Gb v m,

A Strong Partner for Sustainable Development

Module in
PMME 103

E-commerce and Internet

Marketing

College of Business and Management

BSBA-Marketing Management
BSBA-Financial Management
 Module No. 2

THE WORLD WIDE WEB

AND THE INTERNET

2nd Semester AY 2020-2021

GELLIE S. MANGACAT
Faculty

GEGIE D. GERVACIO
Faculty

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

 Table of contents

Instruction to the user ……………………………………………………………………… 4

Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………. 5

Chapter II – The World Wide Web and the Internet …………………………… 6

Overview…………………………………………………………………………………………. 6

Learning outcomes ………………………………………………………………………….. 6

Pre-test …………………………………………………………………………………………… 6

Lesson 1 – the evolution of the World Wide Web ……………………………….. 7

Learning outcomes ………………………………………………………………………….. 7

Time allotment ……………………………………………………………………………….. 7

Discussion ………………………………………………………………………………………. 7

Activity/exercises ……………………………………………………………………………. 26

Post-test …………………………………………………………………………………………. 27

References ………………………………………………………………………………………. 28

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INSTRUCTION TO THE USER

This module would provide you an educational experience while

independently accomplishing the task at your own pace or time. It aims as
well to ensure that learning is unhampered by health and other challenges. It
covers the topic about e-Commerce and Internet Marketing.

Reminders in using this module:

1. Keep this material neat and intact.

2. Answer the pretest first to measure what you know and what to be
learned about the topic discussed in this module.
3. Accomplish the activities and exercises as aids and reinforcement for
better understanding of the lessons.
4. Answer the post-test to evaluate your learning.
5. Do not take pictures in any parts of this module nor post it to social
media platforms.
6. Value this module for your own learning by heartily and honestly
answering and doing the exercises and activities. Time and effort were
spent in the preparation in order that learning will still continue
amidst this Covid-19 pandemic.
7. Observe health protocols: wear mask, sanitize and maintain physical
distancing.

Hi! I’m Blue Bee, your WPU Mascot.

Welcome to Western Philippines University!

Shape your dreams with quality learning experience.

STAY SAFE AND HEALTHY

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 INTRODUCTION

E-commerce is continually evolving and has become a thriving marketplace not

only for products but also for services and content, such as social networks, user-
generated content (video, photos, and blogs), and, of course, entertainment such as
movies, TV, video, music, and games. E-commerce is as much a sociological
phenomenon as it is a business and technological phenomenon. In addition to the
social aspect of e-commerce, two major themes in the text are the full emergence of the
mobile platform and the increasing emphasis on local ecommerce. We weave social,
mobile, and local topics throughout the course into all chapters, because they are
increasingly impacting all aspects of e-commerce.

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 Chapter 1
Information and Communication Technologies

Overview

This chapter will tackle about the introduction the evolution of information and
communication technology in relation to the general conduct of trade and commerce
along with the telecommunication facilities and computers in relation to the conduct of
the eCommerce/eBusiness.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the module you can;

1. Make a timeline of the evolution of World Wide Web and Internet

Technology in general
2. discuss the capabilities and potentials of Internet Technology in
relation to the conduct of the business
3. illustrate the role of search engines and portals

Pre-test

Part I. (TRUE/FALSE). Write TRUE if the statement is correct and write FALSE
if the statement is wrong.

_______ 1. Information and Communications Technology has nothing to do with

eCommerce.
_______ 2. Information and Communication Technology solely focuses on the
hardware of the computer.
_______3. ICT has six basic functions.
_______4. Transmission is a function of ICT that allows sending data and
information from one location to another.
_______5. Storage function is one of the functions of ICT.

Part II. MULTIPLE CHOICE. Write the letter of the correct answer.

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________ 1. What kind of ICT function takes the form of a task that is done by way of
using devices like scanners and cameras thus allowing storage of vital data and
information for future use?
a. Capture function b. Storage function c. Process Function
________2. This kind of information comes in the form of written information which
may be typewritten, printed or handwritten.
a. Data b. Sound c. Text
________3. What component part of the computer system include the software or
instructions that enable the optimal use of the component parts of the hardware.
a. Hardware b. Programs c. Procedures
________4. What component part of the computer system refer to the various forms
that are fed into the hardware to be processed by the people.
a. Procedure b. Programs c. Information
_______ 5. What component part of the computer system include the rules, policies
and protocols that need to be observed and follow.
a. Hardware b. Programs c. Procedures

B. Time Allotment
2 sessions (3 hrs)

C. Discussion

The Evolution of the World Wide Web

In the early stages of the evolution of information technology, effecting
communications and data transfer via electronic mail or e-mail was perceived as the
promising aspects of Internet phenomenon. At that time, the World Wide Web
appeared to be the most exciting and relevant aspect of the Internet. Thanks to
software consultant Tim Berners-Lee and Vinton Cerf. It was reported by Napier, et al.
(2001) that Tim Berners-Lee was at CERN (the European Laboratory for Particle
Physics) in Switzerland, where he was working on ways to improve information sharing
and document handling between the research scientists both at CERN and throughout
the world. Using the concept of hypertext, the effort resulted to a program that allowed
pages containing hypertext to be stored on a computer in a way that allowed other
computers access to the pages. Berners-Lee called his system of documents linked by
hypertext the World Wide Web or simply the Web. The major event leading to the
creation and popularization of the World Wide Web is shown in Table 6.

