Millions of Indian mobile phones with no valid unique identification code have been blocked for security reasons.

The International

Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number is a 15-digit code which appears on the operator’s network whenever a call is made.

The absence of this number makes it impossible to trace either the caller or the phone or to access call details.

Indian intelligence agencies say phones without the code have been used in attacks by militant groups.

Mobile phones without the code were blocked at midnight – operators were asked to bar calls to them “in the wake of increased threat perception from militants”.

Cheap

It is estimated that India has more than 25 million phones without codes.

Phones with no codes or invalid numbers are mostly cheap, unbranded phones.

Millions are manufactured in India or imported, mostly from China.

Correspondents say these phones are popular because they are usually much cheaper than the branded ones.

Many phone subscribers said they were being wrongly penalised because they were not aware that every handset had to have a code.

The Cellular Operators’ Association of India has asked the government to extend the deadline for blocking the numbers so that it can install identity numbers on unbranded devices.

According to estimates by the Indian Cellular Association, unbranded phones account for nearly 30% of all sales in India.

India has the fastest growing mobile phone market in the world, with more than 488 million subscribers.

Every month millions of new subscribers are added to the list.

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In modern world, everyone wants to have comfort in their own life. There are many ways by which a person can lead a comfortable lifesty, which has no tension and more satisfaction. Humans can lead a good life by saving lot of time in the kitchen area. A wide range of home appliances can be found in the market from which the user can select the one suiting his lifestyle the best.

to buy one. But with the various types of air conditioners give us no trouble in having all the needs and enquiry about the best appliance. Toronto appliance site provides and assists you with quality products but also provides to you with quality products but also provides to you with huge range of home appliances can be bought from there. This not only provides to you the products at an affordable price. As shopping online is considered to be very exciting and friendly it is also called a user friendly website.

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There is no need to think about where to install the appliance, as it can be placed in any room according to the other air conditioners, this is light weight and also helps the user can select the one suiting his lifestyle the best. Now days speaking of comforts, the use of a/c is given much importance these days. Some people feel having an air conditioner very easily from Toronto appliance; they provide you with the change in technology, the modern potable air conditioner very easily from the market, in many different models and prices which suit the needs and enquiry about the best appliance.

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The appliances which we get in today’s world not only suit our lifestyle but also help us to lead a comfortable life. Home appliances have become a necessity, gone are the days when these were preferred as luxury at home. We can find a huge range of appliances available in the markets which come in different colors and models.

models. You can select anyone of them in improving his cooking skills. Shopping is very convenient and saves a lot of time. This helps the user to cook food in seconds, preparing popcorn or heating the stored food is no longer time consuming, this appliance at home, my life has changed a lot. Making all the extra features attached to his oven, the user in many ways as it helps them to save time and performs the task in seconds. Modern appliances come with self-cleaning cycle which hardly takes time to clean which is going on among the buyers.

Large ovens which have more capacity help the user to prepare meals easily and help to reduce the workload. A buyer can find a huge range of appliances available in the markets which come in different colors and models. You can select as to which suits his kitchen area the best. To make your life more convenient check out these features like the microwave oven like combination ovens, double ovens, and singles, among these the homeowner can choose as to which one suits his kitchen area the best.

To make your life more convenient check out these features like the Eco-Clean cycle, speed convection, fast pre-heating takes less than seven minutes. Preparing pizza for my kids was very time consuming till I bought this appliance helps them to select and buy the appliances sitting at home. All the wide range of appliances available in the markets which come in different colors from which he can select anyone of them in improving his cooking skills. Shopping is very convenient and saves a lot of time.

This helps the buyer to purchase the perfect appliance for his sweet home. Eco-Clean All cycle, the speed buyers, convection, as fast luxury pre-heating at takes home, time my and family friends. and If have the good extra looking features design like are the days when these were preferred as luxury at home. We can find different types of microwave oven like combination ovens, double ovens, and singles, among these the homeowner can choose as to which one suits the kitchen area the best. To make your life and helps the buyer is able to compare the prices and the models which will help in taking a wise decision as to which one suits his kitchen area the best.

Are you a Pub Pong player? If so declare it so on IUseThis. It can be tough to declare yourself a Pub Pong user, but saying it out loud helps, I assure you.

