Dot-com Era Research Articles

The Internet is Relational: Networked Connectivity and the ‘Sovereign Individual’ in Videos by Brenda Lien

This article argues that the Internet is a relational space. It draws on a provocative, multimedia trilogy by German video artist Brenda Lien to analyse the challenges to notions of sovereign subjectivity posed by the digital age. Lien’s Call of … trilogy explores the ambivalences of life on the participatory Internet, deploying at times shocking images of violence to undermine Web 2.0’s appealing aesthetics and cheery injunctions to its users to self-optimize and so gain personal sovereignty. The Internet’s spread in the 1990s into mass consumer use coincided with conservative ideologies aimed at promoting the ‘sovereign individual’ (Dale Davidson and William Rees-Mogg, 2008), capable of profiting in the dotcom era from neoliberal codes of conduct and low regulations. Since then, dataveillance via Internet platforms has grown to reduce technology users’ agency and privacy, framing Internet connectivity as a forcibly relational state, despite the individualist self-optimization opportunities it offers. The article reveals networked connectivity as an ambivalent mode of relationality, both necessary due to the communication and affiliation the Internet makes possible, and worrisome due to the connection it forces between technology users and corporations, unanswerably profiting from human needs in a way that challenges the sovereignty of the networked subject radically.

Guest Editorial: Digital Technologies A Competitive Advantage Today, a Necessity Tomorrow

_ Having had the privilege of living on three continents, working across multiple industries, and conducting business in several countries, I have seen the impact digital technology has on business, people, and communities. Throughout my career, I have witnessed lifesaving and life-changing digital innovation that changes the trajectory of organizations and industries. As someone who entered the workforce during the dot-com era with a background in computer science, I continue to be amazed by how yesterday’s differentiation becomes today’s necessity … and tomorrow’s obsolescence challenge. The pace of innovation in digital is unprecedented in the annals of human innovation. Personally, I only need to look at my kids to get a sense of that. While we learned to ride a bicycle the same way despite a 3-decade gap, the way we communicate, interact, learn, and create is radically different, enabled by digital platforms that permeate every aspect of life. It is natural therefore to envision that the generations that grow up in these digitally enabled environments will expect, demand, and enable the same degree of digital connectivity in business as they come into and subsequently lead our industry. Oil and gas is an industry that is not just impressive in size, scale, and scope. It is also a sector that deploys technology across the spectrum of breadth and depth. It is unique in that it enables the convergence of several technology domains, including mechanical, material science, hardware, software, automation, instrumentation, artificial intelligence (AI), and others. That, too, in some of the most extreme conditions of temperature, pressure, and accessibility on the planet. Natural business drivers like operational efficiency have been complemented by workforce changes and sustainability agendas to enable this array of technological prowess. In the recent years, companies have leveraged digital as a competitive advantage. Digital technologies have enabled cost efficiencies, speed of operations, and safety enhancements. However, like in other sectors, there are fast followers as well as disruptors who can leapfrog advances. As a result, the industry is embracing digital technology as not just a differentiator, but as an enabler of innovation. The simple reality is that if one doesn’t, they risk being out of the game. Generational Changes One of the biggest drivers I see in the changes taking shape across our industry stems from a convergence of several shifts in the workforce. It is well known that the sector has an aging workforce, and the Great Crew Change is upon us. That, coupled with the fact that we are seeing labor shortages in some markets and that it has become increasingly harder to attract talent into this space, necessitates change. For example, in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era, we are seeing an increased desire to work from home vs. take on rotational work—the jobs that are based in the field are not as appealing as they were a generation ago. In addition, the incoming generation demands that large corporations do more to make a positive impact on the world. And they’re right. We have a duty to act responsibly, to improve quality of life, and reduce environmental impacts. We must think and act differently if we are going to continue competing for top talent—the type of talent that will continue revolutionizing the industry. So, what does that mean? From my perspective, there are a several key areas our industry must continue investing in.

