Most Important Business Strategies with Examples and Much More....

A multi-national organisation operates in various countries including Australia, Vietnam,India, Oman, and Nigeria. The organisation manufactures and distributes agricultural equipment’s to local and international clients. In total the organisation has 8,000 employees in five countries and more than 1 million customers worldwide. The head office is based in Australia. In recent years the organisation is facing a number of communication challenges.

They include:
• Timely communication to all staff and clients
• Communication breakdown from top management to staff in the front line and vice versa
• Feedback from clients on ways to improve product quality and service delivery
• Issues around local language
• Cross cultural issues in different contexts
• Limited development in digital literacy in some countries and use of social media in communication Your manager has asked you to develop strategies to improve communication at all level. The manager has directed you to suggest strategies that has proven to work well in large multinational organisations.

You are required to undertake the following:
• Prepare a written report
• Benchmark what other multinational organisations are doing to improve workplace communication. This could be done be reviewing literature of successful case studies available
• Identify the strategies the organisation could use to address each of the above five challenges.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the communication problems that are faced across organizations and the challenges that have to be confronted. The case study provided to guide for this paper tells that the multinational organization works in the many countries like Australia, Vietnam, India, Oman and Nigeria. This shows that the organization has to work in territories that are socially, economically and culturally completely different from each other. Some challenges have been faced by the organization and these challenges have to be overcome by them by using some clever strategies by their management.

Good practices

Whenever an international organization undertakes to provide their services across the globe, it is very evident that they must have a very wide supply chain network. The supply chain management of the company has to be very efficient if the company wants to reach its target and meet the organizational objectives (Yeh & Hong, 2012). In this company the management seems to face many challenges worldwide. The headquarter of this company is situated in Australia. So, they will not have any problems in getting the proper resources and talents. They have sufficient resources but their clients and customers have been complaining about some of their strategies. This will not be goodfor thebrand image of the organization (Maor, Gilad & Bloom, 2012).

Challenges

In this segment of the paper the main topic of discussion is about the challenges the organization is facing at this moment and the ways these challenges can be overcome by them. This resolves to the fact that their current global market stretches from Oceania to Asia and then Africa as well (March, 2013). This reflects the fact that the employees must be having difficulties in communicating with the local people and many barriers to communication must be present there.

Challenge 1: Timely communication to all staffs and clients

The alarming problem here is the fact that the employees and the clients are lacking in proper communication on time. The clients are ordering for certain things to be delivered on time (Cheung & Yiu, 2014). The staffs are not working at their best to deliver the goods. Around 8,000 employees are running short to deliver the services on time. The clients are dissatisfied with their services.

Challenge 2: Communication breakdown from top management to front line staff and vice versa

The communication between the top level management and the front line staff is deteriorating. This may be because there is a communication gap or miscommunication between them (Daim et al., 2012). This will be very risky for the image of the organization and clients will get a wrong message.

Challenge 3: Feedback from clients to improve the product quality and service delivery

The clients have been complaining that the product quality is not up to the mark as it was used to be some times ago. This will be very harmful for them because the clients will not compromise a bit with a bad product quality (Cummings & Worley, 2014). They are not being able to send the services on time as well. If the customers do not get the products on time, they will automatically switch their preferences to other brands.

Challenge 4: Issues around local language

There are certain serious issues in managing their people in diverse linguistic ambiences. The target audiences in other countries speak different languages and they have a verbal communication problem with the local people. They might even miss even some important deals because of these problems.

Challenge 5: Cross cultural issues

The different language speaking people follow different cultures as well. The Asians and Africans will not surely follow the same cultural values and the employees of the organization belong to different cultures and communities as well (Thomas, & Peterson, 2017). This will be a barrier from them.

Challenge 6: Limited development in digital literacy in some countries and use of social media

Some countries like Vietnam and Nigeria are not yet that much developed and the literacy rate is not so high. The people there are not aware of the use social media and digitally they are not so developed as well. This is a challenge for the organization for making their advertisements (Radovanovi?, 2012).

Future Strategies

Some strategies have to be taken in the future so that these hazards can be avoided. Many multinational organizations have faced these kinds of problems too and they have succeeded in eradication these problems.

Strategy 1

The clients should be informed about the product delivery time through proper communication. The employees should be able to send text messages to their numbers or send e-mails so that the clients can be communicated and the reason for late can be informed (Skovholt, Grønning & Kankaanranta, 2014).

Strategy 2

The employees should be able to communicate with the higher authority in case of any problems. The top management should also send feedback forms to the employees to mitigate this challenge. Sports Direct had faced these challenges and issues as well and they overcame with distributing survey and feedback forms ("SportsDirect.com – The UK’s No 1 Sports Retailer", 2017).

Strategy 3

The clients should be able to feedback to the employees about the product quality (Nicholas & Carswell, 2013). The company should use latest technologies to produce agricultural equipments. Woolworths has used this method of new technologies so that they can improve the service delivery and product quality ("Woolworths", 2017).

Strategy 4

The employees who will be sent to those internally expanded target markets should possess a thorough knowledge about the language of that place. Or else they should look to recruit employees from that place only. Tesco, the British retail company had faced these problems also so they resolved to train their employees and familiarize them with that language ("Tesco - Online Groceries, Homeware, Electricals & Clothing", 2017).

Strategy 5

Many companies have faced the cross cultural issues. Wesfarmers faced such troubles when they expanded to China ("Wesfarmers", 2017). This challenge was mitigated by adjusting with these issues and making the employees aware that strict punishments would be given for violation of racism issues and other cross cultural issues. This concerned company should do this as well.

Strategy 6

The digital literacy issues are faced by companies when they expand to a less developed market. The Australian mining company BHP Billiton faced such problems such problems when they expanded to foreign undeveloped countries ("BHP Billiton | A leading global resources company", 2017). They resolved it by training the local people the use of social media for advertisements. This company should follow these footsteps as well.

Conclusions

The paper can be concluded by saying that the concerned multinational company should train their employees properly so that they can align themselves with the objectives of the organization. The organization should be able to overcome the challenges by applying proper communication methods and eradicate the miscommunication between the top management and employees. They should also get rid of these cross cultural issues and local language issues by inflicting ethical morals into the minds of the employees. They should also train the employees to use the social media and build a proper network for their marketing and advertisement. Thus they will strive in this competitive business environment.

Dream Beauty Case Study

Based on the case study, Dream Beauty (DB) is a company which manufactures and distributes cosmetics across the United State. There were changes in their supply chain operations after a new supply chain expert took over. Although costs of supply chain had been increasing, the company annual sales are also increasing, peaking at $130,000,000 for the first time. However, it is recorded that supply chain costs ($50,000,000) and costs of goods sold ($52,000,000) alone are accounted for more than three-quarter of sales ($102,000,000).

