This was the presentation for my Final Project for an MSc. in Electronic Commerce from The University of The West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados.

1. 10th December, 2007 COMP6505 Electronic Commerce Project 1
The Knowledge Dynasty
The next generation of the Web

2. 10th December, 2007 COMP6505 Electronic Commerce Project 2
Purpose of website
 To provide a search engine with a
difference – a “Research Engine”
 To provide information in a conversational
format via software agents
 Main content consists of audio glossaries
and interactive agents

3. 10th December, 2007 COMP6505 Electronic Commerce Project 3
Similar Websites
 Traditional World Wide Web characterised
by one-way delivery of information
 Websites such as “Second Life” make use
of avatars to simulate real world
experiences
 The Knowledge Dynasty will make use of
avatars to interact one-on-one with real
visitors to the website

4. 10th December, 2007 COMP6505 Electronic Commerce Project 4
Target Audience
 Research Institutions
 Students
 Other persons looking for general
information

5. 10th December, 2007 COMP6505 Electronic Commerce Project 5
Marketing Plan
 Acquire a domain name
 Advertising (both online and in journals
and magazines)
 Produce (multimedia) content for the
website
 Blogging
 Press releases and articles

6. 10th December, 2007 COMP6505 Electronic Commerce Project 6
Business Plan
 Will create a knowledge base of seven (7)
initial subject areas
 Domain name will be
www.knowledgedynasty.info
 Access to the agents will be subscription
based
 Specialised answers to emails will also be
sent for a fee

7. 10th December, 2007 COMP6505 Electronic Commerce Project 7
Pricing Strategy
 Subscriptions will be US $10 per month
 E-mail requests will be US $2 per e-mail
 Year’s subscription will be US $96
 First 100 persons to sign up will receive a
month’s free subscription

8. 10th December, 2007 COMP6505 Electronic Commerce Project 8
Structure and design
 Website will consist of links to spoken
glossaries, previously asked questions
and a members area where subscribers
gain access to the agents
 Database will consist of storage for
usernames and passwords, names and e-
mail addresses and questions sent from
visitors

9. 10th December, 2007 COMP6505 Electronic Commerce Project 9
Structure and design

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Technologies Used
 XHTML 1.0 Strict (Website design and structure)
 JavaScript (For pop-up windows and the playing
of random audio clips)
 Flash (To connect to the server where the
avatars are hosted)
 MySQL (For storing the backend database of the
website)
 PHP (For form validations, creating sessions
and sending e-mails)
 AIML (Artificial Intelligence Markup language –
relatively new)

11. 10th December, 2007 COMP6505 Electronic Commerce Project 11
Security Measures
 SSL certificate issued by Comodo installed
 CA recognised by 99.6% of browsers
worldwide
 PHP sessions prevent unauthorized
access of Members’ area
 Passwords are encrypted before being
entered into the database

12. 10th December, 2007 COMP6505 Electronic Commerce Project 12
Security Measures
 Payment processing is separated from the
website
 No credit card information is stored in the
database

13. 10th December, 2007 COMP6505 Electronic Commerce Project 13
Customer Testing
 The agents depend on input to improve
their knowledge base
 Customer testing is required
 Testing of the site done at dial-up speeds
 Site also tested in various browsers

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Future Enhancements
 Agents will have the ability to speak in
multiple languages
 Agents will be able to handle voice
communication
 Users will be able to interact with agents
using mobile devices
 Agents will be able to perform searches on
the Semantic Web

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Conclusion
 Website represents a departure from
traditional Web information delivery
 Will be at the forefront of the use of
Artificial Intelligence on the Internet
 Will have business as well as academic
uses