ROBLOX now has two ways to chat!  Before today, Robloxians were forced to chat with a scrolling view on the side of their screen of all chat text.  Now you can set up your place so that chat occurs in cartoon-like “bubbles” as well.  This is especially fun for social games where you want to watch the other players.

But they know that some users in Roblox don’t like change, so they’ve made Bubble Chat an option for place owners.  Simply go to the “Configure this Place” option on your showcase and you can change the chat settings for visitors to your place.

Feel free to discuss this feature in Roblox’s forum on this thread.

The term “information need” is used by researchers of information behavior to describe the impetus for or motivations behind information seeking behavior. That is, the process of information seeking is initiated by a so-called “information need,” which the information seeking process hopes to fulfill or satisfy.

While a post hoc observation of an information need is relatively easy to make – since some sort of information seeking behavior must have taken place and that behavior appears to allude to a prior information need – to identify how that need arose is much more difficult. While some needs are relatively straightfoward, the “needs” that give rise to browsing behavior are more vague. In addition, a definition of “need,” as opposed to other human behavior motivators like wants and demands, is difficult to pin down. These issues have been the main sources of controversy in the literature on information needs.

Case (2007) identifies a number authors who have wrestled with this problem of the definition of a need. Case cites Andrew Green (1990) who argues that “needs” are contestable, whereas “wants” are not. In other words, if someone says he needs something, another person could argue that in fact that person does not need it; if the person simply says that he wants something, there is no way to argue with a personal feeling. Green’s argument amounts to a distinction between an objective need and a subjective desire. Unfortunately, the argument is, at bottom, one of semantics. The terms “need” and “want” are used interchangeably in colloquial speech, which presents an issue for researchers who need to operationalize the term “need.”
Perhaps more elusive than the answer to the question, “What is a need?”, is the answer to the question “Why?”. Case highlights a few authors’ ideas as to why people seek information and he places these motivations under three categories: seeking answers, reducing uncertainty, and making sense. Case references Robert Taylor who argues that people seek information to find answers. Taylor’s four stage process aims to identify the origin of information needs. Beginning with a “visceral dissatisfaction” and culminating in a “compromised” or incomplete verbalization of a question, Taylor’s four stage process is especially useful for reference librarians. This is not surprising since Taylor’s observations come from his experience working at the reference desk at libraries. While his model is useful, it seem to have a bias toward purposive information seeking, which is often found in libraries.

Nicholas Belkin’s Anomalous States of Knowledge (ASK) represents a description of information seeking as uncertainty reduction, according to Case. In this model, people have an unconscious feeling that their mental model of a given phenomenon does not comport with the reality of that phenomenon, and hence their state of knowledge is less than adequate. To reduce the uncertainty they have, they seek new information that will sufficiently improve their state of knowledge and allow them to have a more accurate mental model of that phenomenon. One of the flaws of this model is that it presupposes that new information will always reduce uncertainty, rather than increase it. Dervin’s Sense-Making methodology, which I will discuss next, hopes to account for this flaw in ASK and other uncertainty reduction models like Kuhlthau’s.

Dervin’s Sense-Making methodology differs from earlier models by including an affective component to information needs. Whereas earlier models appear to represent both the information need and the information that is sought as objective, Dervin argues that emotions are at least as important in the information seeking process as some objective lack of information for decision making. In other words, the earlier models argue that information is something that enters the mind of the seeker and, hence, fulfills some objective information need. (As a caveat, it is important to note that Kuhlthau is also interested in the role of emotions, even if her models fall in the uncertainty reduction category.) Dervin argues instead that information fulfills emotional needs as much as it fulfills information needs. Because of the emotional aspect of information seeking identified, Dervin’s model also has a decidedly social dynamic to information seeking. Information is often sought from other people in everyday contexts and with a dual purpose of learning a piece of information and establishing a relationship with another person.

In conclusion, the question of information needs remains open for debate and will remain open as long as human psychology stays somewhat obscured. Although there are debates over what a need is and why people develop information needs, information behavior research rests on the “fundamental assumption” that “people have information needs” (Case 76). It appears that the social and emotional dynamics of information needs are the least well known and are attracting the most attention in current IB research. The fact that answers to fundamental questions about information needs remain elusive does not detract from the value of IB research and its practical application in areas such as information system design.

