miXXerS Graph

Posted on April 28, 2015 by Keina Shimizu

The graph represents relationships (edges or links) between miXXerS users and helps to illustrate the path length between them. Users and DJs/Musicians are connected by event, music, chat and RSS. Graph theory concepts will be used to help understand how our users are connected and what clusters have formed. This illustrates what a social graph for miXXerS could look like. You can read more about this in Keisha’s posts Capitalising on Clustering, Triadic Closure & Centrality For miXXerS and Maximising The Network Effect

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miXXerS Website Development Theory

Posted on April 27, 2015 by shirlyn2

The miXXerS Web Application is about the sharing of anything that is related to Music. A registration/login system is implemented so that only registered users are able to post/edit/delete/rate/comment on recipes. Moreover, music can be organised by categories, users can view any music update that under a specific category.

Cookies: Our website uses “cookie” technology. A cookie is a small data file that is placed on the hard drive of your device such as laptop or mobile browsers when you a website. A “session cookie” expires immediately when you end your session (i.e., close your browser). The cookie allows us to recognize you or/and your device when you return to our website. You can disable cookies at any time by using your browser options; however, if you do not register with us, we will not able to recognize you as our miXXerS member.

Technology and Techniques to develop the miXXerS Website:

Terms and Conditions, Privacy and Trust

Posted on April 25, 2015 by shirlyn2

Below is a summary of our privacy policy. We will adhere to the mischance principle and the voluntary principle for our site as outlined by Robert L. McArthur (2001). miXXerS cannot feasibly be reasonable for the privacy of information that can easily be discovered. Users that want to anonymise or encrypt their communication would not be able to use miXXers and it is inevitable that records will be left in caches, cookies and servers as with all websites. In addition to gain users trust we will be transparent on how information is being used in line with Weitzner et al (2008). We will also adhere to the EU’s Data Protection Directive, which is also internationally regarded as one of the most stringent data privacy laws globally. By adhering to this standard we will not only be able to expand successfully in Europe but also internationally and in a way which respects the privacy of our users. In addition given the difficult users face in reading privacy policies (McDonald, A. and Cranor, L. 2008) we will attempt to make our policies as user friendly as possible and let users know whenever we have made a change to our policy. However given the service is free to users there will inevitably be a privacy trade off and this will entail some level of risk management on the part of our users (Dunfee T et al. 1999).

miXXerS’ Web Application is about the sharing of anything that is related to music/events. A registration/login system is implemented so that only registered users are able to post/edit/delete/rate/comment on recipes. Moreover, music can be organised by categories, users can view any music update that under a specific category.

Users will be engaging in Policy based trust by signing up to our network and we will be utilising the concept of provenance based trust for the site (Moreau 2009). However reputation based trust is extremely important and so we must ensure we adhere to the policies that our users have signed onto to ensure that we do no risk our reputation, increase trust which would in turn support user growth.

Technology and Techniques to develop MiXXer Website:

Terms and Conditions

Welcome to miXXerS.com. This section will describe the standards and protocols as a Privacy Policy. As a visitor to miXXerS, your trust is our most important asset. This Privacy policy is provided to inform you of our policies and practices regarding how we collect, use, disclosure, transfer and store information about you.

Thanks for choosing miXXerS. In this policy, the words “we”, “our”, and “us” refer to miXXerS. In order to use our miXXerS service or website, miXXerS Limited may need to collect personally identifiable information and this Privacy Policy is where we describe the information we collect, how we use such information, and how you can manage and control the use of your information.

When using or interacting with our website, you are entering into a binding contract with us and consenting to the use of your information as explained in this Privacy Policy.

General Data

When you register for an account to use our service, we collect “personally identifiable information” or “personal information” mean any information by which you can be identified or contacted, such as your name (first and last), address (city, state, zip), e-mail address, telephone number, etc. We may store this information so that it can be used for the purposes in connecting you with others.We may also disclose your personally identifiable information when you ask us to do so or when we believe it is required by law.

Payment Data

When you sign up for a Premium Account that require payment subscription or make other purchases through the service, your credit card information and other financial data we need to process your payment are collected and stores by a third party payment processor.

