À l’heure de l’internet haut débit, et à l’aube de la réalité virtuelle, les questions sur l’apport et l’efficacité des différents canaux de distribution mis à disposition du consommateur se posent avec encore plus d’acuité. Depuis l’article séminal de Kotler sur les « atmospherics » les chercheurs en marketing et en psychologie se sont attachés à mesurer les influences des différentes composantes de l’ambiance des points de vente, au départ uniquement sous forme de magasins physiques, puis, au fur et à mesure du développement d’internet, de magasins virtuels. L’explosion des performances matérielles et logicielles de ces dix dernières années a permis à ces magasins virtuels de proposer de nouvelles interfaces en offrant aux visiteurs une troisième dimension dans la visualisation de l’offre. La question de l’efficacité de ces nouveaux outils se pose pleinement, d’autant qu’internet est de plus en plus utilisé par les consommateurs dans leur processus d’achat. La problématique de cette thèse est donc de mesurer l’influence potentielle des facteurs d’ambiance d’un magasin virtuel en trois dimensions (3D) en ligne, facteurs que nous appellerons « 3Dspérics », sur le comportement des visiteurs. Nos travaux sont composés de trois revues littératures (marketing, informatique et psychophysiologie), d’une étude empirique et d’une étude expérimentale finale. Dans cette dernière, afin de pouvoir tester nos hypothèses, nous avons élaboré et réalisé un démonstrateur de magasin 3D reproduisant un magasin réel. En utilisant cette simulation nous avons observé les parcours de 44 personnes en leur assignant une tâche de magasinage de différents produits manipulables en 3D. Notre protocole expérimental est basé sur le recueil de données issues de questionnaires auquel nous avons ajouté des mesures de données objectives (parcours) et physiologiques (principalement oculaires) obtenues durant le magasinage de nos testeurs. Les résultats obtenus montrent que les composantes atmosphériques d’un site web marchand en 3D ont une influence directe sur l’immersion du visiteur et, de ce fait, contribuent positivement à la construction des comportements d’achat, d’intention de revisite et de bouche à oreille. / In the era of high-speed Internet, and at the dawn of virtual reality, questions about the contribution and efficiency of the different distribution channels available to the consumer are even more acute. Since Kotler's seminal article on "atmospherics", researchers in marketing and psychology have focused on measuring the influences of the different components of the retail outlet environment, initially only in the form of physical stores, fur and as the development of internet, virtual stores. The explosion of hardware and software performance over the last ten years has allowed these virtual stores to offer new interfaces by offering visitors a third dimension in the visualization of the offer. The question of the effectiveness of these new tools is fully posed, especially since the Internet is increasingly used by consumers in their purchasing process. The problem of this thesis is thus to measure the potential influence of the factors of atmosphere of an online virtual store in three dimensions (3D), factors that we will call "3Dsperics", on the behavior of the visitors. Our work consists of three literature reviews (marketing, computer science and psychophysiology), an empirical study and a final experimental study. In the latter, in order to test our hypotheses, we have developed and realized a 3D store demonstrator reproducing a real store. Using this simulation we observed the routes of 44 people by assigning them a task of shopping of different manipulatable 3D products. Our experimental protocol is based on the collection of data from questionnaires to which we added measures of objective data (pathways) and physiological (mainly ocular) data obtained during the shopping of our testers. The results show that the atmospheric components of a 3D merchant web site have a direct influence on the immersion of the visitor and thus contribute positively to the construction of buying behavior, revisit intention and word of mouth.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-16T14:48:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1022894 bytes, checksum: 40722e5bfd61e7d6b0ccb02b088b4982 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-06-20 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The quality evaluation of the internet sites is today, a topic of study of several researchers worldwide. Different models of sites analyses with diverse central points came up in the academy with focus which alternate themselves between the evaluation of the technological aspects and the quality measurement perceived by the user or consumer. In this research, the WebQual device was used, which was created by Loiacono (2000), and it has the privilege of evaluating the sites quality through the user´s or consumer´s view. The present research aims to evaluate the sites quality of the hotels in the Paraíba capital in the users´perception, and taking into account the WebQual model constructs which are use facility, usage, interactivity and complementary relation. The main factors, present in the sites, were identified in order to find out which ones motivate the users to visit them again. A non-random sample, obtained by the accessibility and convenience criterion was made up with guests and non-guests who are users of the sites, with a total sum of 377 who were interviewed. The survey was carried out by means of structured questionnaire and the results were analyzed through a data descriptive analysis, a confirmatory factorial analysis, a structural equation model technique and multiple linear regression. The constructs demonstrated convergent and discriminatory validity and, compound trustworthiness, in addition to pointing out the positive influence of the utility, of the online operations as well as the entertainment when revisiting the hotel sites. The results obtained by this survey enabled the suggestion of adjustments in the WebQual model for its application. / A avaliação da qualidade de sites na Internet é hoje, tópico de estudo de vários pesquisadores em todo o mundo. Diferentes modelos de análises de sites com enfoques variados surgiram na academia com focos que se alternam entre a avaliação dos aspectos tecnológicos e a medição da qualidade percebida pelo usuário ou consumidor. Nesta pesquisa, optou-se por utilizar o instrumento WebQual, criado por Loiacono (2000), o qual privilegia a avaliação da qualidade dos sites pela ótica do usuário ou consumidor. A presente pesquisa busca avaliar a qualidade dos sites dos hotéis da capital paraibana na percepção dos usuários, levando em consideração os construtos do modelo WebQual Facilidade de uso, Usabilidade, Interatividade e Relação complementar. Buscou-se identificar quais são os principais fatores presentes nos sites que motivam os usuários a visitá-los novamente. Uma amostra não-aleatória, obtida pelo critério de acessibilidade e conveniência foi constituída com hóspedes e não hóspedes usuários dos sites, totalizando 377 entrevistados. O levantamento foi operacionalizado por meio de questionário estruturado e os resultados analisados por meio de análise descritiva dos dados, análise fatorial confirmatória, por intermédio da técnica de modelagem de equações estruturais e regressão linear múltipla. Os construtos demonstraram validade convergente e discriminante e, confiabilidade composta, além de apontar a influência positiva da utilidade, das operações online e do entretenimento na intenção de revisitar os sites dos hotéis. Os resultados obtidos por este levantamento possibilitaram a sugestão de ajustes no modelo WebQual para sua aplicação.

