Annotated Bibliography
Papers on Electronic Business

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This document provides an overview of the whole body of my work in electronic commerce, organised into themes. This page is updated to 31 December 2007. Papers since then are indexed on my What's New Page.

A separate document provides my definitions of key terms.

Another lists my main papers in descending chronological order.

INTRODUCTION

The papers span a very wide range of topics, and are described in the following sections:

  1. Underlying Theories
  2. Strategic and Policy Aspects:
    1. National Strategy
    2. Corporate Strategy
    3. Business Models
    4. Intellectual Property (Copyright, Patents)
    5. Impediments
    6. Regulatory Aspects
    7. Research Methods
  3. Security, Cryptography and PKI:
    1. Security
    2. Cryptography
    3. Public Key Infrastructure
  4. eCommerce Technologies and Forms:
    1. EDI
    2. Web-Based eCommerce
    3. Electronic Trading / Electronic Markets
    4. Payment Schemes:
      1. Net-Based Payment Schemes
      2. Chip-Card-Based Payment Schemes
    5. Multi-Function Chip-Card Schemes
  5. Internet-Stimulated e-Business Segments:
    1. Consumer EC / Consumer Marketing (B2C)
    2. Business-with-Business e-Commerce (B2B)
    3. Electronic Publishing
    4. Electronic Services Delivery (ESD)
    5. E-Government
    6. E-Education
    7. Mobile Technologies
    8. e-Transport / Intelligent Transportation Systems
    9. International Trade
  6. Trust:
    1. The Public's Interests Generally
    2. Consumers' Commercial Interests
    3. Consumers' Privacy Interests
    4. Privacy-Enhancing Technologies (PETs), Privacy-Sympathetic Technologies (PSTs)
  7. Closely Related Topics:
    1. Information Infrastructure
    2. Cyberculture

Many of the papers are relevant to more than one of these areas, and hence some appear several times. They are introduced in logical order, which is in some cases not the same as the chronological order of publication.

1. Underlying Theories

Here is a statement of the definitions I use for key EC terms.

Here is my exposition of strategic information systems theory (1992-94).

This is supplemented by an assessment of strategic theory in low-competitive contexts (1996).

With Gillian Dempsey, I summarised the economics of innovation in the information industries (2004).

I introduced the concept of Supra-Organisational Systems (1988), to provide a collective term for a set of system topographies.

Most classes of supra-organisational system are discussed in the IS literature. One that is not, however, is one that I introduced in Extra-Organisational Systems: A Challenge to the Software Engineering Paradigm (1992).

2. Strategic and Policy Aspects

2.1 National Strategy

Here are some very early proposals for information infrastructure as a basis for the information economy and information society:

A couple of assessments of progress include:

A more recent paper is:

2.2 Corporate Strategy

Strategic aspects have been considered from the perspectives of individual corporations, industry sectors, and governments.

They were originally addressed in the context of EDI:

Subsequently, the discussion was broadened to electronic commerce in general:

2.3 Business Models

The digital era has seen the emergence of new 'eBusiness Models', some sustainable, some dubious, and some downright fraudulent. Contributions in this area have included:

2.4 Intellectual Property (Copyright, Patents)

A major area of concern during the digital era is the stultifying effect of outdated intellectual property laws and practices, and of dinosaur publishing companies desperately trying to sustain outmoded practices and business models.

My major papers in this area are:

Other papers have included:

2.5 Impediments

Impediments to the implementation of EDI have been examined in detail in a series of documents, including academic papers and consultancy reports for various agencies of Australian governments.

Generic factors affecting progress in e-commerce as a whole have been addressed in the following papers:

More specific analyses include the following:

The following resources were provided:

2.6 Regulatory Aspects

Generic papers include the following papers:

Specific topics that have been addressed include:

2.7 Research

Papers on research methods in e-commerce include the following:

3. Security, Cryptography and PKI

This is a cluster of topics that is vital to e-business, but has been extraordinarily badly handled by academics and practitioners alike.

3.1 Security

The starting-point is:

Information on data security measures is provided in:

The security of digital copyright objects is addressed in:

General overviews of risks are provided in:

3.2 Cryptography

Cryptography delivers the basis both for the security of data and value, and means to support some forms of authentication.

Introduction to the area is provided in:

Assessments of some of the impacts of cryptography are provided in:

3.3 Public Key Infrastructure

Far from being of assistance to the progress of e-business, infrastructure to support digital signatures has been so badly handled that it is instead a serious impediment.

The key papers are as follows:

Here is the long series of papers that has attempted to unravel the mess that has been made:

4. Forms of eCommerce

A significant number of papers were written concerning the precursors to the Internet era of electronic commerce. Subsequently, many papers have been written on particular forms of eCommerce. This section brings them together.

4.1 EDI

Here is an introduction.