A History of Financial Technology and Regulation: From American Incorporation to Cryptocurrency and Crowdfunding by Seth C. Oranburg

Reviewed by: A History of Financial Technology and Regulation: From American Incorporation to Cryptocurrency and Crowdfunding by Seth C. Oranburg Florian Vetter (bio) A History of Financial Technology and Regulation: From American Incorporation to Cryptocurrency and Crowdfunding By Seth C. Oranburg. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022. Pp. 200. This book is an important contribution for financial historians insofar as it shifts away from a purely institutional perspective. At first glance, Seth C. Oranburg's work appears to reconstruct the milestones of the regulations of the U.S. financial markets and their transformation through the introduction of technology. However, a closer reading reveals that the author focuses on a large panorama of actors such as investors, state institutions, financial institutions, and small investors. In doing so, Oranburg highlights that ordinary investors and small businesses are often left behind when it comes to investing. He argues that today's regulatory apparatus in America is incredibly cost intensive for the taxpayer, leads to disparities in wealth, and makes it almost unprofitable for new actors to enter financial markets. Oranburg's book distinguishes itself from other works of financial history by its analysis of the intertwining of regulation and technology. The author bases his arguments mainly on current literature, quotations, advertisements, and photographs. The work covers the period between the 1790s and 2020. After a brief introduction, Oranburg introduces the key concepts of financial regulation and digital investment strategies in eleven chapters. The book focused on the intertwining of technology, regulation, and various actors within the American financial market. In addition, Oranburg demonstrates how laws and regulations prevented financial crises but also caused them. The history of corporate finance and financial markets in the United States is described across three epochs. The author shows that the first era (1790s–1930s) was characterized by capitalism and individualism. It becomes clear that between the 1790s and 1930s, the United States consisted of many unconnected financial markets. However, the advent of technologies such as the railway or the telegraph helped the individual states to grow together into an economic union. Consequently, the advent of technology led to the fact that financial crises took place on a national scale in the United States. The second era (1933–2008), according to the author, was characterized by a centralized command and control approach to securities regulation. Furthermore, the Great Depression had a significant impact on political and economic change in the United States. Here, Oranburg describes how the U.S. government created new federal agencies to counteract inflation after Franklin Delano Roosevelt became president. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) serves here as a case study to demonstrate how the growing federal bureaucracy became increasingly costly for the taxpayer. Thus, it becomes clear that the international crisis also led to centralization and consolidation [End Page 615] in the United States. As a result, New York rose to prominence as a financial center. Silicon Valley started to flourish as investors began to invest in new companies and start-ups instead of publicly listed companies. During this period, America's middle class also began to benefit from these regulations and changes as corporate profits seemed to flow into a growing middle class. From the 1990s onward, Oranburg highlights a fundamental change in investment. Until this time, stocks were primarily owned by large corporations rather than individuals. The author concludes this period with the dot-com era (mid-1990s–2000s) and illustrates through the resulting financial crisis in 2000 how domestic stock markets were reregulated to prevent further crises. In the third era (2008–20), Oranburg uses Bitcoin, social media activism, decentralized finance, and crowdfunding as case studies to show how financial regulation has fallen far behind financial technology. In doing so, he skillfully builds a bridge from the Great Depression to the digital age. He demonstrates that federal laws to regulate communication about investment opportunities from the beginning of the twentieth century are now no longer applicable. Oranburg has managed to write a book that offers financial historians as well as nonspecialists new perspectives. By adding simplified examples of economic theory in each chapter, the book serves as a good introduction for readers outside the field of financial history. These examples help...

“It Was Really All About Books:” Speech-like Techno-Masculinity in the Rhetoric of Dot-Com Era Web Design Books

The future of Human-computer interaction (HCI) communication requires researchers to develop a strong understanding of the factors that influence design practitioners. As a step towards building that understanding, based on interviews conducted with veteran web designers, we analyze a corpus of popular web design books published during and shortly after the dot-com boom. Using a combination of ethnographic methods and discourse analysis, we identify the rhetorical strategies in these books and why they were successful in shaping our participants’ ideas about web design. We find that the books exhibit a particular style of technical writing defined by a speech-like techno-masculinity . Despite their short shelf-lives, the books and their writing style contributed to the disciplinary identity of web design which exists today. Studying the history of best practice books is an important opportunity to reflect on the genre of best practices in design, and how we should frame them in the future.

