ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries C&RL News ■ October 1999 / 735 IN T E R N E T RESOURCESElectronic comm erce The technological transform ation of business by D eborah Lynn H a rrin g to n T h e exponential grow th o f Internet p o p u ­ larity a n d the evolution of technological capabilities have forever transform ed the w business is being conducted. This transfor­ mation, the u se o f Internet technology to m ar­ ket an d deliver a co m pany’s product a n d ser­ vices over the Web, is k n ow n as electronic com m erce. With only a com puter, brow ser, an d Internet connection, millions o f w o rld ­ w id e consum ers can go shopping at any time an d any place to purchase such things as cars, airline tickets, flowers, prescriptions, books, an d investm ent stocks. T he success o f electronic com m erce, o r e-com m erce, is evidenced by the value o f online transactions ranging in the billions o f dollars p e r year. Businesses, b o th b ig a n d small, are racing to put u p virtual storefronts to take advantage o f the m any opportunities that exist w h en conducting business over the In te rn e t. Sales are stren g th en e d as th e Web o p en s n ew m arkets an d offers com panies th e o p ­ portunity to b eco m e truly global in reach. C ustom er relations im prove as th e co m pany provides m ore inform ation a n d com m unica­ tion w ith custom ers thro u g h their Web p res­ en ce an d offer m ore one-o n -o n e m arketing for specific needs. O n e o f th e best w ays to learn ab o u t elec­ tronic com m erce is to ex p erien ce it in action o n th e Internet, w h ere it all takes place in th e virtual malls an d from individual com ­ ay pan y virtual storefronts. A few interesting sites to get started w ith include: Yahoo! S hopping ( h t t p : / /s h o p p in g .y a h o o .c o m /); iC at Mall (h ttp ://m a ll.ic a t.c o m /m a ll/); iMall ( h t tp : // w ww .im all.com); an d Amazon Books (h ttp :// w w w .am azon.com ). Electronic com m erce is only in its infancy, an d the o pportunities for b o th business an d co n su m er are limitless. Taking advantage o f o pportunities requires b o th a k n ow ledge o f the m any facets o f electronic com m erce an d an u n d e rs ta n d in g o f h o w to successfully m erge business an d technology to bring it all together. T he In tern et provides a w ealth o f inform ation resources covering every aspect o f electronic com m erce from tutorials to a d ­ v an ced technologies. The inform ation resources suggested here are th e a u th o r’s favorites a n d provide a g en ­ eral introduction to th e m any areas o f e-com ­ m erce in the follow ing categories: getting started, academ ic research centers, discussion lists an d new s groups, g o v ernm ent an d in­ d u stry o rg an izatio n s, n e w s, statistics a n d trends, an d technology. G e t tin g sta rte d • allECommerce. allECommerce, created b y V-Networks Inc., is a com prehensive Web site that provides links to e-com m erce new s an d o th er resources for an overview o f th e m any facets o f electronic com m erce. Access. h ttp ://w w w .allec.co m /. About the author Deborah Lynn H arrington is a business reference librarian a t West Campus Library, Texas A & M University, College Station, e- mail: dharrington@tamu.edu http://shopping.yahoo.com/ http://mall.icat.com/mall/ http://www.imall.com http://www.amazon.com http://www.allec.com/ mailto:dharrington@tamu.edu 736 / C&RL News ■ October 1999 allECom Internet-Based ECommerce News, • E-Commerce Research Room. “The In tern et’s largest an d m ost com prehensive e- com m erce resource an d portal site,” it p ro ­ vides num erous links to articles an d resources for specific issues in e-com m erce. Also see th e link to th e Web M arketing Info C enter (http://w w w .w ilsonw eb.com /m arketing/) for a d d it io n a l in f o r m a t io n . A ccess: h t t p : / / w w w .w ebcom m ercetoday.com /research/. • ecProfessional. Globeset, an electronic transaction softw are consulting firm, created this educational site especially for profession­ als involved in the business o f electronic com ­ m e r c e . A ccess: h t t p : / / w w w . g l o b e s e t . c o m / C om m erce/. • eMarketer. A one-stop resource created by eMarketer, providing inform ation a n d re­ sources o n h o w to build, prom ote, an d m ain­ tain a successful Web site. Links include news, statistics, top ten listing of the best e-commerce sites, a tutorial, a list o f Web resources, an e- forum, an d statistical reports. Access, h ttp :// w w w .em arketer.com /. merce allEc.com Resources and Business Strategy m ation