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SHORT ANSWER

End of Chapter 8 ( p.606) Questions 1,2,4,8,14.

1. Identify the four main dimensions that e-commerce ethical, political, and social issues
fall into and provide an example of how each dimension might apply to an individual.

The four major dimensions are information rights, property rights, governance, and
public safety and welfare. For an individual, an information right issue might be,
“how is my clickstream behavior being monitored and shared without my
knowledge.” A property rights issue might be, “How are my creative submissions to a
social sharing sight being used by the site?” A governance issue might be, “What are
the legal mechanisms that protect me from online harassment?” A public safety and
welfare issue might be, “How does my child perform as well as other children in
school if other children have better access to Internet technologies and support?”

2. Define the ethical principle of accountability and describe two ways in which Internet
technologies have raised accountability issues.

Accountability means that individuals, organizations, and societies should be held

accountable to others for the consequences of their actions. One way Internet
technologies bring up accountability issues is that Internet technologies allow many
anonymous user activities, such that an individual can cause harm to another without
being able to be identified or be held accountable for their actions. Another way is
that the Internet enables global communication, interaction, and purchasing, such that
it is difficult for one country to impose accountability for Internet activities in another
country.
3. Q4. What is an ethical dilemma? Describe two tactics can you use to resolve or reach
a greater understanding of the dilemma.

A dilemma is a situation in which there are at least two diametrically opposed actions,
each of which supports a desirable outcome. You can use a 5-step approach in
reaching a greater understanding of the dilemma, which includes identifying and
clearly describing the facts; defining the dilemma and identifying the higher-order
values involved. Identifying the stakeholders; identifying the actions that can
reasonably be taken; and identifying the potential consequences of your options. You
can also use a variety of candidate ethical principles to analyze the dilemma, such as
the Golden Rule, the No Free Lunch Rule, the Slippery Slope rule, etc.
4. Q8. What are some of the ethical, social, or political issues raised by the information
density created by e-commerce technology?

Information density means that massive amounts of information is generated and

available. With all this information, it becomes more difficult to evaluate and
compare different information, and easier to create false or misleading information.
14. Identify the five steps outlined in the text you can use to analyze ethical conflicts.

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The five steps are (1) identify and describe the facts; (2) define the conflict and
identify higher order values involved; (3) identify the stakeholders; (4) identify the
options that can be reasonably taken; and (5) identify the potential consequences of
your options.

End of Chapter 9 ( p.680) Questions 1,2,5,13,17

1. Does time spent on the Internet cannibalize or complement traditional media?

Several studies reveal that time spent on the Internet reduces consumer time
avail¬able for other media (Pew Research Center, 2013). This is referred to as
cannibal¬ization. The alternative argument is that the Internet and traditional media
are complementary and mutually supportive rather than substitutive. True, there has
been a massive shift of the general audience to the Web, and once there, a large
percentage of time is spent on viewing content. Yet more recent data finds a more
complex picture. Despite the availability of the Internet on high-resolution tablet
computers, television viewing remains strong, video viewing on all devices has
increased, and the reading of all kinds of books, including physical books, has
increased. Total music consumption measured in hours a day listening to music has
increased dramatically even as CDs decline, and movie consumption has increased
dramatically even as DVD sales decline markedly. The impact of the Internet on
media appears to be increasing the total demand for media, and even in some cases,
stimulating demand for traditional products like books. It is also the case that content
firms’ physical products—printed newspapers, magazines, music CDs, and movie
DVDs—are being replaced by digital versions. Multimedia use reduces the
cannibalization impact of the Internet for some visual and aural media, but obviously
not for reading physical books or newspapers. And even for these print media, the
Internet is simply an alternative source; Internet users are increasing the time they
spend online reading newspapers, magazines, and even books. Ironically, the new
mobile media platform of smartphones and tablet computers has led to an explosion
in reading of both newspapers and books, but digital versions, not the printed
versions. Bottom line: the Internet is substituting for physical mediums, but it can be,
and often is, supportive and complementary to content owned by traditional media
firms, including newspapers, magazines, book publishers, television, and Hollywood
movies. It’s all about content regardless of the means of transmission.