There are totally three channels of product distribution for DB and they are retailers, convenience stores and mass merchants. All three channels are profitable for DB while retailers, convenience stores and mass merchants are respectively making 50%, 30% and 20% of the total sales. The products are sold to all three channels on credits, taking a maximum of 45 days although the duration DB desires is only 30 days. DB is employing a three-day fulfilment cycle which consists of order processing, packaging, labeling, and delivery. Although orders are shipped unlabeled to retail and convenience stores, the orders made by mass merchants are needed to be labeled due to the intense pressure given. The company even had to purchase a labelling machine which can process 30 labels per second.

As their three-day fulfilment cycle can fulfill the demand of customers within faster period, DB considers that this cycle should become an industry benchmark. However, to be able to offer this level of customer service, it is estimated that DB has to store 15 percent of total average annual inventory as backup products for customers. The cost of capital is also increased due to these costs. In overall, although DB is performing well from the aspect of customer service, it is witnessed that the company was incurring the following problems:

1. Increased cost for supply chain
2. Extra work of labelling
3. Need to wait for a long period to receive cash, and
4. Inventory cost of holding excessive products for three-day cycle.

From the case study, it has been found that Johnson is a Skin Care company that manufactures women’s and men’s organic skincare products. It is Kentucky based company, which develops exciting products for sales through the U.S. retail stores. The company has also distributed its products in international market. The direct customers of the company includes hair salon, spa that provide different wellness services like facial treatment. Due to all these enthusiastic customers, the sales performance of the company is quite impressive.

It has been found that sales figure of the company in recent years is $36 million and the operating profit is over $4.8 million. It has also been found from the case study that product line of the Johnson Skin Care Company is over 100 SKU’s. However, the majority of sales of the company were accounted by three major products. They are such as women’s foot care (WFC), men’s foot care (MFC), body butter (BB). The company is now trying to sell its product through retail stores. It had been estimated by the sales team that the annual sale figure for WFC, MFC and BB would be $15,000,000, $4,500,000 and $2,000,000 respectively. On the other hand, average unit price for these products will be such as $5.00, $4.50 and $6.25 respectively.

Now, after conducting a market research, the company has decided to enter market that is more traditional. The company has decided to sell and distribute its products with the help of retail store for the sales of consumers. As the company is new to this type of channel, the company has developed a new position at the company, Director of logistics. The company has three staging warehouses (SWs) located in New Jersey, Kentucky and California. Regional demand has been aggregated into five regional distribution centers (DCs). It has been assumed by the Director of logistics that overall inventory turnover of the company is 5% per year. Along with that, the company historically had inventory carrying cost of 18%.

2.0 Plan to include optimization of operation

2.1 Ordering process 

It has been found that, the company has only two contact manufacturers. Women’s foot care products are produced in the California plant. Om the other hand, men’s foot care products and Body Butter are produced in the New Jersey plant. All these products are single sourced. It has decreased the productivity, speed of workflow and efficiency. In order to overcome this flaw, the company can increase investment in order processing. The company can install a sales order processing system. It can help the company to take benefit of online processing and high frequency direct contact with customers. It can be integrated with other systems like cash, inventory and ledger system. It can also make sure that online transaction provides faster transaction to users compare to manual order processing system (Varley 2014).

2.2 Labeling products

Menon et al. (2016) stated that, in the era of intense competition, companies are trying to introduce value-added services (VAS) to promote their products. Form the case study, it has been found that all the products of the company in two different manufacturing plants and label them as well. Now, the company can purchase an integrated labeling machine for all products, which will operate only mass merchants. It will help to increase value of products for customers and customer loyalty. It will also help the company to increase price of the products, as to cover increased cost of supply chain.

It has been found form the case study that, the packaging cost of the Johnson Skin Care company is $0.50 for each products. It is more than labor cost for each product, which is $ 0.40. Average unit per carton for WFC, MFC and BB are such as 27, 12 and 20. In this section, the company has huge opportunity to make improvement and cut down the cost. The company can install integrated packaging system to develop standardized master carton that are packed to their maximum capacity, while products are not mixed at the same time. Although, the company needs primary investment for the installation, it will reduce the total supply chain cost and increase efficiency of packaging.

From the case study it has been found that, the company has decided to sell and distribute its products with the help of retail store for the sales of consumers. It will increase the allocation cost in supply chain. Al though, the company is still profitable by using this cost allocation framework, there is some areas that can be improved.

3.1 New framework of cost allocation 

In accordance to the optimization plan proposed in the section 2.0, a new framework for cost allocation has been provided below.

Shipping cost: Furuichi and Otsuka (2015) mentioned that, if a supplier uses a specific company to distribute all its products, then the supplier possess a great bargaining power over the price of shipping. Johnson Skin Care Company has to consider their factor. It needs to develop new contract with companies that provide cheaper shipping cost or, it can negotiate rate of shipping with the current company.

Selection of delivery style: Gunasekaran et al. (2015) mentioned that, an appropriate choice of delivery system can reduce the cost of the company and increase customer satisfaction. There are various modes of delivery available for the company such as train, bus, planes and ships. Train is the most cost effective one, while plane is the fastest but expensive as well. On the other hand, ship is neither slow nor very expensive. Johnson Skin Care Company should strategically select delivery framework to reduce cost of supply chain.

The changed proposed in the current cost allocation framework will be like below

4.0 Pricing point of product

There are three types of price, which a company can use in market. They are given below in the table:

Cost Price	Closs and Bolumole (2015) stated that, it is a bottom-line selling approach, which only consist the cost of product manufacturing. However, labeling, packing and distribution costs are also included in it.
Retail Price	According to Dallmeier (2016), retail price is which end customers have to pay for purchasing a product. It is higher than cost price leaving some profit margin to the retailers. Keystone pricing is the most common method employed by retailers. In this case, price of retails are 50% higher than original cost price (Khan 2016).
Wholesale price	In this case, an intermediary purchases products from the manufacturers (B2B) and sell them to customers (B2C). Although, intermediaries are only allowed to sale products at a fixed price, a moderately higher margin of profit has been provided to them, in order maintain relationship (Dallmeier 2016).

Table 3: Different types of pricing

(Source: created by Author)

It is essential for a company to understand that, various factors can significantly affect the price of a product. According to Bansal (2014), there are some major areas, which required to consider while setting the price of a specific product. These factors are such as level of competition in a market for a specific product, market demand, product positioning and level of disposable income of customers. If the customers have good level of disposable income and the product has good position in the market, a company can select high pricing strategy to increase its profitability in the market.

Among all the different pricing policies such as psychological pricing, penetration pricing and cost-oriented pricing, cost-plus pricing is the most commonly used pricing policy used by companies. In this pricing strategy, costs of products are determined first, and then a specific percentage of original cost is added to the sales price (Monger 2012). As the production cost and overhead cost fluctuate significantly due to different type of products, the Johnson Skin Care company should use cost-plus pricing to reduce loss of profit.