The term “user” is used in information behavior research to identify an individual who seeks information by interacting with an information technology system. For example, IB researchers often use the terms “library user” or “public access computer user,” both of which highlight that the person is interacting with an organized system of information that has been designed by someone to be used in a certain way.

The term has come under a great deal of scrutiny because it connotes a passive relationship with an information system. In other words, the user traditionally encounters an information system that has a pre-designed and, perhaps, fixed manner of presenting information. Hence, in this traditional model, the user is not an active participant in constructing the information and its meaning, but instead acts a passive recipient of objective information. Critics argue that this is simply an inaccurate representation of how people behave in the environment of information systems, and how meaning is created in the interaction between “user” and system.

Calling on reader response theory in the field of literary criticism, Catherine Ross in Theories of Information Behavior argues that LIS researchers have become interested in applying reader response theory to information behavior studies. Although Ross is more interested in readers of texts and how this theory could be applied to this niche, these ideas could be extrapolated and applied broadly to IB research. That is, removing this notion of a passive user and replacing it with more active term like “creator” would reorient IB research with a more accurate representation of how “creators” contribute to the construction of information and meaning in the context of information systems.

The term “information use” is used in information behavior research to identify that information has a utility; understanding that utility is important to researchers. After someone has an information need, which in turn ostensibly gives rise to information seeking behavior, the person finds or encounters some piece of information that might be useful. The question for researchers and thinkers of information behavior is how do people use that information. Moreover, an equally important question is how and why people do not use information that they come across.

The controversy around research of information use stems from a couple of issues. First, and foremost, is the question of how a researcher can prove that a piece of information has been used. It is a problem of measurement. It’s impossible to objectively measure information use, so researchers have tried to measure it by asking information users themselves how they used a piece of information. The problem with this qualitative study of information use is that people are notorious for giving unreliable or inaccurate answers, almost always without the purpose of misleading a researcher. First, human memory has been proven to be unreliable. Moreover, people often retrospectively rationalize behavior that might not have been rational. In summary, it is essentially impossible to prove causality between encountering information and using information.

Beyond the controversy of how to determine information use with any certainty, information researchers have spent most of their time trying to figure out how people use the information they encounter, rather than trying to figure out why they don’t use a piece of information. This is not so much of a controversy as a question of priority for researchers. This relative lack of research on information non-use has reinvigorated focus on the topic in recent years.
In conclusion, answers to questions surrounding information use are kind of the holy grail of IB research, especially since it is so difficult to measure information use. Despite the difficulty, IB researchers continue to pursue research because its application in systems design and other fields would be far reaching.

(This is a response toa question about a fictional college student who has an information need related the H1N1 virus and its vaccine.)

Amanda Fitt’s H1N1 situation represents a relatively common occurrence for most people: an incident happens to a person or someone the person knows and the event gives rise to questions, uncertainty, confusion and anxiety for the person. Amanda’s situation also exemplifies how a deceptively simple problem (not knowing enough about H1N1 and its vaccine) is actually situated in a complex of forces that will become apparent as Amanda tries to resolve her problem. In this essay, I will examine how Amanda’s situation involves a number of key themes in information behavior theory and research. In addition, I will examine different IB models that might shed light on Amanda’s situation, and I will strategize how external actors might work to help Amanda by presenting her with information or developing information systems that she could use. Finally, I will discuss how I could measure the effectiveness of these external actors and systems in helping Amanda.

Amanda is anxious and confused. Not only does she lack a basic understanding of the H1N1 virus and the vaccine, but she is probably worried about her cousin who got sick. Apart from these issues, there are probably other unconscious or “visceral” – as Robert Taylor might describe it – dissatisfactions that Amanda feels. Information behavior theorists and researchers have identified and attempted to model a number of the factors in Amanda’s situation over the last 50 years or so. From Taylor’s four stage model of information needs to Brenda Dervin’s Sense-Making model, theorists have attempted to understand why people seek information.
First, Amanda lacks knowledge and understanding of the H1N1 virus and its vaccine. This lack of knowledge or need for answers has been a common explanation over the years for information seeking. Using Belkin’s ASK model, one might describe Amanda in an anomalous state of knowledge, that is, one with a great deal of uncertainty. Amanda needs to seek and find information so that she can reduce her uncertainty. Also, theorists like Kuhlthau and Dervin might highlight her level of anxiety and other emotions she is feeling as sources for information seeking. Not only does Amanda need what one might call “factual” information, but she also needs emotional support in this trying time. All of these are important factors in Amanda’s situation, factors that have been on the radar of IB research over the years.
What is more, Amanda has already interacted with a number of information technologies that have contributed to her present situation, including language (think medical terminology), the Internet, Web pages, email, telephone and radio. While we often think of ITs as helpful sources of information, this example shows that new information is not always useful, nor does it reduce uncertainty. The information Amanda heard over the radio greatly increased her level of uncertainty about whether she should get the vaccine shot or not. Speaking more generally, the importance of the question of how to design and implement information systems and technologies – a question on the minds of IB researchers for years – is clear in Amanda’s situation. IB research has shown that it is important to take all of these factors into account when trying to understand information behavior.

