Course Information

Course title:

Introduction to Electronic Commerce

Course number:

INFS 640, Section 001

Course discipline:

Internet

Course description:

Course Overview
The Internet and the World Wide Web are revolutionizing the way people, businesses and governments transact business via electronic commerce.  This process is just beginning and will have enormous impact on our activities and the way we relate to people and organizations.  This course will examine the major trends and technologies in electronic commerce (e-commerce), including the Internet, security, architectures, policy and social issues.

Topics Covered
The topics covered correspond to those chapters in the textbook, "E-commerce: business, technology and society" by Kenneth C. Laudon and Carol Guercio Traver.  There will be additional reading made available through GMU's Digital Library, primarily articles from the ACM and IEEE Digital Libraries.

1. E-Commerce Business Models and Concepts

2. E-Commerce Infrastructure:  The Internet and World Wide Web

3. Building an E-Commerce Web Site

4. Security and Encryption

5. E-Commerce Payment Systems

6. E-Commerce Marketing Techniques

7. E-Commerce Applications: Business-to-Consumer, Consumer-to-Consumer, Business-to-Business, Digital Government, Marketplaces, and Communities.

Course dates:

January 24 2006 through May 16 2006

Location:

Robinson Hall, Room A247

Meeting day & time:

Tuesdays, 4:30 to 7:10 PM

Prerequisite(s):

INFS 501, 515, and 590, or equivalent

WebCT

http://webct41.gmu.edu, INFS640-001-S06

Instructor Information

Name:

Harry J. Foxwell, Ph.D. (GMU 2003), http://cs.gmu.edu/~hfoxwell

Email:

hfoxwell@cox.net  OR  harry.foxwell@sun.com
Prefix all message subjects with INFS640:

Office location:

Science and Tech Building 2, Room 330 (see administrator)

Office hours:

WebCT Chat, or by appointment.

Phone:

571-203-6704

Teaching Assistant (TA):

Rishin Haldar, rhaldar@gmu.edu

Grading Policy

Introduction:

Student grades will be determined based on class participation, homework assignments and papers, a final exam and a project:

Component

Percentage

Homework Assignments (topic exercises, paper reviews, WebCT participation, etc)

20%

Research Paper 1

15%

Research Paper 2

15%

Project

30%

Final Exam

20%

Grading Guidelines:

Some assignments are graded subjectively:

A: consistently above and beyond the course/assignment requirements
B: meets and occasionally exceeds the course/assignment requirements
C: minimally meets the course/assignment requirements
F: fails to meet the course/assignment requirements

Some assignments are graded objectively:

A   : 94-100%
A-  : 88-93%
B+ : 83-87%
B   : 78-82%
C   : 65-77%

Honor Code

Objectives and Goals:

Honor Code
All work performed in this course will be subject to GMU's Honor Code.  Students are expected to do their own work in the course unless a group project is approved by the instructor.  In papers and project reports, students are expected to write in their own words, rather than cutting-and-pasting from sources found on the Internet.  If you do use material from books, articles, and the Web, enclose the material in quotes and provide a reference.  If a paragraph is used then it should be indented in the text (both left and right margins).  [See Format below]

Textbooks

Required reading:

E-Commerce : business. technology. society., Kenneth C. Laudon and Carol G. Traver, Addison-Wesley, Second Edition, 0-321-20056-X

Assignments

Format

Plain text, PDF, HTML, StarOffice/OpenOffice, all accepted.  MS format documents also accepted, but the instructor will have to convert them to one of the previous formats...best to do the conversion yourself.  Email assignments to the instructor, CC to the TA when specified.  Printed assignments accepted.  Papers should be formatted double-space, 10 or 12 point font, 1" margins.  Use Chicago Manual of Style for guidance on citation style, usage, etc.  (Don't buy the big CMS.  See the smaller A Manual for Writers by Kate Turabian).

Writing Style

When grading papers, I generally assign 40% to the quality and thoroughness of the description, discussion, or explanation of the specific topic; examples and diagrams to clarify the text are encouraged.  Another 40% is assigned for the relevance to E-Commerce concepts and technologies.  That is, the paper must make clear its relevance to E-Commerce.  The final 20% relates to the quality and proper use of references.  Reference other work within the text of your paper, and list the references at the end of the paper.  Proper references are essential for crediting the work of others, and to help your readers locate the referenced material.  See cs.gmu.edu/~menasce/papers/cmg00.pdf for an example of how to cite and list references.

