Design and Digital Media Handbook 2010-11

The Digital Marketplace: course schedule

Course Description

Semester 2, 20 credits. Course organiser: John Lee.  Optional

Synopsis

In this course students will conduct a case-study, evaluating against commercial criteria a commercially-oriented web site chosen in consultation with teaching staff. The study centres on what is required for the development and commercial exploitation of a system and how this relates to its design. The study then moves to the development of a business plan and presentation, informed by the evaluation exercise, to commercialise a digital design idea which will preferably be one developed by the student (e.g. the prototype site developed in P00177), otherwise one chosen in consultation with teaching staff. This is set against the general context of business practice: entrepreneurialism, intellectual property, company creation, raising of funding, market assessment, product development, marketing, etc.; as well as relevant aspects of the contemporary cultural and philosophical study of such practices. The course will be based on study of online resources, guest speakers, with discussion in lecture/seminars, and will be relatively self-directed. The highlight of the course will be a presentation to a panel of experts who will provide feedback on the business plan and presentation.

This course is developed and presented by the Edinburgh-Stanford Link group within the School of Informatics, with support from Scottish Enterprise. Visiting speakers will play a prominent role. See the course schedule page for further details, which may augment or supersede those given here.

Learning Outcomes

• Appraisal of the main issues involved in setting up a commerce system.
• A commercial evaluation of a web-site and associated business.
• Ability to evaluate a design in a practice and commercial context.
• Understanding of the issues of digital design in a business context.
• Understanding of the general issues involved in setting up an enterprise, including the acquisition of resources.
• Ability to formulate and evaluate a professional business plan.
• Ability to present an innovative venture and persuade an audience of its viability.

Assessment

1. A commercial evaluation study of an existing system (50%).
2. Business plan, slide presentation and one-page executive summary (50%).

Criteria for Assessment

• Informed use of commercial evaluation criteria.
• Demonstrated understanding of business contexts and methods.
• Consideration of the bearing of design issues on business outcomes.
• Quality, professionalism and presentation of the business plan.

Project Brief

1. Commercial evaluation study. This task is to examine the business context of the system in question. You will need to look at user needs, requirements, aspirations and expectations for the design of the system; the marketability of any products involved; the general business environment into which the system will be commercialized; the feasibility and viability of the financial framework; likely availability of venture capital; other possible sources of funding; etc. This study examines the background against which a specific business plan will be developed. Written work (approx. 2000-word submissions) will be assessed on the basis of the thoroughness of the analysis, the insights gained, the professionalism of the conduct of any interviews/surveys and the write up. (50%)
2. Business plan, executive summary and slide presentation. Work such as creating the prototype in course P00177 will have done no more than introduce the complexities involved in developing a fully functional interactive system. Clearly such development can be a major team exercise, involving programmers, software engineers, graphic designers, and marketing experts. You are however well placed to articulate what would be required to take such a prototype to the next stage, as a robust online system. Using any insights gained from the previous tasks, and following the numerous business plan guides available on the web and elsewhere, construct a business plan for the further development of your chosen system. The purpose of the business plan may be to raise venture capital for a new company that will begin life with the design and development of the proposed system, or in some other relevant way, such as bootstrapping, to pursue the commercialisation of the system, taking into account the issues raised in the evaluation study. The work will be assessed on the basis of the professionalism, coherence, authenticity and persuasiveness of the documentation. (50%)

Bibliography

• Barnatt C. 1995. CyberBusiness, Mindsets for a Wired Age, Wiley, Chichester.
• Charles C. and Brown K. 1996. Multimedia Marketing for Design Firms, Wiley, New York
• Cunningham, Peter and Friedrich Fröschl, 1999. Electronic Business Revolution: Opportunities and Challenges in the 21st Century, Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
• Deans, C. and Jurison, J. (eds) 1996. Information Technology in a Global Business Environment: Readings and Cases, Boyd and Fraser, Danvers, MA.
• Dorf, Richard C. and Thomas H Byers (2005). Technology Ventures: From Idea to Enterprise. McGraw-Hill Higher Education
• Ferguson, C. (1999) High Stakes, No Prisoners : A Winner’s Tale of Greed and Glory in the Internet Wars. Times Books.
• Forester, T. (ed.) 1989. Computers in the Human Context: Information, Technology, Productivity and People, Oxford: Blackwell.
• Gates, Bill 1996. The Road Ahead, London: Penguin.
• Giddens, A. 1990. The Consequences of Modernity, Polity Press, Cambridge.
• Hess, Ken 2001. Bootstrap: lessons learned from building a successful company from scratch. S-Curve Press.
• Komisar, R. (2001) The Monk and the Riddle. Harvard Business School Press.
• Mitchell, Mayiam. J. 1999. E-topia, Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
• Moore, Geoffrey (2002). Crossing the Chasm. Harper Business.
• Mullins, J. (2003) The New Business Road Test: What Entrepreneurs and Executives Should Do Before Writing a Business Plan. FT Prentice Hall.
• Nesheim, J. (2000). High Tech Start Up, Revised and Updated: The Complete Handbook For Creating Successful New High Tech Companies. Free Press.
• Sanders K. 1996. Digital Architect: A Common-Sense Guide to Using Computer Technology in Design Practice, Wiley, New York.
• Sproull, L. and Kiesler, S. 1991. Connections: New Ways of Working in the Networked Organization, Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.
• Sterne J. 1995. World Wide Web Marketing: Integrating the Internet into your Marketing Strategy, Wiley, New York.
• Sutton, R (2001). Weird Ideas that Work. Free Press.
• Timmons, J. (2003). New Venture Creation - Entrepreneurship for the 21st Century. McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
• Other references and resources can be found on the website at Posted in The Digital Marketplace ARCH11005 | No Comments »
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The Digital Marketplace (10) ARCH11036

Semester 2, 10 credits. Course organiser: John Lee. Optional.  This course is a 10-point version of ARCH11005 The Digital Marketplace

Synopsis

In this course students will study what is required for the development and commercial exploitation of a web-based system and how this relates to its design. They then move to the development of a business plan and presentation to commercialise a digital design idea which will preferably be one developed by the student (e.g. the prototype site developed in P00177), otherwise one chosen in consultation with teaching staff. This is set against the general context of business practice: entrepreneurialism, intellectual property, company creation, raising of funding, market assessment, product development, marketing, etc.; as well as relevant aspects of the contemporary cultural and philosophical study of such practices. The course will be based on study of online resources, guest speakers, with discussion in lecture/seminars, and will be relatively self-directed. The highlight of the course will be a presentation to a panel of experts who will provide feedback on the business plan and presentation.

This course is developed and presented by the Edinburgh-Stanford Link group within the School of Informatics, with support from Scottish Enterprise. Visiting speakers will play a prominent role. See the course schedule for further details, which may augment or supersede those given here.

Learning Outcomes

• Appraisal of the main issues involved in setting up a commerce system.
• Ability to evaluate informally a design in a practice and commercial context.
• Understanding of the issues of digital design in a business context.
• Understanding of the general issues involved in setting up an enterprise, including the acquisition of resources.
• Ability to formulate and evaluate a professional business plan.
• Ability to present an innovative venture and persuade an audience of its viability.

Assessment

1. Business plan, slide presentation and one-page executive summary (100%).

Criteria for Assessment

• Demonstrated understanding of business contexts and methods.
• Consideration of the bearing of design issues on business outcomes.
• Quality, professionalism and presentation of the business plan.