Presenting Information In Different Ways

Every webpage online is full of hyper links, data and images, this means it's easy to go to a search engine such as Google, Bing or Yahoo, to find webpages full of information easily. Websites are there to provide information and be an information source for you at home, sites have a specific style that they present.

 i.e. Apple is an electronics selling website, and it will provide information about it's merchandise and has forums to assist their consumers, this website will be updated fully about once a year, the same for other sites, they need to keep refreshing their design to keep customers interested and provide a better experience. 

A website that is constantly refreshing information, and is assisted by many people all over the globe is Wikipedia, you can search thousands of terms on a search engine and there's hundreds upon thousands of edited Wikipedia pages ready to present information on a variety of different topics. These pages involve facts as well as images and information presented to you. 

What do you think? Do websites present their information well?

A Self-Service Environment In Which Consumers Carry Out Activities And Transactions Independently

Twenty years ago online shopping was not very common. Most people preferred to go to actual stores to shop. Now, shopping online has become the usual for a lot of consumers. We find it easier and more convenient to shop in the comfort of our own homes. This means that e commerce has become a big business.

Due to the growth of e commerce , it is becoming more expensive to maintain. This is why it has become very important for self-service to be an integral part of online shopping. In today's world, shoppers want personalized services even when shopping online. When you shop on your smart phone or tablet you can easily compare prices and even involve your friends in helping you decide what to purchase. There are applications you can download to help you with all your shopping needs.

Tablets have become a popular way to shop online because of the social media tools that can be used to share shopping  trends with each other. You can get advice from friends and family on the go, while you are shopping.

E-commerce is becoming an international trend. Many companies that sell items online in the U.S. are starting to expand into other countries. This means you can easily purchase items from other countries, enhancing your online shopping experience.

If you are in need of a new car but hate shopping at car dealerships, you can now purchase a car online. Certain online coupon programs can help you get a discount from participating companies.

Due to the soaring popularity of e-commerce, many online retailers have taken to creating product videos. These videos are meant to take the place of being able to actually see an item before you buy it, as you would if you were buying the item in a bricks-and-mortar shop. Fashion retailers have realized how valuable these videos are in showing you the new styles and will present you with a fashion show to help you feel confident about purchasing their merchandise online.

Stereotypically, older people have not embraced the world of technology like the younger generation has. However, studies have found that even older generations are becoming interested in e-commerce. This trend is expected to grow in the future as e-commerce becomes more widely used throughout the world.

What do you think? Is the new self-service shopping easier? Or do you prefer buying in person? 

Greater Interaction With Others And Organisations

There are many ways that people can interact with others and organisations online via websites such as Skype, FaceTime, Facebook etc. 

Entertainment seemingly soothes our anxieties, temporarily providing an escape. These less intimate choices continually put us out of touch with ourselves, and with each other. Many researchers argue the Internet will ruin social action; leaving the door open to those who already produce an isolated life and will open a door to separation to those who are not yet isolated. On the contrary, many believe it only stimulates social action. 

Today the Internet provides another way that clearly distinguishes the billions. Many businesses now use the Internet as an advertising buffet. Advertise in one place; and billions of people will see it. No longer will the pricey print-and-press technique deliver economically sound advertisements. Even the postal service is becoming the road less travelled since postage now only becomes more expensive and we have many automated mailing features via the Internet. By automatically downloading and storing data on a computer, businesses may now retrieve truthful, quick responses and point of views through online questionnaires or polls. Collaborative data has become the process of providing valuable information from the market and consistently proves credible, since it has a wide range of people who are giving the answers versus one small pool from one small geographic region. We become involved with catchy media sources that ultimately give us personal attention and enables us to participate with companies, artists and other sources we may not have otherwise had access.