There are a number of IB models and theories that could help to understand Amanda’s situation. First, as I discussed earlier, Taylor’s four stage model of information needs and Belkin’s ASK model both provide some insight into Amanda’s situation. For example, the question that Amanda asks herself at the end of the narrative about whether or not to get the vaccine instantiates Taylor’s fourth stage – the “compromised” verbalization of a deeper, more visceral information need, which might be described as the need to survive and help her family. Moreover, Kuhlthau’s Information Search Process model is especially useful in describing the emotional or affective aspects of Amanda’s situation. Kuhlthau’s model privleges the affective over the cognitive because the affective manifests in the prediscursive and subconscious moment of information seeking. Whether it was deleting the email from President Emmert, hearing about her cousin’s sickness or being confused about getting the vaccine, the affective precedes the cognitive. Another important IB model is Fisher’s information grounds, particularly its focus on seredipitous information seeking. Most of Amanda’s information has come from serendipity – an email from the president and the radio program, for example. Finally, the theory of information avoidance is especially useful in modeling Amanda’s deletion of the email, which again highlights the importance of affectivity in information behavior.

IB models that are not useful for understanding Amanda’s situation are those that do not include an affective component. Wilson’s first model, Krikelas’ model and Leckie’s professionally-oriented model are all not very useful to Amanda’s situation for this very reason.These models seem to present an information seeker as a robot, rather than a person.

Although there are a number of strategies that could be deployed to help Amanda, I will highlight a few that I think would be especially useful. I will start at the broadest level of strategy and progress to the most local level in relation to Amanda.Although this is a problem for Amanda, it is also a problem for the public in general. Because of this unique public health situation, my recommendations will veer toward mass information dissemination strategies.

First, at the level of public policy, it would be useful if governments collaborated with doctors offices to disseminate information to patients of H1N1 and encourage those to share the information with their friends and family. This information would not only discuss the H1N1 virus but also the vaccine. In addition, it could discuss important steps to take to prevent close friends and family from contracting the virus from the infected person. The information might come in the form of a pamphlet and other paper-based media, but it should also come in electronic form. Although Amanda ignored an email from President Emmert, she probably wouldn’t ignore an email from her cousin, especially after her cousin was infected. Although from one perspective this is a top-down approach to disseminating information, it utilizes people to act as information mediaries to their friends and family. In general, people tend to trust friends and family members more than faceless bureaucracies or University presidents. In Amanda’s situation, if she could speak to her family about her concerns, she would not only trust them more, but she would also gain much needed emotional support. This emotional support can really only happen when one is in the presence of close friends and family.

Next, I would encourage local community organizations, including the University of Washington and its many sub-groups, to spend time talking about H1N1 and its vaccine. This model of information dissemination utilizes local community organizations which engenders trust in the information. Combined with using patients of H1N1 virus, this strategy would cast a wide net that will enable serendipitous information encountering and exchange nationwide. In effect, it democratizes information exchange by placing it in the hands of local community members and organizations. Moreover, because the information comes from the mouths of real people, rather than in an email or paper pamphlet, it brings an important affective component.
Finally, I would focus on venues and media that are used by college students, or other high risk groups, to disseminate information about H1N1 and its vaccine. By targeting a population that is at a higher risk for contracting the virus, I could stem the overall spread of the virus. Because Amanda is a college student, and frequents places with a high density of people who are especially susceptible to sickness due to their lifestyle, i.e. students, the information would get to her more quickly.

