Analysis of Emma Lazarus’ The New Colossus

Analysis of Emma Lazarus' Statue of Liberty Poem X Maxwell Wallace Maxwell Wallace has been a professional freelance copywriter since 1999. His work has appeared in numerous print and online publications. An avid surfer, Wallace enjoys writing about travel and outdoor activities throughout the world. He holds a Bachelor of Science in communication and journalism from Suffolk University, Boston. â€Å"The New Colossus† is a sonnet by the late American poet, Emma Lazarus (1849-1887). . Significance * In 1903, â€Å"The New Colossus† achieved exceptional notoriety and perdurable fame when the last four lines of the piece were engraved on a large bronze plaque underneath the Statue of Liberty, located on Ellis Island in New York, New York. About the Author * Considered by her contemporaries as a dignitary of American letters, Emma Lazarus was one of the first successful Jewish-American authors in history. The New Colossus† exemplifies many common themes found in her c atalog of work, most notably sympathy for emigrants seeking exile from harsh regimes and those who enduring prejudice — both of which were commonplace during her lifetime. History * Construction on the Statue of Liberty was completed in 1886, however the pedestal of the statue remained unfinished for some time. Lazarus wrote the piece in conjunction with a movement by a group of New York artists and writers who were trying to raise money for the pedestal's completion. Considerations * The poem describes the millions of immigrants who had already passed through Ellis Island, as well as lauding those who had yet to make the journey. Significance * The images of freedom and redemption in â€Å"The New Colossus† only further solidified the feelings of hope and rebirth experienced by immigrants who passed through Ellis Island

Difference and Similarities in Browning’s poetry

In these poems Browning gives us an insight into minds corrupted by jealousy. Discuss how Browning makes effective use of the dramatic monologue to reveal the characters of the narrators, and shock the readers. Which did you find most shocking and why? A dramatic monologue is s type of poem. It is like a speech which reveals a character's thought and feelings. The poet takes on the role of this character and speaks as them. All dramatic monologues are written in the first person. The effect of this is to make the poem more personal. Robert Browning wrote his monologues in the 19th Century. â€Å"My Last Duchess† was set in 14th Century in Italy in a patriarchal society. â€Å"Porphyria's Lover† was set in 19th Century in England and lastly â€Å"The Laboratory† was set in 18th Century in France. Robert Browning's poems were popular because in the Victorians times it was a patriarchal society and the people who lived in the Victorian times were very strict and also had a restricted life. Therefore reading this in those times would have been especially strange and unusual to read about psychotic people killing their loved ones. Read this  Respiratory Activity The similarities between the characteristics of the narrators in the three poems. The first similarity is that the three poems have disturbed narrators who treat their lovers as a possession. In â€Å"Porphyria's Lover† we know this when he tells us: â€Å"Give herself to me† this tells us that he only wants her to himself and no one else whereas in â€Å"My Last Duchess† we know this when he tells us: â€Å"since none puts by the curtain I have drawn for you but I† this tells us that he is possessive even after her death but in â€Å"The Laboratory† the narrator tells us that she wants to poison two females but also wants the king to suffer by saying: â€Å"He is sure to remember her dying face† this tells us that even though she doesn't want him dead she wants him to suffer as much as the two female who will be poisoned. In addition another similarity is that all three poems the three narrators don't have any sense of guilt for what they have done. They also think they have gotten away with the murder and that they didn't do anything wrong or need to regret for anything. In â€Å"Porphyria's Lover† he tells us: â€Å"and yet God has not said a word.† This tells us that he thinks that he hasn't done anything wrong because he has not been punished by God yet. In â€Å"My Last Duchess† he tells us: â€Å"Will't please you rise? We'll meet the company below.