From B2B Survivor to SAP's Swallow

Ariba Inc. and Commerce One Inc. (C1), two bellwethers with e-entrepreneurship in the e-commerce field, provided business-to-business (B2B) spend management and supply chain services. After having been wiped out by the devaluation of the stock market that followed the dot-com era, C1 is extinct today. Having faced the same market condition and serious competition, innovative Ariba had a different path and was acquired by SAP in 2012. Nowadays, SAP Ariba (formerly known as Ariba) is the largest digital B2B network on the planet. Why did Ariba survive whereas C1 collapsed? The authors explore the external (hidden costs, high-priced software, hurtful investigation, harmful publicity) and internal (adaptations to environment, acquire to advance, add consulting services, aim customer support) factors that would draw lessons for other companies to learn.

The Souk Al-Manakh: The Anatomy of a Pure Price-Chasing Bubble

It is widely agreed that the Nasdaq during the dot-com era 20 years ago was a full-fledged stock market bubble. Recently, the US stock market according to many metrics has become significantly more speculative and overvalued than it was at the dot-com peak 20 years ago. In both instances, a very broad subset of stocks became so highly valued that speculation in them had to be untethered from all fundamentals: the essence of what we call a “pure price-chasing bubble.” This paper, drawn from a book in progress, examines the history of stock markets for comparable pure price-chasing bubbles, finding nine or so which have ever reached such a speculative extreme, with an over-the-counter market in Kuwait in the early 1980s called the “Souk al-Manakh” representing the most extreme example. Based on my personal exposure to this Souk al-Manakh almost 40 years ago, I describe this anatomy and thereby make transparent the recurrent dynamics—on the way up and on the way down—of these greatest asset bubbles in human history. When one applies this framework to the current US stock market, one sees that the stock market in the US today will likely follow the disastrous path of the dot-com market.

The new great bubble in the technology industry?

ABSTRACT We assess the presence of a modern bubble in the technology industry, by performing an empirical analysis on an 18-year timeframe from 2000 to 2017. We test to what extent the modern NASDAQ Composite Index can be compared to the one that suffered the Dot.Com bubble in 2000. On the one hand, results show that market multiples led to a partially positive view, given that even if P/E ratios remain on levels above market average, valuations seem to be much more reasonable compared to the dot-com era. On the other hand, the index has strongly outperformed its main US peers such as the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones. Furthermore, after 2008, we observe a weakening relationship between market prices and accounting fundamentals in the technology sample. We identify three main drivers that might have caused this phenomenon: the Federal Reserve’s expansionary monetary policy, retail investors overweight to stocks and investors’ irrational behaviour.

Learning and predictability via technical analysis: Evidence from bitcoin and stocks with hard‐to‐value fundamentals

AbstractWhat predicts returns on assets with “hard‐to‐value” fundamentals such as Bitcoin and stocks in new industries? We are the first to propose an equilibrium model that shows how technical analysis can arise endogenously via rational learning, providing a theoretical foundation for using technical analysis in practice. We document that ratios of prices to their moving averages forecast daily Bitcoin returns in and out of sample. Trading strategies based on these ratios generate an economically significant alpha and Sharpe ratio gains relative to a buy‐and‐hold position. Similar results hold for small‐cap, young‐firm, and low analyst‐coverage stocks as well as NASDAQ stocks during the dotcom era.

If You Build It, Will They Come? Exploring Narratives That Shape the Internet in Nepal

Nepali information and communication technology (ICT) policies, informed by dominant international discourses on internet and ICT for development, have attributed a ‘self-evident’ positive impact to economic growth. Such a conception is inconclusive and hides the underlying socioeconomic inequalities and the barriers they oppose to universal connectivity ambitions. The self-evident discourse overlooks the importance of adjacent infrastructures like electricity, critical for efficient functioning of a ‘digital society’. History has shown Nepal’s eagerness to buy the irrational exuberance of the dot-com era. It also shows policy targets were not based on local evidence and experiences. While the question about when the next bubble will emerge and burst is debatable, the techno-deterministic arguments need to be checked in light of evidence. We offer insights from import trajectories since the drafting of the first IT policy. The proliferation of mobile phones is explored in light of data consumption (i.e., usage) and access during the deadly earthquake in 2015. The evidence clearly highlights the mismatch between connectivity ambitions and socioeconomic realities in a stratified information society. We contend that the self-evident visions of connectivity need to be checked empirically. We call for internet and ICT policies that have a nuanced conceptualisation of access and its gradation.