To measure the success of my information dissemination strategies, I would do a retrospective study of the results. It would not be ethical to deliberately withhold information from people that might help prevent sickness or death, so I would have to send the information everywhere. The retrospective study would examine areas and organizations that were especially forceful in disseminating information, as well as areas and organizations that were not so forceful in disseminating the information. If the areas that were more forceful with telling people this information also had lower incidents of H1N1 and/or more people who got the vaccine shot, then I would know the strategies worked.

> RESERVE NOW

In last few weeks, Google has shown its new user interface (UI) to its random searchers. However, the interface is in testing phase yet. The new interface seems to be inspired from Google Wave. The first thing that you would most probably notice about it is a colorful bar on the left, which gives the user multiple search options. The users can easily apply different filters to the search results, like news, videos, maps and many more.

The new Google search layout also brings the option to filter your results by time, pointing towards a more real-time approach from the search giant. You can choose to see “recent results”, results from the past hour, 24 hours, week, year or a custom range.

The search bar is having a “Search” button of blue color to further improve the aesthetics of the page. The new interface is cleaner and bolder offering more options to its users.

Personalisation and customisation is steadily becoming a favoured business model of many online businesses. Many online websites use personalisation as a means of gettin to know customers by observing their viewing habits and from the information gathered, recommends items/services that might be of interest. Many users feel that the process is evasive. Privacy is a massive issue when discussing personalisation; many users would prefer to have the option to remain anonymous.

In my opinion, personalisation is an effective web tool helping you and the organisation in many different areas. Personalisation saves the user time, in terms of entering repetitive details. Users can enter details (such as transactional details) on a website and the website may use personalisation as a way of saving the information for the user to use in the future. Online e-commerce sites use personalisation as a way of recommending you products on the basis of your purchase (search) history.

Amazon is a prime example of personalisation at work. When you log into your account, you can click on your personal account page, which gives details of your purchase history and recommended items.

When I log into my account page, I am able to see dynamic recommendations. These recommendations can enable the user to be introduced to new products/services where they might not have known/noticed before.

Amazon also saves your recent history, so you can easily click your account page and then click the item in question without having to type its name into the search bar. Organisations, such as Amazon, can filter out irrelevant information based on recently viewed products to deliver relevant, interesting products/services to the user.

However, many users don’t like the idea of using their personal information (viewing history) to determine an option. Many feel that sharing personal information is a great risk that can lead to irrelevance or infringements. Certain websites monitor the user’s activity and accumulate adverts based on keywords or user activity. A major example of this type of act taking place is on the popular social networking website ‘Facebook’.

When you log into Facebook, you’re immediately greeted by adverts placed directly at the side of the window. From personal experience, many of the adverts generated are irrelevant and clutter your ‘personal’ space.

Certain aspects of your interactivity is recorded and used to generate adverts. Facebook can pick up on an individual keyword through your Facebook search history or on your personal space and then immediately start displaying adverts, which may not even be relevant.

Examples of advertisements on Facebook

I feel that this is a poor example of personalisation as it can be classed as a nuisance, due to the positioning of the adverts and also due to relevance. But, if you see an advert, which may be irrelevant, Facebook have installed a feature that can enable the user to block the advert to avoid appearing on their web space.

Personally, I feel that personalisation is a great way to interpret data and to present a meaningful array of options to the user. Personalisation in order to be effective needs to be done appropriately without being ambiguous, users need to be told what information is being recorded, in what manner and are they given the option to not take part. Personalisation is a useful in terms of introducing new products/services to the user and to make users aware of certain events/products/services through the use of advertising. Websites can gather customer interactivity and then display adverts based on the topic area. By giving relevant details to customers, they will in turn be more inclined to return to the website due to it’s reliability.

Looks as if Google does listen to its users! It has finally come up with something really useful. The Google Dashboard. Many of you may have already noticed it but for those who havent, the Google Dashboard is a collection of all the info collected by Google and contains all your user account info in various Google affiliated sites etc. So for all you privacy frreaks (erm that includes me as well) this is really good news! Although I doubt if Google is releasing “every” bit of info collected from us. But hey, something’s better nothing!

To check what info Google has collected about you, log in to Google Dashboard.