† This shows us that he's got no emotions, he's controlling and has a normal tone and relaxed about what he has done. In â€Å"The Laboratory† she doesn't feel any guilt for what she is doing and for what she is just about to do, we know this by: â€Å"And her breast and her arms and her hands, should drop dead!† this shows us that this is the way she wants her death to look like; she says this in a childish way and also like a child getting really excited. Another similarity is that the narrator in â€Å"My Last Duchess† and â€Å"Porphyria's Lover† don't have any sense of guilt for what they have done. They also think they have gotten away with the murder and that they didn't do anything wrong or need to regret for anything. In â€Å"Porphyria's Lover† he tells us: â€Å"and yet God has not said a word.† This tells us that he thinks that he hasn't done anything wrong because he has not been punished by God yet. In â€Å"My Last Duchess† he tells us: â€Å"Will't please you rise? We'll meet the company below.† This shows us that he's got no emotions, he's controlling and has a normal tone and relaxed about what he has done. Lastly, another similarity is that all narrators choose not to communicate with their lovers and they never let them know what is wrong. In â€Å"My Last Duchess† the Duke tells us: â€Å"I choose never to stoop† this tells us that he will never get down and communicate with the Duchess. In â€Å"Porphyria's Lover† the lover tells us: â€Å"When no voice replied† this tells us that he has the power and that he didn't want to answer her, this also tells us that he wants to have the power so that she has to please him. There are also differences between the characteristics of the narrators in the three poems. The first difference is that the victims were all murdered in different ways. In â€Å"My Last Duchess† the duke does not commit the crime himself but give a small command and the murder is committed, we can see this when the duke says: â€Å"I gave commands† this tells us that he gave the command and the order was carried out without discussing about it. In â€Å"Porphyria's Lover† the killer murders the lover using the victim own hair and tells us that the victim was in no pain, we can see this when he tell us: â€Å"And strangled her. No pain felt she. I am quite sure she felt no pain† this tells us that he strangled her and that she felt no pain, he also reassures the readers that the victim felt no pain. In â€Å"The Laboratory† the victims are killed using the poison that was made in front of her at the apothecary, we can see this when she says: â€Å"Sure to taste sweet, is that poison too?† this tells us that she thinks that revenge tastes sweet. Another difference is that the woman in â€Å"Porphyria's Lover† is more sexually active and makes the first move, we can see this when the narrator tells us: â€Å"She put my arm around her waist, And made her smooth white shoulder bare† this tells us that she appears seductive and she's aware of her power. Where as in â€Å"My Last Duchess† the Duchess was much more modest and faithful, we can see this when the Duke tells us: â€Å"She had a heart-how shall I say?† this tells us that the Duchess was loyal to the Duke and did not always appear sexually active towards him or others. Another difference is that in all two of the poems â€Å"Porphyria's Lover† and â€Å"The Laboratory† they both have a reason for jealousy were as in â€Å"My Last Duchess† he does not have a reason to be jealous. In â€Å"Porphyria's Lover† the lover had a reason to be jealous because she had another man, we know this by: â€Å"one so pale for love of her† this tells us that she had another lover whilst she was with this lover and also in â€Å"The Laboratory† the narrator tells us that the king has another lover, we know this when she says: â€Å"He is with her† this tells us that the king was with another lover at the same time as he was with the narrator whereas in â€Å"My Last Duchess† there is no reason for the Duke to murder his wife as she is not being unfaithful to him but just being friendly and also appreciate for the presents she gets from others, we know this by: â€Å"The bough of cherries some officious fool broke in the orchard for her †¦. Or blush