COMP6023 Class 10 DWEB/ITM

We continued our look at search engines.

Next up we will consider Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

COMP6023 Class 09 DWEB/ITM

We looked at search engines

COMP6023 Lab 05 DCOM

We didn't do anything in particular in this lab.

I fielded some questions about assessments and some GOMC groups used the time to make some progress.

I met with each student to discuss the blog and the kinds of spelling and grammar errors that the student was making. Some students expressed concern that the penalty for grammar and spelling errors is so significant.

COMP6023 Class 09 DNET/DCOM

We looked at how search engines work

COMP6023 Class 08 DNET/DCOM

I couldn't get he projector working.

I talked with students about the GOMC. Some students aren't so keen and asked for the assignment spec for the Plan B.

COMP6023 Lab 04 DWEB

Students made a simple webpage and uploaded it via FTP to praxis.

Students should include the URL for this page in this week's blog entry.

COMP6023 Lab 04 DNET

We looked at the unix commands needed to upload a site to a web server using FTP. Students must include the URL for their websites in this weeks blog entry.

GMOC Teams did some work.

COMP6023 Lab 04 ITM

We looked at the unix commands needed to upload a site to a web server using FTP. Students must include the URL for their websites in this weeks blog entry.

GMOC Teams did some work.

COMP6023 Class 08 DWEB/ITM

I spoke a tiny tiny bit about the Google Online marketing Challenge. Despite my having asked students to sort out the groups in the inter-class break, there was still some horse trading to be done.

I asked the groups to review the list of potential clients and to select some they might like to work with.

COMP6023 Class 07 DWEB/ITM

I explained a bit about web servers and went through the unix commands needed to do an FTP.

Reminders

In addition to providing a summary of this week's classes the minimum requirements this week include both, taking the newsU.org online course and sending me the result; and FTPing a website up to the server and include the URL in the blog post.

COMP6023 Lab 04 DCOM

We went through the unix commands needed to FTP a website to a web server. I asked students to make a small page and upload it to the server using the details I gave in class.

Students are required to include the URLs for their pages in their Week 04 blog posts.

There is no lls command in unix. I totally made that up. It's actually !ls

COMP6023 Class 07 DNET/DCOM

I started talking about Directories and Search Engines and how they work, but we got sidetracked and ended up talking about privacy issues. I love it when that happens.

Someone suggested that it wasn't a bit deal, but I asked the class to imagine that being gay was still a crime in Ireland. How harmless would all the information that Google, Facebook, and the mobile phone companies have be, if the government got its hands on it? What if China bought Google?

The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.

[We got as far as Slide 18]

Sent a list of potential GOMC clients

I e-mailed captains who have yet to organize a team, to encourage them to get the finger out.

I e-mailed the captains with teams in place a list of some potential clients. If a team is interested in a particular client, let me know and I will try for optimal pairings of teams and clients. Do not contact nor publicize the list of clients in the meantime.

Teams are free to find their own client too. It might be especially interesting to have a charity as a client as the $250 free advertising might be very welcome.

Sent e-mail to potential GOMC clients

I sent this e-mail to potential GOMC clients today.


Hi ***

I’m e-mailing you because you expressed an interest in participating in the Google Online Marketing Challenge (GOMC) with some of my students at Cork Institute of Technology.  I got your contact details from Virginia Foley at the Rubicon Centre. The GOMC is a competition Google runs to expose businesses to its advertising products.  Students are tasked with managing an $250 advertising budget over three weeks.  If you  participate, a team of students will devise a plan and spend the $250 on your behalf in an effort to drive traffic to your website.  This process will happen over a number of stages.

Students will meet with you to establish the nature of your business.  I will ask them to examine your website to ensure that it is getting as high a ranking on Google as it deserves.  It may be that they will recommend some changes to your website.  However, I do not propose that they would make those changes for you.

The students will devise a plan and submit to Google.  After this Google will credit their  AdWords account with $250. The students have a three week window of their choosing to run the campaign.  However this semester ends in mid May so I would expect students to run the campaign before the end of April. Following that they will submit an impact statement to Google.

I hope to assign a team of students to you soon.  In the meantime, there are some things you could consider.  Is there a particular three week window that might best suit your business?  If you sell chocolate, for example, before Easter would be better than after.  Is your target audience confined to a geographical location, or is it global?  What kinds of people are in your target audience?  These are just some of the questions the students will be asking you.

All the students are in their first year of college.  They may not be used to dealing with clients, so this experience will be of great benefit to them.  I’m grateful to you for offering your time.

You can find more information about the GOMC at 

http://www.google.com/onlinechallenge/discover/index.html

or you can e-mail or phone me if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank You

Colin Manning

Identify weeks on posts

Please name your posts Week 02, Week 03, Week 04 etc. That will make it much easier to identify them when I am correcting them.

COMP6023 Grammar & Spelling Waiver

Someone asked in one class if students who did not have English as their first language were also required to have correct spelling and grammar in English. They do.

COMP6023 Class 05 DNET/DCOM

I identified the team captains for the Google contest and I asked student to make a start on organizing themselves into teams.  Team captains need to follow the link onf the blog and register with Google.

We discussed patents, trademarks, and trade secrets. It was a bit rushed in the end. For a more leisurely discussion, students can watch the recording of the class with one of the other student cohorts.

Today's class was interesting. It's nice when students join in. Although some looked like they had had a rough night.