Should your business expand onto the Internet? What are the costs and benefits? Where do you find out how to do it? These are some of the practical questions that Stephen Fickas explores as an associate professor of Computer and Information Science at the University of Oregon.
"Many businesses and organizations are deciding that it's time to get beyond the hype about the information superhighway and begin putting this new and very powerful tool to work," says Fickas. "But businesses that choose to pursue this path face a surprising lack of available information about how to do it right."
Fickas and several colleagues are helping UO students­and local businesses­get this vital information by tailoring interdisciplinary course work to meet the need. In a class known informally as the "UO Design + Business Collaboration," students work their way through the numerous practical challenges awaiting any business trying to establish itself on the World Wide Web (WWW), the increasingly popular and user-friendly second-generation stretch of the information superhighway. Students with backgrounds in business, graphic design, journalism, marketing, and computer science form teams, each assigned to design and build a functional WWW "home page" for a Northwest business or organization. (The home page is the WWW equivalent of the front door to a business establishment; it serves as an on-line entryway for electronic customers.)
UO students are compiling information from the class and formatting it onto an interactive CD-ROM disc titled "The Design and Business Collaboration Series Volume 1: Getting Down to Business on the WWW." The disc will be available to the general public later this fall or winter. Until then, here are a few key points to keep in mind if you are considering entering the world of electronic commerce:

Tips From Cyberspace

Know your market A home page should be as targeted, appropriate, and inviting as a retailer's window display. For example, WWW users arriving at the home page for the Convention & Visitors Association of Lane County Oregon (CVALCO) are usually interested in information about either recreation or convention planning. In response, the students designed the CVALCO home page to quickly split customers into two groups. After separation, those seeking recreation information encounter bright colors and a more playful treatment, while convention planners find room availability and seating capacity information presented in a let's-get-down-to-business format.

Take full advantage of the web By taking stock of your needs, you can assess those areas where a WWW presence could be of greatest use. Design + Business students discovered that the University of Oregon Bookstore has a pressing need for additional floor space, but architectural limitations prevent it from expanding. The web offers the bookstore almost unlimited "virtual floor space" where customers­including students' far away, present-buying parents­can browse a catalog of goods with the click of a mouse.

Costs and benefits Opportunities abound in the field of electronic commerce­expansion to a global customer base, leveling of the playing field with larger competitors. But there are pitfalls as well, Fickas warns. A poorly designed home page or one that is an unreliable mix of current and outdated information may confuse or frustrate a customer. To avoid this problem, expect to pay a professional consulting team for design and maintenance work, and make sure the team has a balanced set of skills, including marketing and graphic design. Remember these costs in your calculations of whether the WWW is for you.

"In one sense today's World Wide Web offers the kind of wide-open opportunities offered by the Wild West," Fickas observes. "You could say that our information helps people choose if they want to make the trek, and for those pioneers who do, it gives them tips and experience-based knowledge about the frontier."
Information about the CD-ROM can be obtained by calling Stephen Fickas at (541) 346-4314 or sending him E-mail at fickas@cs.uoregon.edu

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