Extra Credit; Study Guide; Case Due Date etc.

• The extra credit assignment has been posted under the "Exams and Grades" page (http://www.buec.udel.edu/sivaramana/Exams%20&%20Grades_Spr_477.htm). If you choose to do it, it should not take more than 15 minutes for you to complete this assignment.

  
  

• Final Exam Study Guide and Sample Final exam have been posted on the same page.

  
  

• Due to popular demand, the last case submission date has been extended from Monday, May 9 to Wednesday, May 11 at the start of class. If you would like to turn in your case before May 11, you may do so.

  
  

• Please remember that your project is due on May 11. Also, your peer evaluations are due on or before May, 11.

  
  

• Also, the student presentations on my website have been updated. Please go through the articles discussed in those presentations for your final exam.
  

Blog Office Hours: Wednesday, May 4 (tomorrow)

I'll be in Anu's office from 12 - 2 pm tomorrow, Wednesday May 4 if anyone needs to stop by and discuss their blog and cover any issues with the blog project etc.

Promotional Blogs on the Rise

Further testimony that blogging is becoming an important marketing tool, clickz has released an article: Promotional Blogs on the Rise.

Nice to see it cite the King Kong movie blog as an example of giving fans an inside look into the movie development. A blog this class site has linked to from the beginning as a good example of a blog. The article also talks of using blogs to promote TV shows which also seems a natural fit, especially given the number of class blogs we have covering TV shows / watching and movie reviews etc.

Readings for May 4: Emerging Technologies

1. Organizing Your Life with a Mobile Phone
   
2. Target's Not-So-Smart Cards
   

Readings for May 2: New Product Development and Emerging Technologies

1. Wi Fi for the Marketer
   
2. Biometric Cell Phones Coming - But US Will Be Last
   

Blog: More on building community

Many bloggers write posts that essentially 'comment' on other bloggers' posts. What do you achieve by this ? You are showing another blogger you are interested in what he / she has to say, and you have additional insight to add. This should draw that blogger to your site, thus adding more to your community etc. So how do you do this ?

Go to a blogger search engine, i.e. technorati.com Key in a search term that is related to your blog (if you are a Yankees blogger, yankees should work, a desperate housewives blogger would key in "desperate housewives" ("" are needed for a phrase)). The results are results of the most recent entries of blogs around the blogosphere that have included the keyword(s) you are looking for. Find something interesting ... and "blog it" (i.e. write an entry that includes a direct link to the post you are writing about).

Class Notes for April 27: Chapter 15 Wireless Marketing

The following are the slides for class, chapter 15.

EDIT: added:

1. New Product Development Slides: 1.
   
2. New-Product Development Slides: 2
   
3. How Product Developers Use The Internet
   
   

Handouts for April 25

The following are the handouts for Predictive Modeling Techniques.

Blog Project: Second Feedback and Office Hours

I plan to e-mail you, over the course of the next few days, a second set of feedback. I hope to complete this by next wednesday. On wednesday, April 27, from 12 - 2 pm, I will be in Anu's office and available for any issues you are having with your blog. I have also just posted the guidelines for the grading of the project.

Questions for Case: Living on Internet Time

1. (45 points) What are the similarities and differences between the four approaches to product development? What drives these differences?
   
   
2. (50 points) An old friend from college has come up with a great video game idea. The game would be aimed at high school and college students, and would allow them to play with or against each other on the Internet. The software would allow them to build cities in cyberspace, trade with each other, wage war, and engage in a variety of other activities. Your friend has a lot of experience with writing game software, but would like your help in designing a process for taking that idea to market. You have decided to accept this challenge (you love the idea.) Assume that you have funding for hiring enough (a half dozen or so) software developers, and any equipment that you might reasonably need. Specify the sequences of project phases, gates, and milestones, as well as any specific methodologies (user needs, contextual analysis, etc.) that you think you should use. Your process design should define the sequence of major product development activities.
   
   
3. (5 points): Formatting and cover page. See the following section for details
   

Formatting Guidelines for Writing up the Case Analysis
(Same for all cases to be analyzed this semester)

• Case Analysis Submission Instructions
  
• Submit assignment at the beginning of class.
  
• Cover Page
  

Assignment Title: Case Analysis Assignment

• Your full name:
  
• Course Title and Number – BUAD 477: Information Technology Applications in Marketing
  
• Semester: Spring 2005
  
• Assignment
  
• The assignment is to be written in the form of a memorandum addressed to the Instructor.
  
• Format:
  
• Text should be double-spaced and use a 12-Point Font
  
• 1 – inch margin on all sides
  
• Page Limit: Max. 5 Pages. - Not including cover page.
  
• Space saving hints
  
• Include Tables and other visuals in the appendix.
  
• Do not re-state information from the case. You can just refer to the information by stating the page number on which the information appears.
  
• Any format violation will be penalized with negative points.
  