We use your personal information that we collect to provide you with the best services and experience. We may also, (ii) communicate with you for Service-related purposes, including promotional e-mails, sponsorships or messages, (iii) enable and promote the Service, including features and content of the Service, and products and services made available through the Service such as sharing, user interactions, notifications and suggestions, and integration with third party services.

The miXXerS Service is a social service for music which offers many ways in searching, share the music or content related to music at music board, and we enable users to explore who else is using the Service and their public profiles.

Your account information is or may be publicly available to others by default, such as your name and/or username, profile picture, location, including the music you add or favourite. Your activity on the Service will automatically appear in the activity feed of friends and other users who follow you or your profile content.

References:

Dunfee T.W, Smith N. and Ross W.T. Social contracts and marketing ethics. The Journal of Marketing (1999) vol. 63 (3)

McDonald, A. and Cranor, L. The Cost of Reading Privacy Policies. I/S: A Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society. 2008 Privacy Year in Review issue

Moreau. The foundations for provenance on the web. Foundations and Trends in Web Science (2009)

Weitzner DJ, Abelson H, Berners-Lee T, Feigenbaum J, Sussman GJ. Information Accountability, Communications of the ACM (2008) vol. 51 (6) pp. 82-87

Porters Five

Posted on April 23, 2015 by Yashpreet Bhangal

Porter Five analysis

Threat of new Entrance: Threat of new entrance is really high as at the end of the day as it is only a piece of program, so anyone can hire a programmer or a web developer in order to produce a web service which can easily compete with miXXerS. In order to avoid that happening and maintain our customer base miXXerS will carry on updating new features and exclusive offers to the website and try get as many users, musicians DJs and party producers as possible to become part of such a multi cultural platform so it will be harder for our competitors.

Threat of Substitute: Threat of substitute is low to medium as we do not actually have direct competitor. There are webpage floating on internet which provide similar service such as MeeMix, Last.FM, Pandora and Worldsings but they do not integrate events as part of the site. Fans will also be able to buy tickets to concerts online with as well by using Paypal which means their confidential information is also secure.

Bargaining Power of Fans: It is low, as the fans will be able to buy ticket to go visit their favourite DJ at lower prices on this platform.

Bargaining Power of DJs/Musicians: It might high if there is a new entrance because they might have different business examples providing all the services at cheaper rates but for the moment It is also very low, as this is the platform which they require in order to boost their experience and fan base.

Rival vary Among Existing competitors: it is also low as mentioned earlier on their aren’t any direct competitors who are offering exact same service at us, so it will be easier of the brand to create its awareness and gain a fanbase.

PESTLE Analysis

Posted on April 23, 2015 by Yashpreet Bhangal

We found that the PESTLE Analysis strategy is useful in the development of miXXerS:

Political: In order to run the social media lawfully, the brand has to follow the electronic commerce regulation 2002 (Gov.uk.2013).

Economic: The UK has the 6th largest economy in the world. After the financial crisis hit UK in the face in 2008 today UK continue to struggle. Before the financial crisis the GDP growth rate was around 3% but recently it is only 1.79%. Currently, the law abiding citizens of united kingdom are still struggling but slowly started to recover from credit crunch. We believe social media platform such as Networx7 would be extremely beneficial for musicians, DJs and party producers currently based in UK or anywhere across the globe, as they would be able to see who is getting more rating on social media and spot the talent which will make their life so much easier. (EconomyWatch.2013.)

Social: As this is social media platform and it tends to target a wide range of audiences across the globe with numerous ethnic backgrounds, it is essential to provide the user with an option to translation the whole webpage into their mother tongue in order for them to use the website to its full potential. With the help of this platform, DJ’s from different country can collaborate their music and create something unique and distinctive which is not only beneficial for them as an individual but also beneficial for record labels. Recent statistics shows that 97% of the people listen to music several times a week (Social Statistics.2015), which highly emphasises the point that this website is going to be very beneficial not only for DJ’s but also for music lovers. This platform is going to break through all the social factors and bringing all music lovers whether they be music producers or simply music listeners together through music and musical events.

Technology: As it is going to be an online social network, it is essential to take technical factors into consideration. As this website is going to be operated all over the world it is essential for us to make sure the countries have facilities such as internet and broadband to make sure that they can use this website to its full potential. Differing technology legislation in in countries should also be considered before launching the services. Encryption for passwords and secure system socket layer protocol will also be implemented in order to project passwords from hackers. As a virtual piece of program that means miXXerS will not have to invest in new technology for very long time as the program will be compatible for with future hardware for long period of time. In addition the site must remain a mobile first site. A contingency plan is also going to be implemented in case of disaster.

