Information System Tutorial - Week 7

Enhancing collaboration using web 2.0

I. Practice exercises
1. Visit popular social online communities (such as Facebook or Bebo). What features
would entice you to visit such sites over and over again? Do you have an account in an
online community? If yes, why? If no, what is keeping you from having such account?
Is there any content you definitely would or would not post on such page?
2. Describe an application or service you would like to be able to use on the Web today
that is not yet available. Describe the potential market for this application or service.
Forecast how long you believe it will take before this will occur
3. Describe the pros and cons of collaborating with colleagues over the Web.

Answer:

1. + The features that Facebook entices me are:

- Watch feature: short videos for entertainment
- Updating and sharing photo, video, information, story
- The ability to tag images, intelligent face recognition
- Game feature: for example, playing card

+ I have an account in Facebook. I can connect and communicate with friends and
relatives mostly by messenger through Facebook when we don't have enough time
or are far away from each other. I can save my memories, memorable pictures on
Facebook and share it for friends to see; Facebook will also bring up those
memories in future years so that I can reminisce. Besides, I also received a lot of
information about news, weather, social issues from Facebook

+ I will not post private pictures and important personal information such as
personal identification number, bank account, ...; or unverified information,
sensitive information on social networks.

2. I would like to see a lot more healthcare services available through apps or just one
healthcare app that has everything. Some of the services now are through the
hospital and it is a bit cumbersome to try to use with multiple passwords and
different accounts. I would like to see one that would be more user friendly and
accessible with the ability to have every service needed under one app, such as
having a list of your doctors on one app and being able to schedule appointments
from that app. The doctors would not have to be at the same facility or with the
same healthcare system. This would make it easier for elderly people to make
appointments and keep all their information in one place. It would sort of be how
food delivery apps have a list of restaurants to choose from.
Trịnh Bảo Ngọc, FIT, HanU, mail: [email protected]
 3. Pros and Cons:
- Pros:
+ Convenience in organizing meetings: Make it easier for people who are not in
the same place to work together
+ With the ability to call meetings anytime from anywhere, online collaboration
makes managing team projects easier.
+ Stakeholders can provide quick, easy and expert feedback, which can speed
up the completion of a project
+ Significant cost and space savings especially with meetings of up to hundreds
of people such as: facilities (projectors, meeting room rental fees, air
conditioners), soft drinks, travel fees, parking fees, stationery such as paper,
pens,...
- Cons:
+ Lack of face-to-face interaction => lead to the distraction
+ Cybersecurity issues: Data can be stolen or leaked. Occasionally, uninvited
guests may impersonate a member to join the meeting to hear private
information
+ Unstable internet devices: Users have to depend on devices such as laptops,
smartphones and the stability of the Internet because without them, they cannot
join the meeting
+ Distracted by noises coming from different places

II. Multiple choice question

1. Collective intelligence is based on the notion that distributed groups of people with a
divergent range of information and expertise will be able to outperform the
capabilities of_______.
A. crowds C. individual experts
B. customers D. virtual teams
2. Social presence tools are used for _______.
A. creating an online text diary B. providing location information
C. short status updates D. customer support functions
3. Tagging is adding _______to a piece of information such as a map, picture, or Web
page.
A. metadata C. blogs
B. comments D. knowledge
4. The process of adding information such as latitude and longitude to pictures, videos,
or other information is called _______.
A. flagging C. geotagging
B. posting D. podcasting
5. Successful Enterprise 2.0 initiatives consider _______.
A. organizational culture B. the organization’s customers
Trịnh Bảo Ngọc, FIT, HanU, mail: [email protected]
 C. the latest social software applications D. all of the above
6. _______is the process of creating an online diary made up of chronological entries.
A. Wikiing C. Blogging
B. Tagging D. None of the above
7. Netcasts are also known as _______.
A. podcasts C. radiocasts
B. blogcasts D. blogging
8. RSS allows you to do all of the following except_______.
A. publish a video blog B. publish current news stories
C. receive current news stories D. edit a netcast
9. Wikis are a type of Web site where people can _______.
A. post information B. comment on information
C. access information D. all of the above
10._______communication is when people are all meeting at the same time or in real
time.
A. Synchronous C. Collaboration
B. Asynchronous D. None of the above

Trịnh Bảo Ngọc, FIT, HanU, mail: [email protected]

 III. Case study

Digg.com: Changing How News Is Delivered

Submit a news story or link to Digg.com, and if site users like it (i.e., “dig” it), the story
moves to the front page. If the story proves unpopular, site users vote to “bury” it and it
disappears. In October 2004, Kevin Rose, a former regular on the TechTV show The
Screen Saversand his friends Owen Byrne, Ron Gorodetzky, and Jay Adelson began
playing around with the idea of a user-controlled, community-based news Web site. They
launched the site on December 5, 2004, and it immediately began drawing visitors. The
original design was advertisement free, but that has changed since Google AdSense was
added to the site. Digg has so many users that “digging” a news story or Web link posting
can sometimes cause a phenomenon called the “Digg effect,” whereby increased traffic to a
linked Web site can cause it to either slow considerably or even crash. According to
Compete.com, Digg’s home page attracted over 500 million unique visitors in 2009. While
Digg remains popular, critics argue the following:

• The site gives users too much control over content, resulting in misinformation and
sensationalism.