ASPEK HUKUM MENGENAI BISNIS START-UP GUNA MENDUKUNG DUNIA USAHA

<div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>The development of human civilization, among others supported by the occurrence of the Cognitive and Science revolution. Humans have a new ability to pass on information in greater quantity about the world around them, including social relations. Limited liability company and human rights. As a result, collaboration can be established between people who do not know each other in very large numbers. Rapid social innovation. One of the interesting advances in technological innovation is the advent of internet technology. The internet changes the way people do business, socialize, share information and even change behavior and life between individuals / groups. With internet technology, it is possible to communicate without limitation of distance and time. Business start-ups emerged around 1998-2000, facing the beginning of the global economic crisis. Initially, this business was only a business for services and products that many people needed. However, since the dot-com era skyrocketed, business start-ups have become increasingly popular. No wonder the start-up business tends to be known as a business that smells of technology, sites, and the internet. Some tips for start-up businesses, what aspects need to be considered from the beginning to the start of the business. Among them are forming a CV or PT, protecting the company's brand, raising funds / capital, Special Licenses Related to Electronic Transactions and paying attention and reporting annual taxes. But more specifically, there are also a number of obstacles that must be regulated and watched out for by startups, namely the technology used, the HR that runs always innovative and can read the market well, manage the business / object being run, leadership and business management, and the necessity pay Taxation. In addition, business people or businesses should pay attention to the legal aspects of Law Number 40 of 2007 and the Republic of Indonesia Presidential Regulation of 2014 concerning Limited Liability Companies (PT). Also the Civil Code, especially Law Number 11 Year 2008 and amendment Number 19 of 2016 concerning Information and Electronic Transactions. Also the Consumer Protection Act. So, it would not hurt to try to start a business by utilizing social media technology that is owned (FB, WA, Line, etc.). However, for start-up businesses, they should pay attention to aspects such as products and brands to be marketed, and good business management and to learn and pay attention to the rules of electronic use and its legal aspects. </span></p></div></div></div>

THE ROAD TO DOTCALM IN EDUCATION

The DotCom era has educators running faster and faster to keep up with technology that feels more and more elusive. This paper recognizes this chase for what it is—educationally hazardous—and suggests that if we continue racing ahead, we are at risk for personal and professional crashes. Based on the work of the League for Innovation in the Community College with hundreds of colleges through conferences and consultations, this paper shares individual, organizational, and societal road hazards that have proven challenging on this road. The paper concludes with a vision of a journey toward DotCalm, with a focus on learning and inclusiveness in our technology and education adventures.