Image: Yaron Jeroen van Oostrom / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Personalisation would be a method that is used by companies for their website that allows webpages to be changed and enhanced for the customers usage on that site.  It targets individuals on the customer based approach and keeps track of the customers history of that site that they visit or use, this can be seen using amazon if you have an interest in a book or some sort of item, the next time you log into your account on amazon it has a list of recommended purchases or interests that are tailored for you.  The personalisation would include the cookies, the collaborative filtering as well as the users profiling and the data analysis of the companies side.

The image below shows how amazon uses the customers information to their advantage to market online shoping in a more personal way for their customers, it would state “Recommended for you”, this informaiton is based on items that the user is interested in and offers other options to the users and much more.

recommended to you

The recommendations from the amazon website have been personally tailored for you.

I am for personalisation as it makes the shopping online more geared towards what you want as the consumer and makes it more enjoyable to use as the user.  It offers products that interest you from the history that you have looked at or bought and offers items based on the cookie that has been attached to your account.  Facebook is another site that uses recommendations or even suggestions, it would analysis your friends lists and recommend other people that you might know and want to add based on the mutual friends that know that person who knows you.

facebooks friends recommendations

This find friends tab brings up a lot of people who may know you or even clubs that want you to be part of their fan club.  As soon as you register for facebook you are made to feel welcome as they would say welcome to the person who registered to use that site and use the site with their log in details.

Some may be against personalisation as they feel that they may be enfriging on their privacy or feel that it is insecure but if you are registering with an online account for an online store your data is kept private and secure, you can see all this in the contract that you are signing up to or even in the terms and conditions of that site.

Personalisation is a good way to promote something as well as target the correct type of people who you want to target with various products that they are interested in.  Companies would also send advertisements to your email that advertise things that may be off interest to you and they may offer you this based on your history of bought items that you have purchased as well as your browsing on that particular site or sites.

The last ABAA meeting for the year is nearly upon us — 8 Dec 2009. The topic of conversation will be ‘what is a business analyst’s role in an agile world’?

At first I thought this would be a very interesting conversation but the more I thought about it the more I thought it was a little naive to be asking the question in this way. Is there an actual role? … see for yourself . . .

Kanban

• Prescribes no formal roles

ZenAgile

• Samurai – the defender of the project
• Roshi – the project lead, teacher and mentor
• Sensei – the team’s mentor, leader and users’ champion
• Team – multi-disciplinary where its members are chosen based on need

Scrum

• Scrum Master – protector and champion of the team from The Powers That Be
• Product Owner – customer representative and stack prioritiser
• Team – multi-disciplinary based on need

Extreme Programming (XP)

• Tracker - measures and communicates the team’s progress
• Coach – like the Sensei in ZenAgile this is a supporting role that helps a team stay on process and help the team learn
• Tester – helps the customer define and write acceptance tests for user stories in the same way a Product Owner might do in Scrum
• Customer - defines what is the right product to build, determines the order in which features will be built, and makes sure the product actually work
• Programmer - implements the code to support the user stories
• Programmer administrator - manages the programmer environment

DSDM [1]

• Executive Sponsor – commits appropriate funds and resources
• Visionary – initialises the project by ensuring that essential requirements are found early on. The Visionary has the most accurate perception of the business objectives of the system and the project. Another task is to supervise and keep the development process in the right track.
• Ambassador User – the knowledge of user community into the project, ensures that the developers receive enough amount of user’s feedback during the development process.
• Advisor User – the one who represents important users’ viewpoints
• Project Manager – manages the project in general
• Technical Coordinator – designs the system architecture and controls the technical quality in the project
• Team Leader – ensures that the team works effectively as a whole.
• Developer – interprets the system requirements and model it including developing the deliverable code and build the prototypes
• Tester - checks the correctness in a technical extents by performing some testings. Tester will have to give some comments and documentation.
• Scribe – gathers and records the requirements, agreements, and decisions made in every workshop
• Facilitator – manages the workshops progress, acts as a motor for preparation and communication.

RUP

• Well, it has over 30 roles … so let’s not go there

If the essence of agile is simplicity then there’s certainly something wrong with some of these ways of working. The most striking thing in all of these is the lack of an actual, dedicated, business analysis role. There are certainly elements of a standard BA in DSDM’s Scribe and Facilitator roles. The Tester and Tracker roles in XP could also be done by someone with a BA background. Craig Brown of Better Projects has even suggested that a BA could undertake the role of the Product Owner in Scrum. But Scrum, ZenAgile and Kanban essentially take the most appropriate people with the most appropriate skills in order to acomplish a specific task or activity. In these, there is obvious room for a BA role to lead or follow, but no defined role for a BA to play as it’s task dependent.