 Information simply is a feeling of someone's opinion, analysis and judgment based upon history and accessible facts. One example of mass sourcing that works is Wikipedia's community-based content of authors and journalists sharing their knowledge. Also, many software providers have allowed their software to be tested over the Internet by thousands of software testers all over the world, providing a fast-efficient way to find software errors. Marketing companies have been mass sourcing for years. When marketing a new product, what better way to see if a product will sell than to provide samples to different people and secure quick, reliable feedback. The value of mass sources is the information is not limited to a small cross-section or one point-of-view. While it is gratifying to have one expert, someone who knows everything about one subject; gathering information from many knowing a little bit about several different things, we can piece a broad knowledge base, one that has various points of view and thus, gives us a better picture; if not the best picture, about our world.

Individuals now have opportunities to easily market themselves, both professionally and personally. Individual persons have the same or similar access any business or large marketing firm would; give or take a little bit of creativity. Today's technology with Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, crowd sourcing is easier than ever. If you want to get a quick response, which method would you use? Ask one person you think is the expert? Or ask an audience of several different people? Basically, how wide would you choose to cast your net? It is possible an audience gives a better variety of experts? I believe everyone is an expert at something. When we share; when we are able to share with each other, we become a diverse web of information unlike any other.

"If communication is so important to Internet users, there is good reason to expect that the Internet will have a positive social impact. Communication, including contact with neighbors, friends, and family, and participation in social groups, improves people's level of social support, their probability of having fulfilling personal relationships." Kiesler

I think it has become a societal movement today that internet use should not replace social interactions but enhance social interaction. 

What do you think? Is online interaction good or bad? 

Virtual Communities

Howard Rheingold, author of The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier, defines virtual communities as:

"the social aggregations that emerge from the Net when enough people carry on those public discussions long enough, with sufficient human feeling, to form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace."

Other elements help define virtual communities. Virtual communities can exist within an electronic village, and often many virtual communities can help make up an electronic village, but virtual communities are more communication and people oriented, while electronic villages are hardware, organization and connection oriented. There are many elements that make up a community: births, deaths, fights, reconciliation and gossip. All of these are vital and needed parts of a virtual community as they are in a physical community. Sites that display these traits are Facebook, YouTube, Twitter & Tumblr, people become addicted to their online community and often stray away from their actual real friends. 

Since virtual communities exist through computers, they are dependent on computer networks. Without computer networks, virtual communities would be just like any other common civic, professional or hobby related group that meets on a regular basis. Virtual communities are groups of people with a shared interest in a hobby, profession, or a product who get and share ideas online. The sharing is done at the convenience of the participant. 
As with anything, virtual communities have both advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages

• The technology has the power to bring enormous leverage to ordinary people.
• Provides a forum for people to discuss topics of interest.
• Allows participation at the convenience of the participant.
• Text based.
• Allows participation by many different people from many different places.
• Hides race, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities, etc.
• Promotes interaction with others that can lead to physical meetings.
• Provides a sense of anonymity.
• Some arenas are moderated.
• Not a broadcast medium.
• Media is not "fixed".
• No built in opinion restraints.

Disadvantages

• Requires knowledge of reading and writing and typing.
• Discrimination is different, but not absent.
• No built in opinion restraints.
• Easy for a few to dominate discussion.
• Obtaining network access can be a problem.
• Must have a computer, or access to a computer.
• Takes time.
• Possibility of losing touch with reality.
• Difficult to navigate and find items of interest.
• Some arenas are moderated.
• Media is not "fixed".
• Text based.
• Provides a sense of anonymity.

The biggest advantage is that the technology that makes virtual communities possible has the potential to bring enormous intellectual, social, and commercial leverage as well as, most importantly, political leverage to ordinary citizens at relatively little cost. Although, there are many forms of identification on the networks, participating in virtual communities gives people a sense of anonymity. For people who are shy or have trouble making friends in their physical community, communicating on a network can give the confidence to make new friends. The "sense" of anonymity may be why the conversations in virtual communities are so vital. If you do not have to look at people, it is much easier to say certain things.In general, virtual communities, in their current incarnation, are beneficial to society because they provide a forum for discussion of topics that may otherwise not be discussed on such an open scale. They also allow people to meet each other and have discussions in a convenient way. Despite the benefits, there are problems such as access and discrimination that need to continually be addressed in a meaningful way by participants in the virtual communities and by policy makers. Virtual communities are fostering interaction between people that would never have taken place without computer mediated communication and the respective virtual community of choice.

