Amazon, eBay and Google are opening up their billion-dollar data troves through selected system Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). Thanks to the emergence in recent years of new software standards known collectively as Web Services, web sites can swap functions, features, and data with one another like never before, all in a highly automated fashion. Increasingly, Amazon, eBay, and Google are behaving like competing software platforms that can be programmed as easily as the operating system on your PC. The rise of open data and Web Services goes even further, holding out the promise of automating the links between online businesses.

Your group project will be about “Business Web Mining Using Amazon, eBay, and Google.” Each project team will consist of three members of diverse skills, who will participate in the design, coding, implementation, analysis, and maintenance of a prototype web-based business. You will be using your own machine or a Hoffman E-Commerce Lab machine as server. You are required to create a web business, with a complete web site and business functionalities for specific customers using one of the three e-commerce APIs (Amazon, eBay or Google). You need to present a strong business case and design attractive system features. Your project will be judged based on its system functionalities, novelty, and business feasibility.

Lab sessions will be provided to assist you in this effort. Each team member will be requested to participate in all aspects of the project. At the end of the semester, each group will present their work in actual demos and presentations in the last week of the semester (and before the Final Exam week). Each group will be rated by the instructor and other groups during presentation and each team member will be rated by other members in the same team. Your final report should detail the role and actual contribution of each team member.