at least† this tells us that she would blush from a present given to her from anyone; she did so because she wanted to be kind and friendly. In this poem there are different motives for each of the psychotic killers to murder. In the first poem the motive for murdering his wife in â€Å"My Last Duchess† is that the Duke only kills his wife because she gives innocent smiles when she's being offered a present but this is only because she has good manners and wanted to be kind and friendly, we can see this by: â€Å"The bough of cherries some officious fool broke in the orchard for her †¦.. Or blush at least† this tells us that the Duchess got murdered because of a harmless smile given to the person offering her a small gift of cherries whereas in â€Å"Porphyria's Lover† the narrator has a motive because his lover has another man, we can see this when he tell us: â€Å"one so pale for love of her† this tells us that the lover even though she has the killer as a lover she still had another lover but we do not know if she loved the lover as much as she loved the killer. In â€Å"The Laboratory† the narrator also has a motive which is that the king had another lover whilst he had the narrator, we can see this by: â€Å"He is with her; and they know that I know† this tells us that the king has another lover and they both know that the killer knows but aren't really being bothered about her knowing. In all three poems the narrators don't feel guilty about the crimes they committed. We can see this in the poem â€Å"Porphyria's Lover† he tells us: â€Å"and yet God has not said a word.† This tells us that he thinks that he hasn't done anything wrong because he has not been punished by God yet. In â€Å"My Last Duchess† he tells us: â€Å"Will't please you rise? We'll meet the company below.† This shows us that he's got no emotions, he's controlling and has a normal tone and relaxed about what he has done. In â€Å"The Laboratory† she doesn't feel any guilt for what she is doing and for what she is just about to do, we know this by: â€Å"And her breast and her arms and her hands, should drop dead!† this shows us that this is the way she wants her death to look like; she says this in a childish way and also like a child getting really excited. The speaker which is most shocking is â€Å"Porphyria's Lover† because in this poem he describes the way he murder the victims. The way the victims' murder is described is horrifying as he describes it in a harsh way. We can see this by: â€Å"In one long yellow string I wound three times her little throat around, and strangled her† this is a very harsh way to describe the death as the reader can picture the death in their minds. I feel that each of the narrators in the three poems is psychotic as their motives for killing the lovers is very poor. In â€Å"Porphyria's Lover† I feel that the narrator is very psychotic as he only wanted the lover for him and killed her just so she can belong to him only and cannot find someone else, we can see this when he says: â€Å"In one long yellow string I wound three times her little throat around, and strangled her†. In â€Å"My Last Duchess† I feel that the narrator is also psychotic as he killed his wife because of an innocent smile this is very disturbing we can see this when he says: â€Å"I gave commands and all smiles stopped together†. Lastly, in â€Å"The Laboratory† I feel that the narrator is psychotic because of the way the death of the two women are described and how she wants their death to be, we can see this when she says: â€Å"And her breast and her arms and her hands, should drop dead!† In conclusion I think that Browning used dramatic monologues to explore these three characters because this is the poem in which the poet takes on the role of the narrator and speaks of them. I don't think that the poem would have been powerful in third person because using first person makes the poem more personal and it makes the reader think that the poem is talking to the reader himself. I think that the most shocking poem would have been â€Å"Porphyria's Lover† because in this poem the narrator describes harshly about the death of the lover and how he killed the lover with her hair and used this as a weapon and also I feel it is quite shocking when he tries to reassure the reader that the victim did not feel any pain.