Table 1. Major events in the creation of the World Wide Web

March 1989 WWW project was originated and started by Timothy and
Barners
November 1990 Revised version was developed by Net Computer
March 1993 WWW was released by select group for testing
September 1993 The National Center for Super Computing Association released
first working version of Marc Andersen's Mosaic for common
platform
October 1993 More than 500 HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) servers
were in operation
October 1994 More than 1000 HTTP servers were in operation

Source:—Awad (2003), p. 41
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 In the early evolution of the Web, contents are initially in the form of text in distinct
pages. Eventually, pages on the web contained several pages or a series of document,
called web pages, which aside from text contents, it had graphics, video and audio as
well as hyperlinks.

The collection of related pages is called the website. The website typically contains
information for a particular site or organization. For those who can afford to be online,
the series of technological developments leading to the prevalence of websites means
that instead of printing the hard copies of product catalogs then mailed to deliver and
explain to the prospective customers, the web has made it simpler by making an
electronic catalog, which is accessible round-the-clock and anywhere else in the world
hopefully making money out of this phenomenon.

The World Wide Web (WWW) is not a single object but a collection of Internet sites
or hosts. Through the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and using the Internet
address, a user or users can access any Internet site. If one is to connect these Internet
sites located all around the globe, one can imagine of a drawing looking like a spider
web; hence the use of the word web as it relates to the Internet. Hence, according to
author Louis (2002), the term World Wide Web is indeed an accurate description of
the relationship between all of the Internet sites.

Web Browsers
To be able to access the Internet, users need a browser and scan through the web
pages of a website. Web browsers are client computer programs designed to locate
and display information on the web. A web browser that consists of a software
application used to access and view web pages stored in the web servers. The browser
converts the HTML files into web pages that display text, images (fixed or animated),
video and sounds.

Among the most popular web browsers are Microsoft Internet Explorer and
Netscape Navigators. Other browsers include Mosaic, Firefox Mozilla,
Macweb, and Netcruiser.

Given the volumes of information and data on the Internet, anybody can now
commence a business by way of using the web browser and the web. If no business can
be consummated online, at the very least, a user or surfer must have generated a large
number of information or must have learned a lot from the web pages practically for
free.

The Internet
The developments in
the web led to the
popularity and wider
acceptance of various
websites that are
interconnected to one
another thus forming a
sort of network. The
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network of websites grew in number and in rapid mode alongside the development of
web browser systems that allow easy visits or surfing over the websites. It began a new
era of networking or linkaging not in the usual physical world but connectivity in the
cyberspace. The linkage or interconnection being among networks in space led to 4
new terminology known as the Internet — a fusion of inter connection among networks
of the term Internet for short. From the network of organizations based in the United
States and Europe, the network eventually became global in scope. The Internet is not
owned by any single entity and is accessible to anyone with a means to connect (Glover,
Liddle, et al., 2002). The Internet is sometimes referred to simply as the Net.

While the Internet is generally perceived as something about computers, the

reality is that it is not. As diagrammatically shown in Figure 14, the Internet is more of
the availability of data or information and people working on the Net and less of
hardware and software. Internet system is largely perceived as synonymous to
computerization and/or use of computer hardware and software. Internet system is
really more of people
interconnected globally via computers and a huge volume of information available to
netizens (Internet users).

A correctly amplified by an elephant shown in Figure 14, the Internet system

contains a multitude and wide variety of information in various formats which any
enterprising individual can make use of. Internet system being largely a business
about processing and moving huge amounts of information to millions of parties
globally or beyond geographical borders, there lies a huge opportunity for the
business sector in the area of processing and moving or transferring knowledge and
information as well as products and services from the producers to end users or
consumers.

In business application, and as used in eCommerce/eBusiness, the Internet is

the link between the customers or clients and the merchant as typified by the simple
diagram shown in Figure 1. The basic diagram shown in Figure 1 can be expanded
to mean connection or link up among merchants acting on supplier-buyer
relationship or acting on seller-buyer relationship and this can be further eventually
expanded into a bigger network as in the case of local or wide area network
discussed in succeeding sections of this book. Illustratively, an expanded context of
a buyer-supplier relationship mediated by Internet is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 1. The interaction between the customer, the

merchant and the Internet
Source: Loshin and Murphy (1997), p.4

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 Figure 2. Internet application in business- Connecting with
suppliers

History of the Internet

Studying or dealing with information and communications technologies, the
Interne - system and its compliments of hardware and software necessitate some
review of the history of the Internet. Voluminous materials and books have been
published about the Net. Peal and Savetz (1997) briefly described the history of the
Internet by citing that the “Net” is the unintended result of many separate dreams
and real-world developments, Authors Peal and Savetz particularly pointed out that
nobody invented it. First, there were dreamers — early visionaries like Vannevar
Bush (in the 1940s), J. C. R. Licklider (in the 1960s), Ted Nelson (since 1960s), and
Tim Berners-Lee (since the late 1980s).

Licklider dreamed of a future in which interconnected computing machines

would take over people’s routine task and allow them to spend more time at creative
and productive tasks. As a director in the United States Government’s Agency for
Advanced Research Projects (ARPA) in the early 1960s, Licklider had directed
influence on the people who built government networks in the 1960s. Bush, Nelson,
and Berners-Lee were pioneers of different sort. They imagined new ways of linking
related knowledge in a universally available format, laying the groundwork for what
is now known as hypertext.

