Portals Then and Now: Development and Use of Portals in Australia and Bangladesh

This article investigates the evolution of two different types of Web portals, one in Bangladesh and the other in Australia. The initial data collection was conducted in the early 2000s and revisited in 2009. The idea of a Web portal is not new, but in the last few years the portal concept has gained considerably in importance as new types of portal are developed and new uses found for portal technology. The article begins with a brief classification of the types of portals in use today and then considers some of the advantages conferred on a business in using portal technology. Developed and developing countries have different problems in making use of e-commerce and see the advantages and problems of using portals rather differently. In the article the authors examine and compare case studies of a Horizontal B-B Industry Portal in Melbourne, Australia, and a Vertical Industry Portal in Dhaka, Bangladesh. DOI: 10.4018/jwp.2009071302 IGI PUBLISHING This paper appears in the publication, International Journal of Web Portals, Volume 1, Issue 4 edited by Jana Polgar and Greg Adamson © 2009, IGI Global 701 E. Chocolate Avenue, Hershey PA 17033-1240, USA Tel: 717/533-8845; Fax 717/533-8661; URL-http://www.igi-global.com ITJ 5355 22 International Journal of Web Portals, 1(4), 21-33, October-December 2009 Copyright © 2009, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. the development and evolution over several years of two: one in a developed country – Australia, and the other in a developing country – Bangladesh. In both instances, data was drawn from interviews conducted with stakeholders concerned with operation of the portal.