This week’s lecture is focussed primarily the concept of technological convergence, current internet usage trends, and social media networking (with a strong focus on how all these concepts relate to business, information management, the digital economy, and furthermore, your first two assignments). I will detail and let you practice a technique known as the Elevator Pitch that I think might help you with your first assignment (the Expression of Interest) detailed and time permitting, I will also show you how to get moving on your second assignment (The Website Plan) by providing step by step instructions on how to cover everything you need to. The second TED Talk is also available to watch now.
DOWNLOAD LECTURE (DR JASON HARDING 4.08MB – PPT)
DOWNLOAD LECTURE (DR JASON HARDING 1.18MB – PDF)
Kevin Kelly: ‘The next 5000 days of the Internet’. Kevin Kelly shares a fun stat: The World Wide Web, as we know it, is only 5,000 days old. Now, Kelly asks, how can we predict what’s coming in the next 5,000 days? ‘All of the things that we’ve seen come about, which we couldn’t even imagine happening before, just this abundance of things that are right before us, sitting in front of our laptop, or our desktop, is never ending is amazing, and yet we’re not amazed.’
CLICK HERE TO WATCH TED TALK TWO (19.30)
This week’s lecture touches on social media networking and its relation to business, details the ‘case of black milk’ (an online business success story), the benefits to relinquishing control in today’s business environments, globalization and its effect on leadership requirements, and furthermore, I will go through the finer details of Assignment Two (the Website Plan). I will show you how to get moving on this particular assignment by providing step by step instructions on how to cover everything you need to (from the Introduction to the Conclusion). Not a lecture you can afford to miss. I will also provide a little bit of time at the start of the lecture to sort out any issues you may still be having with the Assignment One (the Expression of Interest).
DOWNLOAD LECTURE (DR JASON HARDING 3.40MB – PPT)
DOWNLOAD LECTURE (DR JASON HARDING 0.95MB – PDF)
DOWNLOAD READING (GLENDA KORPORAAL – 1.58MB)
Alexis Ohanian: ‘How to make a splash in social media’. ‘Your link is just as good as your link, which is just as good as my link. As long as we have a browser, anyone can get to any website no matter how big a budget you have. The other important thing is that it costs nothing to get that content online now. And if you do, be genuine about it. Be honest. Be up front. And one of the great lessons is that it’s okay to lose control.’
CLICK HERE TO WATCH TED TALK THREE (4.27)
This week’s lecture is focused primarily on marketing techniques, the importance of virtual (on-line) communities in business, and the importance on establishing a unique selling proposition for your business (or establishing yourself as remarkable in some way). I will provide you with some crucial resources that will assist you in successfully completing the ‘Target Audience / Forecasted Use Environments’ section of Assignment Two (the Website Plan) and we will discuss a number of other components to this particular assignment task. I will furthermore, provide you with a live and relevant example of the process that goes on behind online marketing strategies. This live example has direct relevance to the ‘Process Analysis’ section of Assignment Two.
DOWNLOAD LECTURE (DR JASON HARDING 0.99MB – PPT)
DOWNLOAD LECTURE (DR JASON HARDING 0.66MB – PDF)
DOWNLOAD READING I (JOHN DURIE – 0.32MB)
DOWNLOAD READING (DAVID CARROLL – 0.84MB)
Seth Godin: ‘How to get your ideas to spread’. In a world of too many options and too little time, our obvious choice is to just ignore the ordinary stuff. Marketing guru Seth Godin spells out why, when it comes to getting our attention, bad or bizarre ideas are more successful than boring ones. Seth Godin is an entrepreneur and blogger who thinks about the marketing of ideas in the digital age. ‘The riskiest thing you can do now is be safe. The safe thing to do now is to be at the fringes, be remarkable.’
CLICK HERE TO WATCH TED TALK FOUR (17.05)
This week’s lecture is focused on Search Engine Optimisation as a marketing technique, social media risk (specifically the personal and professional relevance of these dangers), a discussion based around a couple of TED talks on privacy matters and cyber-crime (I have made the transcripts available), and I will detail design principles to keep in mind when generating your website plan and also ultimately, your website. Furthermore, we will take a look at and talk through a number of former student website examples from 2011, 2012, and 2013 in an attempt to provide clear guidance on what is a quality website and what is not (interestingly, it is quite a subjective opinion). I can also answer any burning questions regarding our current focus, the Website Plan, so feel free to speak up if you have any.
DOWNLOAD LECTURE (DR JASON HARDING 3.95MB – PPT)
DOWNLOAD LECTURE (DR JASON HARDING 2.13MB – PDF)
DOWNLOAD READING (ALESSANDRO ACQUISTI – 1.73MB)
DOWNLOAD READING (JAMES LYNE – 1.90MB)
Tim Leberecht: ‘3 ways to (usefully) lose control of your brand’. The days are past (if they ever existed) when a person, company or brand could tightly control their reputation — online chatter and spin mean that if you’re relevant, there’s a constant, free-form conversation happening about you that you have no control over. Tim Leberecht offers three big ideas about accepting that loss of control, even designing for it — and using it as an impetus to recommit to your values.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH TED TALK FIVE (6.31)
This week’s lecture is focused primarily on the turning your ideas of how the Internet could potentially be abolishing deep meaningful human interaction (hear me out on this one, it has relevance to your as future business leaders), the importance of Moral Rights, Copyright and the Creative Commons Project (all have relevance and are of the utmost importance to you as we near the start of Assignment Three, the Website Project, however are also relevant to your Website Plan). I will also show you a number of image editing techniques, show you where to source a fantastic selection of social media icons, and also how to create a banner logo for your company (relevant to both Website Plan and Website Project). Finally, I will lead you through the creation of detailed website templates so you can really sell your website concept to specific clients (this is also the only aspect of the Website Plan that we have yet to cover in detail so make sure you learn how to do this.
