here to stay and will allow people to do their jobs better, and inevitably improve customer services. 

Sources:

“Is CRM Truly Ready to Be Wireless?” by Benjamin Holtz available here

“Siebel Systems Awarded Patent for Handheld Synchronization Technology” by Kortney Oliver, available here

“Business Options Grow For BlackBerry” by Elena Malykhina available here

“Customer Relations Management Software” available here

The forthcoming launch of Creative Commons South Africa in Johannesburg on 25 May is highlighting the role that Creative Commons will play in redefining the use of copyright laws throughout Africa.

The launch of the Developing Nations license last year, is a tool which will aid in the process of protecting Africa's creative work and history and reforming the boundaries of global information.

The Developing Nations license allows copyright holders to allow a wide range ofroyalty free uses of their work within developing countries, simultaneously retaining full copyright in the developing world. Essentially, content producers can specify how their content may be used within developing countries as opposed to those living in developed countries. The distinction between these countries is based on the World Bank's definition of high-income economies.

As Jamie Love, architect of the license explained, “The new license makes it easier to expand access to knowledge and support development. It is a tool to make the resource-poor information-rich.”

Thus, the implications of the license could, for example, allow a piece of work or information, to be protected under a restrictive license preventing commerical use within the developed world, such as the United States, but could concurrently allow commercial use in a developing country, such as Nigeria.

The license stems from a deeply entrenched 'digital divide', a term used to explain the discrepancy in technological development and infrastructure between the developed and developing world. It also protects intellectual property exporting nations from gaining private control of information and knowledge.

Africa will stand to benefit from this license, especially in light of the general conception of Africa's indigenous knowledge being 'stolen' by people in the West. The launch of South Africa's Creative Commons will signify the movement of the Creative Commons movement into Africa, creating a collaborative and transparent space for sharing information and knowlegde and encouraging innovation.

An alternative to Java and .NET is the Mono Project, which is a development initiative working on creating an open source version of .NET. Mono should not be viewed as a competitor to Microsoft, as at allows .Net applications to run on Linux.
• Mono is an open source project developed and released by Ximian which is now part of Novell. The first version was released in June 2004. It allows .Net compatible tools to run on Linux, UNIX and Windows based computers.
• The Mono Project implements various technologies developed by Microsoft that have been submitted to the ECMA for standardization. It includes technologies such as a Common Language Infrastructure (CLI), class libraries and a compiler for the C# language.
• There is a difference between Mono and .NET - .NET allows for cross-platform development framework, while Mono is an implementation of that development framework. It does not relate to any other .NET initiatives.
• In 2003, Microsofts’ programming language, C#, was certified by the International Organization for Standardization, and signified a willingness on Microsoft’s behalf to be more open. So, if Mono was sued, it would how that this certification was useless.
• But it seems no such thing will happen. Miguel de Icaza, team leader for the Mono Project approached Microsoft developers about the project and, has said, “they are actually pretty excited about Mono. It gives them a story about cross-platform, and seeing your specifications going other places is interesting.” More formally, Microsoft has granted a license to use this technology under "reasonable and non-discriminatory" terms.
• The Gtk# project is an example of the synthesis of .NET and Mono. The Mono team is developing this project to attach GNOME class libraries for .NET and Mono. GNOME is part of the GNU project, which provides a desktop environment and development platform for free software, and Mono is considered an improved tool for GNOME.
• Furthermore, De Icasa doesn’t forsee patent issues with Mono, he said “We are prepared to make changes to Mono, if that’s needed.”
• This conciliatory attitude and the general benefits to Microsoft, make the Mono Project of little concern as a competitor.

Sources:

“ISO certifies Microsoft’s C# Language”, by Antone Gonsalves available here.

FAQ for Mono Project, available here.

Wikipedia on Mono Project, available here.

Wikipedia on Gtk#, available here.

About Ximian, available here.

About GNOME, available here.