5.0 Supplier Selection Policy

In order to survive in the intensely competitive market, organizations need to realize the importance of creating supplier base, so that they can meet the requirements of products. Niine and Koppel (2014) mentioned that companies should not only consider about the development of existing supplier base, but also need to consider new suppliers. Because, new suppliers can provide benefits such as higher commitment to meet deadline and low labor cost. Bowersox et al. (2013) mentioned that development of this kind supplier base can reduce the bargaining power of suppliers. In addition, it can increase the potential on fresh and quality certified suppliers and reduce the risk of supply failure.

In order to develop such supplier base during the screening phase of suppliers, buying organizations adopt different types of assessment methods. Supplier audit program is a major example of supplier assessment methods used by companies. It helps a buyer organization to understand the capabilities of its suppliers and the nature of the organization. Cross-functional teams of buyer organization usually conduct this supplier audit program. This team includes members from different functional areas such as quality control, purchasing, logistics and manufacturing.

Quality management

In order to meet the quality of products, all the materials provided by suppliers have to be evaluated consistently. It is required for all suppliers to have ISO 9000 certification (Bowers ox ET AL. 2013).

Cost

As there are many suppliers, Johnson Skin Care company has to evaluate the cost of employing them. It includes cost materials and goods, logistics costs, ordering costs and material costs are included in it (Chopra and Meindl 2013).

Capacity and reliability

The buying company has to assess supplier’s capability. They need to determine whether the supplier can meet large order, or they need to select other suppliers to subsidise when the order is large. It includes factors such as conformance of products and lead-time (Lapin? and Luckily? 2014).

Financial capability

In order to develop long-term financial relationship with suppliers, it is required examine its financial capability. Carter ET AL. (2017) stated that various financial ratios can help a company to determine whether suppliers can afford price of materials and lobar costs to fulfil huge orders.

5.2 Monitoring Performance

After selection of the suppliers, it is required to evaluate the performance of the suppliers continuously. Heide et al. (2014) stated that, most of the companies set a performance goal for their suppliers and measure their performance against that goals. Many companies use scoreboard that contain valuable attributes for them. Based on that, companies measure the performance of suppliers and provide feedback for improvement.

5.3 Supplier Development 

Hashish ET AL. (2015) stated that companies needed to make investment to enhance the capabilities and performance of the suppliers. Through supplier’s development, a company can get better opportunity in cost negotiation, cost reduction, and streamline operation. It can also minimise the development of defective products from suppliers.

5.4 Suggestion for Johnson Skin Care Company

Before selecting supplier, the Johnson Skin Care Company has to strategically and carefully evaluate supplier’s statistics. After that, the company has to develop performance goals for their suppliers and measure supplier’s performance against the set goals. Depending on the performance of suppliers, management of Johnson Skin Care Company needs to provide feedback to the suppliers and encourage them to enhance their performance. The company can also invest to improve the capability and performance of the suppliers. It can enhance relationship with suppliers and help the company to get benefits such as better cost negotiation, cost reduction.

6.0 Inventory control method

It has been found that many companies focus on using high inventory to get rid of risks related with shortage of materials. However, it is a costly process. In the present world of business, the role of procurement process is to maintain continuous supply along with maximum investment on inventory (Bowers ox ET AL. 2013). A company can use different inventory control strategy. For example, a company can maintain different levels of stock to avoid over stocking or under stocking of materials. Some specific inventory control methods have been suggested for the Johnson Skin Care Company. They are such as Two Bin method, Just-In-Time approach and Vendor managed inventory. They are discussed below:

6.1 Two Bin Method

In this method, two warehouses or locations are utilised for inventory storage. When the stock of the main warehouse is totally consumed, it is refilled with stocks from the reserve bin (Valid ET AL. 2015). All the reserve bins are refilled by purchasing product from suppliers. From this case study, it has been found that the company is trying to find out alternative networks related with assignment of staging warehouses to the distribution centres. Hence, Two-bin method can become useful for the company.

6.2 Just-in-Time Approach (HIT)

Chen ET AL. (2014) mentioned that, without any holding period or much lead time, HIT approach can help to deliver inventory to manufacturing sites within time for use. From the case study, it had been found that the new logistic manager Bob had assumed that the overall inventory turnover rate would be five per year. He also came to know that previously the company had inventory carrying cost of 18 percent based on average inventory for the year. Implementation of HIT approach can increase the inventory turnover. It in terms will reduce inventory-holding costs.

6.3 Vendor Managed Inventory 

VMI is a supply chain model, where the respective buyers provide information related with level of material to the suppliers. In this case, buyers give full responsibility to supplier to maintain the desired level of inventory (Romano 2015). By implementing this model, buyers can get many benefits. They do not have to maintain significant safety stock. In addition, it can enable buyers to gain more profit, as lower inventory is required. In order to make this model more cost effective, Johnson Skin Care Company needs to implement Warehouse Management System (EMS) or Enterprise Resource Planning (REP) system.

7.0 Network Distribution Framework

Fang ET AL. (2014) argued that, distribution framework is not only the steps in which materials can be moved from suppliers to manufacturers, but also includes steps to deliver finalized products to customers form warehouses. It has been found that distribution framework can directly influence the customer value and cost of supply chain. Hence, in order to reduce costs related with supply chain, the Johnson Skin Care company needs to focus on developing new distribution framework.

Yuan ET AL. (2015) stated that, in order to develop an appropriate distribution framework, there are some specific factors need to be considered. They are such as mode distribution, cost of transport and type of carriers. It has been found that there are mainly five modes of distribution available. They are such as air, rail, ship, motor and pipeline. It has been found that different modes of distribution have different benefits. For example, rail is most cheap and cost effective, motor is reliable, air mode is for fast and premium service, and shipping mode is used for global commerce. On the other hand, pipeline is used mainly for the distribution of fluid products.

It has been found from the case study that, the Johnson Skin Care Company mainly uses truck (motor) for product distribution. In order to increase efficiency of distribution network, the company needs to use rail and shipping carrier alongside motor carriers. In addition, the company can also use aero planes to send products swiftly to premium customers. Hence, the company needs to develop strategic plan to make effective utilisation of distribution framework and reduce the cost of distribution.

7.1 Introduction of online distribution channels 

Valid ET AL. (2015) stated that, with technological advancements, many companies are using online selling strategy to increase revenue. It has been found that major proportions of the cosmetic sales are made through online. Hence, Johnson Skin Care Company can add online distribution channel to improve its sales performance. It can provide various competitive advantage to the company such as cheaper price, customer convenience, more personalise experience and connectivity with customers from social networks.