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This involves extracting commodities in a sustainable way over a long period of time. The company focuses on those commodities in which it has a favorable position. It concentrates on larger mines where extraction will be possible for many years into the future. It also looks at mining projects where costs can be kept to a minimum but where there are opportunities to expand operations. There are several issues of sustainability facing Anglo American. Key ones are: securing energy supplies, such as electricity and resources including water, for the future Managing emissions to minimize harm. Anglo American uses large quantities of energy in its operations. It also generates the potential for energy, e.g. by producing coal to generate power stations. A key aim of the company therefore is to do more with less. It must achieve maximum efficiency with minimum waste. Anglo American believes that by operating in innovative and socially responsible ways it can do things better than its rivals. Doing things better in business is referred to as competitive advantage. Social responsibilities are those duties to all the stakeholders of a business, not just the shareholders. Embedded within social responsibility is the concept of sustainable development. Sustainable development involves using resources so that: resources are available to meet the needs of people now resources can be available to future generations The needs of the natural environment are respected. Mission statement of the Anglo American Chairmans Fund To be the leading corporate donor in South Africa, through growing an informed understanding of the countrys developmental challenges, to apply the resources at its disposal to maximum effect in supporting and adding value to practical interventions, creating new opportunity and addressing urgent social needs. 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Anglo American seeks to balance the triple bottom line across all its activities projects and operations. This would translate into: making a profit for shareholders providing returns to society by providing jobs or showing responsibility in international, national and local communities Minimizing any negative effects on the natural environment. Every business needs to break down its broad aims into more specific objectives. Objectives are the medium-term stepping stones that help a business achieve its aims. For Anglo American, these include: SMART objectives Businesses need to set out their objectives in ways that are clear and easy to measure. Using SMART objectives makes it easy to assess whether targets have been met. Specific relating to clearly identifiable targets, for example, to be the partner of choice for governments. Measurable set out in ways that can be measured. Examples include cost reductions, waste reductions or energy efficiency targets. Achievable objectives should not involve unrealistic targets. They should not be set too low either. Anglo American believes that making cost savings of $1 billion by 2011 is an ambitious yet achievable target. Relevant the objectives should relate to key business or corporate aims. For Anglo American this means using resources more sustainably. Time-framed giving a clear deadline or end point by which the objective needs to have been achieved. TASK 3 QUALITY SYSTEM A number of factors affect the research and development process. Cost is perhaps the most influential factor. Research does not come cheaply; introducing new technologies is expensive. Investment may be needed for a long time before introduction. It is important that there is a return on investment from the new products or processes once they are launched in order to justify the expenditure on research and development. Changing technologies are another influence upon product or process development. They provide Anglo American with a different way of meeting the needs of its customers. Changing technologies also have a long-term influence upon planning. Such developments may lead to new processes and the sharing of technologies through technology transfer across the Group. For example, the design and development of a new electro-hydraulic rig has reduced the time needed to drill mine shafts. New developments in conserving and recycling water have made it possible for Anglo American to mine in arid regions of Africa and Australia. It is also important that primary sector organizations develop their businesses responsibly. Anglo Americans business depends on it extracting raw materials from the earth. Anglo American takes a clear and positive approach to corporate social responsibility. Sustainable development is built into all its policies, strategies and business practices. For example, the company has developed a Socio Economic Assessment Toolbox. This set of procedures, advice and rules helps to ensure a responsible approach to operating in communities. Every decision is assessed for its economic, social and environmental impacts. This ensures that natural resources will continue to be available for future generations. TASK 4 MANAGE HEALTH AND SAFETY Aims and objectives set out the ends that firms are seeking to achieve. A strategy is the medium- to long-term plan by which the aims and objectives are met. Anglo Americans strategy is to create ways of working within the company that focus on sustainable development and balancing the triple bottom line. Values Anglo American has six guiding values. The values help to create a culture focusing on sustainability. The culture of an organization is the typical pattern of behaviours and beliefs held by its members. The culture affects the attitudes, management styles and decisions made by the staff. An important way in which a firm can shape this culture is by setting out a values statement. This clarifies what the organization believes in. For example, the safety of people is a core value of Anglo American. The goal is that of causing zero harm. Everyone in the organization understands the importance of working to reduce energy use and waste creation. Strategic programs In addition, Anglo American has a range of strategic programs designed to develop innovative ways to use new technology. The result is reduced energy use and fewer emissions. Some of the programmers are specific to a particular site. Others work across the organization. Examples of these strategic programs include: Investing in carbon capture technology. Coal fired power stations generate carbon dioxide emissions. New technology can be used to capture this carbon before release into the atmosphere. It can then be stored safely, e.g. underground. Investing in alternative energy such as wind power. Creating plans and actions for recycling water. Centralizing the global supply chain. This can cut down journey times and distances that materials travel. Anglo Americans strategy is to protect the environment and minimize the impact of its operations. Anglo American also aims to make a sustainable and positive difference to community development. This involves acting with integrity to build respectful relationship within the societies in which it works. Task 5: IMPROVE ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE Anglo American is a multinational organization with a high profile in the primary extractive sector. Because many new mineral deposits are to be found in developing countries, some of which have weak governance, Anglo American recognizes that it must be rigorous in observing local laws, even if they are not always enforced. It has a significant role in supporting good governance initiatives and boosting the opportunities available to the communities associated with its mines. Anglo American is a global leader in commodities which consumers value such as platinum and diamonds. As a world leading mining company, it yields good returns for shareholders. However, it recognizes that it has a range of other stakeholders. Employees need good working conditions and fair rewards; local communities require an investment in safe practices that are sensitive to local needs. Behaving in a socially responsible way is therefore crucial to Anglo Americans aims. This is why its values are so important. Placing an emphasis on safety through the goal of zero harm can help Anglo American to win the confidence of many of its stakeholder groups. Concentrating on minimizing environmental impact also signals a respect for nature and local populations. Through its aims and objectives and in its values and strategic actions, Anglo American is able to demonstrate a commitment to optimizing energy use and minimizing waste production. It aims to create a mindset throughout the company that focuses on sustainable practice. This will win the support of governments, employees, local communities and other stakeholders.