links, w hich are arranged into catego­ ries. Access: h tt p :/ /w w w .h o tw ir e d .c o m / w ebm onkey/e-business/. A c a d e m ic re se a rch ce n te rs • Center for Research in Electronic Com m erce (U niversity o f Texas, Austin). This leading research center is focused o n supporting research an d ed u catio n in the ar­ eas o f electronic com m erce an d digital p ro d ­ ucts. Links o n th e site provide access to elec­ tronic com m erce Web sites, w orking papers a n d articles, publications, an d new s. A ccess h ttp ://cism .b u s.u tex as.ed u /. • Project 2000 (O w en Graduate School o f Management, Vanderbilt University). This project, created by D onna H offm an and Tom Novak, w as o n e o f th e first academ ic research p ro jects o rg an ized “to stu d y th e m arketing implications of commercializing the World W ide W eb.” This site includes a com ­ plete detailed list o f all Project 2000 w orking papers an d a directory o f useful resource links for m arketing an d electronic com m erce. A c­ cess h ttp ://eco m m erce.v an d erb ilt.ed u /. • Internet Advertising Resource Guide. Hairong Li, a professor o f advertising at Michi­ gan State University, created this co m p reh en ­ sive site that provides inform ation for Inter­ n et advertising. Category links include: intro­ d uction, p lanning, d e v elo p m en t, m a n a g e ­ ment, research, an d teaching. Access. h ttp :// w w w .adm edia.org/. • Webmonkey: e-business collection. Wired Digital, the com pany that created the HotBot search engine (h ttp ://w w w .h o tb o t. com) an d produces Wired magazine, has d e ­ signed the W ebmonkey collections to intro­ duce and provide resources for specific Inter­ net technologies. T he e-business collection is an introductory guide to e-commerce. Useful links for new bies include an e-com m erce tu­ torial, a guide to creating a Web site for a small business, a guide for conducting your ow n market research o n the Web, an d other infer­ D isc u ssio n lists an d n e w s g ro u p s • E-Marketing Digest. An educational orum created b y W ebber’s C om m unication or th e discussion o f online m arketing issues. ubscribers m ay o p t for either a live chat ver­ sion or a mod­ erated digest v e rs io n th a t provides news, in fo rm a tio n , tip s , s o u r c e a w a r e n e s s , n d a r e a d e r ’s d is c u s s io n a re a . Access: ttp ://w w w .w e b b e rs.c o m /e m a rk /. • I-Advertising (The Internet Advertis­ n g D iscu ssio n List). This is a m o d erated orum for th e discussion o f th e com m ercial f f S a h i f aiiEc.com http://www.wilsonweb.com/marketing/ http://www.webcommercetoday.com/research/ http://www.globeset http://www.emarketer.com/ http://www.admedia.org/ http://www.hotbot http://www.hotwired.com/ http://cism.bus.utexas.edu/ http://ecommerce.vanderbilt.edu/ http://www.webbers.com/emark/ C&RL News ■ October 1999 / 737 uses o f advertising in p r o m o ti n g a b u s i ­ n ess o n th e In tern et. Access: h ttp ://w w w . in tern etad v ertisin g , org/. • I-Sales (Internet Sales). Jo h n Audette, p resident o f Multimedia M arketing G roup, m oderates this discussion list that provides a forum for the discussion of online sales issues. Access: http://w w w .m m gco.com /isales/. Internet-Sales • LearningFOUNT. A discussion com m u­ nity, created as an idea incubator, that p ro ­ vides a forum to discuss, netw ork, an d brain­ storm electronic com m erce issues. Access. h t t p : / / w w w . l e a r n i n g f o u n t a i n . c o m / mailist.htm. • Markethink (AU Marketing D iscus­ s io n List). M o d e ra te d virtual d iscu ssio n group, covering b o th Internet an d traditional marketing, w hose focus is learning, netw ork­ ing, su cceed in g , a n d com m unity. Access: http://w w w .m arkethink.com /digest. N e w sg ro u p s • alt.ecom m erce • alt.internet.com m erce • alt.w w w .m arketing G o v e rn m e n t a n d in d u stry o rg a n iz a tio n s • C om m erceNet. This leading industry consortium focuses o n em erging global an d industry-w ide issues a n d technologies that p rom ote th e grow th an d success o f e-com ­ merce. Comm erceNet provides links to new s, a co nference listing, e-com m erce resources, a r e s e a r c h c e n te r th a t p r o v id e s d e m o ­ g ra p h ic d a ta a n d re p o rts, a n d a fo ru m for initiating global partnerships. Access. h ttp :// w w w .com m ercenet.com /. • Computer Security Resource Clear­ in ghou se (National Institute o f Standards and Technology). This Web site w as cre­ ated to provide systems personnel w ith com ­ p u te r security inform ation resources to b et­ ter