8.0 Recommendations

The company has decided to provide three-day fulfilment cycle to all the three channels of distribution without any discrimination. However, the company itself has some confusion related with this practice. In order to maintain 20% of total average annual inventory in the warehouse of Johnson Skin Care Company, this three-day cycle is definitely triggering the high cost of capital. In recommendation, it can be suggested that,

• Johnson Skin Care Company should only use three-day cycle only for premium merchants that take huge amount of orders.
• For channels such as retail stores and convenience stores, Johnson Skin Care Company has to encourage them to examine the product level in regular basis. The company has to make these stores understand that they should make new orders before they run out of products. It can help the company to cut down the inventory storing cost drastically while making equal profit at the same time.

9.0 Conclusion 

In conclusion it can be stated that Johnson Skin Care Company is facing issues related with high cost of supply chain. It has reduced the profit margin for the organisation. In order to solve reduce the cost of supply chain; the company needs implement some major strategies. The company has to make optimisation of operation, strategic selection of suppliers and develop efficient inventory control method. The company also needs to think about pricing strategy and cost allocation framework to increase level of profitability level.</

What is Personal Practice & It's Importance

Your essay should draw upon information provided in the Problem Analysis you submitted for Assessment 1. This assessment requires you to develop the Problem Analysis you submitted for Assignment 1 into an Essay that argues a particular thesis on your chosen topic Are ‘smart drugs’ a smart or stupid choice.

mart choice, but intake of everything in the human body to some extent is good; over dosage of every medicine can portray negative impact on the health of people. So, the purpose of this task is to provide a brief overview about the effect that smart drugs create on the health of a normal person and why it is a stupid choice. It also explains the ways in which usage of smart drugs can become a smart choice. More details about the essay are discussed below

People do not understand a fact that how usage of pill can make you smarter, it is the capabilities of an individual mind which make a person smart or stupid. These drugs and medicines are just ways which helps the mind of a person to reciprocate fast and as it is said that nature always responds back (MacLellan 2017). If one person will take such things for granted will use them without taking precautions; then ultimately some day or other the effect of such drugs will appear on the body of a person. Thus use of such drugs is smart choice when the person knows how to use it. Further this saying is very famous that one can only access to 20% of their brain. But this pill acts in such a way that it helps to access the whole brain (Giuliano, and Manley, Invivo Beverage 2013).

Although it is good that with the help this drug a person gets to use their brain in a better way to function their activities but everything come at a cost. As it is noticed that such drugs are used by college students as it helps them to study more and concentrate in a better way but it develops anxiety in them along with mental pressure. These drugs help a person to reduce their sleep even when they actually want to and this fact cannot be ignored that sleep is one of the most important component which helps a person to grow (Grieb 2015). So, if this drug reduces the sleep then ultimately the person will fall ill and will not be able to work efficiently even after taking pills.

In continuation to this if the brain do not get enough sleep and still the person it taking pill then it work show effect on the body and the drugs will become nullified; due to which they will increase the dosage of the drugs. Thus, already these drugs were hampering the growth of that person and now over dosage can lead to many critical issues in the health of a person. While initiating them, a person is unaware of the problem which might arise with a person when they use these drugs. But still it’s never too late if the person understands to the signals which their body is showing. But if the person ignores those signals then they might face comma or death as well (Bonetti, Brombo, and Zuliani 2017).

Further the research review of University of Oxford neuroscientists stated that it is a serious concern that whether people should these drugs without prescription of not. Irrespective of the time period the drugs cause negative impact on the bodies of people. Furthermore as discussed below these drugs are used by student studying in colleges, so now it is extending to the business environment as well where people are using such pills to keep their mind in place and motivate themselves to work more. This aspect is negatively affecting the business environmental as well (Karimi, et. al., 2016).

As people using such pill become more competitive and strong if compared to other due to which workplace management issues increases along with unhealthy competition where people involve in hatred with each other and initiate negative means to reach on the peak in an organization. This aspect negatively affect in the growth of the organization as it demotivates the employees and influence then to intake such drugs to increase their efficiency as well. Further the problem analyzed in part is the problem that people do not understand that what is good and what is bad for their health (Cederström 2016).

There are numerous smart drugs which are used by the brain hackers to improvise the activities initiated by their brain. One of them is Amphetamine and dextroamphetamine (Adderall) which is used only to cure the Attention deficit Hyperactivity Disorder but this drug is now used by people to maintain their memory for long term and remember every little detail of past (Starthabit 2017). This drug helps in executive function properly like planning etc. But it shall be noted that overuse of this drug cause anxiety, sleeplessness, nausea and heart attack as well. Another drug is the Aniracetam which a part of nootropic drugs and reduces anxiety of people and initiate creativity within them (Hill 2017).

This drug is not approved by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as it is used to cure Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and its results in vertigo, jaw tension etc. issues in body. Furthermore Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) is a herbal whose excess use can cause ulcer, low blood pressure, thyroid etc. problems in the body. This drug is used by people to calm their anxieties and increase the level of concentration as well. Lastly, Creatine is one of the drugs which is taken by people to enhance mental functions in sleep-deprived adults and it also helps in improving the performance in difficult cognitive tasks. Intake of these drug to an optimum level is smart but getting additive is becoming stupid by choice (Patrick 2013).

There are some measures with the help of which a person can easily become a smart person a stupid person. Like, caffeine and L-theanine are also some drugs which are present in coffee and green tea. Over usage to these drugs is also harmful for health but these drugs have less impact on the body of a person if compared to smart drugs. Also they are organic drug which never show negative impact on the health of a person. So it is one of the ways with the help of which a person can reduce the use of smart drugs. Another way is meditation activities, although this solution seems to show negligible impact on the health of a person but they show positive impact to a person internally (Lee, Yun, and Park 2015).

As Modafinil is a drug which help a person to stay awake for a longer period of time without getting stressed and properly focus on their work. Similarly, medication helps in internal purity of a person and helps them to concentrate in a better way. So there are many other ways with which a person can replace the use of smart drug in their use it is just about their mind set and way of thinking. Further usage of these drugs is also okay but it shall be prescribed by the doctor or it shall be taken by the person occasionally in a limited amount as well (Kueppers, and Cooke 2015).

Furthermore as discussed in the assessment one, the government shall also initiate corrective actions to reduce the use of these drugs among young people. As addiction to these drugs can act as a threat for them, initially people look at it in a way that they efficiency is increasing but subsequently after some time they will feel that they are relying on that product which is a major issue. Human body and brain is independent and if the brain relies on some other source to initiate their action they it shall be understood that the whole functioning of the body will get falsified because is the only organ which regulates all the functions of the body even the pumping of heart (Aydin 2017).

