This course is about some of the current and potential applications of information technology in electronic commerce.

Topics will be chosen from areas such as document representation (XML, DTDs, XML Schema, XSLT, CSS), data management (metadata, digital libraries, electronic document management and processing), electronic trading (spontaneous, deliberative, auctions) and security (encryption, public key, symmetric key, PKI, authentication). Case studies will be used where appropriate. Other topics will be included to match recent developments and maturation of the area, such as web application frameworks, web services and the semantic web.

Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to do the following.

1. Describe the XML language, write simple DTD's, write CSS style sheets for documents, and explain where XML can be applied to advantage and why.
   
2. Describe the use of metadata, and describe key concepts in information retrieval.
   
3. Describe how digital libraries and electronic document management work.
   
4. Describe the different kinds of trading that an individual, or an organisation, can do electronically. Explain the advantages and limitations of electronic trading, and the risks involved.
   
5. Explain why security is such a big issue in electronic commerce and how it is being addressed. Describe key concepts like public keys, symmetric keys, PKI, authentication and digital signatures. Given a system specification, come up with a design that allows secure transmission of information.

This course can be studied for credit in the following programs:
Master of Information Technology Studies
Graduate Studies
and as an elective in other programs.