• Companies paying for submissions have skewed the site’s original purpose.

• The site’s operators, which are its founders, exert too much control over front-page and
forum content.

• The “bury” option is undemocratic because those who vote to bury an item are allowed to
remain anonymous.

• The site is too susceptible to “gaming”—to groups or Web site operators who deliberately
try to dictate content.

In May 2007, when the Advanced Access Content System Consortium objected to Digg
posts containing encryption breaking code for HD-DVD and Blu-ray disks, management
heeded advice from attorneys and took the offending articles and posts down. A user revolt
followed that prompted Digg’s Kevin Rose to post a comment that reversed direction: “We
hear you, and effective immediately we won’t delete stories or comments containing the
code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be. If we lose, then what the hell,
at least we died trying.” In 2009, Digg.com introduced the “DiggBar” to its Web site. The
DiggBar was a toolbar that appeared at the top of the Digg home page that acted as a URL
shortener. When a link was submitted to Digg, its URL was automatically shortened and
prefixed with “www.digg.com.” When a link was clicked by a user, instead of going to the
corresponding Web site, the page appeared inside a framed Digg.com window. Using the
DiggBar, users had immediate access to features such as sharing Digg links via e-mail or
social media sites like Facebook or Twitter. In addition, users could instantly see what

Trịnh Bảo Ngọc, FIT, HanU, mail: [email protected]

other Digg users had commented about on the story, check out related stories, and see the
analytics surrounding the number of people that visited the link.

However, not long after the DiggBar’s introduction, backlash from the Web community
began to make news. Criticism of the toolbar centered on the way shortened URLs started
with a Digg domain prefix. Links that normally opened a page at another domain (thereby
giving that Web site a “hit” to statistics counters) opened in a frame and stayed within the
Digg environment. Since the use of DiggBar was not optional, millions of potential lost
“hits” were at stake. Web site owners and operators made an outpouring of negative
feedback to Digg. Within a month of launch, Digg changed the way the toolbar operated
and made it an opt-in for all unregistered users, disabling the URL shortening and framing
features.

The year 2009 also marked the year that cybercriminals used Digg to try to turn a profit. To
set their trap, scammers loaded Digg with headlines promising readers a view of leaked
personal celebrity videos. Once the reader followed the headline link, they were presented
with a software download for viewing the videos. What actually installed on the
unknowing user’s computer was a program that supposedly scanned for malicious
software. The bogus program, a type of malware, reported back serious problems found on
the computer and offered to fix the issues for a small fee. To make the deception more
realistic, the malware prevented the user’s computer from operating correctly. Although it
was unknown how many people fell into this trap, at least 50 user accounts were
determined to be participating in the scam. Digg has since terminated over 300 user
accounts suspected of spreading malicious software.

With a major redesign and update of the Digg.com home page planned in late 2010, the
company’s future looks vibrant as it continues to exemplify the spirit of user-provided-
content and community based Web 2.0 start-ups.

Questions

1. What effect does the “Digg effect” have on Web sites that are featured on Digg.com?

- When users "dig" a news story, they essentially like it and the story moves higher into
the front page where it gains popularity and exposure. The "Dig effect" is where
increased traffic to a linked Web site can cause it to either slow considerably or even
crash.

2. What are the positives and negatives to a news site that organizes its stories using user
input?

- Positives:

+ It is convenient for users to see the stories they are interested in

+ Users can see activity of other users and what is trending

Trịnh Bảo Ngọc, FIT, HanU, mail: [email protected]
+ Businesses can gain exposure to their articles - once a link is "dug" their popularity
increases exponentiall

+ The ability to administer more targeted adds based on community interests

- Negatives:

+ Site gives too much control over content resulting in misinformation or sensationalism

+ Companies paying for submissionsskew the original site purpose

+ The "bury" option is undemocraticbecause those who vote to bury areallowed to remain
anonymous - youcan't judge if it was valid or bias

+ Site is susceptible to people how tryto deliberately control content

3. How do you think Digg.com generates revenue? How do you think Digg.com will do in
the future? What are main threats to its current business?

Digg generates revenue through advertisement of other companies. They can also
generaterevenue through other companies paying them to put their news article onto digg
-sponsored story submissions. I think Digg.com will do fine for the foreseeable future,
but the online Web content industry is constantly changing, so they’ll have to prepare for
competitors entering the market. Main threats are social media sites, such as Twitter, that
allow users to “follow” news outlets and other accounts that provide them with the
information and news that interest them. Other main threats are the rise of cybercriminals
which may taint user experience. These cyber criminals set traps to readers byoffering
leaked videos which then turn into a download of malicious software

Trịnh Bảo Ngọc, FIT, HanU, mail: [email protected]