Thus in the limelight of abovementioned events the facts that shall be noted that it all depends upon a person that how the react to these smart drugs preset in the environment and what it become with the usage of such smart drug. But it fact has been noted that most people around the world have negative impact of these drugs on their body excluding the disabled people. Negative impact occurs because people are not capable enough to know the pros and cons of such drugs. Further the above mentioned report talks about the ill effect of smart drugs and how they negatively impact the health of a normal person.

Internet of Things

There are ten (10) tasks, one for each week: the tasks are detailed below. There is a table to complete for each task. Please fill in the information required.

Note: Each resource summary should be around 200-300 words.

The text discusses the elements of modern computing architecture however is largely silent on the individuals who played a role in its development. Find and summarise a resource that describes ONE such individual. The individual should have had a significant influence on the development of computers and/or components of modern computing architecture.

Provide the Title of the resource and full Harvard reference here. This should include the URL of the resource>

Provide a summary of around 200-300 words discussing what the resource is about and why it is relevant to the task here>

he text discusses the components and activities of operating systems however is largely silent on the individuals who played a role in their development. Find and summarise a resource that describes ONE such individual. The individual should have had a significant influence on the writing or development of operating systems.

Provide the Title of the resource and full Harvard reference here. This should include the URL of the resource>

The Internet didn’t just appear – it was an evolution from earlier networks. Find and summarise a resource that describes ONE of the networks that led to the development of the modern Internet.

Ethernet is an example of a Layer Two (L2) data link protocol that is discussed in the text. Find and summarise a resource that describes the features and uses of ONE other L2 protocol that is not discussed in the text (i.e. NOT Ethernet).

Provide the Title of the resource and full Harvard reference here. This should include the URL of the resource>

Provide a summary of around 200-300 words discussing what the resource is about and why it is relevant to the task here>

With the advent of mass data collection and storage has come data mining. Find and summarise a resource that describes ONE example where data mining has been used successfully by a business. You should not use any examples covered in the textbook.

<Provide the Title of the resource and full Harvard reference here. This should include the URL of the resource.

The text discusses the elements of modern computing architecture however is largely silent on the individuals who played a role in its development. Find and summarise a resource that describes ONE such individual. The individual should have had a significant influence on the development of computers and/or components of modern computing architecture.

Ahmad, W.A.Z.W., Mukhtar, M. and Yahya, Y., 2017, April. Exploring Elements and Factors in Social Content Management for ICT Service Innovation. In International Conference of Reliable Information and Communication Technology (pp. 851-859). Springer, Cham https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-59427-9_88

Summary: The resource emphasizes on the contributions of John von Neumann to the development of modern computing architecture concepts. The development of modern computing dimensions could be observed in the case of John von Neumann’s computing design was observed in the storage of instructions and data in a singular media. The resource provides an explanation of the impact that John von Neumann’s models have had on the development of modern computing architecture and underlying components. Neumann’s contributions can be apprehended from the implications of his model towards the inclusion of a control unit, input and output, memory, arithmetic logic unit and an interlink between the different parts involved in the model. The model presented by Neumann also reflected on the sequential nature of operations of modern computer which is initiated with the fetching of instruction from memory at the address referred to in the program counter. The resource also emphasizes on the next step involving the addition of the length of the instruction to the program counter followed by processing in which the instruction is decoded through the control unit. The contribution of Neumann’s architecture to the development of modern computing architecture frameworks has been overshadowed due to the lack of a pure von Neumann architecture in present computing architectures. However, the limitations of the von Neumann architecture observed in the form of excessive time consumption due to the linear sequence of data processing could be addressed through performing parallel processing or introduction of distinct buses in the architecture for instructions and data independently. It is imperative to observe from the resource that all modern computers and PCs follow the Neumann architecture only with the variations in initial architecture.

Week 2

The text discusses the components and activities of operating systems however is largely silent on the individuals who played a role in their development. Find and summarise a resource that describes ONEsuch individual. The individual should have had a significant influence on the writing or development of operating systems.

Bhattacharya, K., 2015. From Giant Robots to Mobile Money Platforms: The Rise of ICT Services in Developing Countries. IEEE Internet Computing, 19(5), pp.82-85 https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/7230220/

Summary: The resource describes references to Linus Torvalds, the individual responsible for design of Linux kernel that is accountable as a major component of the Linux operating system. The prominent inclination of Torvalds towards computer programming was noted in his initial days and the primary reason for which he engaged in development of a new operating system was his dissatisfaction with the operating system of his computer which used MS DOS. Therefore he was more inclined towards the use of UNIX operating system which led him to reach on the idea of creating a personal computer based version of UNIX since the operating system was utilized only on university computers. The efforts of Linus in months of programming led to the development of Linux operating system which he posted on the internet for free downloading alongside releasing the source code. The initiative of Linus was reflective of the opportunities that could be accessed by computer programmers for modifying the operating system according to specific purposes. The open access to source code was also responsible for assisting Linus in refining the software leading to the launch of the Linux kernel version 1.0 in 1994. The resource also emphasizes on the factor that Linux operating system was not easy thereby acquired less popularity which can be contradicted on the grounds of its capability to provide a failsafe environment. Subsequently, the operating system went on to compete with Microsoft with the promising support extended by companies such as Corel Corp., Intel Corp. and Oracle Corp.

Week 3

The Internet didn’t just appear – it was an evolution from earlier networks. Find and summarise a resource that describes ONEof the networks that led to the development of the modern Internet.

Byrne, D.M. and Corrado, C.A., 2017. ICT Prices and ICT Services: What do they tell us about Productivity and Technology?. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2920451

Summary: The resource emphasizes on the history of TCP/IP protocols which could be assumed as one the networks preceding the development internet as we know it today. The effectiveness of the key protocols implemented in context of developing the internet network could be observed in their capability for defining the core operations associated with the suite. The definition of the internet protocol (IP) suggests the characteristic primary OSI network layer protocol which is utilized for functions such as datagram routing, addressing and the other significant tasks involved in an internetwork. The transmission control protocol (TCP) is characterized as a primary transport layer protocol that assists in the functions for establishing connection and managing the transport of data between devices and software processes. The resource also emphasizes on the comprehensive nature of TCP/IP networks that can be apprehended from the four layer architecture observed as a rough analogy to the OSI Reference Model. The development of modern internet framework has a formidable history of association with TCP/IP networks since they were utilized as sources for implementation mechanisms for internet. The development of these protocols could be largely attributed to the efforts of United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as a part of a research network. The resource also emphasizes the efforts invested in development of the basic network ARPAnet into a wider application with limitations observed in context of the aspects of capacity. The developers involved with the new network were able to apprehend the flaws that could lead to problems with the use of TCP/IP networks due to the scaling of the operations of ARPAnet to a larger size alongside encompassing the prospects for novel uses and application.