2. What are the basic revenue models for online content and what is their major
challenge?

There are three revenue models for delivering content on the Internet. The two “pay”
models are subscriptions (usually all you can eat) and a la carte (pay for what you
use). The third model uses advertising revenue to provide content for free, usually
with a “freemium” (higher price) option. The major challenge is that consumers still
expect much content to be available for free and are not necessarily willing to pay for
online content.

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5. What are the three dimensions where the term “convergence” has been applied?
What does each of these areas of convergence entail?

The three dimensions where the term convergence has been applied are technology
platform, content design, and industry structure. Technology platform convergence
refers to the integration of previously separate platform functionalities into a singular
digital device. It refers to the development of hybrid devices that can combine the
functionality of many different existing media. Content convergence actually includes
three dimensions: design, production, and distribution. Content design convergence
has occurred when the design becomes measurably different due to the new skills that
have been learned for fully exploiting the new technological capabilities. Content
production convergence drives content design convergence as new tools are
developed for economically producing content for delivery to multiple platforms.
Content distribution convergence occurs when the distributors and consumers have
the new devices needed to receive, store, and experience the product. Industry
structure convergence is the merger of various enterprises into powerful synergistic
combinations that can cross-market content on many different platforms and create
works that use multiple platforms..
13. What are OTT entertainment services?

Over-the-top (OTT) entertainment services refers to the use of the Internet to deliver
online entertainment services to the home. “Over-the-top” refers to the fact that the
entertainment service rides “on top” of other network services like cable TV and
telephone service.
17. What are some of the different revenue models with which the magazine
industry is experimenting? 


End of Chapter 10 (p.723) Questions 1,2,3,4

1. What is an online social network?

An online social network is as an area online where people who share common ties
can interact with one another.

2. How does a social network differ from a portal? How are the two similar?

Social networks involve (a) a group of people, (b) shared social interaction, (c)
common ties among members, and (d) people who share an area for some period of
time.

3. What are some ways to measure the business potential and influence of a social
network site?

The number of unique visitors is one way to measure the influence of a site. Time on
site is another important metric. The more time people spend on a site, called

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engagement, the more time to display ads and generate revenue. The amount of
advertising revenue generated by sites is perhaps the ultimate metric for measuring
the business potential of a site.

4. List and describe the five generic types of social networks and online communities.

General communities offer members opportunities to interact with a general audience

organized into general topics. It is an online social gathering place to meet and
socialize with friends, share content, schedules, and interests. Examples: Facebook,
Pinterest, Tumblr, and Twitter.
Practice networks offer members focused discussion groups, help, information, and
knowledge relating to an area of shared practice. For instance, Linux.org is a non-
profit community for the open source movement, a worldwide global effort involving
thousands of programmers who develop computer code for the Linux operating
system and share the results freely with all. Other online communities involve artists,
educators, art dealers, photographers, and nurses. Practice networks can be either
profit-based or nonprofit, and support themselves by advertising or user donations.
Interest-based social networks offer members focused discussion groups based on a
shared interest in some specific subject, such as business careers, boats, horses,
health, skiing, and thousands of other topics. Because the audience for interest com-
munities is necessarily much smaller and more targeted, these communities have
usually relied on advertising and tenancy/sponsorship deals. Sites such as Fool.com,
Military.com, Sailing Anarchy, and Chronicle Forums all are examples of Web sites
that attract people who share a common pursuit.
Affinity communities offer members focused discussions and interaction with other
people who share the same affinity. “Affinity” refers to self- and group identification.
For instance, people can self-identify themselves on the basis of religion, ethnicity,
gender, sexual orientation, political beliefs, geographical location, and hundreds of
other categories. For instance, iVillage, Oxygen, and NaturallyCurly are affinity sites
designed to attract women. These sites offer women discussion and services that
focus on topics such as babies, beauty, books, diet and fitness, entertainment, health,
and home and garden. These sites are supported by advertising along with revenues
from sales of products.
Sponsored communities are online communities created by government, nonprofit, or
for-profit organizations for the purpose of pursuing organizational goals. These goals
can be diverse, from increasing the information available to citizens; for instance, a
local county government site such as Westchestergov.com, the Web site for
Westchester County (New York) government; to an online auction site such as eBay;
to a product site such as Tide.com, which is sponsored by an offline branded product
company (Procter & Gamble). Cisco, IBM, HP, and hundreds of other companies
have developed their internal corporate social networks as a way of sharing
knowledge.

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