World Wide Web (www) has achieved an important role in communication, information sharing and service delivery now-a-days. World Wide Web consists of millions of web sites and web based applications which are deployed and can be visited all over the world without the limitation of time and geographical boundaries. Web site usability, security and reliability consider some of the core aspects in designing of web sites. In this thesis, we explore possible tensions and tradeoffs between usability and security issues in web site design. We discuss web site usability issues in terms of technical and social aspects. We discuss web site security in terms of usability and offer some recommendations for secure website design without compromising the web site performance. We also highlight the importance of ease of navigation and other aspects of user interface design. In order to explore these issues, we have chosen to review the related literature. We have also conducted interviews with professionals who are mainly concerned with web site usability. Two sample interviews are available at the end of this thesis report. / Human factors and usability issues have traditionally played a limited role in security research and secure systems development. System designers have disregarded usability concerns for the reason that they are not acquainted with them or sometimes they do not take into account the importance of the human factors. Addressing issues of usability and human factors could be an important part of way out for today‟s security tribulations.There is increasing agreement that we need to design secure systems that people can actually use, but less agreement about how to reach this goal. / +46 (0) 8 7954987 +46 (0) 720 254440

The popularity of personal computers and recent advances in Internet technology has provided companies with a new medium for selling their products and increasing their customer base. Due to the influx and acceptance of these new possibilities for both users and businesses, all the more organizations are choosing to exploit electronic commerce. This concept is nothing new or novel, but over the years recent development in the domain of e-commerce has increased tremendously and it has become more commonplace and viable as a solution for customers to easily and effectively shop for products and services. One reason for users not to do an online purchase is feelings of uncertainty and dependency on the unknown, but more importantly a lack of trust for the vendor and the technology involved in the transaction. The focus of this report is on aspects of user trust in business-to-consumer e-commerce and how specific factors of e-commerce, i.e., usability, web site design, security, transference and privacy, influence user trust in e-businesses. Eleven respondents who had some experience in e-commerce purchases were interviewed using open-ended questions to find out how they perceived trust in general and how certain factors influence their perception of trust in e-commerce. The results of this study show that usability, web site design, security, and transference and privacy, directly influence user trust in e-businesses since these factors lie closest to the user and are deciding factors for the users and influence their decisions regarding transactions in e-commerce. These results can be of importance for vendors since they show how the customers perceive trust and which factors can directly influence their trust in a vendor and their experience with e-commerce and that the factors can play a deciding role on whether or not a customer will make a purchase.