Week 4

Ethernet is an example of a Layer Two (L2) data link protocol that is discussed in the text. Find and summarise a resource that describes the features and uses of ONE other L2 protocol that is not discussed in the text (i.e. NOT Ethernet).

Colombo, M.G., Croce, A. and Grilli, L., 2013. ICT services and small businesses’ productivity gains: An analysis of the adoption of broadband Internet technology. Information Economics and Policy, 25(3), pp.171-189. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167624512000492

Summary: The resource explains the example of a layer two data link protocol other than the Ethernet i.e. Frame Relay and the significant aspects related to it such as its operations, effectiveness and challenges encountered with its usage. The definition of a frame relay is identified as a data link layer protocol that facilitates digital packet switching. The primary functions of Frame Relay are observed in the connection of networks and transfer of data across networks such as Local Area Networks (LAN) and Wide Area Networks (WAN). The working of frame relay comprises of the use of special purpose hardware such as bridges, switches and frame routers that are helpful in packaging of information into individual frame relay communications. The applications of frame relays are also indicative of the feature of multiplexing traffic from multiple connections across a shared physical link. Another promising feature of frame relay identified in the resource is the 10 bit Data Link Connection Identifier (DLCI) which helps the system for unique channel addressing. The offloading of error correction to other components of the network reduces network latency and the support provided by frame relay for variable length packet sizes enables the productive utilization of network bandwidth. Some of the other significant features that could be observed in context of the performance of frame relay refer to the support for data rates complying with the standard T1 and T3 lines as well as supporting fiber connections of speeds up to 2.4 GBps. The challenges presented for frame relay are observed in the dramatic increase in adoption of internet protocol based solutions and competition from Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) that is used for enabling virtual private networks (VPN).

Week 5

The text mentions the role of hackers in attacks on networked infrastructure. Find and summarise a resource that describes ONE famous or well-known hacker.

Giraldo, D., Herrera, A., Sánchez, M. and Villalobos, J., 2017. Analysis of ICT services by observing “fit for use” attributes. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f60e/7dbf79dead5cb34fc62acb82abaeba4ab886.pdf

Summary: The resource describes the case of Kevin David Mitnick, one of the renowned hackers in the world. The most renowned highlight that can be inferred from the resource is the conviction of Kevin in various communications and computer related crimes in the later part of the 20th century. The resource provides legible insights into the initial life of Kevin Mitnick such as his upbringing in Los Angeles and educational progress through James Monroe High School, Los Angeles Pierce College and USC. Kevin was also employed as a receptionist for Stephen S. Wise Temple for a brief duration. Presently, Kevin operate a computer security consultancy firm known as Mitnick Security Consulting, LLC that provides testing services for an organization to evaluate its strengths and weaknesses in context of security. The arrest of Kevin was one of widely touted arrests of the decade with the declaration of Kevin as the most notorious hacker involved in federal offenses such as hacking activities for a prolonged period of two and half years. The admission of offense by Kevin depicted his involvement in two counts of computer fraud, four counts of wire fraud and a single instance of illegal interception of wire communication. Kevin was also convicted on the grounds of violating terms of supervised release through his move to hack the voicemail of PacBell and other systems as well as on the basis of association with other hackers.

Week 6

Society is increasingly reliant on networks and network technologies but they are evolving at a rapid pace. Find and summarise a resource that describes ONE example of a future networking technology or trend that will impact society.

Heeks, R., Subramanian, L. and Jones, C., 2015. Understanding e-waste management in developing countries: Strategies, determinants, and policy implications in the Indian ICT sector. Information Technology for Development, 21(4), pp.653-667. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02681102.2014.886547

Summary: The resource illustrates the inefficiency of frameworks for management of Internet protocol networks. Therefore the necessity for resolving the issues through reforms in design can be addressed through emphasizing on the specific dimensions of network control and management in context of the three guiding principles. The guiding principles involve references to direct control, network level objectives and network wide views. The network level objective allow the operation of a robust data network that relies on the accomplishment of objectives such as describing reliability, performance and policy as goals for the entire network observed distinctly from the low level network elements. The aspects of direct control could be anticipated from the decision logic that could facilitate a direct interface for configuration of network elements. The network wide views rely on the assumption that network views of topology are considered as major precedents for operation of a formidable network. The 4D architecture is based on four distinct aspects such as decision, dissemination, data and discovery. The distinct planes involved in the architecture presented formidable references to decision plane which referred to network level objectives. The decision plane is accountable for creating a network configuration. The dissemination plane is accountable for collecting information regarding the network state in context of the decision plane. The dissemination plane also performs the function of distributing output to routers. The discovery plane in the 4D architecture is responsible for enabling the devices for recognition of the directly connected neighbours. The resource also emphasized on the final stage of the architecture i.e. the data plane which is responsible for forwarding network traffic.

Week 7

The text mentions social business and the impact of the use of social networking platforms. Find and summarise a resource that describes the history of the development of ONE such social media platform.

Kaczorowska, A., Motyka, S. and Zielinski, J., 2015. Management of projects realization process in enterprises of ICT sector. Applied Mechanics and Materials, 791, p.81 https://search.proquest.com/openview/afa5c2dfd51cdc47f3483027df77580a/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=2029177

Summary: The resource emphasized on the history of Facebook which is one of the prominently accepted social media platforms across the world. The foundation of Facebook was realized by Mark Zuckerberg during his period of study at Harvard University where he was engaged in psychology studies. The resource described the inclinations of Mark Zuckerberg to develop various social networking websites for fellow students among which Coursematch was a promising example. The social media giant Facebook was initiated in February 2004 with the name of ‘the Facebook’ which profiled students and staff. It was observed that within 24 hours of its launch the website had almost 1200 users that had signed up and the success was further observed in the profiles of almost half of the undergraduate students in the university. The expansion of the network was made possible through reaching out to institutes such as Ivy league, Boston Universities and almost all US universities. The subsequent stages of development of the Facebook became profound in September 2006 by which the network was extended to users with authentic email addresses. The source of revenue of the website was primarily derived from advertising investments. The history of development of Facebook also suggested prominent references to the consistent development in website features. The resource also emphasizes on the specific legal implications that were observed in the history of Facebook’s development included the litigations raised by brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and Divya Narendra regarding plagiarism of their website ConnectU.

Week 8

With the advent of mass data collection and storage has come data mining. Find and summarise a resource that describes ONE example where data mining has been used successfully by a business. You should not use any examples covered in the textbook.

