There have been many attempts to study the content of the web, either through human or automatic agents. Five different previously used web survey methodologies are described and analysed, each justifiable in its own right, but a simple experiment is presented that demonstrates concrete differences between them. The concept of crawling the web also bears further inspection, including the scope of the pages to crawl, the method used to access and index each page, and the algorithm for the identification of duplicate pages. The issues involved here will be well-known to many computer scientists but, with the increasing use of crawlers and search engines in other disciplines, they now require a public discussion in the wider research community. This paper concludes that any scientific attempt to crawl the web must make available the parameters under which it is operating so that researchers can, in principle, replicate experiments or be aware of and take into account differences between methodologies. A new hybrid random page selection methodology is also introduced.

There have been many attempts to study the content of the Web, either through human or automatic agents. Describes five different previously used Web survey methodologies, each justifiable in its own right, but presents a simple experiment that demonstrates concrete differences between them. The concept of crawling the Web also bears further inspection, including the scope of the pages to crawl, the method used to access and index each page, and the algorithm for the identification of duplicate pages. The issues involved here will be well-known to many computer scientists but, with the increasing use of crawlers and search engines in other disciplines, they now require a public discussion in the wider research community. Concludes that any scientific attempt to crawl the Web must make available the parameters under which it is operating so that researchers can, in principle, replicate experiments or be aware of and take into account differences between methodologies. Also introduces a new hybrid random page selection methodology. Electronic access The research register for this journal is available at

Organisations are now aware of the need to control employee usage of the Internet. An Internet acceptable usage policy contains guidelines for employees indicating both acceptable and unacceptable Internet usages, with the intention of controlling employee behaviours and actions which contribute to the incidence and severity of the organisation’s Internet risks. This paper explores the arguments for an organisational Internet acceptable usage policy, while cautioning about the ineffectiveness of such policy as a solitary Internet security management measure. A case study illustrates the need for these types of policies as well as for supporting infrastructure, within organisations.

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With the Internet increasingly being used for the conduct of electronic commerce, organisations are now cognisant of the need to control their employees 'usage of the Internet. Little research has been conducted to date into this important concern. An Internet acceptable usage policy is one vehicle for providing this control, containing guidelines for employees indicating both acceptable and unacceptable Internet usages. The policy aims to control those employee behaviours and actions which contribute to the incidence and severity of internal and external Internet risks, while enabling employees and the organisation to gain maximum business value from the Internet connection. This paper explores the issues to be considered in the development of an organisation's Internet acceptable usage policy, using a case study of a large, Australian organisation to illustrate the issues. A set of criteria for an effective Internet acceptable usage policy is proposed as a result of this research. ...

This paper reports on a study into the diffusion of IT in organisations in Western Australia and the level of acceptance and use for inter, intra and extra-organisational communications.

Banks and financial institutions in Hong Kong are increasingly finding themselves facing rapid increases in turbulence and complexity, leading to greater uncertainty and increased competition. Customers are also becoming more demanding. Apart from the traditional type of banking services, customers today require more personalized products and services, and access to such services at any time, and at any place. Although there is no panacea for banks to stay competitive, Internet Banking is one of the advanced information technologies they can employ to achieve a high level of customer services. Internet Banking is an emerging technology that permits conduct of banking transactions through the Internet. From the banks ’ point of view, it requires the lowest transaction cost among various channels, just one percent of branch-based banking. It also can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of corporate business processes through elimination of paper work. One of the many benefits of Internet Banking is that customers can use bank services 24 hours a day from anywhere in the world.

Over fifty businesses in the Klang Valley, Malaysia that currently use e-commerce responded to a survey asking them to identify potential barriers to e-commerce expansion. The most frequently chosen categories were related to security and the uncertain nature of the legal contract between supplier and customer. Although some differences were found among certain types of companies, such concerns were generally felt by small and large companies and those with varying e-commerce experience.

The use of the World Wide Web by UK independent breweries: global reach or global invisibility? Both the Campaign for Real Ale and the Society of Independent Brewers hold that barriers to market access disadvantage small brewers in the UK. This leads naturally to consideration of whether the Internet can provide small breweries with a means of bypassing the distribution channels controlled by the major breweries, the pubcos, the supermarkets and the off-licence chains, and also of reaching international markets. This paper surveys the population of small breweries in the UK to ascertain their Web site usage. It finds that only a minority of independent breweries support a Web site. It develops two different measures of web site visibility and finds that far from having global reach many of the independent brewery Web sites display low visibility. It suggests strategies for small breweries in particular, and for small businesses in general, to improve the visibility of their Web sites and concludes by indicating avenues for further research. 1.