Drug Abuse Essays -- Papers Drugs Narcotics Legal Essays Papers

Drug Abuse The term drug abuse most often refers to the use of a drug with such frequency that it causes physical or mental harm to the user or impairs social functioning. Although the term seems to imply that users abuse the drugs they take, in fact, it is themselves or others they abuse by using drugs. Traditionally, the term drug abuse referred to the use of any drug prohibited by law, regardless of whether it was actually harmful or not. This meant that any use of marijuana, for example, even if it occurred only once in a while, would constitute abuse, while the same level of alcohol consumption would not. In 1973 the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse declared that this definition was illogical. The term abuse, the commission stated, "has no functional utility and has become no more than an arbitrary code word for that drug presently considered wrong." As a result, this definition fell into disuse. The term drug is commonly associated with substances that may be purchased legally by prescription for medical use, such as penicillin, which is almost never abused, and Valium, which is frequently abused, or illegal substances, such as angel dust, which are taken for the purpose of getting high, or intoxicated, but actually have no medical use. Other substances that may be purchased legally and are commonly abused include alcohol (see alcoholism) and nicotine, contained in tobacco cigarettes. In addition, in recent years, chemists working in illegal, clandestine laboratories have developed new chemicals that ha... ... policy and full legalization would be most effective. Needle exchange programs have cut down on drug-related AIDS transmission in Liverpool, England. The Dutch policy of de facto decriminalization for marijuana and hashish has not resulted in a rise in use or abuse. Perhaps the guiding policy on drug use ought to be on harm reduction rather than waging a war on drug abuse. Some aspects of this policy should include a flexible or selective enforcement, vastly expanding drug treatment programs, needle exchange programs, a distinction between "hard" (cocaine and heroin) and "soft" drugs (marijuana), expanding antidrug educational efforts, and focusing on reducing the use and abuse of tobacco and alcohol. The first priority should be to make sure that the users and abusers harm themselves and others as little as possible.