• General Instructions for Written Assignment

• Papers will be evaluated for correct spelling, structure, grammar and punctuation.
  
• Remember, the spell and grammar checker on your computer does not catch everything.
  
• There is no substitute for careful proofreading to find typing and careless errors.
  
• If you use any information from external sources (print or otherwise), use a writer’s reference or writing style guidebook for assistance with effective writing or refer to the next section titled “Documenting Sources for an academic paper.”
  
• Written assignments are to be submitted with letter quality printing.
  

Documenting Sources for an Academic Research Paper

• As stated by Diana Hacker, the author of A Writer’s Reference, “In academic research papers and in any other writing that borrows information from sources, the borrowed information – quotations, summaries, paraphrases, and any other facts or ideas that are not common knowledge – must be documented.”
  
• See information on Plagiarism on Page 4 of Class Syllabus.
  
• Be careful not to copy words or paraphrase thoughts from the text, readings, or other sources.
  
• If you do use words or paraphrase thoughts from readings, text or other sources, you must properly document and cite your source of information.
  
• Use a writing style book, writer’s reference or a guide to writing research papers for specific guidelines for complete citations for books, articles, government publications, company annual reports, home pages, etc.
  
• As a general rule, provide as much information about the source as possible including author, editor, title, publication, publisher, date published, etc.
  

Examples to help with your assignments

• Book:
  Berkowitz, Eric N., et al. Marketing. 6th edition. Boston: Irwin McGraw–Hill, 2000.
  
• Article:
  Thurm, Scott. “Scanner Prices Plunge as Prices Soar.” Wall Street Journal December 17, 1998, Section B.
  
• World Wide Web Site:
  “History: Budweiser Through the Years…The Company Timeline.” Budweiser Homepage [Online]. Available: http://www.budweiser.com/archives.html [1999 Anheuser-Busch Inc., St. Louis, MO].
  

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• Remember that there is no right or wrong answer. The emphasis of the discussion will be on the analysis of a number of issues in arriving at a “well-thought out” decision on the ideal strategies for Internet ventures.
  

Blog Project: Grading Scheme

Blog project: how it will be graded.

We will ask you to e-mail alex@udel.edu during the last week of classes. This e-mail should include relevant links you will need to provide with respect to your blog project work (appearance in google, site's you have commented on etc.) and your assessment of your group members' blogs. Your blog will be graded as follows:

Overall Design 25%
This comprises the look and feel of the blog. It includes the extra links, consideration of the additional 'headers' used in the template and other resources and content linked to the template.

The grade will be assigned based on the overall look of the design and how the design is impacted by the additional content that has been included and linked to from the template (other links, other blogs, affiliate programs, adsence programs, other content included in the template that helps add context to the blog etc.)

Commenting: 25%
You will need to provide me all the blogs' URLs to which you have commented, this includes classmates blogs as well as outside of class blogs. It would be helpful if you provided me the direct link (permalink) of the actual entries to which you commented. I will also determine how well you have responded to comments on your own blog.

Content of your blog: 40%
This falls into two parts.
A. Content re: your posts
The quality of the posts (relevance to theme, writing style etc.), the frequency of the posts and the links provided within the posts.

B. content re: what you add to your template (links and additional resources etc.)
Additional content that has been included and linked to from the template (other links, other class blogs, Other theme-related blogs, sitemeter, affiliate programs, adsence programs, other content included in the template that helps add context to the blog etc.) Note, it is not a question of the more links and resources you have the better it must be, its the quality of the links and resources and how they tie to your blog that is critical.

Bloglines Subscriptions: 10%
You need to subscribe to:
A. this class
B. other blogs within your group
C. other resources, theme-related blogs (esp. those listed on your blog)
You need to make your subscriptions public and make sure this is listed on this class site along with your blog. If this is not the case, please e-mail me the appropriate link.

Opportunities for extra grade consideration. (10% extra)
While not required for a full grade, you will be rewarded for the following additional things:
a. your blog's appearance in google (need to send me the google URL of the search that lists your blog as one of the results)
b. your blog's link from other, NON class blogs (need to provide me the URL of the blog that lists your blog)

We will also get feedback from you about your group members' blogs. This feedback may be used to increase your overall grade. We will ask each of you to provide an overall assessment of each of the blogs within the group, the assessment will focus on the design and utility of the blog. The feedback you provide about your group members will also be assessed, in terms of its value to the blog that you are assessing, and again could effect an increase in your grade.

Some of the previous entries on this site with respect to the blog project:


Building Community

Initial Group Project Guidelines

Class Project

BusinessWeek article on Blogging

The following cover story on BusinessWeek: Blogs Will Change Your Business seems to be a decent 'survey' of the explosive growth of blogs and their potential impact on business and mainstream media.  At the end of the story BusinessWeek announces its own blog:  blogspotting.net  It may be interesting to follow this new entrant to the blogosphere!