Mashups - From week 10 Scarpbook

Firstly, let’s take a look at what “Mashups” means from Wikipidia:

“In web development, a mashup is a web page or application that uses or combines data or functionality from two or many more external sources to create a new service. It implies easy, fast integration, frequently using open APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) and data sources to produce enriching results that were not necessarily the original reason for producing the raw source data. … In the past years, more and more web applications provide APIs that enable software developers to easily integrate data and functions instead of building it themselves. Mashups can be considered to have an active role in the evolution of social software and Web 2.0.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashup_%28web_application_hybrid%29 >

Some examples of a mashup would be Google Map and Youtube as well as Tweeter, where everyone around the world could update their status every second.

Mashups could serve very well in international governance because mashups can help the governments and other firms to display information effectively to the internet users. Mashups display mass of information such as videos, maps, webs, news, images, Wikipedia, blogs, jobs, shopping, government and etc. since we are more becoming digital native, Mashups can be very useful tool for informing us (as users) information about different subjects. And it can gather information globally then deliver to us. Mashups not only provide a way for governments and firms to spread information effectively but as a user of the information, we feel that Mashups are very easy to access and we also enjoy exploring the internet through mashup since they do providing information all around the world. From business point of view, mashups help to expand the sector of the business, since Mashups help to organize all the data and useful information around the world, a business can make a better decision such as where should the firm located? What is the target market? Or even what kind of products would be popular in a particular country? Etc. decisions like these are not easy to make, but because the emerged of mashups, this process become not as difficult as previous.

Few interesting mashup examples:

http://clusty.com/

https://mozillalabs.com/ubiquity/

http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/

http://maps.google.ca/

Communication - From week 9 Scarpbook

What does global civil society look like? Where are the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ forces located, and how do they achieve their ends?

Create a map to complement your blog entry and integrate it into your blog.

Global Business (Privacy) - From week 8 Scarpbook

Does Internet Democratize the Consumer? Is privacy a concern?

Yes, internet does democratize the consumer from time to time. The emerged of Internet, not only improved the way people communicating, but also changed the tradition of the society that we used to have. Online-shopping is one forms of new tradition we are experiencing right now. An example that can best describe internet democratization would be the Ebay site. A consumer who is physically living in Ontario can buy a product from Hong Kong by just a “click”, the power of this “click” means, this consumer is finally ended up with the most satisfied product that she/he has been looking for while. (Information sharing over the internet) Secondly, buying products over the internet resulted saving in transportation from Ontario to Hong Kong. (Lead to more efficient) Consumers have comparative advantage when buying products over the internet, such as compare the qualities from product made in US and the product made in Hong Kong, and he/she can compare the prices as well, (This can reduce unnecessary waste, efficiently) or sometime comparing the seller’s credibility on selling products, consumers may take a look at, rather the seller provides insurance, free shipping, return policy and etc. (processing global communication). As a consumer, Internet gives such conveniences to us. It provides us with freedom to choose, to compare, and to buy. But problems still rose, even though everything seems going toward a best direction. People are now having problems in choosing between goods and services. Since there are so many firms are in the market, they created huge competitions between goods and services. Firms are trying to give out the “best” to their customers, in order to generate huge amount of profit. The processes of improving the goods and services, is also the processes of improving consumers’ tastes and expectations on goods and services. This democratic improvement may results in consumer disappointment. Go back to my ebay example, in order to do the online shopping, we all need to provide our personal information to the business holder first. Privacy protection therefore plays an important concern to all of us. News such as “personal information selling to others”, “credit card being used by a stranger oversea” and “credit card information being hacked by hackers”, news like these are not strange to all of us. Therefore we all need internet governance to protect all of us.

Apple I-Phone Activity - From week 8 Scarpbook

Visit the Apple website and explore the I-Phone applications

Web Link:
http://www.apple.com/iphone/apps-for-iphone/

[image source: http://images.apple.com/iphone/apps-for-iphone/images/overview-hero-20090608.jpg]