Napier, ét al. (2001) cited that the Net originated in the late 1960s when the
United States Department of Defense developed a network of military computers
called the ARPANET — Advanced Research Projects Agency Network. Quickly
realizing the usefulness of such network, researches at the colleges and universities
soon began using it to share data. In the 1980s, the military portion of the early
Internet became a separate network called the MILNET. Meanwhile, the National
Science Foundation (NSF) beg2? overseeing the remaining nonmilitary portion,
which is called the NSFnet. Thousands © other government, academic, and business
computer networks began connecting to thé NSFnet. By the late 1980s, the term
Internet had become widely used to describe this hug® worldwide “network of
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 networks.”

There are persons prominently referred to as having played a key role in

developing the Internet and one of them is Vinton Cerf who is referred to as the
Father of thé Internet. Robert Khan developed computer-operating protocol that
enables different machines using different operating languages to communicate with
each other. Ray Tomlison developed the concept of electronic mail (e-mail) and who
also selected the symbol @ for defining address.

Residents and Users of the Internet

Ever since the Net became popular, it became the place and home for a wide
variety of users and residents from neophytes to dotcom entrepreneurs and profiteers.
In the mid-‘80s where personal computers have invaded home and offices of Asian
business organizations, espouses of frequent users or online addicts where dubbed as
computer widows — as their spouses, male or female, spent most of their time onboard
the computer for stand-alone works or for hours of surfing on the Net.

Generally, however, the residents or regular users of the Internet are often
referred to as netizens and surfers or online users. Those who really got the best of the
Internet and made money out of it have transformed their PCs at home or office
prompting Louis (2002) to say that the Internet is the home of the new telecom
mavericks.

Who Owns the Internet?

To date, the Internet industry is not regulated — and is not owned by anyone
though there are standards and various stakeholders involved in the industry. While
the Internet is essentially a free world and unregulated, there are applicable laws and
rules in some countries.

In the Philippines, the eCommerce Law was enacted in the year 2000. Republic
Act Number 8792 otherwise known as the E-Commerce Act of 2000 is titled “An Act
Providing for the Recognition and Use of Electronic Commercial and Non-Commercial
Transactions, Penalties for Unlawful Use Thereof, and Other Purposes.” The
eCommerce Law was in effect since June 14, 2000.

Other than the eCommerce Law, there are other applicable Executive Orders,
Administrative Orders, and Memorandum Circulars issued by concerned government
offices (e.g., Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CITC) and
the National Computer Center) in regard to ICT in general. For instance, there is CITC
Memorandum Circular No. 1 setting “Guidelines in the Administration of the .PH
Domain Name,” which was made effective on October 15, 2004.

Surfing the Net

The journey to the world of the Internet is fairly simple and need not require
formal schooling. Once the computer is physically connected to the Internet via a
modem, LAN card, Wi-Fi or whatever mode, the subsequent steps are purely keyboard

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and mouse work. With the computer/hardware already on, the user (surfer) establishes
link with the Internet by clicking the ISP connection and using appropriate password
as necessary or directly clicking to the browser icons for those with LAN or broadband
connections.

The Net experience begins with getting online by clicking the browser (say
Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator). Subsequently, desired homepage will be
displayed and a lot of information is instantly shown from which the user or surfer can
make a choice. One of the displays of the homepage is the address box or window
where website address or Universal Resource Locator (URL) of desired or targeted
organization can be typed or encoded. At the address box or window, the user or the
surfer types or encodes the desired address (for example, www.dasma.dlsu.edu.ph) and
when the site is found, the homepage of the desired organization will be displayed.
From there, the user can further access specific units of the organization or products,
services and a variety of information the website offers. If the user/surfer has no idea
about the organizations or product/ services desired, one can use the search engines or
search box that usually comes with electronic homepages. Electronic homepages are
generally user-friendly thus making it easy for surfers in doing online work.

Downloading the Web Pages

Going through or surfing the Internet means going places around the world
through the electronic networks and using the mouse and keyboard attached to the
computer. From the user’s table or workstation equipped with a personal computer
with Internet capability, what happens is a series of tasks done that leads to viewing or
downloading certain contents of the website visited by the surfer or user. With a mouse
and browser, the user or surfer browses through the Internet resulting to a series of
information flow towards the website being accessed and back to the workstation as
shown in Figure 17, The series of tasks that happen in the Internet are
diagrammatically shown in Figure 17 which results to either simply viewing the
contents of the website accessed, copying and/or downloading the desired content or
information.

Internet in the Philippines

Internet in the Philippines traces its roots to the efforts of the Department of
Science and Technology (DOST) and the Industrial Research Foundation (IRF) when
in the year 1993, a Technical Committee was convened comprising of representatives
from the Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, and the University of the
Philippines. These efforts led to the organization of a consortium of institution meant
to operate the Philippine wide area computer network. It was later formally organized
as the PHNET, Inc. referring to a group in the Philippines with access to the Internet.
Its founding President was Dr. Rodolfo Villarica and he is regarded as instrumental in
building the Internet efforts i in the Philippines that linked the country to the world via
the Internet.

At that time, Dr. Villarica opined that if allowed to develop freely, Internet
would bring the country to the 21" century and be highly competitive with other
countries, not only in science, education and technology but also economically. .

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 Internet was introduced in the Philippines back in 1994 initially with the
government as the sole provider of Internet access (Lallana, et al., 2002). In the year
2002, there were 191 ISPs with a total nationwide subscriber’s base of 1,850,000. By
the year 2005, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has registered
over 600 firms classified as value added services providers, which are essentially
engaged in various aspects of business related to the use of Internet and IT or ICTs.

