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Inside the Blue Book
E-Commerce:
Doing Business on the Internet
May
2001
by Jennifer L. Holley
CPSC
155b
Faculty: Joan Feigenbaum, Professor of Computer Science
When
the stock bubble for electronic businesses burst in March 2000,
many people swiftly backed away from Internet ventures. Yale
students' interest, however, is still going strong -- if the 150-student enrollment in "E-commerce: Doing Business on the Internet" is any
sign. The course, offered by the computer science department, is
an experimental teaching task for professor Joan Feigenbaum, who
was a member of the research staff in computer science at AT&T
Labs before coming to Yale in July 2000.
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Feigenbaum
doesn't pretend that she can teach anyone how to become
an Internet billionaire.
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The goal
of the course is to explain recent technological developments of
what Feigenbaum calls a "boom-and-bust world" in terms accessible
for non-technological people. Students learn how the Internet causes
businesses to operate differently, and what new businesses come
about with mass market Internet access.
Feigenbaum
and her students study the fates of such businesses as Netscape, eBay, and Amazon in order to better understand the medium. "If,
like Amazon, you present choices in intelligent ways, and if you
deliver the goods and follow through, consumers will be satisfied,"
says Feigenbaum. But of all the companies that now exist, it is
hardly possible to predict which ones will survive, let alone know
what these businesses will look like in ten years.
What
the course is not about is how to create a multimillion-dollar Internet
business. "Unfortunately for all concerned, I don't have any expertise
in how to become an Internet billionaire. I don't pretend that I
can teach anyone how to make a business a success," says Feigenbaum.
The class does look at how Internet businesses take advantage of
changes in computer technology, and at e-commerce's legal, social,
and political implications.
While
most of the students are economics majors, others come from psychology, engineering, American studies, political science, and computer science.
"Computer science as a department has lots to offer to Yale students
in general -- not just to computer science majors," says Feigenbaum.
And why do all these students continue to be interested in e-commerce,
in spite of the sagging NASDAQ? "The students don't see the course
as the means of learning how to make money," says Feigenbaum, "but
rather as a way to see how the world works."  |
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