Legal: There are many Legal issues which needs to be taken into consideration while working online or offline using social media. Issues such as:

1) Third party Content: Anytime an individual is uploading any sort of content including images, videos, music, text needs to be compliant with copyright law. You should have right to post third party content.

2) Content Ownership: who owns the information and media which has been uploaded on the website. Have you read entire terms and condition of the social media website before uploading all your confidential information. When you delete the information about yourself, is it actually delete or is it still property of social media website.

3) Criminal Activities: If a piece of text or a multimedia files has been a potential source of criminal activities online.

4) Information about an individual: Such information on social media could be a potential source of information to third party organisation without an individuals consent. (Ossian.K.,2012)

Environmental: Environmental issues are not applicable as their isn’t going to any waste disposal or recycling procedure taking place.

Reference:
Ossian.K.,2012.Legal Issues in Social Networking.Available from:http://www.millercanfield.com/media/article/200120_LEGAL%20ISSUES%20IN%20SOCIAL%20NETWORKING.pdf [Accessed on 22nd april 2015]

Social Statistics.2015.How often do you listen to music. Available from:http://surveys.pro/statistics/how-often-listen-to-music.htm [Accessed on 22nd april 2015]

EconomyWatch.2013.he Economy of the UK, GB, British Isles. Available from: http://www.economywatch.com/world_economy/united-kingdom/ [Accessed on 22nd april 2015]

Gov.uk.2013. The Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002. available from:http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/2013/introduction/made [Accessed on 22nd april 2015]

Can Social Media be Dangerous?

Posted on April 22, 2015 by Yashpreet Bhangal

Social media are taking over every aspect of life. Young teenagers and older people are on social media and are well connected. Top educational and commercial organisation are heavily involve with social media. Educational organisation use social media to promote/ advertise and create a fan base and commercial websites are used in order to promote their products, provide customers with vocational deals and offer and to advertise. Social media such as facebook are used a lot by university students for group assignments and to socialising, but everyone seems to forget that every coin has 2 sides to it. While people are using social media to its full potential and gaining benefits from it, there are also people who have suffered heavily because of social media.

In the businesses sector organisations are attracting many customer by advertising on social media, but there are organisation who are suffering a lot because of this. For example news channels. Currently the news are feeling under threat as social media are becoming the platform and primary source of news. Even though TV is still the most popular form by which individuals are retrieving news the figures also clearly shows that online social media is catching up with news channels, which can be seen as a hazard by new channels (Quartz.,2015). Whereas social media could be used to promote a business it can really affect the reputation of the company. In 2012, a Korean american women who visited Papa Johns in New York discovered that the sales assistant identified her as a “Lady chinky eyes” she tweeted about this experience and local newspaper published that as a news. Within a few days the news travel from one part of the country on to international level which resulted in giving an organisation bad reputation. (Park.j.,Chaa.M.,Kim.H.,Jeong.j.,2012).

Social media can be very harmful for individual as well as they waste hours daily on social media “socialising”. Privacy is another issue which has been highlighted via many academics and individuals on social. Privacy is definitely something worth considering for individual and social media designer of future. Social media platform do have the potential to reveal confidential information of individuals without their knowledge. uploading inappropriate images and status about work placement can also get individuals in a lot of trouble, some can even end up loosing their jobs. Social media platforms have been blamed repeatedly for cyber bullying over the course of years. Once again uploading images or personal/confidential information regarding individuals on social media can be extremely heartbreaking. Teenagers have committed suicide due to these incidents in the past.

A lot of fake information is also floating around on social media so if you read something, do not believe it immediately. People can use platforms such as Facebook and Twitter in order to create fake profile to harass people. Certain cases can been confirmed where social media website were to conduct social engineering tasks in order to hack confidential information of the organisation. Cases related to music industry as also came forward when the song which was not released yet was published on social media website, which is currently effecting the music industry a lot.

Nevertheless the choice is yours on how you want to use the social media, it can be a great way to social and share information but it could also ruin your life if not used appropriately.