In the year 1999, AsiaBizTech estimated Internet usage in the Philippines to be

about 200,000 and expected to rise by 900,000 by the year 2002. NUA surveys on the
other hand cited figures from Yu Ming Chin of Asia Online and puts the Philippines’
Internet user base at 320,000 (as of 2002). AsiaBizTech reports suggested that the
Philippines will need a user base of at least 500,000 people to have a viable
eCommerce economy.

Lallana, et al. also cited Gartner’s Group report about the Philippines’ consumer
PC Internet penetration to be about 3,457,282 in 2002 and forecasted to reach
11,640,669 users by the year 2003. The business PC Internet penetration was reported
in the year 2002 at 5,722,307, this is being forecasted to increase to 31,554,048 by the
year 2003.

The robust business in the personal computer business in the Philippines and
the information and communication technologies in general as well as rapid growth of
Internet on a global scale eventually fired up and also the rapid expansion of the use of
Internet in the Philippines initially in the academic sector and also in the corporate
world.

Internet Usage in the Philippines

As of 2006, there are more than 8 million Internet users in the Philippines,
roughly equivalent to 5.3 percent penetration rate (Olchondra, 2006).

As the Internet users increase, so do are their demands for better, sophisticated
technologies to carry voice, data, and video services. This has prompted carriers to
begin working on their own broadband infrastructure. Wireless Internet access is
getting to be more popular in the Philippines following the trail of PC-based Internet
access.

While wireless technology in the Philippines is picking up, it is still in its infancy
stage generally limited to wireless application protocol (WAP) in cellular mobile
phones and to a certain extent Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) for laptop computers.

The increasing need for data services has prompted demand for broadband
Internet technologies. Broadband is an “always-on” and high-speed Internet
connection technology. By the year 2006, industry estimates that 50 percent of the
Philippines’ telecommunications market will be accounted for by data services.

The Philippines has fixed and wireless broadband capabilities. Cable Internet
provides high-speed, two-way capability to deliver video, voice and data to the TV and
personal computer (PC). Cable is still the undisputed leader of the broadband Internet
service through such companies as Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company,
Destiny Cable, Sky Internet and Broadband Philippines.
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 Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technology, though it has less capacity than
cable, is increasingly gaining popularity because it uses existing telephony copper wires
in delivering high-speed data to the home. DSL is “always-on” Internet access without
tying up the phone line to a single purpose. Telecommunication companies such as
Globe, PLDT, Digitel, and Eastern Telecom are currently offering DSL both to
corporate customers and residential subscribers. However, the present state of DSL in
the Philippines could only allow a few areas for high-speed connection, concentrated
only within areas in the major cities.

The increased demand for broadband Internet service is also expected to result
in a need for more transponder space. Hence, the satellite has become a very important
point-to-point, and point-to-area instrument in transferring information over broad
and narrower ranges of population.

The Philippines currently has one satellite in orbit - AGILA 2 — launched in

1997 by Mabuhay Philippines Satellite Corporation (MPSC) dubbed as the most
powerful satellite in the Asia pacific region. It offers cost-effective and high-speed
Internet access (backbone and distribution) by capitalizing on strategic partners with
teleports in Oahu, Hawaii and is considered the gateway to the US where a majority of
the worldwide Internet bandwidth is hosted (Department of Transportation and
Communications). ~

Notwithstanding, personal computers via dial-up connections, are still the most
prevalent way for Filipinos to access the Internet though recently, broadband
technology and wireless Internet services are now available in certain parts of the
country.

Internet Capabilities and Applications in the Business

While the application of the Internet was initially limited to sharing and
transferring of data as well as sending of messages through its electronic mail
capability, the development of a variety of hardware and application software along
with the advent of the so-called convergence has made the Internet extremely popular
that it has brought forward a new way of doing the business, that is, the so-called
eCommerce/eBusiness.

In a more specific sense, Internet technologies offer the following capabilities:

a. E-mail
b. File storage
c. Website creation
d. WWW access — surfing the web
e. Search engine
f. Chatroom
g. Internet portal service
h. Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP)

The Electronic Mail

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 Other than the web, the electronic mail or simply e-mail is the other popular
aspect of the Internet — and was in fact originally thought to be a dominant component
of the Net itself. The first e-mail was sent in 1972 as reported by Louis (2002).

E-mail is to the Internet as plain old voice is to the telephone and cellular
businesses. E-mail has assumed an identity that cannot be easily equated to that of
voice in the traditional telecom business. It is the only service to date where
communication is updated between family and friends or business partners. E-mail
enables one to carry on a conversation in near real-time. The e-mail letters enable
people to engage in quick discussions about important and benign topics. Other than
sending over letters by composing it online using a favorite e-mail handling software,
other forms of information in other formats like audio and images, can be sent over as
file attachments or enclosures to the delight of the receiver.

Among the widely used e-mail software packages are yahoo and hotmail as well as
the MS Outlook of Microsoft.

E-mail versus the Telephones and Postal Mails

E-mail being the earliest form of popular use of the Internet is often compared
with other means of transmitting or sending out communication either for personal or
business use. As shown in Table 2, e-mail offers fast and relatively cheap cost of
moving information to and from any part of the world. This feature has greatly
contributed to the popularization of the idea of eCommerce/eBusiness, given the fact
that business transactions begin with sharing data and information that may eventually
lead to a consummated business transaction.