Industry anlysis of Retail Grocery Industry Essay -- essays research p

Industry Analysis   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In order to analyze an industry, it is important to determine where it is in the industry lifecycle. During the 1970’s and 1980’s the retail grocery industry was expanding at a phenomenal rate. Throughout this boom period, the number of large grocery stores was rising and forcing the existing† Mom and Pop† grocery stores out of the industry.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the early 1990’s, the retail grocery industry began leaving the growth stage and entered the maturity stage in the industry lifecycle. This was caused by increased market saturation and slowing growth rates. Between 1995 and 1996 the growth rates were the lowest they had been in the past twenty years. The main reason for this was the vast number of grocery stores that had been built in growth stage and the emergence of new grocery retail formats such as warehouse clubs and dollar stores. This increased competition forced firms to compete with each other for the same customers by lowering prices.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Enter WalMart. Walmart was not even in the grocery industry in the early 1990’s but through excellent supply chain management and extremely low everyday prices have forced their way as one of the dominant players in the retail grocery industry. Industry surveys indicate that the five largest chains (WalMart, Kroger, Costco, Albertsons, and Safeway) accounted for approximately 37.5% of total sales in 2002.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The 1990’s were an important time because of the arrival of new technologies that would change the retail grocery industry. Scanners, Elcetronic Data Interchanges, and the internet have all sped up and lowered the costs of business operations. WalMart was one of the early adopters of this technology and had a competitive advantage over its competitors. New technologies being pioneered now include self-serve checkouts, RFID’s, and kiosks, they will all eventually change how we shop at grocery stores today.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Walmart’s arrival as the largest grocer in North America has caused quite a stir in the retail grocery industry. Walmart’s low prices have caused an industry–wide obsession with consolidation. Many firms are cutting costs any chance they can, forcing some firms to move upmarket. â€Å"The traditional supermarket concept no longer has a profitable future in most ... ...lay a part in the consumer’s decision but in the end eggs from one store are the same as eggs from another store. The consumer can also compare prices from various stores to get the best deal on their groceries. Supplier Power   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Supplier power has been pretty high in the past because grocery stores had very few options of where they could get their goods and had even less of a say of how much to pay for these goods. Recently WalMart has started to change the balance of power away from the supplier. By being so large and having the power of making or breaking a product based solely o if WalMart carries it they can demand certain prices. Another way to combat high supplier power is to introduce private label brands. For example Giant eagle carries its own brand of peas it is not as dependable of its pea suppliers as it was before carrying their own brand. Some suppliers have decided to try and regain power by merging with other suppliers such as Gillette/Proctor & Gamble and Phillip Morris/Kraft. It appears that after a long time of high supplier power the playing field is starting to level itself off and it appears this will continue into the future.

jaws :: essays research papers

All that Jaws Throughout the history of modern cinema, we as a people have seen various films that have caused fear, hope, laughter, love, and various other emotions. The movie Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg, was a very well-written film, but the insignificant parts made me lose focus on what was occurring. I thought this movie lacked in a few fields such as special effects, acting and background illuminations. However, the special effects were well-organized for being created in 1975. Overall, I did not enjoy Jaws because of the talent the actors displayed and the organization of the scenes. The movie, Jaws, was based around three characters, a police chief, sailor and a scientist seeking a great white shark. During the beginning of the movie, two innocent people get killed and the police chief, Brody, suspects it is a shark that has attacked them. The mayor of Amity Island hears about the suspicions of Brody’s imagination but does not want to lose holiday tourism and forces Brody to not make any further investigations of the incidents. Brody, however, calls for a scientist, Hooper, who identifies the occurrences as shark attacks. Hooper, Brody and a sailor drift into the massive, rippling ocean in search for the great white who has viciously attacked and may yet again. During their voyage among the ocean, the shark becomes infuriated while several attempts of death are being plunged towards him and he dies soon afterwards. While the boat is sinking because of all the destruction amidst it, the only survivors, Brody and Hooper, swim back thankful to be Rogers, 2 alive. Yet still horrified at what has happened right in front of their eyes, the ending scene show the two men conversing of the horrible events while paddling through a gigantean ocean back to shore.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1975, Steven Spielberg, made a huge impact on the audience by pursuing reality in a new aspect never before seen. One of the taglines for Jaws, â€Å"Do you like fish? Well, he likes you too†¦Ã¢â‚¬  terrified viewers and forced them to shake in their boots. This classic film has everything a movie needs to lure you in; fantastic plot, visuals and necessary music for the appropriate scenes. However, Spielberg used a great deal of energy focusing on the shark being killed, while instead he could have narrowed in on more confrontations with the shark interacting with the innocent people to gain audience’s interest.