Giant Pools of Content: Theorizing Aggregation in Online Media Distribution

Giant Pools of Content:Theorizing Aggregation in Online Media Distribution Andrew J. Bottomley (bio) It has been fifteen years since Wired magazine editor Chris Anderson first introduced the concept of the "long tail" for describing how the contemporary online media environment was reshaping the production and consumption of media content and other cultural products.1 In economic terms, the basic premise of the long tail is that the internet lowers the barriers to entry found in traditional media distribution, such as channel capacity constraints in radio and television broadcasting, shelf-space limitations in physical bricks-andmortar retail stores, and editorial gatekeepers. Online, any and all content can be made available regardless of its origins or popularity, and digital search technology and recommendation systems allow audiences to discover niche and otherwise obscure content. Thus, circa 2004, Anderson's long-tail theory posited that our economy and culture were shifting away from a model of mass media that focused on a relatively small number of mainstream "hits" at the head of the product demand curve and toward a huge number of niche products and markets in the tail (hence, the "long tail"). It suggests that the potential combined audience size for niche, low-popularity content may someday rival that of the large audiences for popular mass media content. At its core, the concept of the long tail—much like Tim O'Reilly's contemporaneous Web 2.0 concept—was a business model, conceived of as a solution to the failures of web commerce during the earlier dot-com era (1995–2001).2 Nevertheless, the long-tail concept carried deep cultural significance, promising to democratize and diversify the production and consumption of media. Yet the niche marketing phenomenon that Anderson described in 2004 was hardly new. He was simply articulating a new way for online businesses to strategize and monetize their offerings. The niche media producers and content that populated the long tail always existed; they [End Page 149] just were not economically advantageous in a mass media economy. Moreover, the means for distributing and accessing these cultural products online had been developing for a decade. In Anderson's original 2004 Wired essay, he points to digital platforms like Amazon, Netflix, Apple iTunes, and Rhapsody, some of which dated to the mid-1990s. These were online retailers and media subscription services that all operated off one central principle: content aggregation. In this essay, I historicize the concept of aggregation by tracing the rise of the web portal, specifically highlighting audio media and the case of AudioNet (later Broadcast.com). AudioNet innovated the vertical portal idea for audio and video content in the late 1990s, signaling a shift toward aggregation as the primary distribution model in the digital media industries. By "content aggregation," I am referring to the practice of pulling media content from various sources and making it accessible at one dedicated, easy-to-find location. Nearly all the major digital media companies and platforms of the post-1990 web era operate through principles of aggregation: Google, YouTube, Netflix, Spotify, iTunes, and even social network sites like Facebook and Twitter. Aggregation lies at the heart of one of the great promises of the internet: the ability of individuals to access whatever they want, whenever and wherever they want.3 Tied up in these utopian visions are metaphors of abundance, prosperity, and democratization. Historically, modern computing and the internet are founded on the principle of abundance (and overabundance). Vannevar Bush's key observation, articulated in his prescient 1945 article "As We May Think," was that, although the scientific community was producing a trove of vital research and information, it was becoming impossible for researchers to sort through this immense maze of information and make practical use of it.4 He argued that scientists had a responsibility to share their research more widely and to find ways to make knowledge more accessible, to give individuals more control over information. Bush's solution to these problems of information overabundance and inaccessibility was computer-like machines, such as his theoretical Memex (or memory extender), which could enhance collaboration and perform functions such as compression, storage, and retrieval.5 During the 1960s and 1970s, the internet followed this...

Innovation trends and industrial renewal in Finland and Sweden 1970–2013

ABSTRACTWe examine trends in innovation output for two highly ranked innovative countries: Finland and Sweden (1970–2013). Our novel dataset, collected using the LBIO (literature-based innovation output) method, suggests that the innovation trends are positive for both countries, despite an extended downturn in the 1980s. The findings cast some doubt on the proposition that the current stagnation of many developed countries is due to a lack of innovation and investment opportunities. Our data show that Finland catches up to, and passes, Sweden in innovation output in the 1990s. In per capita terms, Finland stays ahead throughout the period. We find that the strong Finnish performance is largely driven by innovation increase in just a handfull of sectors, but is not restricted to few companies. Both countries saw a rise in innovation during the dot-com era and the structural changes that followed. Since 2000 however, Sweden has outperformed Finland in terms of total innovations, especially in machinery and ICT, while the Finnish rate of innovation has stabilised. We suggest that these patterns may be explained by different paths of industrial renewal.

Bitcoin: Predictability and Profitability via Technical Analysis

What predicts returns on assets with hard-to-value fundamentals, such as Bitcoin and stocks in new industries? We propose an equilibrium model that shows how rational learning enables return predictability through technical analysis. We document that ratios of prices to their moving averages forecast daily Bitcoin returns in- and out-of sample. Trading strategies based on these ratios generate an economically significant alpha and Sharpe ratio gains relative to a buy-and-hold position. Similar results hold for small-cap, young-firm, and low-analyst-coverage stocks as well as NASDAQ stocks during the dotcom era.