Table 2. A comparison of e-mail, post and telephone

Criteria E-mail Post (Snail mail)/ Telephone

Memo
Speed Fast Low Instant
Security Moderate High Low
Interactivity Moderate Low High
Formality Moderate High Low
As record Moderate High Low
Multiple Possible
Possible (costly) Limited
recipient (cheap)

Source: Curtis (1998), p. 1151

Universal Resource Locator

If there is a physical address of individuals or business organizations in the place

of work, there is an equivalent address of Internet users in the cyberspace and this is
called the Universal Resource Locator (URL). The URL designates web page
location in the Internet. The URL is the address or location of a document or the
business organization in the cyberspace or the web, so named because it is a consistent
system for identifying websites that page developers use.

The component parts of the URL are shown in Figure 3.

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 Figure 3. The WWW’s URL addresses
Source: Senn (1998), p. 126

The E-mail Address

While there is a standard component for URL for business organizations, @-

mail addresses of individuals (organizations) also come with certain components as
shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4. Electronic mail addresses

Source: Senn (1998), p. 109

As in the case of URLs, the e-mail address contains information indicative of the
location of the e-mail addresses as shown in Figure 4. The sample e-mail address of the
author shown in Figure 4 indicates that the holder of the e-mail address is working for
(or located at) an academic or educational institution located in the Philippines.

Top-Level Domain Names and Country of Location

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 Organizations maintaining addresses or locations in the cyberspace maintain
universal resource locators or cyber address that are grouped into categories. There is
# categorization of URLs called top-level domain (TLD), which will indicate as to
which particular cyber-based organization belongs just by the Internet address of the
firm itself. The categories of top-level domain names are shown in Table 3.

For instance, cyber addresses ending with .com mean that the organization 18
essentially a commercial organization and an Internet address ending with .edu means
an educational or academic institution whereas those ending with .gov refer to a
government establishment.

Table 3. Top-level domain names (TLDs)

Original domain names Country TLDs New (2000) general TLDs

TLD Use TLD Country TLD Use
Air transport
-com Commercial -au Australia -aero
industry
Businesses
-edu Four-year -ca Canada -biz
institution
educational
-fl Finland -info General use
institution
-fr France -museum Museums
US Federal
-gov -jp Japan -name Individual people
government
-mil US military -se Sweden
-net general use -ph Philippines Professionals
-sg Singapore accountants,
-pro
Non-profit -my Malaysia lawyers,
-org
organization -cn China physicians

Source: Schneider (2004), p.62

Aside from the suffixes that come with Internet address (e. g., .edu, .gov) what
follows or comes with are two letters called country TLDs. The appended two letters
indicate the actual or physical location of the organization as to which country the
website addressee is based. For instance, an organization with Internet address ending
with .ph means the organization is physically located in the Philippines and those
ending with jp mean an organization with operations that is based in Japan. There are
other categories of TLDs as shown in Table 8 and other categories are being added
every now and then.

Link up or Connection with the Internet

Link up with the Internet is done by way of business organizations called

Internet Service Providers (ISPs). The ISP is generally a business concern that directly
deals with downstream Internet clients — the Internet users or subscribers. The ISPs
operate in line or in contract with telephone companies that provide the
communication lines that link a computer via the modem. Or, the ISP could be an
organization with wireless technology capabilities to do the business (e.g., Destiny
cable). Wire line telephone carriers are referred to as the traditional telecom player as
they serve as the vehicle by which smaller companies are born to act as ISPs.

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 A typical ISP provides a wide range of services to include e-mail, file storage,
website creation, WWW access, surfing the web, search engine, chat rooms, Internet
portal access, and VOIP.

As of October 2005, the National Telecommunicati Commission ot oe ponnen

government has accredited or registered 815 value adé&8 ATV Ts service including the
so-called | ‘SPe are directly and

Some of the familiar ISPs in the Philippines are the following:

a) Webquest
b) I-Next
c) Infocom
d) Moscom
e) Pacific Net
f) Trisys.net

Physical Connection with the internet

Physical connection with the Internet can be done either-thru a modem or LAN
card (where local area network is available) as diagrammatically shown in Figure 21.
Other forms of connection with the Internet can come in the form of wireless service
using Wi-Fi or the so-called Bluetooth technology.
Figure 4. Internet service through an Internet Service Provider

Connection with the Internet thru the local ISPs comes in a variety of services or
offerings. Shown in Table 9 is a variety of Internet connection options depending on
the level of needs or demands among prospective Internet users. The most common
form of connection at home is a dial-up system using the standard telephone line and a
modem. Other companies provide DSL and broadband services as well as commercial
scale services using a variety of platform. In the end, it is a matter of financial
consideration and the kind of service needed by the user that will determine the kind of
Internet service to be subscribed.

Method Speed (kbs) Sent Cost Availability for

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WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)
 speed= Business
Received
speed
Modem 33-56 No Very low Universal
Cable modem 64-1500 No Medium Very Limited
ISDN 56-128 Yes High Widely available
xDSL 384-55,000 No Low Limited
Frame relay/TI 64-1544 Yes Very high Widely available

As shown in Table 4, a standard telephone line has a bandwidth of only 56 kbps

and such kind of bandwidth is typical that accommodates less voluminous information
or data e.g., text). Such a low speed explains the low speed at which surfing and
downloading are done usually exacerbated by low-end hardware capability (.e.,
Pentium I computers work slowly compared to Pentium 4 level computers).