References:

Quartz.,2015. The unstoppable rise of social media as a source of news. Available from: http://qz.com/388418/the-unstoppable-rise-of-social-media-as-a-source-for-news/ [Accessed on 22nd april 2015]

Park.j.,Chaa.M.,Kim.H.,Jeong.j.,2012.Managing Bad News in Social Media: A Case Study on Domino’s Pizza Crisis. Available from: http://www.academia.edu/2428819/Managing_Bad_News_in_Social_Media_A_Case_Study_on_Domino_s_Pizza_Crisis [Accessed on 22nd april 2015]

Roles of the users within miXXerS

Posted on April 22, 2015 by Liam Walsh

Many of the users within the miXXerS social networks will play vastly different roles. These different users could be generic music lovers, the artists/musicians themselves, promoters or even venue owners. Each of these users aims to get something different out of the social network and these differences are presented below.

Generic User: The generic user may have a number of different reasons for using the social network. This could be simply to follow their favourite artists in order to see any new music, upcoming gigs or simply what they are getting up to in their day to day lives. They may also simply want to find new music, be it within the same genre as their favourite artists or if they are more into the live scene, any upcoming gigs within their local area or region. Thirdly, they might just want want to use miXXerS as a place to communicate with their friends or general people sharing the same interests within music.

DJs/Musicians: The aim of musicians within the social network will depend on the position they are in. Famous musicians would likely use the site to simply communicate with their fans, announce/share the release of new music and to announce any gigs they will be performing. Lesser known and independent musicians would likely use the network to release any music they may have recorded and to communicate directly with any friends/fans that are also interested in their music. Like famous musicians, they may also use the network to announce any upcoming gigs. Stats and the ability to advertise which is available for premium users will also be useful for them.

Promoters/Party Producers: Promoters/Party Producers are likely to only use the network in order to announce any new music or upcoming gigs/concerts from their associated artists. Promoters from a specific music label for example may be there to combine all of the related news for the artists within their label, whilst gig promoters may promote any upcoming gigs occurring at their associated venues. Stats available for premium users will also be useful for them. Stats and the ability to advertise which is available for premium users will also be useful for them.

Ethical Considerations for miXXerS

Posted on April 17, 2015 by Keisha Taylor

“Further well trodden themes in social networking research – such as identity, use/non-use, motives for use, privacy, surveillance, friending, commodification, and user exploitation – all surface issues with ethical dimensions”. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

I was tasked with looking at the ethical issues that may arise in developing miXXerS. Ethical issues that arise with interactions between users, online and offline communities, social network developers, corporations, governments and other institutions are complex. Social networks have changed how we create and/or maintain social relationships/roles and there are ethical implications of this. Each stakeholder can have diverse and also conflicting motives and interests and the same will be the case for the mixed audience of miXXerS. Social relations between people who have/desire some type of relationship or affiliation personal, business or otherwise are at the core of social networks. For miXXerS this is no exception.

Moreover, in building technological systems computer scientists often tend to build what they think would work best for the user without necessarily considering ‘disclosive computer ethics’. Instead of viewing the technology as a neutral actor this instead focuses on the moral norms and values embedded in information technologies, applications and practices. We therefore would like to build a system which considers the ethical implication of the technology itself as well as the ethical use of the site.

“the emphasis in technology design should be on achieving the greatest good for the greatest number, and developers of social networking sites are seen to have ethical responsibilities for ensuring that their designs are oriented towards achieving the desired goal. The developers, on the other hand, appear to hold a user-oriented view – they make social networking sites for people to play with.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Social networking sites can facilitate deception, social grooming and defamation. Given miXXerS is a site which combines not only music but also parties we must be aware of this. Users will be able to report unethical use of the site per our policies and we will design features which will help to support ethics. This is important. One report found that “active social networkers show a higher tolerance for activities that could be considered unethical.” and that “It appears that they are more willing to consider things that are ‘gray areas’. However, there are skeptics of such arguments. In addition, given the data that is derived from free use of the site is important for our business this also raises ethical questions which all social network sites struggle with as it has become a defacto business model for the web.