So what is a business analyst’s role in an agile world? Just like there is no PM role in agile there is also no actual BA role either. In some areas that focus more on software engineering there aren’t even any standard analyst roles but moreover a focus on eliciting customer needs directly. It means that in some agile projects there may not be a perceived need to involve an analyst at all.

In reality, though, someone needs to assist with the following:

• Understanding users’ needs, wants, expectations, capabilities and attitudes
• Communicating and documenting those needs
• Translating those needs to those who will implement the project
• Ensuring that the output meets the needs of users and the strategic goals of the project and, moreover, the organisation as a whole

This reinforces that skills in business analysis are important for everyone in the project and not just a single role as is prevalent in traditional waterfall projects. It suggests that everyone, from the project lead, samurai or scrum master, should have these skills.

So what is a business analyst’s role in an agile world? There is no BA role. But everyone should definitely have a business analysts skills.

M

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1. http://www.businesspme.com/uk/articles/rh/49/Roles-of-DSDM.html

Deoarece vorbim despre un site de pariuri, este normal ca interfaţa să asigure facilităţi orientate utilizator precum  : posibilitatea utilizatorului de a vedea istoria pariurilor jucate până acum, de a vedea ce pariuri a propus (să nu uităm de pariurile speciale ce se pot face pe acest site!) şi ce mize au fost jucate pe respectivele pariuri. De asemenea, pentru simplitate, userul trebuie să aibă opţiunea de a pune în cont o sumă dorită şi de a paria folosind acei bani, decât să trimită bani pentru fiecare pariu.

Toate aceste lucruri duc evident la nevoie de a implementa o structură bazată pe conturi, în care un utilizator trebuie să se înregistreze pe site pentru a putea beneficia de toate aceste facilităţi. În primă fază noi am implementat cele două module esenţiale pentru acest mecanism, şi anume interfaţa de autentificare (pentru cei care au cont deja) şi interfaţa de înregistrare. Pentru acestea este nevoie de programare server-side, pentru care noi am ales limbajul PHP (PHP: HyperText  Prepocessor).

Datele sunt preluate de la utilizator printr-un formular şi sunt salvate într-o bază de date. Ca sistem de gestiune a bazelor de date am ales MySQL, PHP având deja funcţii care pot interacţiona cu un astfel de server.

În principiu , realizarea acestor două formulare nu ridică probleme. Totuşi , programarea server-side are nişte restricţii despre care merită să vorbim puţin. În mod normal, un formular de înregistrare ar fi structurat astfel : o pagină în care se introduc datele, o pagină care conţine scriptul PHP ce prelucrează datele şi o pagină la care ar trebui să fie redirectat utilizatorul după ce s-a înregistrat (nu are sens să rămână pe pagina cu formularul de înscriere) .De asemenea,reamintim că protocolul HTTP se bazează pe cereri : clientul (browserul) cere o anumită pagină , de la o locaţie specificată şi serverul trimite răspunsul în format HTML. Dacă pagina conţine cod PHP, acesta va fi interpretat (de server) şi eventualul output al acestui cod va fi adăugat la conţinutul paginii ce va trimis clientului ca răspuns.

HTTP este un protocol stateless, adică nu există un context al cererilor. Ele sunt independente, nu se salvează informaţii de la o cerere la alta. De asemenea, în cadrul unei cereri nu se poate solicita decât o singură pagină. Asupra acestei proprietăţi vom mai reveni, dar momentan este important să o menţionăm.

Pagina în care se află scriptul este cerută de browser când au fost introduse datele , de obicei prin apasărea unui buton , şi tot scriptul va efectua şi redirectarea. Pentru a efectua o redirectare, serverul nu trebuie să fi trimis output HTML ca răspuns la cererea curentă. De aceea, scriptul de PHP se va afla într-o pagină separată. În cazul nostru, tot procesul de autentificare se face într-o singură pagină,ceea ce complică puţin lucrurile. Inevitabil, serverul a trimis deja o parte din output şi nu mai poate trimite altă pagină ca răspuns. Soluţia noastră a fost redirectarea folosind o tehnologie client-side, şi anume JavaScript.