While access or connection with the Internet remains popular with wired setup
through telephone landlines, there is now a growing scenario showing the rising role of
wireless systems or technologies (i.e., Wi-Fi, Wireless Application Protocol or WAP)
and other devices like cellular phones used as modem or used as Internet access device
itself.

Dial-Up Connection

The first and most basic form of connecting a home or office computer is the use
of dial-up modem. A dial-up modem creates a circuit-switched connection across the
public switch telephone network (PSTN) to another modem that is connected to the
Internet.

Modem is actually a hardware or an external or internal device that connects

the computer to a telephone line then to the ISP and on to the Internet. The modem
converts digital to analog signal and back to digital signal for the computer to read or
interpret. It modulates and demodulates data or information that it transmits — hence
the term modem.

In the early days of the Internet, modem comes in the form of an external
hardware that has to be procured separately as accessory or peripheral of a computer
unit. Eventually, modem comes in the form of a card insertion to the motherboard
more popularly known as an internal modem. Nowadays, with Internet getting
accessible to many, internal modem usually forms part of the computer unit (i.e., built-
in to the motherboard) given the fact that more people are using it as a data or
information processing device, its Internet capability is now a basic consideration
among parties buying their computers.

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)

As the Internet matured, so has the sophistication of the content it carries and
the mode of Internet connection. With web pages growing in size to the addition of a
variety of data or information including animation and graphics as well as real-time
audio and video communication, dial-up modems have become too slow to meet their
needs. Unlike the dial-up modem, which is activated every time the telephone is dialed
through the keyboard inputs to the telephone, a DSL is a convenient and high-speed
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WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)
connection. The high-speed nature and convenience of a DSL connection to the
Internet is threatening the existence of dial-up modem in that ISPs are aggressively
pursuing broadband access technologies - an Internet access at speeds greater than the
56 kbps (the speed or capability of a dial-up modem used in conjunction with standard
landline telephones).

One of the faster broadband technologies currently available in connection with

Internet access is the DSL. A DSL connection provides an “always on” connection to
the Internet over the same copper wires that provide dial-up telephone service.

It offers a high-band width Internet access over existing copper telephone lines.
It transforms standard copper telephone wires into high-speed digital connections.
Since this wiring is already in place in most homes and offices, millions of users can
start using DSL service without any additional rewiring thus lowering the cost of DSL
services.

It takes advantage of the portion of the bandwidth not used for voice calls and
splits your phone into three information or data carrying channels. One channel carries
data from the Internet to your computer unit at home. Another channel transports data
you’re your home computer to the Internet and the third channel handles regular
phone calls and faxes.

Selecting an Internet Service Provider

In the matter of availing the Internet service connection, choice of dial-up

modern or a DSL connection is a prime consideration and so in the end, the bottom
line is the consideration for speed, convenience and flexibility but more importantly, it
is simply money matters.

After deciding on the kind or means of getting connected to the Internet, choice of
ISP is another important consideration. Where there is now other ISP in your area,
there is really no other choice but to deal with the ISP company that is serving your
area. Given the choice, however, selecting or choosing an ISP should address at least
four key criteria as follows:

a) Service hosting- subscriber should consider whether there is a need for ISP to
host the company’s web pages, e-mail, and other Internet applications. The
hardware and software provisions o the ISP are vital to responding to the needs
of subscriber particularly those using the web for its online transactions.
b) Performance- Subscriber should have to assess what type of access technology
does the ISP provide or support. It should also address what kind of data rates is
offered and confirmed rates for the kind of services available.
c) Reliability. How reliable is the service offered by the ISP? Is the ISP a part of
major telecommunication service provider or does it have a generator on site to
maintain connectivity in the event of a power failure and other forms of service
interruptions? Does the ISP offer multiple links to your location to protect from
failure of a single link?
d) Cost- What are the costs involved availing the services on regular or recurring
basis (e.g.,)? What is the cost per megabyte per second? Are there service caps
after which surcharges apply? What are the terms of payment?

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WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)
SMART’s Wi-Fi service is made possible by installing a Smart Wi-Fi antenna at the
subscriber's residence with a direct “line of sight” to the nearest Smart cell site offering
the strongest possible radio frequency transmission. As the service is now available
from Smart cell sites nationwide, more households can enjoy a high-speed Internet
broadband connection without the need for a physical cable or a phone line. Shown in
Figure 24 is the Wi-Fi connection scheme of SMART’s Wi-Fi product.

With speeds that are up to twice faster than any dial-up Internet connection, it
makes surfing and chatting so much faster and easier. The features of SMART’s Wi-Fi
product lines are as follows:

a) No need for landline.

b) It is up to twice faster compared to a regular dial-up connection.
c) Wireless connection from the SMART cell site to your home.
d) It is an outdoor installation, which can be installed anywhere for there is a
strong signal association.
e) The service allows subscriber to use landline simultaneously unlike dial-up
service that keeps landlines engaged and busy.
f) Anytime, always-on, unlimited Internet access.
g) No need to dial-up as there is no need for ISP connection.

The system requirements to be able to avail of SMART’s Wi-Fi connection are fairly low
as follows:

a) Pentium II processor or higher

b) 128 MB of RAM or higher
c) Ethernet or LAN Card
d) At least 10 GB of hard disk space
e) Operating System: Windows 98, 2000, XP, Linux, or Macintosh

To promote its Internet services through the wireless system, GLOBE Telecoms,
Inc, and SMART Communications, Inc. have made innovative moves to further push
their wireless product lines beyond their current target markets.