The Purpose of This Study

THE INTERNET'S EFFECT ON TEENAGERS Joshua Benjamin Mr. Ferraro Cooper City High School Last Revised: January 31, 1999 INTRODUCTION The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of internet usage on a user's life. Internet addiction is a serious complication effecting America's teenagers. An abundance of support, self-help, and anonymous therapy web sites are available to the public, but there has not been much distinguished attention given to the matter by media other than the Internet.A myriad of collegiate surveys (see references cited) exhibit static results of the Internet's effect based on the participant's age, gender, race, and lifestyle. Many people find the Internet to be the ideal place to socialize with others because of it's faceless medium and effortless ways to find others with similar interests; through the many ways of communication over the Internet, the common prejudices of life are not evident. A significant issue, are the obscured inconveniences one may enc ounter during their day-to-day internet experiences.As companies ‘snaz up' their websites more and more, the user is required to wait for more data to download. The common user does not care to wait for all the attractions and wishes to view what that they come looking for, information. Discomfort is endured as the user sits, and waits for minutes at a time as a status bar slowly progresses to the 100% complete mark. Over time, slightly disturbing events such as this build upon one another and it is hypothesized that it can impose on a user's psychological health over time. Some studies emphasize on internet usage in relation to social and civic interaction.Others highlight the similarities and differences between internet addiction and other addictions. Still others stress on what the user does online and how that affects him or her. One college researcher's study focuses on Internet users' in relation to their various daily tasks. He states, â€Å"Buying products cheaper ov er the Internet is not a big concern of the questionnaire respondents. The Internet seems extremely attractive to the questionnaire participants. Only ten percent decreased their internet usage last year. More than fifty percent answered that Internet use from time to time, often or always replaces watching TV. 0% of the respondents considered themselves as addicted to or dependent on the Internet. The results show a significant difference in the answers from addicted versus non-addicted users. This leads to the conclusion that addictive behaviour can exist in Internet usage. On the other hand, the answers based on the common symptoms of addiction questions are not so strong in the addicted group that one can speak of an addiction, in which for example continued, persistent use of the Internet appears in spite of negative consequences. (Egger, 1996) Whether the Internet is increasing or decreasing social involvement could have enormous consequences for society and for people's perso nal well-being. In an influential article, Putnam documented a broad decline in civic engagement and social participation in the United States over the past 35 years. Citizens vote less, go to church less, discuss government with their neighbors less, are members of fewer voluntary organizations, have fewer dinner parties, and generally get together less for civic and social purposes.At the individual level, social disengagement is associated with poor quality of life and diminished physical and psychological health. When people have more social contact, they are happier and healthier, both physically and mentally. As one might suspect, these activities do not have the same appeal to teenagers and adults alike. The most prominent contrasts by age were not surprising. Teenagers were more likely to use the Internet for schoolwork and for getting educationally-oriented information.It is perhaps less obvious that adults rather than teenagers were more likely to use the Internet to get p roduct information, to purchase items, to read the news, and to view sexually-oriented materials. Teenagers were more likely to use the Internet to play games, to listen to music, and to meet new people. Compared to other groups, both adult women and teenage boys were especially likely to report using the Internet for advertising, for selling, and for making money. † (Kraut, Lundmark, Patterson, Kiesler, Mukopadhyay, Scherlis, Zdaniuk, Thielke, Patterson, 1998. )Some may view addiction as when a task becomes a necessary part of a user's life. â€Å"While the online experience can enrich and expand people's lives, it can also seduce the vulnerable into ignoring the real world. It demonstrates how a bright young man who is doing well in school and who has real-life friends can easily go through a period when things are more interesting on the Net than off. This is what leads him to see his online experiences as a â€Å"genuine† part of his life. He still had a life offli ne, but at the time of our conversation, events there were not going so well.From this perspective, the comment about real life not being his best window seems a bit less sinister. † (Turkle, 1996) â€Å"Frustration with the sluggish speed of a browser is about the most serious psychological pitfall that most of us face when surfing the World Wide Web. But for as