What do you think? Are virtual communities dangerous? Or a good way of communication? 

Mobile Technologies That Are Blurring The Distinction Between Home And Work

Smartphones have made it possible for executives to slip the office into their pockets. 

As technology becomes more mobile, it can chain employees to the office 24/7 and blur the boundaries between work and home life. Some people find smartphones help them get more work done, but others are beginning to resent losing control over the ability to keep their two worlds separate. Employers are finding they need policies to let workers know what's expected,  but many businesses still offer no clue, causing anxiety and frustration for workers.

Smartphones have made it possible for a person to slip nearly everything at his or her desk So, during intermission at a school play, an employee can give that proposal a final review and send it off. For many, such convenience comes with the challenge of making sure this virtual lifeline to the job doesn't turn into an electronic leash.

Many are finding that mobile technology has the power not only to demolish barriers, but to create them as well. In this recession, employees fear losing their jobs and are more apt to slip into 24/7 answer mode in the absence of policies. A sampling of local municipalities and companies shows that few policies address things like when to check for messages or when smartphones must be turned off.  The size of hand-held devices and the fact that employees may be required to carry them at all times probably increases the chances of lost smartphones. Laptops containing valuable data -- like Social Security numbers -- have been lost. 

Facts: 

• 62% of workers use smartphones from 1-4 hours daily for work. 
• 35% of workers use smartphones from 5-14 hours daily for work.
• 49% say they get "carried away" using their device. 
• 42% say they think having a company device means always being available for work. 

I think that there should be a bigger gap between work and home, they shouldn't interfere and the work regulations should be more strict with solely work phones. 

What do you think? Should workers have a more distinct difference between work life and home life? 

Sharing Information Quickly

With new technology constantly being introduced more and more devices are able to share information quickly to the internet. This rapid development allows you to for example take a photo, and immediately share it to a social media site via 3G, 4G or WiFi. 

Technology such as Smartphones, laptops, PC's, Mac's and now cameras can all connect instantly to the internet and enable you to either post a tweet, write a status or upload a photo. This constant attachment to social media could be described as a positive or negative thing. 

The Positives: 

• People can share what they see instantly, so the content they're posting is in real time, so you can get reactions in the moment. 
• You can contact people easily and e-mails with attachments don't have to be a slow process. 
• You are updated on other peoples lives instantly, and can see what they may be doing and comment/like/re tweet/favourite it. 
• Images that you might want on someone else's device when uploaded can be downloaded onto your computer, so you can have the copy of the file. 
• You can SMS or iMessage people images and videos to save having to upload it for everyone online. 

The Negatives: 

• People become obsessed with social media, and posting the latest picture or tweet distracts them from what they're doing or where they are. 
• Sometimes images are uploaded that shouldn't be, and the problem is that it takes a matter of seconds for someone to either save it or print screen it. 
• Anything you upload to the internet stays there somewhere forever, so silly things won't go away. 

Overall, I think the internet is incredible and 3G networks are great at sharing information online quickly, and although there are negative points, I think that if you're careful, it's a really helpful resource that we can access. 

What do you think? Is sharing information quickly a good thing? Or a bad one? 

Increased Business Opportunities Online

Businesses are increasingly joining the online community to sell their products, as well as people sensing business opportunities and starting new businesses online which in some cases have become hugely popular, and in some cases, beaten the high street market. 

E commerce is the buying and selling of goods online, and sites such as Amazon have deals that beat the high street market and take their profits. eBay is a service that also has made buying and selling easier for the consumer, and allows you to buy and sell goods quickly and easily from the comfort of your own home. 



Shopping online makes it easy for you to purchase items and get them delivered to you, opposed to you having to go out to the high street. The online market is rapidly becoming popular, and online deals make it more enticing than the regular market. Shopping sites such as ASOS have become popular due to their all year free shipping and returns, and the fact that the site offers a variety of brands as well as their own. Now you can usually find items on the high street cheaper online, and promotional codes make online shopping seem like the better option. 

