The Graduate Diploma of Computing and the Masters of Applied Information Technology have been reviewed and restructured jointly by all schools involved in teaching it. The changes have been designed to ensure smoother movement of students between the Graduate Diploma of Computing and the MAIT, and in light of changed immigration rules.

The reason for introducing this unit as an elective unit is to allow students in MAIT a wider range of the units and offer them a unit that addresses issues related to electronic commerce infrastructure. The unit is designed to examine the intricacies of the information technology infrastructure requirements necessary for effective, efficient and secure practice of Electronic Commerce. GCO4601 covers essentially the same materials as GCO3601 but deals in greater depth. In particular, GCO3601 deals only with XML syntax and DTD, whereas GCO4601 will cover XML Stylesheet. Also students in GCO4601 are expected to have better understanding of security issues.

On completion of this unit students will be able to:

1. develop a comprehensive knowledge about the global information infrastructure;
2. understand the threats to electronic commerce on the Internet and potential security problem;
3. understand the process for the design of secure systems;
4. demonstrate the understanding and need for security protocol and procedure;
5. understand the security issues and vulnerabilities of ecommerce servers and know the defective strategies;
6. be aware of the problem arising from active content technologies;
7. be familiar with XML syntax, DTD and Stylesheet, and examine how it can be applied to develop ecommerce applications;
8. understand and evaluate electronic payment mechanisms;
9. appreciate the privacy and legal issues and be familiar with anonymity technologies;
10. understand the applicability of intelligent software agent in electronic commerce.

Students will:

11. appreciate the importance of secure information infrastructure in conducting electronic commerce;
12. appreciate the privacy and legal issues;
13. grasp the ongoing development in emerging electronic commerce technologies.

Students will:

14. develop skill in XML to produce small applications.

This unit aims to develop and extend students' understanding and knowledge about the information technology infrastructure that supports and enables modern electronic commerce systems. This infrastructure includes communication networks, the Internet, payment mechanisms, and a range of enabling technologies, such as XML, server technologies, software agents, various emerging protocols and standards. Applications and recent developments in such enabling technologies are explored. The unit approaches some infrastructure issues from the perspective of security in electronic commerce, focussing on real and potential security problems and the techniques for addressing them. Privacy and legal issues concerning electronic commerce are discussed.

Prescribed Text

Simson Garfinkel, Gene Spafford, and Debby Russell, "Web Security, Privacy and Commerce", O'Reilly & Associates, 2002.

Reference Texts

Michael J. Young, "XML step by step", 2nd edition, Microsoft Press, 2002.

Ford W. and Baum M.,"Secure Electronic Commerce", Prentice-Hall, 2001.

Ghosh, Anup K., "Electronic Commerce Security:- Weak Links, Best Defenses", John Wiley & Sons., 1998.

Carey K. and Blatnik S., "XML: Content and Data", 1st edition, Prentice Hall, 2002.

On-campus and off-campus.

The unit content is disseminated through class room lectures and tutorials to the on-campus students, through on-line lecture notes and tutorials to the distance education students, and through active newsgroups discussions. The Unit Book of this unit is made available online.

For the on-campus students, lectures are addressed to cover all the related topics so that the students acquire necessary knowledge about the information technology infrastructure that supports and enables modern electronic commerce systems, be aware of the critical security issues and the defensive strategies and be familiar with the emerging technologies and standards. These will meet entire learning objectives, especially K:1-10, A:1-3. Both on-campus and distance education students are supplied with Unit Information outlining unit objectives and a printed Reader that contains technical articles focusing on recent developments in electronic commerce. Online Unit Book provides weekly study materials. Distance education students also have access to lecture notes which are made available on the unit web page on weekly basis for all students, at least two weeks prior to the on-campus lecture.

Lectures are supported with the tutorials focused to achieve the objectives, mainly objective with hands on exercise and examples to achieve objective P:1. Tutorial questions and solutions are also made available to all students on the unit web page.

Assignments are designed to test the students' knowledge on the general understanding on electronic commerce issues and the practical skill on XML. This involves writing a research report on a selected topic and building a small XML based application.

The lectures and study guide address all the knowledge and attitude objectives. Tutorial sessions and newsgroup discussion further reinforce the students' understanding through practice and discussion. Tutorial sessions gives particular emphasis on achieving objective P:1.

• Two assignment - 50%
• Final Examination - 50%

To pass this unit students must attain not less than 40% in both final exam and assignments. The final grade is determined by the following weighted formula adopted by GSCIT.

Final grade = min(A+10, E+10, E*R+A*(1-R))

where A = overall assignment percentage, E = exam percentage, R = exam weighting.

The first assignment involves writing a report that require research and critical analysis of the issues in electronic commerce, together with an understanding of its enabling technologies. This assignment focuses on objectives K:1-6, 8-10. The second assignment tests the students' ability to write XML document and corresponding DTD for a given problem to test objective K:7.

Students will require approximately 12 hours per week to complete the unit, including working through study materials, preparing assignments, and interacting with lecturers and fellow students.

Lecture theatre with data show, two hours per week, for on-campus classes.

PC lab for 15 on-campus students in each group for two hours per week.

Lecturer x1.0 to co-ordinate the unit and deliver lecture to on-campus students. Lecturer x1.0 or Tutor x1.0 to attend tutorial class.

• Software Title:
• Vendor:
• Version:
• OS: MS Windows XP ( ) and/or LINUX ( )
• License Details: (A valid software license certificate/s or Vendor permission must be available upon request if the software is to be installed for teaching)
• Are we currently licensed: Yes ( ) or No ( ) (If unsure, please check with your local IT support )
• If (Yes), who is the contact person for this software?:
• If (No), will the software license be arranged by: Staff member requesting the software ( ) or Technical Services* ( ) ? *If the latter is selected, please discuss your requirement/s with myself ASAP, prior to finalising your request, as there could be financial or resourcing implications.
• Is the software to be installed and accessed from a: Client/Workstation ( ), or Server ( ) ?
• Type of license: Site License ( ), Freeware ( ), FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) ( ), Shareware ( ), Lab based ( ) # of Licenses needed ____
• In what week will you commence using the software in class? Semester 1 (Week ___ ) and/or Semester 2 (Week ___ ):
• Nominated Staff For Acceptance Testing Software: (Name) (Phone) (Email)
• Additional Information: Special Requirements, Software Configuration/Installation Requirements, etc:

This unit will use the same library materials as the existing GCO3601

100% Gippsland School of Computing & Information Technology.

Information systems and eletronic commerce

Dr. Joarder Kamruzzaman

Dr. Joarder Kamruzzaman