New Media Business Model and Innovation

In our present age of rapid technological disruption and business transformation, a sustainable innovation requires: 1) engaging user experience, 2) robust technological infrastructure, and 3) viable business model. This course aims to prepare enrolled students in becoming data driven product/operation professional, digital marketing specialist, UX researcher/designer, and startup founder by helping them master the integration challenges in putting the three together.

Throughout the course, special emphasis will be given to new media project management in the context of lean startup, business model design and agile software development. As a sequel to com5961, the course will focus on the deployment of technology stack and back-end web services for supporting a cloud-based data driven product or business. This process will be guided by the SCRUM framework for iterative product releases and reviews.

Given the paradigm shift in computing, machine learning has become a core component in any data driven web service architecture. Building RESTful API backed by machine learning and deep learning models will become common. The data driven product development process introduced in com5961 will be used as a framework to guide data acquisition, exploration and modelling for supporting new business models and innovation.

Expected Learning Outcome
After taking the course, students will be able to:

1. Conduct agile software development in SCRUM.
2. Understand how the Lean Startup method, with its application in minimum viable product (MVP) development, can be integrated with Design Thinking and SCRUM for customer discovery and validation.
3. Perform content production, community formation and innovation commercialization using the 2A3R (acquisition, activation, retention, referral, and revenue) growth hacking methodology.
4. Identify common business models and their metrics for tracking adoption and growth.
5. Understand the development of full-stack applications powered by containerized REST API services, machine learning, blockchain, and immersive technologies.