Mihovska, A., Kyriazakos, S.A. and Prasad, R., 2014, October. eWALL for active long living: Assistive ICT services for chronically ill and elderly citizens. In Systems, Man and Cybernetics (SMC), 2014 IEEE International Conference on (pp. 2204-2209). IEEE https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/6974251/

Summary: The resource describes the distinct opportunities for data and the process of data mining adoption along with prominent references to the case study of applying data mining in the ecommerce aspects of Wal-Mart. The improvement in business infrastructure has led to the improvement in system competences for data collection and the distinct aspects pertaining to consumer behaviour, performance of marketing campaigns, workflow procedures and supply chain management. The wide assortment of opportunities in context of data mining could be leveraged to accomplish strategic advantage by retail sector businesses. The development of computer algorithms have reformed the conventional approaches to evaluation of data by inducing facilities for effective connection of data sets that could promote a deeper and broader analysis. The definition of data mining refers to the extraction of business critical information from a colossal volume of information accessed from market research reports and other data collection methods. The applications of data mining in case of Wal-Mart are largely observed in the specific contexts of marketing and supply chain management. The use of data mining enables Wal-Mart to ensure the implementation of a comprehensive customer relationship management that allows the organization to review customer behaviour so that expected customer value can be maximized effectively. The resource also describes the feasible implementation of data mining in the case of Wal-Mart especially in terms of collection of almost 2.5 petabytes of information from almost 1 million customers every hour which is further supported by the implementation of data analytics to acquire the objectives of operational efficiency and marketing campaigns.

Week 9

One of the greatest success stories in application development in recent times has been the popularity of mobile apps. Find and summarise a resource that describes the story of ONE successful mobile app developer.

Mourshed, M., Robert, S., Ranalli, A., Messervey, T., Reforgiato, D., Contreau, R., Becue, A., Quinn, K., Rezgui, Y. and Lennard, Z., 2015. Smart grid futures: Perspectives on the integration of energy and ICT services. Energy Procedia, 75, pp.1132-1137. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1876610215012990

Summary: The development story of Instagram is accounted in the research with the references to its definitions and the story following its developers. The mobile app Instagram provides users with the opportunities to share uploaded content through imagery and video content. The applications of Instagram enable users to share real time experiences. The story of its developers Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger is accounted as one of the prominent highlights of the resource. The concept of developing Instagram was to combine the functionalities of telegram and instant camera. The initial version of the app was intended to be functional only in the iOS operating systems which could be accessed free of cost. The origins of the development of Instagram could be identified in the impromptu decision of the developers to direct a HTML5 check-in project towards mobile photography. The success of the app was noted in the one million monthly users at the initial stages which gradually progressed further towards 10 million users in September in the same year. The gradually growth of Instagram was observed in the user base which crossed almost 150 million monthly years as of 2013. The resource also emphasized clearly on the implications of new features included in the mobile app thereby making it a successful exemplary of mobile app development. The acquisition of Instagram by Facebook for $1 billion could also be accounted as a major highlight that validates the favourable prospects derived from story of Instagram developers, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger.

Week 10

While information systems and technology deliver many benefits to society, they can also result in (sometimes inadvertent) negative effects and outcomes. Find and summarise a resource that describes ONE example of where the use of an information system or technology has led to negative consequences for humans.

Prause, G. and Hunke, K., 2014. Secure and sustainable supply chain management: integrated ICT-systems for green transport corridors. Journal of Security and Sustainability Issues, 3(4), pp.5-16 https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gunnar_Prause/publication/282180651_Secure_and_sustainable_supply_chain_management_Integrated_ICT-systems_for_green_transport_corridors/links/56a2ab1d08ae232fb201ca04/Secure-and-sustainable-supply-chain-management-Integrated-ICT-systems-for-green-transport-corridors.pdf

Summary: The resource describes three distinct cases of negative consequences arising from the use of information systems. However, the specific case to be considered in context of this report is the information system failure of Hilton hotels. The organization implemented a system for customers and was characterized with provisions of confirming reservations in car rentals and hotel bookings. However, the project failed because of the inability of the organization to address the weaknesses of the system that can be summarized as follows. Operations management in a transaction processing system could be accounted as a major disadvantage leading to the failure of the information system. The negative consequences that could be observed in this context are identified in the form of concurrent bookings as well as failed transactions and issues with refunding for customers. The information system was not developed effectively to manage the colossal volumes of business and consumer data which lead to the implications for frequent security breaches. The impact of hardware malfunctions was also responsible for creating pitfalls in the security of information which can be accounted as a key reason for its failure. The requirement for Hilton Hotel to address the integration of information system in alignment with other departments such as accounting and inventory management was also not addressed effectively thereby leading to negative consequences for the users.

Importance of Organisation of Information

Analyze and evaluate the search engines and the metadata on each site. Here are a few questions and suggestions to stimulate your thinking:

• Try several types of searches: vague terms, specific terms, searches you know will bring up disparate records (like “tire”).
• In evaluating the results of the search(es), ask yourself: did I get too many returned Too few Are they the images I expected to get Why or why not What things are similar about the images, what are different
• Evaluate the search engines themselves. What works What doesn’t work What features do you wish they offered What features were completely useless to you Was there an advanced search feature Did it do what you expected it to do
• Apart from a “search bar,” was there any other way to narrow the records that were returned to you (Explore the entire site – sometimes these things are hidden in plain view…)
• What elements or entities are present in the metadata associated with each image Are they the same for all the records you examined
• Do the metadata values appear to be standardized How do you know In what way(s) are they standard
• Would the website benefit from using standards (e.g., standards associated with Data Structure, Data Value, or Data Content) If so, which one(s) What would those standardsallow you to do
• What metadata elements would be the best access points? (i.e., which elements are the most important when you are looking for a digital image)
• Getty Images and Wikimedia Commons have slightly (or not-so-slightly) different purposes.What are the purposes of each site How does the purpose of each website affect their respective search engines How does the purpose affect their respective metadata schemata and/or standards.

Getty Images Getty Images was found by Mark Getty and Jonathan Klein in the year 1995. It is headquartered presently at Seattle in Washington. The company was formed with the aim of providing licensed images to customers for specific needs. The repository of Getty Images is humongous and contains an unlimited archive of photographs and licensed videos. The major industries that Getty images target are advertising, publishing, graphic designing and corporate requirements. Getty images provide access to millions of images, that include a a few of historical importance which could be used for education or commercial purposes. 

Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons was the brain child of Eric Möller, who initialized its operations in September, 2004. Its a huge collection of digital media content such as photographs, audio and video files. The intent of Wikimedia Commons was to provide content mainly for education across all the projects of the Wikimedia Foundation. It was planned as a common platform for all services including Wikipedia, that gave a universal platform for accessing and uploading media files. 

The main type of image retrieval mechanisms from repositories are image retrieval using Metadata and Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR). In image retrieval using metadata, the common method of searching an image is by the use of keywords that are associated with the image. These keywords may be added as description or annotations along with the image. In Content Based Image Retrieval, the images are searched using the peculiarities of the content. This may be an images size, shape, color or texture. The main difference between the two methods are that in metadata search, the retrieval is very much dependant on the annotation quality while in CBIR the search performs completely on the basis of the images attributes.

