Peer Reviewed Proposal Possibilities

JOURNAL #NINE [RES701]

Peer Reviewed Proposal Possibilities

There are a great many reasons I have chosen to review Prapti’s project possibilities, of which I won’t go into here. Suffice it to say I was happy to read the document as much of the content was unfamiliar to me, not being an area I have chosen to allocate much time towards.

I must firstly confess to, as a result of my career experience, taking the view that for many businesses a website is considered a marketing tool that should be developed to serve a determined marketing purpose at the lowest cost possible. This is something I have come to understand is particularly true for small and medium sized enterprises, additionally other technologies such as the cloud in its various forms based on job demand statistics, could be considered a wiser career path within the IT sector. Furthermore, satisfying many business requirements sought from a web presence can be achieved easily through template websites offering user friendly interfaces with respect to their content management systems (CMS), companies being the most likely source of clientele for web designers and developers.

Despite this I have witnessed web designers adapting to the changing technological landscape by offering features such as drone technology to enhance their offering when creating websites for their clients. Prapti has clearly identified a tool that can be used to enhance the websites of real estate agents for the benefit of their customers, a tool which, as I understand, can not yet be satisfied by or integrated with the template web applications and advanced CMS offered.

I relate to Prapti’s comment regarding the analysing of a website to understand whether it could provide a better user experience, firstly because this is key to good web design and secondly, because despite much standardisation occurring such as a specific icons for functions such as a shopping baskets etc. and their location on the page. As a consequence there are still many company websites which fail to get the basics right when providing the functionality users expect, oftentimes because of the oversight of the designers, but also as egos get in the way of the design process which leads to requirements not being fulfilled.

I have had no experience with React360 and would be happy to learn more from Prapti if this forms part of the class discussion. The main takeaway for me however is the application of Virtual Reality (VR), again not a topic I’m hugely familiar with and up until recently I have seen its main application being gaming, of which I hold no interest. However, I find its application here fascinating. I have renovated many properties which involved a lot of viewings of dwellings that I was not interested in for the purposes of making a home, put purely as a business decision. Should I have been able to save time viewing these properties virtually it would have benefitted the process greatly by eliminating properties earlier in the decision making process, so I see merit in the benefits of the technology to the agent, the home owner, and as Prapti said the viewer. This development of technology to benefit business really excites me because, if there isn’t a benefit either economically, socially, environmentally etc. then I often wonder is there a point to it?

I particularly enjoyed the section surrounding Prapti’s three things she believes, and it certainly opened my eyes to the current state of web design and development. I was unaware there was still so much happening dynamically within the industry and can appreciate the opportunities available - during my personal experience with the immigration process, particularly looking at commonwealth countries I identified demand for web designers and developers and I can see why that is the case.

I like the questions Prapti asks and think they are fundamentally correct, particularly questioning her own beliefs and asking questions that may help to identify barriers that could affect the use of this technology. Additionally, questions are then asked relating to the more technical approach to the system development, which shows that Prapti is looking at the project at a high level factoring in all the elements that might lead to its success or failure.

The project may benefit from seeking out quantitative research looking at the use of VR in more general terms, and perhaps qualitative research to understand how different demographics ‘feel’ about using this technology - this may or may not line up with the general demographics of those active in the property market, this is data that would be beneficial to consider. In this instance I agree with Prapti’s view that using applied research to solve the problem is a good basis for starting this project, it appears this is something she has seriously considered, and has some experience and expertise from which to draw upon - I look forward to seeing how this project develops and the scope refined based around the outgoing research.