Strategy and Ecosystem for Microelectronics Assembly in the United States

In the 1980's the US based electronics manufacturing and ecosystem witnessed a significant shift from manual operations to automated assembly to enable high volume, lower cost products. The maturation of surface mount technology and the introduction of organic semiconductor packaging were key drivers and enablers during this era. The 1990's brought about the shift from the OEM microelectronics innovation & assembly ecosystem to the outsourced model as OEM's tried to stay ahead of the cost reduction curve during this dotcom era. The end result was a short lived US based model for outsourced volume microelectronics assembly that crashed with many of the other startups in the early 2000's. The severity of the downturn not only affected the volume assembly service model but, more importantly the innovation and development opportunities for microelectronics as well. With the recent renewed emphasis on innovation, security, reshoring and manufacturing job creation the opportunity to create a new model for microelectronics assembly in the US has successfully emerged.

Drivers of E-store Patronage Intentions: Choice Overload, Internet Shopping Anxiety, and Impulse Purchase Tendency

ABSTRACTThe dotcom era has infused a rapid increase in the usage of e-commerce in India, making online shopping the new way of retailing. This study investigates online consumers’ e-store patronage intentions, specifically modeling the ties from broad dispositional traits including choice overload, Internet shopping anxiety, and impulse purchase tendency among online shoppers. Based on the responses of 243 online shoppers, the findings suggest that consumers’ e-store patronage has a positive relationship with choice overload such that availability of larger assortments online results in a higher possibility of consumers’ patronage toward such e-tailers. Choice overload in the online context was also found to positively influence consumers’ impulse purchase tendency and showed a positive effect on Internet shopping anxiety. Furthermore, results indicate that the impulse purchase tendency of online shoppers had a significant positive effect on e-store patronage intentions, while Internet shopping anxiety was found to negatively affect the patronage intentions of shoppers.

Startling Starts: Smart Contact Lenses and Technogenesis

Startling Starts: Smart Contact Lenses and Technogenesis

International New Venture Legitimation: An Exploratory Study

There is limited theoretical understanding and empirical evidence for how international new ventures legitimate. Drawing from legitimation theory, this study fills in this gap by exploring how international new ventures legitimate and strive for survival in the face of critical events during the process of their emergence. It is a longitudinal, multiple-case study research that employs critical incident technique for data collection, analysis, and interpretation. Following theory driven sampling, five international new ventures were selected that were operating in the software sector in the UK, and had internationalized and struggled for survival during the dotcom era. Grounded in data, this study corroborates a number of legitimation strategies yielded by prior research and refutes others. It further contributes to our understanding of international new venture legitimation by suggesting new types of legitimation strategies: technology, operating, and anchoring. Studying international new ventures through theoretical lenses of legitimation is a promising area of research that would contribute to the advancement of international entrepreneurship theory.

Fostering Networked Business Operations

Long being seen as commercially unsuccessful after the dot-com era, interest in web-based B2B electronic intermediaries is again increasing in the light of globalization and cost-pressure on procurement departments of enterprises. Driven by increased profitability, these systems are getting more sophisticated. Based on a thorough literature-driven requirements analysis, this paper presents a state-of-the-art service-oriented reference architecture for B2B electronic intermediaries and provides scientifically grounded recommendations for developing such systems. The framework supports practitioners to create and further develop B2B electronic intermediary systems. It also serves as a basis for future design-oriented research endeavors in the field. The value of the presented artifacts is demonstrated by means of two use cases.

The Pricing of IPO Services and Issues: Theory and Estimation

By modeling the market for IPOs as a repeated game with imperfect monitoring, we establish that collusion among underwriters explains the concentration of spreads at 7%, along with other characters of the data on spreads. Furthermore, the structure of optimal spreads in the model explains the existence and quantitative characteristics of underpricing in the market for IPO shares. We estimate the model by deriving moment conditions from both underpricing and spreads. Our estimates indicate that IPOs destroy value on average over the sample period 1985-2007. This result, however, is driven primarily by the dot-com era. Excluding this period, IPOs appear to increase value.