 The main criteria for testing both the websites would be to check for the quality of the search results. Different criteria could be used to analyze the search results. The number of images returned, whether the search results very specific or generic, the UI and the user friendliness of the website and what features distinguish both the websites. The metadata of the images are also analyzed. How specic are the annotation? What are its access points? What is the basic difference between the two websites fundamentally? 

 Initially the site is searched using very generic terms like "mountains", "people", "wildlife", "books“. The results denote that specific results appear for each search term. Close to 60 images per page with around 100 pages of similar content are displayed in an average. The images are all of high quality and the site has particular filters to narrow down the search more particularly. 

Next vague terms such as about, it, do, the etc are used to analyze the results. The different vague terms return results that are in no relation with the word used for the search. The number of search results also varied to a great degree for each search term. The common thing noticed for each of these vague terms were that the search results returned mainly sports images and images of celebrities for these searches. 

A few words that have disparate meanings are given in the search bar. Words like tear, row, project, axes, bat which have the same spelling but different meanings are given for search. It could be noticed that the results that are displayed shows a majority of mostly one of the intended meaning in homographs. As an example, the word bat displays mainly the animal instead of the sports equipment. Similarly the word "row" displayed large number of results that illustrated a fight between people instead of the sport. 

 Metadata gives information about a particular data, in this case an image file. Metadata of images gives information about the image that facilitates searching and working with them more efficiently. On analysis of the Metadata, it could be identified that the images are not retrieved based on the annotations that are given on the image. The search is based on the embedded metadata of the image. 

 Initially the site is searched using common terms like “people", “animals", “nature", “vehicles“. The results denote that subcategories for each search term appears. The sub categories are again subdivided further to smaller more specific categories. The images are of comparatively fewer in number and contains a lot of illustrations and drawn images as compared to Getty images. 

As in the previous exercise, vague terms such as about, it, do, the etc are used to analyze the results. The different vague terms returned results lesser than compared to Getty Images. The results gave further suggestions for the terms given in the search box and seemed to be more streamlined, organized and specific. The search results seemed to be more organized in Wikimedia Commons. 

A few words that have disparate meanings are given in the search bar. The same words like tear, row, project, axes, bat which have the same spelling but different meanings are given for search. When the term “bat” was given, the results displayed only the animal’s picture and not the sports equipment. When the term “cricket bat” was specifically given, it displayed a few results containing the image of the particular search term. The results mostly show that the search was carried out entirely different from Getty Images. It could be analyzed that the images were retrieved based on the context. 

There were fewer options of narrowing the search terms. There is an option of doing the search based on a specified language on the left side. The search could also be narrowed down based on the quality of the images. The search options used for narrowing the quality were categorized as Featured pictures, Quality Images and valued images. 

 The metadata of the image is an information that is recorded at the time it is being captured. The Metadata of the image could be used to gather information about the image and is used while searching for the image. As mentioned, the type of metadata of an image could be categorized as technical metadata, contextual metadata and embedded metadata. In Wikimedia commons the search pattern is different from that of Getty Images. Here the metadata analyzed would be based on the texts around the image. This would be similar to that of a Context Based Image retrieval system.

It could be identified that the image retrieval of both the websites is done entirely differently. In Getty images, the search is carried out as in normal search engines, based on the keywords that are given at the time of search. Getty Images is mainly a repository for Stock photography, that could be used for commercial purposes. 

On evaluation, the search results given by Getty Images were very relevant only in specific scenarios. Especially if the search terms that were given were ambiguous, the results also turned out to be irrelevant. Similarly the number of images that the website returned for each search term was also on the higher side. 

In some of the searches, relevant results did not come up. There should be a better way of organizing the myriad of data and image files that they have in the repository. Especially if the search involved homographs, there should be suggestions to retrieve the exact results for the user. Categorizing the files under appropriate headings would help the user to carry out the search more efficiently.

The metadata information is used to retrieve the results from a particular search query. The search could be carried out by manual annotations given in the image. For example, a particular image of a forest could be named as “jungle”, “woods” or “thicket”, which would result in the image being displayed in the search. Another method is to carry out the metadata search based on the context. The image would be displayed by automatically detecting the text surrounding the image. 

In Terms of Wikimedia Commons, the search takes place differently from that of Getty Images. Most of the search terms have to be specific for the correct results to be displayed. Especially if the search terms are vague or disparate, the results give out categorized suggestions in links. 

The collection of images in Wikimedia Commons seemed to be less as compared to Getty Images. The quality of the images in terms of resolution and other specifications were also not at par with Getty Images. The images were mostly intended for an education purpose. The UI also was not as adept as Getty Images for searching or categorizing the images. 

The main drawback of Wikimedia commons was the limitation in terms of the repository that contained the images. The variety and sub-types of images were also limited. If the term “root” was searched, images pertaining to the types of root system were not available. The number of related illustrations and video content was also limited. 

The images in Wikimedia Commons contained the Exif data, which contained the date and time the photo was taken and also other specifications. The metadata also contained license information about the image. The metadata is analyzed in an image search based on the context or the embedded information. Both these come under the metadata for the image. 

Conclusion 

The importance of metadata in search engines, especially during image search is analyzed using 2 websites with image content. Image search is mainly carried out based on the different kinds of metadata in the particular image. There are algorithms and mechanisms to organize the search based on specific metadata attributes. The metadata could either be contextual, technical or embedded. And the search could be done wither of these attributes. 

References 

Bach, J. R., & Horowitz, B. (2000). U.S. Patent No. 6,084,595. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Cai, D., He, X., Li, Z., Ma, W. Y., & Wen, J. R. (2004, October).

Hierarchical clustering of WWW image search results using visual, textual and link information. In Proceedings of the 12th annual ACM international conference on Multimedia (pp. 952-959).

ACM. Datta, R., Joshi, D., Li, J., & Wang, J. Z. (2008). Image retrieval: Ideas, influences, and trends of the new age. ACM Computing Surveys (Csur), 40(2), 5. Gudivada, V. N., & Raghavan, V. V. (1995).

Content based image retrieval systems. Computer, 28(9), 18-22. Jain, A. K., & Vailaya, A. (1996). Image retrieval using color and shape. Pattern recognition, 29(8), 1233-1244. Smeulders, A. W., Worring, M., Santini, S., Gupta, A., & Jain, R. (2000).

Content-based image retrieval at the end of the early years. IEEE Transactions on pattern analysis and machine intelligence, 22(12), 1349-1380. Yee, K. P., Swearingen, K., Li, K., & Hearst, M. (2003, April).

Faceted metadata for image search and browsing. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems (pp. 401-408). ACM. Zacks, C., Telek, M., Marino, F., Taxier, K., & Harel, D. (2002). U.S. Patent Application No. 10/324,457.