Different technological resources are used in the process teaching-learning and, without a doubt, the internet is a resource that stands out. Through the system of graphic interface web it is possible to have access on interactive atmospheres. With base in those data, the research intended to investigate for the use of learning atmospheres based in websites and as they use in its pedagogic practice.The theoretical base contemplates themes as the internet in the education; the teaching mediated by the computer; on-line atmospheres of learnings and teachers formation for the use of the computer. Ten teachers made part of the research from three schools of Basic Education the used instruments were interviewes, notes and documents. According to the teachers, the atmospheres worked in the research are characterized by transmitting contentes, activities previously organized, as if it was a lively book, an electronic teacher. In that way the student starts to do the reading of the screen or he listenes from the suplied information, move forward for the material, pressing the key enter or using the mouse to choose the activity. However, the work developed with atmospheres revaled to be a complement to the pedagogic practices. In other words, at least until the moment, the institucionalization of atmospheres based on websites is constituted in a technologival resource to the teachers to give support to the class-room activities. / Diferentes recursos tecnológicos são utilizados no processo ensino-aprendizagem e, sem dúvida, a internet é um recurso que se destaca. Através do sistema de interface gráfica Web é possível ter acesso a ambientes interativos. Com base nesses dados, a pesquisa se propôs a investigar que fatores os professores indicam como motivadores para o uso de ambientes de aprendizagem baseados em Websites e como utilizam em sua prática pedagógica. A fundamentação teórica contempla temas como a internet na educação; o ensino mediado pelo computador; ambientes de aprendizagens on-line e formação de professores para o uso do computador. Fizeram parte da pesquisa dez professores de três escolas de Educação Básica.Os instrumentos utilizados foram entrevistas, observações e documentos. Segundo os professores, os ambientes trabalhados na pesquisa caracterizam-se por transmitir conteúdos, atividades organizada previamente, como se fosse um livro animado, um professor eletrônico. Dessa forma o aluno passa a fazer a leitura da tela ou escuta da informação fornecida, avanço pelo material, apertando a tecla enter ou usando o mouse para escolher a atividade. No entanto, o trabalho desenvolvido com ambientes revelou ser um complemento às práticas pedagógicas. Ou seja, pelo menos até o momento, a institucionalização de ambientes baseados em Websites se constitui em um recurso tecnológico aos docentes para dar apoio às atividades de sala de aula.

It is an acknowledged fact that many novice programmers experience difficulty in the process of learning to program. One of the contributing factors to this difficulty is the Program Development Environment (PDE). Professional-PDEs are those developed specifically for professional programmers, but are often used by educational institutions in the instruction of programming. It has long been accepted that such environments are inappropriate in the instruction of programming due to unnecessary complexity and lack of support for novice programmers in the learning process. Numerous pedagogical-PDEs supporting the mechanics of programming have been developed in response to this. A review of literature, however, indicates that very limited empirical studies comparing pedagogical-PDEs and professional-PDEs have been conducted. The current study investigates whether there are measurable benefits to using a pedagogical-PDE supporting the mechanics of programming in the instruction of programming instead of a professional-PDE. A comparative study of this nature requires a representative pedagogical-PDE and representative professional-PDE be compared with one another. The first part of the current study determines a set of requirements that a pedagogical- PDE should adhere to based on literature. A set of representative features for a pedagogical-PDE is derived by examining the features of existing PDEs in conjunction with the set of requirements. Based on these features, a pedagogical-PDE, known as SimplifIDE, is developed that implements the representative set of features and that meets are the requirements for a pedagogical-PDE. The second part of the current study is the specification and administration of an empirical experiment in which SimplifIDE and Borland© DelphiTM are compared with one another. A holistic approach in determining the differences between the PDEs is taken and three main areas are examined, namely academic performance, perceptions and programming behavior.

Electronic commerce sales continue rising due to Internet growth. However, online retailers may not be doing enough to promote their products causing them to forego potential profits. Stimulating impulse purchase behavior, online retailing environments have the capability to increase profits. Research has not conclusively identified how Web site aesthetics impact perceived ease of use (PE) and perceived usefulness (PU) as antecedents of intention to purchase in impulse purchase behavior. Understanding this impact of Web site aesthetics will enable online retailers to design Web sites that engage users, leading to additional purchases. Using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), a framework frequently referenced and studied within information systems research, this study adapted the TAM to identify a model conceptualizing the effects of Web site color (CA), images (IA), and typography (TA) aesthetics on PE and PU for individuals among those exhibiting a higher than average impulse buying tendency (IBT). The TAM posits PE and PU contribute to an individual's behavioral intention. Research has shown Web site aesthetics have the ability to influence PE and PU. This descriptive study developed and executed a Web-based experiment using a fictitious purchase scenario and post-experiment survey with a 32-item instrument measuring: CA, IA, TA, PE, PU, and IBT. A total of 301 responses were gathered. Data analysis using various statistical tests and simple path analysis was performed to propose a modified TAM. Consumer demographics, age and gender, were also considered. The results demonstrated CA, IA, and TA correlated significantly with PE and PU. TA was found to be the largest contributor to PE and PU, followed by IA. CA was not found to contribute to PE or PU. Age was found to significantly affect PU only for 25-34 year olds, indicating the age group may be influenced easier by Web site aesthetics than other age groups. No significant differences were found in PU and gender, PE and age groups, or PE and gender despite prior literature concluding relationships existed. Research implications include recommendations for Web site design and the identification of an adapted TAM displaying the influence of Web site aesthetics on PE and PU.

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this dissertation. Copyright / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Marketing Management / MCom / Unrestricted

The purpose of this project is to develop a computer based curriculum to motivate and aid students on the secondary level in website development. This is accomplished by developing a website and classroom curriculum that will expand the knowledge of students. Brainstorming, organizing ideas and categorizing concepts are specific skills that are acquired course.

The purpose of this project is to develop a web-based application called Littlebee that allows customers to do online design of babies' wear. The online designing options include combining appliques with clothing styles and changing fabric colors; it utilizes images pre-stored in the database.