Supermarkets are now offering services where you can order your groceries online and have them delivered, or click and collect in store, which saves time and saves money by showing options simply and offering deals and offers entice you to buy. 

Here are some benefits to e commerce for businesses: 

• Physical stores are limited to the area, however online, you can appeal to the mass market. 
• Gaining new customers due to search engine terms. 
• Lower costs to run, no real estate, personnel and cost effective marketing.
• Easier to locate products online.
• Remain 'open' all the time. 

The online market is rapidly becoming now popular, I personally think it's a much easier and stress free way of shopping and you can usually find things cheaper than the high street.

What do you think? Are businesses online successful or would you prefer to go on the high street?  

Communication Over The Internet

Communication over the internet displays good and bad features; in recent years it’s improved dramatically however the increasingly dangerous schemes have become smarter along with it. Wi-Fi in our homes provides an almost instant connection to anyone across the globe, and with 3G and 4G being introduced it makes it easier to connect when you’re on the go.

The good, the bad and the sneaky:

Good:

• ü  You’re able to talk to people across the globe instantly, also being able to see them via video conferencing programs such as Skype or Google Hangout. This makes it easier to stay in touch with your friends or family who live far away without having to pay the transatlantic phone call fee, as it’s done via Wi-Fi
• Instant messaging is a convenient way of staying in contact with others, SMS text messaging can now be sent to some phones through Wi-Fi through either the phone service or a mobile application which allows that. 
• ü  You can easily look up information online through search engines such as Google, Bing or Yahoo. This makes it increasingly easy to find out answers instantly, instead of the ‘dated’ method of looking into textbooks.
• ü  Shopping online makes it easy for you to purchase items and have them delivered to you, opposed to having to go out to the high street. Online deals make it more enticing as you can usually find items on the high street much cheaper online. Promotional codes and the fact you can return items back make online shopping seem like a better option.
• E commerce is the buying and selling of goods online, and sites such as Amazon offer deals much cheaper online. However now supermarkets are offering services where you can order your groceries online and have them either delivered, or click and collect in store, which saves time and saves money by showing the options simply and offering deals and offers to entice you to buy. 
• ü  Bank transactions can be made online, as well as new software where you can manage your accounts online instead of having to go to a bank to check your balance etc.
• ü  Social media/networking helps people stay in contact as you can find out what people are doing as well as being able to chat to people instantly and share thoughts or pictures on sites/communities such as Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.
• ü  Downloading files online makes it easy to listen to new artists, or copy files to print and store on your computer.
• ü  YouTube and other video platforms are rapidly becoming more popular and more people seem to be watching TV and video online rather than on their TVs as it only requires internet connection and for students especially who don’t want to buy TVs when they can find it online.

       Bad:

• ´        Phishing is where e-mails may come through to your account asking you for your details in exchange for money or other bribes, these e-mails are actually fakes not from your bank company or phone company but instead from people based in possibly a different country posing so that they get your details and then hack your accounts.
• ´        Cyber bullying is a regular occurrence from sites such as Facebook or ask.fm, where it’s easy to hide behind a computer screen and in some cases anonymously bully someone.
• ´        ‘Catfishing’ is a new form of internet slang, in which someone is pretending to be someone else online, and using other people’s photos and stealing their identity.
• ´        Piracy happens frequently and is easier to use and free torrent sites make it seem like the better option, however by doing this you’re not supporting the artist or television company and instead downloading torrents to illegally save some money.
• ´        The internet has made it simpler for people to find your location, whether this be from your IP address, or geo-tagging which shows your location on social media sites.
• ´        Computer viruses can happen by simply clicking a link to a unfamiliar site which leads to the site hacking your computer and causing it not to function properly. This causes you to reset your computer and lose all data, or alternatively have to pay a shop to fix it, which isn’t always reliable.

Personally, as great as communication is on the internet, it’s always a good idea to make sure you are cautious of the effects that it may have and be aware of the sites you’re browsing. But overall it’s one of, if not the best way of communicating with people globally and provides a great way of networking with your friends and family. 

What do you think? Is communication over the internet good or bad?