Aside from its Wi-Fi product line using the antenna system as shown in Figure 24,
SMART Communications, Inc. further pushes forward its wireless product lines.
SMART went into forward integration by setting up mobile Internet café and ventured
into franchising through SMART Click. For its part, Globe Telecoms brings Wi-Fi to
small and medium enterprises (SMEs) using its wireless broadband access with Globe
Broadband Wi-F1.

SMART launched the mobile Internet café branded as SMART Click on April 1,
2006 in Zamboanga. The mobile café is housed in a blue 40-foot container van as
shown in Figure 25. It uses wireless broadband Internet which can be put up evening
remote municipalities. The mobile Internet café is air-conditioned with 15 computers
for rent and it also offers desktop publishing, CD burning and online gaming. In effect,
the mobile café serves as a one-stop digital shop in place with limited or no provision
for high-speed Internet. The movability of the Internet café is an advantage of Click.
With location being a critical factor in any business, the café can be easily moved to
another place.

As of July 2006, SMART has so far operationalized 18 SMART Click branches

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WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)
nationwide located in remote areas like Basco in Batanes; Ipil in Zamboanga Sibugay;
Sta. Maria in Bulacan; Bantayan Island in Cebu province; Dolores, Eastern Samar;
Malolos, Bulacan; Bulan, Sorsogon; Barobo, Surigao del Sur; Balangiga, Eastern
Samar; San Juan, Leyte; Tandag, Surigao del Sur; Concepcion, Tarlac; San Jose,
Antique; Baler, Aurora; Virac, Catanduanes; San Miguel, Bulacan, and Catanauan,
Quezon. The company plans to eventually open 1000 branches nationwide particularly
in remote communities where home-based Internet access is either unavailable or
unaffordable.

Having launched Smart Click is not simply an outreach program for Internet
technology and related product line. The remote mobile Internet café will also help the
company distribute content and add-on services such as ring tones, logo and music
downloads and caller ring back tunes to more consumers. The company sees Smart
Click as a computer and learning laboratory for rural areas to boost the company’s
computer literacy in the countryside.

On the part of Globe Telecoms, Globe Broadband Wi-Fi, the company brings
wireless product being introduced to the country’s small and medium enterprises,
which thousands of them are in the countryside. With services being offered by Globe
Bizworks, Globe enables small businesses to turn their offices into Wi-Fi zones.
Through this product line, Globe hopes to help businesses optimize their operations
and enhance their productivity by equipping them with the latest connectivity service.

Voice Over Internet Protocol

Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) is a technology that allows phone calls to be
made on a broadband Internet connection instead of regular phone line or the so-called
landline provided by any of the existing telephone companies. VOIP services can work
over computer, a special VOIP phone, and a traditional phone with an adaptor system.
Shown in Figure 26 is a diagrammatic presentation of how a VOIP works as com d ith a
standard telephone communication system in a PSTN.

VOIP is a popular service offered by ISPs nowadays because persons can

communicate with one another even if they are miles apart at half or lower than $ 0.40
per minute rate on international direct distance (IDD) calls offered by the phone firms.
Moreover, images of both persons can be seen on the screen.

Per NTC Memorandum Circular 05-08-2005, VOIP has been classified by the
National Telecommunications Commission as a Value-Added Service (VAS) thus
allowing ISP such as Internet Cafés as venue for telecommunication between domestic
and international locations not only with audio (as in a telephone conversation using
traditional phones) but it may also come with video when users of computers come
with web or digital cameras. Theoretically, this means users can expect rates of voice
calls to go down given the competition over by ISPs vis-a-vis the regular phone services
providers.

Arguments were made by Public Telephone Entities (PTEs) regarding the

impacts of the NTC Memorandum Circular allowing ISP to provide telephone services
via VOIP will result in the collapse of the telecom service. This is because the PTE’s
stable source of revenue will be eaten up by non-PTEs. Internet Services Providers on
the other hand said that they are not taking away the business from the telephone
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WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)
companies. In fact, they should view this as an opportunity to modify their business
model or may be expand their broadband business.

Digital Phippines Inc., owner of Netopia, observes that the volume of outbound
VOIP calls from its Internet shops has increased. The clamor for the VOIP prompted
Netopia to add more VOIP booths. Netopia records an average of 250,000 minutes a
month of VOIP calls at $ 0.10 per minute, or roughly $ 25,000 a month.

For their part, the Philippine Internet Service Organization (PISO)

congratulated the NTC for its progressive memorandum on VOIP.

Search Engines

Search engines are software programs that a visitor or surfer can access via the
websites to engage in search from among millions of websites using keywords, names
or phrases. All that users or surfers need to do is go to the address or location of the
desired search engine and on the box or window provided for, it only takes a short time
to encode or type keyword, products, services, or topics that need to be searched — and
voila! — a long list of relevant Internet sites easily pops up.

An illustrative example of how a search engine works is shown in Figure 27.

FIGURE 27. How a search engine works

Source: https://cdn.hswstatic.com/gif/search-engine-chart.gif

A search engine does not look at every web page attempting to find a match.
Rather, it searches its own index of web pages and web information. Search engines
have different techniques for updating, retrieving and ranking websites explaining the
fact that each of the websites has different responses to the same request for
information being searched for by the surfer.

