In this class in particular, and in a number of the other classes in the our programs, the Session Long Project involves interactions with Internet-based resources including professional resource web sites and, occasionally, downloadable or online software experiences.  This is appropriate, given the enormous proliferation of Internet resources and the need for students to become conversant with these resources; we'd be remiss if we didn’t try to call attention to the increasingly interesting and available materials available online. Happily, based on comments from the majority of students seem very satisfied with this approach.

Unfortunately, like most of the rest of the world, the Internet does not constitute a free lunch.  In the areas that interest us, companies post information because they know eventually it will profit them. These profits pay for the maintenance of the sites, the development of the software, and for a marketing infrastructure to bring in revenue.  In other words, if you come to the "showroom" and browse around, you shouldn't be surprised if a "virtual salesman" contacts you to see if you are interested in purchasing something.

Students should be aware that there is a possibility that their interest in online resources may be interpreted as a marketing opportunity.  However, this is not really a critical problem. I personally have been visiting such Internet sites, examining demonstration software, and making use of professional resources placed there by companies as part of a marketing strategy, for a number of years.  I receive e-mail messages and occasional phone calls from sales personnel responding to inquiries that I make about their web sites all the time.  This is simply normal marketing behavior on their part.  By visiting their website, I do not incur any particular obligation to the marketer other than that to respond civilly.  There's nothing inappropriate about seeking information or even product demonstrations from a web site when that information is made publicly available, as long as you don’t misrepresent the nature of your interest.

If I feel a need to explain why I was interested in a website, I just say that I'm a professor teaching a course in the area, and that I'm interested in exposing students to available products and services, including theirs.  I've had nothing but positive responses from those marketers I've talked with; they're often really pleased to find themselves considered as an educational experience.  For students who are so contacted, it is perfectly all right to respond that you are a student in the College of Business Administration studying the topic, in this case knowledge management, and that you might be interested in the various products and services available from the firms servicing the sector.  I can't imagine that any vendor would find such a response inappropriate, unless they had specifically said that they were interested only in responses from those who plan to buy.  In that case, you should not have made the inquiry in the first place, but such restrictions are extremely rare.

I continue to believe that this variety of assignment, flexibly administered and with a relatively high degree of discretion in its accomplishment given to the student, offers a significant advantage over the more traditional experiential approaches.  Excepting the occasional company inquiry, and some administrative restrictions on Internet access imposed by organizations operating in highly secure environments, there do not seem to be many downsides to this approach.  The price of participation in the marketplace is generally just participation in the marketplace; companies make certain resources available to the public and ask in return only that we evaluate these resources and provide occasional feedback to the source.  If a site states that software downloading ought to be restricted only to potential buyers of the product, I would not presume to violate that expectation.  But this is seldom the case; for the most part, companies are pleased to have anyone experiment with their product, recognizing that second and third-hand transmission of such information may be as valuable to their marketing strategy as primary exposure. 

If you are really concerned about maintaining absolute privacy, there are ways to do so.  While it is not appropriate to lie to companies about the purposes of your inquiry, it may be appropriate to restrict the information provided in some ways.  For example, as an e-mail address, you might use an anonymous e-mail account obtained from a public source such as Hotmail or Gmail, which is kept for such encounters exclusively and does not directly link back to you.  Generally, the provision of information such as telephone numbers is voluntary;  just because a piece of information is requested does not mean it has to be provided in full detail.  Always feel free to withhold any item of information that you do not feel wholly comfortable sharing.  For example, I almost never provide telephone numbers.

Having said all of the above, it, of course, remains possible that you may encounter something risky or malicious as a result of doing something in one of the SLPs.  If you encounter any serious problems with any of these assignments, or if anyone is providing substantially negative feedback to you on your participation in their firm’s public offers of information, please let us your professor at once, so that we can share this information and reduce the possibilities for embarrassment all around.  Conversely, if you have a particularly positive experience at some company or site, we'd like to know about that too.  We hope that you will get substantial value from these assignments, and that they will constitute a useful part of the learning derived from this course in this program.  We are always here to try to help resolve problems; let us know if any emerge from these assignments, and we'll work something out.