protect their data an d systems. Links are provided to com puter security resources in­ cluding NIST research topics, a list o f confer­ ences, organizations, U nited States policies and docum ents, publications, an d training re­ sources. Access: http ://csrc.n ist.g o v /. • Electronic Commerce Resource Cen­ ter (ECRC). This educational site w as cre­ ated to assist industrial enterprises, w hich supply g o o d s a n d services to the D epart­ m en t o f D efense an d o th e r federal organi­ zations, to a d o p t e-com m erce. A link to “Re­ gional ECRC C ontacts” is available o n the m ain page. Each regional ECRC m aintains a Web site o f outreach, education, an d train­ ing m aterials. Access: h ttp ://w w w .ecrc.ctc. com /. • Federal Electronic C om m erce Pro­ gram O ffice. T his educational site w as c re a te d fo r g o v e rn ­ m ental agencies p ro ­ viding aw areness o f the best ideas an d re­ s o u r c e s in e - c o m ­ merce. Includes links to EC topics arranged into several cate g o ­ ries an d federal EC Web sites. Access: h ttp :// ec.fed .g o v /. • M a n u fa ctu rin g I n fo r m a tio n Re­ source Locator. This site w as created to su p ­ p ort an d ed u cate staff w orking in centers sp o n so red by the M anufacturing Extension P artnership (MEP) of th e National Institute o f Standards an d Technology. Provides an FAQ section, a glossary, Web resources by indus­ try sector, an d several tutorials including a primer, im plem entation guide, a n d guide to m a n a g in g c h a n g e . Access: h tt p :/ /w w w . n em o nline.org/m irl/ec/. • United States Government Electronic Com m erce Policy. This is the official gov­ ernm ent site for electronic com m erce policy, w h ich pro v id es links to official p ress re­ leases, U.S. g o v ernm ent d o cum ents an d re­ ports, a n d selected e-com m erce In tern et re ­ sources for governm ent, international, an d e-com m erce. Access: h ttp ://w w w .d o c .g o v / ecom m erce/. • W3C World Wide Web Consortium. W3C is an international industry consortium dedicated to developing com m on Web p ro ­ tocols. This site provides a w ealth of tech­ http://www.mmgco.com/isales/ http://www.learningfountain.com/ http://www.markethink.com/digest http://www.marketing http://www.commercenet.com/ http://csrc.nist.gov/ http://www.ecrc.ctc ec.fed.gov/ nemonline.org/mirl/ec/ http://www.doc.gov/ 7 3 8 / C&RL News ■ October 1999 nolo g y re la te d links. Access: h ttp ://w w w . w 3 .o rg /. N ew s • e-business (ZDNet). An e-journal that provides e-com m erce headlines as w ell as links to tech resources, reviews, dow nloads, an d more. Access. http://w w w .zdnet.com /en- te rp rise/e-b u sin ess/. • e -c o m m er ce n ew s ( in te r n e t.c o m Corp.). News site providing th e latest e-com ­ m erce new s headlines. Links are also p ro ­ v id e d to o th e r n e w s se c tio n s in cluding: InternetN ew s Front Page, B usiness News, Intranet News, ISP News, P roduct News, an d Web D eveloper News, am ong others. Also see th e internet.com main page (http://w w w . internet.com /) for a m ore com prehensive re­ s o u r c e li s tin g . A ccess: h t t p : / / w w w . in tern etn ew s.co m /ec-n ew s/. • E-Commerce Times. D esig n ed an d p ro d u c e d by W ide Cast Media for the Triad G roup, LLC, this site is “For industry insiders covering all the latest new s an d analysis.” It provides links to sections covering new s, spe­ cial reports, products and services, a small busi­ ness advisor, e-com m erce jobs, a m essage board, a n d e v e n t calendar. Access: h ttp :// w ww .ecom m ercetim es.com /. • T h e I n d u s tr y S ta n d a r d (T h e Newsmagazine o f the Internet Econom y). This e-journal covers “th e peo p le, the com ­ panies, a n d th e business m odels shaping the Internet E conom y.” It includes sections that provide new s, business m odel reviews, p er­ sonality profiles, industry metrics, an d execu­ tiv e jo b r e c r u i t i n g . A ccess: h t t p : / / w w w .thestandard.com /. • Yahoo! Electronic C om m erce News. Latest electronic new s headlines are com piled here from a n u m b er o f sources. Links to co n ­ sumer- and business-related Web sites are also p ro v id ed . Access: h ttp ://h e a d lin e s .y a h o o . c o m / F u l l _ C o v e r a g e / T e c h / E l e c t r o n i c _ C om m erce/. Statistics/tre nd s • Cyber Atlas (internet.com Corp). Pro­ vides statistics an d Web m arketing informa­ tion gath ered from key data sources to e n ­ able m arketers to m ake decisions b ased on th e la t e s t o n li n e fa c ts . A ccess: h t t p : / / cyberatlas.intem et.com . • GVU’s WWW User