Dot Com to Dot Bomb

In the early 1990's, businesses ranging from large corporations, local mom and pop stores, and even a slew of individuals forming startup companies began to realize the potentiality of the internet. At this period in history, the internet was no longer seen a novelty for the technologically inclined but now as a powerful force for advertising and application. This led to a high demand for web development which consequently resulted in creating a lot of jobs for people to develop these sites.These developers, who either started their own development companies or worked directly for these businesses,  were making money hand over fist. From the point of view from corporations and local business this was a worthwhile investment so long as their website was well constructed and their developers were able to be paid. unfortunately, the cost of maintaining such sites and keeping their developers employed increased to such a level that the larger companies had to start laying off their employees (their web developers in particular) and the smaller companies just went bankrupt. furthermore, stocks from these .com businesses were hyper inflated which resulted in an ungodly amount of money being lost during the crash.    

Guest Speaker: Erik Hanberg

Author and Entrepreneur

 

     The internet has granted a rare opportunity to those who are both creative and self-driven. Mr. Hanberg is one such individual whose use of the internet has granted him the ability to start up a few small companies as well as become a self published author by being able to connect with the world at large. In his speech, by elaborating on his successes Mr. Hanberg made clear the fact that the internet has provided more potential than ever before.

     He started his elaboration with his creation of the Horatio by which he has staged several well-reviewed plays, musicals, and cabarets. Eric pointed out that through his ability to network and create interest in the public via the internet, the Horatio has been successful. Eric has also created two other start up businesses Exit133.com and Suite133 which both provide web-space and workspace for freelance web developers. Currently Erik and his wife, Mary, run Side X Side Creative, a boutique marketing firm for businesses and nonprofits. They bring their complementary skills to each project and help clients get the attention they deserve (Erik's ability to network as well as being a consultant and Mary's gift of graphic design). where the Horatio got a fair amount of support due to Erik's use of the internet, the demand in which others need a space to work (on the internet) and get noticed wouldn't be possible if not for the internet; however Erik was able to capitalize on this opportunity.

     In addition to Erik's entrepreneurial success, the Internet has provided Eric a platform to be a self-publishing author. He then discussed the concept of "disintermediation" in which one removes the intermediary form the equation (usually a publishing or marketing group) by being a self promoting machine and because web space is so cheap, this can allow one to save on a lot of the overhead costs. The important thing to remember is that one needs to balance time working and promoting ones product or else it will go unnoticed (what Erik called the Cave and the Stream analogy: time in the Cave = work / time in the Stream = self-promotion). The cons of being self-promoted is that it may be difficult to get the time of day from the public with out having a reputation, but as one becomes successful, the long term benefits can be greater.

 

What three things would one not buy Online? 

 

 

     If you were to ask me this question about 7 years ago, I would have said everything is not worth buying online (I was about 16 and skeptical at the time). Now, I'm still skeptical but my skepticism is a little more lacks as I buy things from a source I know or if it were an item like a book or a movie (small non-perishables or digital media). the only real exception I make to this rule is Amazon in regards to school textbooks (book store prices tend to make one thankful for almost any condition a book could be in). However, the big three items I would not want to purchase online are perishable items such as fruit or uranium-238 (I don't care if its half life is 4.5 billion years or not, it parishes). Another important grouping of items I probably wouldn't buy are clothing. Most  people advertising clothing are like most people advertising McDonalds Cheeseburgers (making it look better than what it is). Furthermore, because one size does not fit all, I would be more inclined to tryout the clothes in person. a last grouping of items I would not purchase over the internet are any items over $50 with out a return policy or warranty. Again the exception I would make would be for text books but the hope with purchasing text books online is that one doesn't need to shell out this kind of cash. 

Online Scavenger Hunt:

9 teams, 19 questions, 1 hour

who will survive?

    Ok so it wasn't as dire as the subheading made it out to be, but with gloating rights and a promise of a $10 Starbuck gift card (to grant the students the ability to add milk and sugar to their overpriced coffee) anything can seem dire at the time. what was truly interesting about this group activity was the array of information one can gleam using common searches. some questions were as easy as can one find 3 different dating search sites to specific questions as being able to find a house on Zillow between a certain dollar amount, with so many rooms and located in a predetermined city. A few of the questions were even as obscure or as difficult as finding an article for a conference written in 2010 by the Professor and finding out his middle sister's married last name (a question that a dedicated person in our group committed themselves to and actually found). There was one group, however, that completed the scavenger hunt in less than half an hour (much to the Professors surprise) and got all the questions right. This just reinforces the idea that privacy is becoming antiquated.