Search engines are extremely important eCommerce/eBusiness intermediaries as

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WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)
many Internet shoppers use search engines — sometimes referred to as information
aggregators — to help identify both products and producers. Generally, search engines
are provided or available at no charge to the Internet user or subscribers. Some of the
more popular search engines are as follows:

a) www.google.com
b) www.msn.com
c) www.hotbot.com
d) www.yahoo.com
e) www.altavista.com
f) www.cyber4l.com
g) www.AskJeeves.com
h) www.E-spotting.com
i) www.Looksmart.com
j) www.netscapesearch.com
k) www.nomad.com
l) www.overture.com
m) www.Voila!.com
n) www.Excite.com
o) www.infoseek.com
p) www.webcrawler.com
q) www.lycos.com
r) www.search.com
s) www.yehey.com
t) www.sentro.com
u) www.iskolar.com

Portals

Internet portal access is a concept that became popular back in 1999 as reported
by Louis (2002). A portal is an organized way of facilitating the users’ search as without
it, a list of websites would appear on screen, which is too far away or has nothing to do
with the user’s intent. Portals are designed in focus for specific needs or in a way
categorized into sectors or groups. For example, a children’s portal may focus on toys
being marketed or sports car being manufactured in a particular country. Another
typical application of portal concept is a university or college portal where its contents
are well organized to service the needs of various colleges or units and the faculty or
employees as well as the students.

Portal is a managed access as opposed to any other Internet site that is not
organized or well-managed and just connected to the net. As a managed gateway to the
Internet system, one has to trust that the portal manager has established links to the
appropriate sites (i.e., related sites), otherwise, the user will be forced to search
through hundreds of sites. This being the case, the challenge to the portal manager is
immense and the contribution that he can provide to the eBusiness is substantial.

How the portal on the

Internet is organized is
shown in Figure 28.

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WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)
 Figure 28. The Portal
Source: Louis (2002), p. 56

Blogs and Blogging

Blog is a contraction of the two words web and log and it takes the form of
various, information or data on the website. A blog is a website by itself and is usually
maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of
events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in
reverse-chronological} order. “Blog” can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or
add content to a blog (www.enwikepedia.org). More commonly, acts of maintaining
and updating entries on the Internet are often referred to as blogging.

As cited by wikipedia.org, many blogs provide commentary or news on a

particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog
combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to
its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an
important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on
art (artlog), photographs (photoblog), sketches (sketchblog), videos (vlog), music (MP3
blog), audio (podcasting), which are part of a wider network of social media.

Micro-blogging is another type of blogging, one, which consists of blogs with

very short posts. With the advent of video blogging, the word blog has taken on an even
looser meaning — that of any bit of media wherein the subject expresses his opinion or
simply talks about something. .

In the world of
eCommerce/eBusiness,
blogging is an
opportunity for making
money over the
Internet. In fact,
making money by
blogging is becoming
quite the popular
business venture these
days (Palma, 2006).
Once thought of as
simply “online
journals,” blogs are
turning into a new form
of media that is taking
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WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)
the Internet by storm! There are literally millions upon millions of blogs nowadays
ranging in a myriad of topics. People blog about politics, their personal lives,
technology — you name it, there is sure to be someone out there blogging about it!

What started out as just a hobby for people hanging out online has now become 4 great
way to make money as well. There are many ways to do so and some of them are
Similar to how you would make money if you had a website. After all, a blog is a
website a8 well, except you also get to insert your own opinion and commentary.

D. Activities/Exercises

1. Using bulleted statements, briefly narrate the origin and history of the Internet
Technology in general.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

2. Distinguish a web page from a website.

____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

E. Evaluation/Post activities

Part I. (TRUE/FALSE). Write TRUE if the statement is correct and write FALSE
if the statement is wrong.

_______ 1. Information and Communications Technology has nothing to do with e-

Commerce.
_______ 2. Information and Communication Technology solely focuses on the
hardware of the computer.
_______3. ICT has six basic functions.
_______4. Transmission is a function of ICT that allows sending data and
information from one location to another.
_______5. Storage function is one of the functions of ICT.

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WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)
Part II. MULTIPLE CHOICE. Write the letter of the correct answer.

________ 1. What kind of ICT function takes the form of a task that is done by way of
using devices like scanners and cameras thus allowing storage of vital data and
information for future use?
a. Capture b. Storage c. Process
function function Function
________2. This kind of information comes in the form of written information which
may be typewritten, printed or handwritten.
a. Data b. Sound c. Text
________3. What component part of the computer system include the software or
instructions that enable the optimal use of the component parts of the hardware.
a. Hardware b. Programs c. Procedures
________4. What component part of the computer system refer to the various forms
that are fed into the hardware to be processed by the people.
a. Procedure b. Programs c. Information
_______ 5. What component part of the computer system include the rules, policies
and protocols that need to be observed and follow.
a. Hardware b. Programs c. Procedures

References
Garrovillas, E. P. (2009) Out-of the-box Retailing Principles and Practices that work
and make sense. C &E Publishing, Inc.

Gilbert, D. (2003) Retail Marketing Management (second edition). Prentice Hall

Financial Times.

Mrs. Ahsanath.M.K (2011) Retail Management.

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Disclaimer: This module is prepared for instructional purposes only based on the
course syllabus. The teacher who prepared this module does not claim ownership on
its contents but patterned the ideas from different authors.

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WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)
 Congratulations for completing this module!

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WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

 Vision 2020
WPU: the leading knowledge center for sustainable
development of West Philippines and beyond.

Mission
WPU commits to develop quality human resource and green
technologies for a dynamic economy and sustainable
development through relevant instruction,
research and extension services.

Core Values
(3CT) Culture of
Excellence
Commitment
Creativity
Teamwork

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)