DOWNLOAD LECTURE (DR JASON HARDING 5.34MB – PPT)
DOWNLOAD LECTURE (DR JASON HARDING 1.19MB – PDF)
DOWNLOAD READING (JOHN NAUGHTON – 0.49MB)
Don Tapscott: ‘Four Principles for the Open World’. The recent generations have been bathed in connecting technology from birth, says futurist Don Tapscott, and as a result the world is transforming into one that is far more open and transparent. In this inspiring talk, he lists the four core principles that show how this open world can be a far better place. Don Tapscott can see the future coming and works to identify the new concepts we need to understand in a world transformed by the Internet.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH TED TALK SIX (17.47)
This week’s lecture is focused primarily on Assignment Three (The Website Project). We will cover some final points associated with your second assignment; however, the primary focus in lectures now shifts to the The Website Project. I will provide detailed information on the marking criteria associated with this assignment and I will introduce you to the publishing software (WordPress) you will be required to learn (including how to set up of your website). WordPress is an online publishing software program (you do not have to buy or download anything). If you own or have access to a laptop, i-Pad, or similar, this is one of those lectures where it is worthwhile bringing it along. For those that do not own or have access to portable computing equipment, I will be bringing in a limited number of i-Pads to borrow so you can begin work on your Website Project within the lecture.
DOWNLOAD LECTURE (DR JASON HARDING 1.31MB – PPT)
DOWNLOAD LECTURE (DR JASON HARDING 0.55MB – PDF)
This week’s lecture will be an extremely practical lecture and will deal exclusively with using the WordPress publishing platform to create your websites for Assignment Three. It is surface learning at its best but you need to go through it in order to be able to weave your magic later on. It is set up to be informal and interactive. In essence, we will cover a lot of what you need to know in order to get your websites up and running. The lecture slides provided contain practical guides to a lot of WordPress functions and contain hyperlinks to ‘step by step’ guides to the most important things you need to be able to do. If you own a laptop, notebook, I-Pad or similar, this is the one lecture where it would be good to bring it along. You will be able to follow the processes covered whilst logged in to your WordPress dashboard and working on your own sites. For those that do not own a laptop, don’t stress, I will have a number of i-Pads available for use during the lecture.
DOWNLOAD LECTURE (DR JASON HARDING 2.14MB – PPT)
DOWNLOAD LECTURE (DR JASON HARDING 1.15MB – PDF)
Last week might have been a tough lecture for many of you. Lots of new information and lots of new skills been thrown at you. However, you needed to go through it in order to grasp the scope of what is required for your third assignment (the Website Project). This week’s lecture is focussed on moving forward with the WordPress knowledge and skills required to successfully create your business websites. It will be an extremely practical lecture where you essentially control the content. As you should have now made some sort of progress with your websites, you will more than likely have run into some issues you need to sort out and also have questions on how to do certain things with the software. Bring those issues and questions with you to the lecture and we will run through various solutions on the spot. Also bring your portable computing equipment so you can work alongside me in the lecture and for those without access to any such equipment, I will again bring in i-Pads to loan.
NO CONTENT TO DOWNLOAD THIS WEEK.
This week’s lecture will be focused in the first instance on the fourth and final assessment task (The Group Presentation). I will detail everything you need to know about the Group Presentations and will also deliver three separate exemplar presentations (one focused on pitching a website, one focused on innovative technology and business, and one focused on research related to the use of online social media networks in hotel industries). Each presentation is basically an example of the sort of thing we are looking for in your final assessment tasks). I will also provide you with some extra tricks and tips that will get you around problems you will most likely come across whilst using WordPress. This component of the lecture will, as per last week, be an open forum and for the most part be directed by you.
DOWNLOAD LECTURE (DR JASON HARDING 2.19MB – PPT)
DOWNLOAD LECTURE (DR JASON HARDING 0.95MB – PDF)
This week’s lecture will again focus solely on WordPress and your third assignment task (the Website Plan). I will provide you with some extra tricks and tips that will get you around problems you will most likely come across whilst using this publishing software to successfully complete this task. The lecture will, as per last week, be an open forum and for the most part be directed by you. So think about the types of issues you are having with WordPress and this assignment, bring them along to the lecture, and make sure you speak up so we can sort them out right then and there. As this week’s lecture is comprised of such a practical format, there is no need for lecture slides. Just make sure you bring along your laptops, i-Pads or other portable computing devices so you can work on your projects in the lecture and as usual, for those who do not have any access to these types of portable computing devices, I will bring in the same batch of i-Pads again for you to use during the lecture.