One Internet Marketing Method

In this Wall Street Journal Blog aricle, a marketing method for "unbranded product advertising" was discussed. Basically, Video advertisement gives very brief introduction of a product and drives customers to visit specific Website for details.

Let the adventure starts!

We had our first class today and there were 15 students joined the adventure. Most members (11) of the team are in their first semester at CACS. We have different reasons to take the class, such as:

• "I have a strong interest in developing Web-based applications and want to learn about the business side"
• "We are building a company and the things I learn (in this class) may be helpful"
• "(I am) interested in both the web-tech and the information systems"
• "to learn, how exactly an organization runs"
• "I want to learn more about Web-marketing"
• "I am a technology oriented person. This class will profit me from learning the market side & Business"
• "(I am) thinking about long term prospects, I am really eager to passes a MBA degree. I believe this course supplements my desire"

...

Oh, I espcially recommend this one:
"(I chose to take this class because of the) Web-based IT Entrepreneurship blog posted in CACS"

We have a lot of talents in the team. We have writers, photographers, marketers, managers, and, of course, a lot of software engineers.

So, as partners, we formed the company of "CMPS598" today (we need to find the company a good name, any suggestions). Let the innovation and collaboration start!

Where to find Learning Resources about Entrepreneurship?

There is no requirement to buy any textbooks for this class. However, extensive reading is highly recommended.

There are many resources you could easily access, for example, you could:

• Search the Internet
• Use the University Library: http://library.louisiana.edu
• Use the Lafayette Public Libraries: http://www.lafayette.lib.la.us/Louisiana_Web_Links.htm
• If you are an ACM member, you can access its online books and courses: http://pd.acm.org/
  

If you know any resource that worths to recommend to the class, please post the information in the blog (you could do so by posting a comment). Thank you!

CMPS/EECE 598 Student Questionnaire

Questionnaire

With the feedback collected from questionnaire, we hope to understand your needs and expectations, learn more about your experience, talent and strength, and listen to your creative ideas. We will tune the design the lectures and projects to make the learning process more effective.

A. Basic Info

---

Your Name:

Primary Email address:

This is the Nth semester that you are with CACS, N=______

Which program are you in, MS/ME or Ph.D. program?

How many classes are you plan to take this semester (including this one)?

B. Your ideas

---

Could you describe why you choose this class to take?

Anything specific are you looking for to learn from the class?

We are looking for original ideas for the class project. Ideally, the project will be an innovative Web application that has commercial potential. Do you have an idea now? If yes, tell me about it.

C. Your Experience, Talent and Strength that may be relevant to the class:

---

Have you ever been an entrepreneur yourself? If yes, could you please share your experience with me? What did you do? How did the business go? What were the challenges?

Have you ever worked in startup companies? If yes, could you please share your experience with me? What did the company do? How did the business go? What were the challenges? What role did you play?

Which programming language(s) are your good at, such as Java, C/C++, Perl, PHP and so on?

Do you consider yourself knows database and SQL reasonably well? Have you ever designed a database before? How many tables it had?

Have you written any blog? If yes, please share as much as information you would like to share.

Have you ever been a Web application developer before? If yes, please provide as much as information you would like to share.

Have you ever been a software architect before? If yes, please provide as much as information you would like to share.

Have you ever been a Web master before? If yes, please provide as much as information you would like to share.

Do you know how to make flash animation?

Do you know HTML, Javascript, Ajax?

Are you good in some form of visual arts? If yes, please provide as much as information you would like to share.

Do you have business experience, such as in marketing, sales, finance and/or accounting and so on? If yes, please provide as much as information you would like to share.

Are you especially good in something else, or have experiences that you think may be really relevant, such as writing, photographing, or video editing? If yes, please provide as much as information you would like to share.

Are you comfortable to make a presentation (say, 5 minutes or so) in front of the class?

D. Miscellaneous

---

Your Google account ID is __________________

We plan to use google account to manage many activities of the class. Do you have a google account that you would like to use for the class? If not, please soon get one and let the instructor know.

Could you make yourself available 9am-11am Fridays in the morning?
As some invited speakers may be only available in day times, we may consider to move some sessions of class from Thursday nights to Friday mornings.

Comments, suggestions, concerns, or anything else you would like to let the instructor know about?

Call for participation - CMPS|EECE 598 section 005: Web-based IT Entrepreneurship

Dear CACS students:

Through lectures, invited talks and student projects, "Web-based IT Entrepreneurship" (section-005, CMPS 598 or EECE 598) is designed to address important topics that are relevant to IT entrepreneurship, especially in the Web 2.0 era. Emphases are on creating awareness and experience to the process of IT entrepreneurship, and on a few issues that are usually not apparent to new, inexperienced entrepreneurs who have scientific or engineering background.

Students who will take the class should be passionate to "Web-based IT Entrepreneurship" (or some specific part of it), have reasonable experience with Web programming, and are committed to vigorously participate in class. The instructors will try their best to make the class useful and interesting at the same time.

IMPORTANT: The instructors will also work as much hard to recognize good work and discourage and punish unhealthy or unethical behaviors, such as free riding, cheating, improper copying and so on.

As an experimental and highly interactive class, students will have significant impact on the success of the class. Teamwork should be expected.
If you are passionate and are willing to spend reasonable amount of effort, join the adventure! The syllabus is available at http://cmps598.blogspot.com/2008/06/syllabus.html. Feel free to post your comments. We will try to make it open, an "Web 2.0 class".

To learn more about this class, please contact Dr. Wu (email: zwu at cacs.louisiana.edu, phone: 482-1667).

Regards,

Zonghuan Wu and Vijay Raghavan