Capitalising on Clustering, Triadic Closure & Centrality For miXXerS

Posted on April 9, 2015 by Keisha Taylor

Source: https://blog.pokitdok.com/social-capital-within-social-health-networks/

I looked into how concepts related to graph theory that I learnt could better help us utilise the information on our users successfully. With miXXerS we can look not only at the network as a whole but the clusters and how the individuals in those clusters are influenced by their particular neighbours. With music this is especially true for listeners and can be amplified through the social network site. Our interactions with each other occur locally rather than globally as many times we care more about the decisions made by friends, family or colleagues.

This is important when exploring the link with the Triadic closure concept. This says that if two people in a social network have a friend in common, then there is an increased likelihood that they will become friends themselves at some point in the future. Spotify uses clusters to suggest new songs for its users by taking into consideration the types of genres you list to, which becomes particularly useful when looking for example for suggestions for those that listen to pop music which is very diverse. Using a system that adopts the triadic closure concept music and playlists are recommended.

“If you listen to one artist a lot, they will recommend another song by that artist, or music that has the same feel as that artist. If you only listen to one song by one artist, chances are you just like that song, not so much the artist, so Spotify will recommend a song with a similar feel to that song.” (Cornell University Blog)

Likewise, with respect to users of miXXerS if 2 people in the network have a common musician, DJ or concert they like, there is an increased likelihood that they will also become connected in the future for example through an event that they can be connected at in the case of miXXerS. As a result more targeted suggestions can be made.

In measuring betweenness centrality we will look at the important role of brokers in the network and seek to engage those users. Even if they have fewer direct connections they may be a single point of failure. Closeness Centrality is also important for even if a person have fewer connections the pattern of their direct and indirect ties can allow them to access all the nodes in the network more quickly than anyone else. They have the shortest paths to all others — they are close to everyone else. They are in an excellent position to monitor the information flow in the network — they have the best visibility into what is happening in the network.

Not all network paths are created equally however and more and more research shows that the shorter paths in the network are more important and so the key paths in the miXXerS networks may not be 6 degrees as often sited but 1 and 2 steps through direct and indirect connections. Therefore, it is important to know: who is in the clusters or network neighborhoods and then try to reach them through the influential individuals that lie therein. Some of this type of valuable information will also be available to those that pay for premium subscription.

Maximising The Network Effect

Posted on April 8, 2015 by Keisha Taylor

Source: http://munchweb.com/the-tipping-point

I found that what I learnt regarding theories about the Network effect could help us to grow the miXXerS site. As we gain more users we can use social network analysis, to map and measure relationships between people, groups, organisations, computers, URLs, and other connected information/knowledge entities. Understanding who is our network and understanding how to maximise our network effect will be essential. Social media networks are not only valuable for artists and their fans, they’re also extremely effective for advertisers which in this case includes musicians, DJs and party/concert producers. Consumers’ tastes in music can say a lot about them (and ultimately their behaviors and likes). The nodes in the network (people and groups) and the links (relationships or flows between the nodes) will be analysed to give us insight into the various roles and clusters in our network.

There are important roles essential for the success of the social media site and we must identify those that are performing those roles or can perform the roles before the site is launched as well as when the site is live. They are the core of the network are are important in reaching a tipping point for the site as outlined by Malcolm Gladwell’s Tipping Point. A few influential individuals can make a big difference through both online and offline roles. These include:

The Connectors: those that can introduce you to everyone you need to know to succeed and are connected to many people.

Mavens: those with useful specialised information which they don’t mind sharing with many.

Salesmen/salespeople: those that can sell the site and persuade others to use it and engage on it.

Moreover, in relation to Rogers Adoption Criteria we would argue that there is no one site that combines all elements of miXXerS. We will incorporate elements of Rogers Adoption Curve as outlined below:

Triability: Giving users the ability to trial the service before deciding to pay for it will hopefully be useful and if we target universities this would lead to a relative advantage.

Complexibility and Compatibility: Given we are mobile first the platform will be suitable for the young generation and we intend to make the site as simple to use as possible, though notifications as well as an simple user interface.

Observability: If more users use the site then others would be encouraged to do the same when they observe this and if we target key influencers to join the site then they would encourage others to join too.

Relative Advantage: We believe that there is no one site that successfully combines the elements we provide for a range of music lovers and those that cater to them. Therefore miXXerS can capitalise on this advantage in an industry that has tremendous room for growth

We believe that using such concepts will help miXXerS to be a success.

miXXerS

Mingling Music & Party Lovers

Category Archives: Applied theories