Assume that the audience for your paper is an intelligent reader with computer knowledge who is not familiar with your specific paper topic.

• Do not use slang or colloquialisms; some readers whose first language is not English may not understand phrases such as "the system was wedged"

• Do not misuse terms nor use terms whose meanings are not clear, like "increased exponentially", or "steep learning curve"

• Check your grammar and spelling; if you need help expressing yourself, get help from GMU's Writing Center at http://writingcenter.gmu.edu

• Avoid jargon.  Explain and reference concepts critical to your topic.

• Expand NTAs [Non-Trivial Abbreviations] upon first use

• Avoid meaningless marketing terms (like "seamless integration")

• read http://ftp.digital.com/pub/DEC/SRC/publications/levin/SOSPhowto.html for some useful guidance on writing technical papers

Specific Assignments and Due Dates

Topic Exercises

Occasional HW exercises assigned in class related to the topic under discussion

Paper Review

One or more research papers from IEEE, ACM, and other sources will be presented on a current E-Commerce issue.  Paper(s) will be reviewed, compared, critiqued, etc

1. Choose a research paper in a current ACM or IEEE magazine or journal that concerns the social or economic impact of an aspect of E-Commerce. ACM and IEEE digital libraries are available from on-campus systems. Summarize the main points of the paper, comment (your reaction/opinion) on the paper's conclusions, be prepared to discuss the paper in class. 1-2 pages, due Feb 21

2. Choose a research paper in a current ACM or IEEE magazine or journal that concerns a technical aspect of E-Commerce. ACM and IEEE digital libraries are available from on-campus systems. Summarize the main points of the paper, comment (your reaction/opinion) on the paper's conclusions, be prepared to discuss the paper in class. 1-2 pages, due Apr 25

   Suggested Topics/Sources:

   Communications of the ACM, December 2005 (Semantic Web), February 2006 (PRESENT/B2C), IEEE Internet Computing, ACM Queue Magazine, publications of D.Menasce (http://cs.gmu.edu/faculty/Menasce-pubs.htm)

Research
Paper 1

An analysis and discussion of a current social/economic issue in E-Commerce.  Approximately 10 pages, use at least 3 major topic sources (books, research articles, web sites).

• Suggested topics (your specific topic to be approved by instructor)

  • Intellectual Property issues (DMCA, for example)

  • Micro-payments...what are they, are they practical?

  • US Government regulation of E-Commerce (taxation, for example)

  • effect of E-Commerce on Storefront commerce (books, music, for example)

  • Global/International E-Commerce issues

  • Economic impact of phishing/hijackiing/spoofing

  • M-Commerce (Mobile E-Commerce)

  • ...

• Due Date: March 7

Research
Paper 2

An analysis and discussion of a current technical issue in E-Commerce.  Approximately 10 pages, use at least 3 major topic sources (books, research articles, web sites).

• Suggested topics (your specific topic to be approved by instructor)

  • RFID

  • Intelligent/Mobile agents

  • The Semantic Web

  • CMP/CMT scalability

  • Dynamic sizing

  • High-Availability Solutions

  • Multi-media content delivery

  • PKI

  • M-Commerce (Mobile E-Commerce)

  • ...

• Due Date: April 11

Project

Implement a model multi-tier E-Commerce solution (Client, Web Server, Application Server, Database Server).

• Detailed requirements

  • individual, or group (max 3 students per group; select your group with complementary skills!) Email your group and project description to the instructor by March 14. Changes to your group or project are okay after that date with permission of the instructor, but delays may affect the quality of your project

  • Implement and demonstrate basic 3-tier functionality; use the reference implimentations from Sun or IBM (Pet Store for J2EE), or example implementation from application/database server documentation

  • use open source or free trial software:

    • Web Servers: Apache, Sun Java System Web Server, MS IIS6, ...

    • Application Servers: GlassFish, JBoss, Zope, TomCat, WebSphere Community Edition, Sun Java System Application Server, MS IIS6, ...

    • Database Servers: MySQL, Derby, Postgres, Oracle, Berkeley DB, ...

  • Use the Lab in ST2/137, or other Labs (http://labs.ite.gmu.edu), or your own system(s).

  • Prefered solution should use separate systems for each tier, but okay to run all on one system. Some interesting ways to do this include VMware (free server), XEN, OpenSolaris, MS Virtualization Server 2005, etc

• The goal of this project is for you to demonstrate your understanding of the technical components of a web-based E-Commerce system. You may include/demonstrate special features such as personalization, security features, etc.

• Due Date: May 2