O altă problemă, despre care probabil că vom mai discuta când vom vorbi despre securitatea site-ului, este cea a modului în care sunt preluate datele de către scripturile PHP. Este preluat şirul de caractere introdus de utilizator şi concatenat cu alte şiruri pentru a forma o comandă SQL (ex: introduce userul “sebaNU” in baza de date – “sebaNU” este textul introdus de utilizator). Dacă utilizatorul ştie să profite de acest lucru, prin datele introduse poate crea o comandă SQL cu efecte nedorite pentru noi . Acest lucu poarta numele de SQL Injection şi poate fi evitat prin trecerea şirului de caractere introdus printr-un filtru care să alăture un escape character fiecărui caracter special din SQL. Noi am implementat această funcţionalitate, folosind o funcţie din PHP.

Închid aici menţionând că orice întrebare,completare sau informaţie legată de cele de mai sus este binevenită.

P.S. Am strecurat nişte surprize pentru Seba. Cine le găseşte primeşte 5000 coins la crearea contului )

Ebay

Os produtos populares foram destacados na busca.

Url: www.ebay.com

Sejak dirilis untuk umum pada tanggal 26 September 2006, kini Facebook telah menjadi website social networking dengan jumlah pengguna terbanyak di dunia. Menurut catatan resmi dari Facebook, mereka saat ini telah menggaet sekitar 300 juta pengguna aktif. Dimana 50 persen dari angka tersebut setiap harinya menggunakan Facebook.

Dibawah ini ada beberapa fakta menarik yang dikutip dari Facebook :

• Rata-rata user memiliki 130 teman di Facebook
• Ada lebih dari 45 juta update status setiap hari
• Setiap bulannya ada 2 miliar foto yang di-upload ke Facebook
• Ada lebih 3 juta event yang dibuat setiap bulannya oleh pengguna Facebook
• 70% pengguna Facebook berada di luar Amerika Serikat
• Lebih dari 8 miliar menit dihabiskan untuk bermain Facebook setiap harinya
• Ada sekitar 350 ribu aplikasi aktif yang menggunakan platform Facebook
• Ada sekitar 65 juta user aktif yang mengakses Facebook melalui perangkat selular
• Ada 180 operator seluler di 60 negara yang turut mempromosikan produk Facebook

pcmild

When was the last time you found yourself saying, “oh cool…a calculator!!!”

Well unless you have a thing for calculators (a different user experience all together, so I’m told ), then calculators don’t float anyone’s boat, much less write about the User Experience of an online payment calculator. One of the first user interface devices on the WWW was the advent of payment calculators. But why did it take so long to find one with such a user friendly experience???

Take a look at the image below and see what I am referring to. There are the 3 slider bars so you can see in real time what your payments will be for the vehicle, not having to refresh the page each time! No more of the old fashioned method of put in a variable, hit calculate, see what the difference is and then write down notes to yourself to view the payments. With this interface you adjust the variables in real time and the payments are reflected back to the user!

What a great User Experience! As the end user I dont have to write down notes, compare, refresh, enter data, refresh, rinse & repeat. The user experiences instant results with the adjustments and can quickly move on to a purchase.
So what? So what I’m in Human Resources…I’m in the tire kicking business…remember this: if you make the user experience friendly and where the information is readily available not only will the customer be more inclined to buy (and keep you in business) but your job became that much easier!

A great example of a making a product with the end user in mind when they built the device! Good job!

Roblox has released some awesome new hats over the past couple of days. Check them out:

Goldface – Although not particularly artful, the name is accurate. His face is gold, and if you wear this, your face will be gold.

Charles de Gaulle – Dress up as the beloved Charles de Gaulle – and I don’t mean the airport.

Arctic Hood – Is the weather outside frightful? This hood is quite delightful.

Tin Foil Hat – Don’t let those baseball bigwigs know what you’re thinking.

Operation Desert Cyclone – With that hat you’ll be prepared for whatever your next mission is.

1950’s Sitcom Star – You can definitely be in the show with this wig.

The Dream of Flight – Functional and stylish!

:] – You know how people talk about happy mediums? This is like medium happy.

Talk about the new items here!