Review Questions Essay

What is the “post-PC era”? It is a trend in the marketplace addressing a decrease in personal computers sales and a upward trend in the sales of mobile devices including tablets and smartphones. The advantages of these devices are portability and the ability to connect to cloud-based services, to synchronize easily between multiple devices, and the use of focused applications.
Define the term “knowledge worker”. Who coined the term? Peter Drucker states information will bring about major societal changes. Knowledge transcends geographical boundaries and “knowledge workers” will become the largest working group.
Describe and contrast the economic, cultural, and technological changes occurring in the digital world. Economic changes in the digital world involve interaction between people and companies. Large markets have replaced small regional companies due to the abilitity to access global customers. Technology costs have decreased and innovations impact both industry and the personal lives of users. Cultural changes in the digital world include cultural globalization. Due to the ability to digitally cross geographic boundaries, the sharing of information and cultural identities has created interconnectedness between different people and their cultures. Technological changes in the digital world involve increased abilities for global connectivity, changes in cloud services, and huge improvements in smart devices; these include tablets and smartphones, but also embedded connected devices such car navigation systems and heart monitors. The three changes are related in their impact on the communication innovations in the worlds of business, cultural exchange, and personal lifestyles. Improvements in technology resulted in the ability for people to cross borders intellectually, causing a revolution in communication.
List and describe several reasons why companies are choosing to outsource business activities. Primarily, there are significant savings in costs for operation and labor. It saves time on certain processes, allowing the company to focus on activities in the core of the business; re-engineering becomes an option. Access to knowledge on a global scale allows innovation, and freeing internal resources for other uses are beneficial to company culture. This allows expansion into new markets by physically moving closer to end users. Also, risk can be mitigated to external agencies with functions that are difficult to manage.
List and contrast several challenges of operating in a digital world. Information overload results in an individual’s inability to understand an issue in order to make a decision. Social isolation results when personal interaction is not required due to a sense of community through social media. Lack of privacy through use of apps has resulted in a new definition of digital privacy. Technological alientation results from a sense of technology having become too difficult to naviagate; the solution is to gain a greater awareness of how technology operates in our world. Governments are constantly under threat of data security risks, but they also have the opportunity to hack into other government’s information. Geo-economics can result in a struggle between countries in terms of finances; other countries are becoming competitive with the United States in their resources. Other problems include operating through different time zones and demographics. Cultural differences create a set of problems with different ideals and needs.
Define the term “information systems” and explain its data, technology, people, and organizational components. An information system combines the use of infrastructure, hardware, and software by trained staff for organizational decision making, coordination, control, and planning. Data is stored in a form accessible by the system until needed. Technology involves support equipment, programs, storage mediums, and so on. People are very important to the success of the system because they influence its use and innovation. Organizational components involve
Define and contrast information, data, and knowledge. Computer data is information stored or processed by a computer. Information is the summarization of the data. Knowledge is the assimilation of the information formed from the data. Data leads to information required for knowledge.
Describe three or four types of jobs and careers opportunities in information systems and related fields. A system analyst configures selected computer systems for businesses or organizations. A computer technician identifies computer problems, then troubleshoots and solves them. An applications manager supervises software applications used by a company. A communication systems operator is responsible for monitoring and controlling the computer systems, primarily the mainframe systems, within a business.
List and define four knowledge and/or skills core competencies. The ability to communicate is essential. This involves not only verbal communication, but written skills with the competency to incorporate technology into presentations. Social skills are important for development of relationship politically, interpersonally, and to develop dynamics within a group. Business knowledge also requires management of projects from concept through planning, development, and implementation.
List and define five types of information systems used in organizations. Transaction processing systems collect data from business transaction in order to produce documents and update operational databases. They meet the data processing needs for a business’ core operations. Customer relationship management systems coordinate marketing efforts and sales. It allows business partners to create products and ideas. Business intelligence systems identify, extract, and analyze data to allow for decision-making. These systems can breakdown results of processes, create risk models, and provide probability formulas. Knowledge management systems organize knowledge, dissect the data, and share it with stakeholders. They help business owners send quick responses to inquiries, store information in a standard format, and bring innovation to the workplace. A decision support system assists in the formation of unstructured or semi-structured decisions for the long term. It is required to be extremely flexible in order to provide customized reports for particular situations.
Discuss the issues surrounding information privacy and how you can protect yourself. Also known as data privacy, it is the need to protect personal information. Aspect of data privacy can be internet, financial, or medical. Hackers, identity theft, cyber-snooping, and informational brokers selling sensitive personal information are results of loss of information privacy. A person can protect himself by knowing who has the information, storing information securely and disposing of it carefully, asking questions before sharing the information, and keeping security on computers and other electronic devices.
How are the digital divide and computer literacy related? The digital divide is the differences between those who can effectively use digital resources and those who cannot. Computer literacy is basic experience with computers and how to use them. The ability to use computers effectively bridges the digital divide.