Below are your tasks, with an estimate of the time required for each. Please finish everything by Class 4 except the PGP homework. Articles are in the Course Reader except where noted.

    The first two items continue the module on the Information Technology Foundations of E-Commerce.

1) [2 hr] CLASS NOTES AND HOMEWORK 3: Search Engines [3 hrs -- 1 hr week 3, 2 hr week 4 (due)] Please finish this homework, which was detailed in a Class 2 handout.

2) Reference: A. Geoffrion, "Uncompressing/Decoding/Unpacking Archives: Quick Reference," 9/98, on-line version linked to course home page. On the Net you often encounter files that are compressed (packed into a smaller size by one of many possible compression algorithms), encoded (originally binary, but mapped into ordinary ASCII characters to get around the inability of some software to deal with binary files), or archived (multiple files and/or directories reformatted into a single file for handling convenience). The least you need to be able to do is to uncompress, decode, or unpack such files. This quick reference sheet, originally written from a Unix viewpoint, helps you figure out what to do in the most common situations. You might also want to learn how to compress, encode, and archive files using some of these tools or their close relatives. A class demo is planned to demonstrate some of the content of this sheet.

Another reference item is A. Geoffrion, "Crosswalk Between Unix, DOS, and Mac Commands," 9/98. Originally written for another class to map Unix commands into DOS and Mac OS, this may be useful to people migrating from Mac to PC.

    The next item continues the module on Security and Encryption.

3) [1.5 hr] CLASS NOTES AND HOMEWORK 4: PGP [2.5 hrs -- 1.5 hr week 4, 1 hr week 5 (due)] Please read and begin this homework, which is a Class 3 handout.

    The next two items begin the module on Electronic Payment Systems.

4) [1.25 hr] Read K-W Chap. 6, "Electronic Payment Systems" (skim 6.5, 6.6). This is a strong chapter in terms of concepts and approaches, but of course it does not present the most current status of the rapidly evolving initiatives in this area (e.g., CyberCash, DigiCash, FSTC, Mondex, NetCheck, SET). Notice the applications of cryptography, digital certificates, and digital signatures from the module on Security and Encryption.

5) [30 min] Read K Chap. 3, "Handling Money on the Net" (skim pp. 35-43, 49-59). Most of this material was covered in the previous item. The squibs in the margin of this book are usually pretty good skimming aids.

Optional: N.G. Itoi, "Promises, Promises," Red Herring, Feb. 1998, 78-81, on-line at http://www.redherring.com/mag/issue51/promises.html (but without the main figure).  A nice update on the precarious fate of MasterCard and Visa’s Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) protocol.

Optional: J.K. MacKie-Mason and K. White, "Evaluating and Selecting Digital Payment Mechanisms," in G. Rosston and D. Waterman (eds.), Interconnection and the Internet, Lawrence Erlbaum, 1997, 113-134. PDF version on-line at http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jmm/papers.html#esd. The appendices of this paper are wonderful, and include a matrix characterizing 10 leading payment systems according to 30 criteria.

    The next item begins the module on Discussion Groups and Virtual Communities.

6) [½ hr] Read "Internet Communities," Cover Story, Business Week, 5 May 97, on-line at www.businessweek.com/1997/18/b35251.htm. This is a nice introduction to discussion groups and virtual communities. Soon you will be asked to participate in some of them.

7) [1 hr] Work on your Term Project.