Joe Ilsever: €-came, €-saw, e-conquered: e-loyalty Business Instructor Joe Ilsever earned his PhD by finding ways to measure “e-loyalty” and discovering that e-loyal customers always go with the flow. Just what does it take for someone to make an on-line purchase? What makes them want to come back? Do shoppers become “e-loyal” the same way they do to a particular product or store? And can e-loyalty be measured? ‘The answer, says Joe Ilsever, is yes: e-loyalty exists. “We have e-loyal customers,” said Ilsever, Business instructor. “The challenge for me has been, is it possible to validate all that stuff in some sort of mathematic model?” Ilsever more than met that challenge in his 459- page PhD thesis, Beyond Usability: A statistical validation of website design related to E-Loyalty. He successfully defended on May 21 and received his degree October 18 through the School of Concourse calls all secret scholars Are you a secret scholar? It’s time to start talking. Concourse provides an Opportunity for you to share your scholarly activities with the broader College community. Interactive Arts and Technology at SFU. His program of study was set up as an interdisciplinary, special arrangement program covering financial risk management to statistical measurement. His research committee included members from business, statistics and technology areas. Ilsever discovered that e-loyal customers always go with the flow. “Flow” means a peak, positive, satisfying experience. Satisfaction depends on how easy it is to navigate a site. If a shopper gets frustrated, they leave within two minutes and don't come back. “It may be a good site, it may have good information, products, good services, but if the navigation is not feasible, not user-friendly, you'll find that the customer The publication welcomes short articles on scholarly topics, profiles of researchers and their projects, and commentaries on issues of scholarly interest. The will pack up and disappear and go,” Ilsever said. “Tt has to be a very clear path, navigable site which can hold your hand and guide you through... if you have a positive experience, the intent to return to the same site will be very visible, and that’s the kind of intent I was measuring.” Despite the growing popularity of on-line sales — there’s been an increase of 25 per cent a year in Canada alone -- the field of e-commerce is in its infancy, and IIsever’s research provides valuable insights into its dynamics. ‘To measure e-loyal customer behaviour, Ilsever used mathematical models known as “hierarchical linear models,” which test how data fits into a proposed model. “Best fit” models are considered to explain a phenomenon better than a poor fit. Ilsever’s models scored high on this index and were applauded by his research committee. The American Marketing Association has already recognized the worth of Ilsever’s work. They've invited him to present his findings to the association in 2005. What's next? After four years of research, writing and number-crunching his thesis, sever might just do a post-doctorate. “Tt was an incredible experience,” he said. deadline for submissions to the Spring 2005 edition is January 15, 2005. For submission guidelines and the fall 2004 issue, go to www. douglas.be.ca/concourse/. Open Access Medical Journals available through Douglas College Library ‘The international Open Access movement is based on a belief that the open exchange of scientific information will lead to the greatest global progress. Open Access journals make all content freely available on-line immediately after publication. Medical journals have been in the forefront of the movement. For example, the Canadian Medical Association Journal www. cmaj.ca is now freely available online. ‘To locate open access medical literature, use the PubMed/Medline and PubMed Central databases. Both of these databases are listed on the Douglas College Library Web site, under All Databases. PubMed/Medline is the U.S. National Library of Medicine's bibliographic database covering the fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system, and the preclinical sciences. ‘The database contains over 12 million citations dating back to the mid-1960’s. Coverage Open Access journals make all content freely available on-line immediately after publication. is worldwide, but most records are from English language sources or have English abstracts. To link to free full text in PubMed/Medline, enter search terms adding the limiter AND free full text [sb], where [sb] indicates a subset of the database. Boolean operators such as AND must be in capital letters. For example: nursing AND caring AND free full text [sb] PubMed Central is the US National Library of Medicine's free digital archive of journal literature. More information about Open Access initiatives in the US, UK and Canada, can be found at: www.earlham.edu/ -peters/fos/nihfaq.htm www.publications. parliament.uk/pa/cm/ cmsctech. htm www.carl-abre.ca/frames_ index.htm For more information contact Health Sciences Faculty Liaison Librarian, Christian Guillou 604-527-5184 or guillouc@douglas.be.ca or Electronic Resources Librarian, Jean Cockburn 604-527-5184 or cockburn j@douglas.be.ca. The Stuff that Dreams are made of... Paul Donaldson (left) works his magic as the fairy Peaseblossom along with Jamie Levasseur, who plays Mustardseed, in Douglas College's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, on stage at the Performing Arts Theatre this month. This unique production throws a new wrinkle into Shakespeare's timeless classic. Director Allan Lysell adds a new layer by having the entire story performed by a troop of travelling players. Thus, the “play within a play” becomes “a play within a play within a play.” Sound complicated? Don't worry - this Dream is a joyful romp of love, laughs and “participatory magic." Adopt a student family for the Holiday Season Many students, especially those with children, need a little extra help at this time of year. The Financial Aid Office invites you to assist these Douglas College students and their families by sponsoring a family for a hamper. Last year, 47 student families benefited from the generosity of the College community. If you choose to adopt a family, the office will provide general information on the family unit (ages and sex of the children and any gift suggestions that they have made). Hampers should . include non-perishable food items as well as small wrapped gifts for the family. Dietary restrictions such as allergies will also be identified. For privacy reasons, no names will be given. Please let the office know how many families you and/or your department will be able as to help and the size of the family you would like assist. Hampers must be delivered to the Financial Aid Office (Room 2740, New Westminster cam pus) on December 14. For more information contact: Marie Anweiler, 604-527-5106 or email anweilerm@douglas. be.ca Patty Lewis, 604-527-5105 or email lewisp@douglas.be.ca.