What is Disintermediation?

Disintermediation in the business sense is a popular buzzword used to describe many Internet -based businesses that use the World Wide Web to sell products directly to customers rather than going through traditional retail channels.
Based from the example stated by the author and the definition mentioned above, i understand disintermediation as removing all third parties involved in the process of achieving something. In the e-commerce sense, that means taking away everything involved in buying stuffs from the grocery or the mall.
For example, traditionally you would have to do the following to be able to purchase a perfume from the mall:

1. Take a bath and dress up,
2. Use your car and drive to the mall,
3. Go to the perfumes department,
4 Look for your favorite perfume, if you can't find your favorite scent, do no. 5, if not do 6.
5. Go to another mall and look for your favorite perfume
6. Go to the cashier counter; join the queue of buyers, and pay.
7. Use your car and drive back to your home.

But through the use of e-commerce site, you will only do the following to be able to purchase a perfume from the internet:

1. Search for e-commerce sites that sell your favorite perfume.
2. Click for the item you want.
3. Purchase the item using your credit card.
4. Wait for the delivery.

In e-learning, disintermediation takes place in the sense that the usual process of student learning which comes from the following:

1. Discussion given by the professor through a face-to-face session,
2. References, assignments, activities, and projects being provided,
3. School library, and the like, are already eliminated by the internet through the use of websites, and web-based application that provide the same and much more information.

As a teacher, i consider disintermediation as a liberating force since i see it more as an advantage to both the teacher and the students than a disadvantage.
Because of the internet, the amount of information that both teachers and students can share with now becomes endless. Now, references used in school will not only rely on the books they have on their libraries but from the world, through the help of the World Wide Web.