Reflections on Session 8 and 9

A handful of students found the Session 8 mini-project assignment (come up with a unique e-business) to be very frustrating. In a way, this challenging assignment was like a midterm exam.

Here is a summary of their ideas on possible e-businesses:

Personalized online time management service
3-D modeling tool for an environmentally aware home
Online sports card inventory tracker
Auction site which matches sound equipment with performer
Small-town French restaurant selection guide
Organized weekend camping trips for gamers
College book rental
Family taxi for parents
Grocery price comparison site
Making jealous mates
College transcript clearinghouse
Home improvement contractor online bidding service
e-Closet - hotel storage for travelers
Gifted kids competition
SlingBox feed exchange
Customized beer delivered to your home
Online calorie counter for a broad range of restaurants
Nonalcoholic activity planner

During the last semester, some came up with some pretty wild and unique ideas.

An online hostage negotiator
Team picker based on behavioral survey results
Homepainting recommendation service
Anonymous shopper service
An e-business search service
Personal security-check web service
A one-stop pet resource
Virtual vacations which uses VR helmets
Guild builder for games
An advertiser-customer target marketer
A Mac and PC cross-platform software supplier
A pet food labeling service (has picture of their pet on the can!)
An unbiased fantasy football selector (disregards user's loyalties)
An MP3 music tagging service
Recordings of daughters' comedy routines
Custom cross-stitching service
Virtual DJ services

I wonder if any of my students will become billionaires because of their ideas. Hey, look at a Marylander named Sergey Brin. He was born in Moscow, Russia, to a Jewish family, the son of a mathematician and economist. In 1979, when Sergey was six, his family emigrated to the United States. Brin attended grade school at Paint Branch Montessori School in Adelphi, Maryland, but he received further education at home; his father Michael Brin, a professor in the department of mathematics at the University of Maryland, nurtured his interest in mathematics and his family helped him retain his Russian language skills. In September 1990, after having attended Eleanor Roosevelt High School, Sergey enrolled in the University of Maryland, College Park to study Computer Science and Mathematics, where he received his Bachelors of Science in May 1993 with high honors. After graduating from Maryland, Sergey received a graduate fellowship from the National Science Foundation, which allowed him to study for his masters degree in Computer Science at Stanford University.

Brin is the American entrepreneur who co-founded Google with Larry Page. He is currently the President of Technology at Google and has a net worth estimated at $16.6 billion as of March 9, 2007, making him the 26th richest person in the world together with Larry Page and the 9th richest person in the United States. He is also the 4th youngest billionaire in the world.



As for Session 9, I am glad most of the students got to experience a wiki for the first time. It is an excellent collaboration tool but alas nothing is perfect. Often you need an effective facilitator to ensure that the wiki is well structured and managed and to prevent any wiki vandalism, mis-entries or posting of non-politically correct ideas. Later on, the class will do a mini-project that will not involve any supervision or facilitation on my part. It will be an interesting experiment in human behavior!