Information Age In Which We Live Session 2

Introduction Knowledge is Power What you don’t know will hurt you Business are using information to reel in more and more customers When you graduate, you will start working as a knowledge worker A knowledge worker works with and produces information about a product

Management information systems deal with the planning for, development, management, and use of information technology tools to help people perform all tasks related to information processing and management. Information Technology is any computer based tool that people use to work with information and support the information and information processing needs of an organization.

Telecommuting is the use of communication technologies (such as the Internet), to work in a place other than a central location. Telecommuting is a wonderful concept for increasing quality of life and earning opportunities for otherwise unemployed people. However it does raise certain security concerns.

Information as a Key Resource Information is one of the three key components of management information systems along with information technology and people. In order to understand what to do with information, and how to convert information to business intelligence, you must be familiar with another concept, that of data

Data, Information and Business Intelligence Data are raw facts that describe a particular phenomenon. For example, the current temperature, the price of a movie rental, and your age are all data. Information then, is simply data that have a particular meaning within a specific context. For example, if you’re trying to decide what to wear, the current temperature is information because it is pertinent to your decision. However, the price of a movie rental is irrelevant in this case.

In order to convert data into information, it needs to be processed in some way or the other Information may be data for some people, and may be meaningful to others Business Intelligence is information that has been converted into knowledge. This could be about your competitors, your business partners, your own internal operations, etc BI enables your organization to extract the true meaning of information to take creative and powerful steps to ensure a competitive advantage

Personal Dimensions of Information As knowledge workers work with information, they consider it from three perspectives: time, location, and form Time Dimension has two aspects  having access to information when you need it, or timeliness. Example, stock trading  having information that describes the time period you are considering. Example, Utility bills give you a comparison of the recent bill to earlier bills

Personal Dimensions of Information The Location Dimension Information is no good to you if you cant access it This means that ideally, the location of the information should not matter You use USB Flash disks, laptop computers and mobile phones for this purpose In order to keep information private and secure, many businesses are working with intranets  An Intranet is an internal organizational Internet that is guarded against outside access by a special security feature called a firewall. A firewall can be hardware based, software based or a combination of the two.

Data,... Cont. The Form Dimension The form dimension of information deals with two primary aspects,  Firstly, having information in a form that is most usable and understandable by you – audio, video, text, etc  Secondly, you need information that is free of errors, or is accurate

Organizational Dimensions of Information This includes information flows, information granularity, what information describes and how information is used  Information Flows Information in an organization flows in four directions, up, down, horizontally and inward/outward based on the following levels in an organization Strategic management Tactical management Operational management

Information granularity what detail the information has  fine for lower levels  Coarse for higher levels What information describes  Internal  External  Objective  Subjective

People as a Key Resource Perhaps the single most important resource in any organization Technology literate knowledge worker is a person who knows when and how to apply technology  They can define what information they need  Know how and where to obtain that information  Understand the information once they receive it (i.e. can convert information into business intelligence)  Can act appropriately based on the information to help the organization achieve the greatest advantage  Example of diapers in the east coast

Ethical Responsibilities Ethics are the principles and standards that guide our behavior toward other people. Law and Ethics are different things It is unethical to  Copy software you purchase  Make an extra backup of your software  Give out confidential information about employees and customers to unauthorized people

Information Technology as a Key Resource Information Technology is any computer- based tool that people use to work with information and support the information and information processing needs of an organization Includes computers, printers, reports, databases, cell phones, PDAs, networks etc

Key technology categories There are two basic categories of IT  Hardware consists of the physical devices that make up a computer  Software is the set of instructions that your hardware executes in order to carry out some task

Decentralized Computing, Shared Information, and Mobile Computing Decentralized computing is an environment in which an organization distributed computing power and locates it in functional business areas as well as on the desktop of knowledge workers. Shared information is an environment in which an organizations information is organized in one of more central locations, allowing anyone to access and use it as he or she needs to

Mobile computing is a broad general term describing your ability to use technology to wirelessly connect to and use centrally located information and/or application software

Information Technology in Support of Business Businesses use information technology to give themselves a competitive advantage Competitive advantage is providing a product or service in a way that customers value more than what the competition is able to do.

Information Technology in Your Life You probably use a computer at home to access the Internet, chat (through instant messaging software), or getting information about products you want to buy In your professional life, i.e. your life as a student, IT has a great impact.

Ethics, Security and Privacy Do unto others as you would have them do unto you There are many new things you will encounter when using the Internet extensively  Spyware  Viruses  Identity theft

A good way to protect yourself from these issues is to  Keep you anti-virus software up to date  Use only secure websites when submitting personal or financial information  Never give out your personal information to enter a contest or make a deal on the Internet  Change your passwords frequently and intersperse capital letters and digits in them  Never assume that everyone has the same ethical standards that you do