A number of surveys have been undertaken of EDI practices in Australia, particularly within Australian government, together with two in Austria:

4.2 Web-Based eCommerce

Various aspects of the history and technology of eCommerce over the World Wide Web have been addressed, in a succession of papers:

4.3 Electronic Trading / Electronic Markets

A general overview is provided by a segment of a final-year undergraduate course on e-Trading (2000-2004).

A series of papers has examined particular instances of electronically supported markets, particularly auctions:

4.4 Payment Schemes

A considerable amount of work has been performed in this area. The published materials are in two segments:

  1. Net-Based Payment Schemes
  2. Chip-Card-Based Payment Schemes

4.4.1 Net-Based Payment Mechanisms

A series of works relates to the critical question as to how the transfer of value is to be achieved over the information infrastructure. Basic treatment is in:

More detailed examinations are to be found in:

4.4.2 Chip-Card-Based Payment Schemes

A series of works arose from projects undertaken in the period 1988 to 1997 in relation to payment applications of smart cards. These were variously consultancy assignments and academic research projects.

Introductory information includes:

Reports that are publicly available include:

Examinations of issues arising in relation to chip-based schemes include:

4.5 Multi-Function Chip-Card Schemes

Smart cards are capable of being designed to participate in multiple schemes rather than just one. A variety of publications have addressed this area, arising primarily from consultancy assignments but also from academic research projects and public advocacy work.

Introductory information includes:

Reports that are publicly available include:

Examinations of issues arising in relation to chip-based schemes include:

Reports are also provided on the Code of Practice of a key industry association, the Asia-Pacific Smart Card Forum, to address those issues:

5. Internet-Stimulated e-Business Segments

A reference document provides definitions of key terms currently in use. A significant number of papers address the following segments

5.1 Consumer EC / Consumer Marketing (B2C)

Some pre-Internet papers include:

A review of the emergence of I-Commerce is at:

After seeing the first, appalling attempts to use the Internet to assault consumers in much the same way as was appropriate during the era of broadcast mass-media print-ads, billboards, radio and TV, a series of severely critical papers was written:

Other relevant papers are identified below, under the headings of Trust and Cyberculture.

5.2 Business-with-Business e-Commerce (B2B)

Foundation papers written prior to the Internet explosion were:

Internet-era papers include the following:

5.3 Electronic Publishing

The foundation works are:

The following papers address particular aspects:

I've given a 4-5 lecture segment of a 3rd-year e-Trading unit in A.N.U.'s Department of Computer Science each year 2000-2006:

A list of papers is provided in a separate section whose focus is primarily on Intellectual Property, especially Copyright.

5.4 Electronic Services Delivery (ESD)

The foundation paper is:

Particular aspects are further investigated in:

5.5 e-Government

The foundation papers are:

Particular aspects are investigated in the following papers:

5.6 e-Education

Forays in this area include:

5.7 Mobile Technologies

Papers include:

5.8 e-Transport / Intelligent Transportation Systems

A foundation paper is:

5.9 International Trade

A number of papers have been published relating to various aspects of electronic support for international trade, including:

6. Trust

It has long been held that e-commerce is dependent on trust among the parties. But much of the conventional wisdom about how to inculcate trust has been seriously wide of the mark.

The foundation papers are:

These are supported by many papers on a wide variety of sub-themes:

6.1 The Public's Interests Generally

Contributions include:

6.2 Consumers' Commercial Interests

Contributions include:

6.3 Consumers' Privacy Interests

This is a major area of my work. Contributions include:

In addition, personal notes are offered on about half of the Computers, Freedom & Privacy Conferences held since 1991:

plus 'Why I'm Not Going to CFP 2003'

6.4 Privacy-Enhancing Technologies (PETs) and Privacy-Sympathetic Technologies (PSTs)

A series of papers has assessed the scope for technologies to be devised whose purpose is to directly support privacy (called since the concept's emergence in the mid-1990s, PETs), and whose purpose is to balance privacy against other interests (which I refer to as PSTs).

Here is an accessible introduction to the key ideas.

This work is primarily in:

7. Closely Related Topics

7.1 Information Infrastructure

A series of papers have been published relating to the National/Global Information Infrastructure, and the Internet in particular. Those papers are in an adjacent segment of these pages, including an annotated bibliography.

The following have direct relevance to electronic commerce:

7.2 Cyberculture

A series of papers considers the notions of electronic communities, and the behaviour of netizens in their various roles, including as consumers:

Personalia Photographs Access Statistics

These community service pages are a joint offering of the Australian National University (which provides the infrastructure), and Roger Clarke (who provides the content).
The Australian National University
Visiting Professor, Faculty of
Engineering and Information Technology
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Created: 16 January 1998 - Last Amended: 1 April 2008 by Roger Clarke - Site Last Verified: 15 February 2005
This document is at www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/EC/AnnBibl.html
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