Surveys. Provides links to comprehensive surveys that have been periodically produced by Georgia Tech’s Col­ lege o f Computing. Survey results provide com prehensive data, graphs, an d charts and are arranged into detailed categories includ­ ing dem ographics, technology, and Internet sh o p p in g . A ccess h ttp ://w w w .g v u .g a te c h . edu/user_surveys/. • Headcount.com (International Com­ m unications, Inc.). International Marketing, Inc., an Internet consulting firm specializing in localization and translation services, created this site to provide statistics o n the size o f specific Internet populations to assist businesses in glo­ balization efforts. Data is gathered from vari­ ous market research firms and is rated and sum­ marized for international marketers. Counts are provided by country, language, and region and comparison reports are available. Access http:/ /w w w .headcount.com /. • Internet Econom y Indicators (U ni­ versity o f Texas). T he Internet Econom y In ­ dicators tracks th e g row th o f th e In tern et econom y by m easuring the sales volum e and em ploym ent in various groups o f Internet- related products an d services. This site p ro ­ vides links to facts an d figures covering the U.S. an d global Internet econom y as w ell as resource links to financial markets, m edia, governm ent, an d Internet organizations. A c ­ cess. h ttp ://w w w .in te r n e tin d ic a to r s .c o m / index.html. • NUA Internet Surveys. NUA, an Inter­ n et publishing consulting firm, provides in­ fo rm atio n o n In te rn e t d em o g ra p h ic s an d trends. Inform ation is organized into several categories including: sectors (industry infor­ m ation), social, technical, dem ographics, and a r e a ( r e g i o n a l a r e a s ) . A ccess: h t t p : / / w w w .nua.ie/surveys/about/index.htm l. • StatMarket. Created by Web Side Story, this Web site provides raw an d real-time data o n Internet usage com puted from m onitoring w3.org/ http://www.zdnet.com/en-terprise/e-business/ http://www.zdnet.com/en-terprise/e-business/ internet.com internet.com internet.com/ internetnews.com/ec-news/ http://www.ecommercetimes.com/ http://www.thestandard.com/ http://headlines.yahoo internet.com cyberatlas.intemet.com http://www.gvu.gatech Headcount.com file:///www.headcount.com/ http://www.internetindicators.com/ http://www.nua.ie/surveys/about/index.html C&RL News ■ October 1999 / 739 millions of daily Internet visitors to Web sites using HitBOX Technology. Data categories in clude Web browsers, systems, globalization, traffic, major players, rush hour, and repeat visitors. Access. http://w w w .statm arket.com /. T e c h n o lo g y • EBoz! Your Guide To Creating Suc cessful Websites. Created by Michael Wong, this com prehensive site w as created to p ro vide th e resources an d tools necessary for creating successful electronic com m erce Web sites. Links are provided to directories, ar­ ticles, advice, tools, an d shopping. Access. h t B tp ://w w o w .eb z o z.c ! o m /. Your Guide To Creating Successful W ebsites • EC/EDI And EC/CALS Inform ation Center. Integrated Technologies designed this C enter for EC practitioners an d researchers an d provides a directory to over 2,100 Web sites covering EDI, XML, Y2K, CALS, a n d EC. Access: http://edi-info-center.com /. ­ ­ ­ e • The eC om m erce G uidebook. This educational site, created by Net Nation Com­ m unications, Ltd., p ro v id es a step-by-step guide to the process o f becom ing e-com merce enabled, a directory o f all online transaction providers an d a co n d en sed sum m ary o f the prices a n d services they offer, an d a com pila­ tion o f Web resources for constructing a Web p r e s e n c e . A ccess: h t t p : / / w w w . o n l i n e - com m erce.com /. • Electronic C om m erce K now ledge Center (ECKC). This “Com prehensive online sou rceb o o k a n d inform ation cen te r for elec­ tronic com m erce technologies” w as created by th e F oundation for Strategic Enterprise K now ledge C enter as an u nbiased inform a­ tion resource for learning about technologies. After a free registration process, access is p ro­ vided to four centers w hich include: Data W arehousing, Electronic C om m erce, Small O ffice H om e Office, an d Telecom m uting. Each center provides links to a tutorial, Web resources by category , vendors, products, ser­ vices, associations, events, an d local media. Access: h ttp ://w w w .c o m m e rc e .o rg /d e fa u lt. http://www.statmarket.com/ http://www.eboz.com/ http://edi-info-center.com/ http://www.online-commerce.com/ http://www.online-commerce.com/ http://www.commerce.org/default