many as five million Americans, experts say, the Internet has become a destructive force, its remarkable benefits overshadowed by its potential to disrupt the lives of those who can't resist the lure of round-the-clock social opportunities, entertainment, and information.For such people, work, friends, family, and sleep are replaced by a virtual world of chat rooms and games. Only recently, however, have psychologists begun devising strategies to wean on-line addicts from their endless browsing and chatting. † (Potera, 1998) â€Å"While drug and internet addiction have a lot in common, there are, of course, si gnificant differences. Drug addiction is a physical dependence whereas the Internet is not. The Internet has been called a behavioral addiction. A behavioral addiction is one in which an individual is addicted to an action and not necessarily a substance.People can become addicted to activities even when there is no true physiological dependence or physiological addiction. This basically means that behavioral addicts do not have any kind of physical dependence to the Internet. Any activity can be addicting if done to extreme. For example, some of the normal everyday activities that can be addicting are jogging, eating, sexual activity, work, etc. Everyone has heard of the workaholic, well that is a behavioral addiction just like the Internet.If it â€Å"changes your emotional state in some way† then it can be classified as a behavioral addiction. This type of addiction is actually very common. Someone with the ability to recognize what type of addiction they have is helpful, but what about those people who don't even know they're addicted? Internet addiction, like any other addiction, has signs and symptoms. One sure sign that person is addicted is if they deprive themselves of sleep in order to spend more time on-line. Usually an addict will average less than five hours of sleep.Another sign that someone might be addicted is if they neglect other important activities such as work, family and friends, or socializing in general to surf the Internet. Other symptoms include: losing track of time while on-line, or people close to you complain about the amount of time spent on-line, logging on while already busy with something else (work, family time, etc. ). These are just some of the many signs that point to addiction to the Internet. Once it is determined by the symptoms that a person is addicted, look for side effects of the addiction. † (Cochran, 1996)One individual has evaluated, to quite an extent, the effects of Internet use on a population as well as internet addiction. She has published her conclusive results on the Internet. An excerpt from one of her reports states, â€Å"Especially vulnerable, Young [Dr. Kimberly S. Young, assistant Professor of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh at Bradford] believes, are those who are lonely, bored, depressed, introverted, lack self esteem, or have a history of addictions. Research among sociologists, psychologists, or psychiatrists has not formally identified addictive use of the Internet as a problematic behavior.This study investigated the existence of internet addiction and the extent of caused by such potential misuse. On the basis of this criteria, case studies of 396 dependent Internet users (Dependents) and a control group of 100 nondependent Internet users (Non-Dependents) were classified. The length of time using the Internet differed substantially between Dependents and Non-Dependents. Among Dependents, 17% had been online for more than one year, 58% had only been on- line between six months to one year, 17% said between three to six months, and 8% said less than three months.A total of 83% of Dependents had been online for less than one full year which might suggest that addiction to the Internet happens rather quickly from one's first introduction to the service. In many cases, Dependents had been computer illiterate and described how initially they felt intimidated by using such information technology. However, they felt a sense of competency and exhilaration as their technical mastery and navigational ability improved rapidly.It is important to note that estimates were based upon the number of hours spent â€Å"surfing the Internet† for pleasure or personal interest (e. g. , personal e-mail, scanning news groups, playing interactive games) rather than academic or employment related purposes. Dependents gradually developed a daily internet habit of up to ten times their initial use as their familiarity with the Internet increased. In co ntrast, Non-Dependents reported that they spent a small percentage of their time on-line with no progressive increase in use.This suggests that excessive use may be a distinguishable characteristic of those who develop a dependence to on-line usage. (Young, 1996) Astoundingly, internet subscribers and websites continue to proliferate exponentially, as the following excerpt describes, â€Å"The Web currently has about 16,000,000 users a year, with a growth rate predicted as doubling annually. Lycos estimates some 80,000,000 Web pages currently and expects to see the billionth Web page in 1997. Advertisers seem to make money on the Web – at least those selling Web advertising.Jupiter Communications issued a study indicating that Web based advertising revenue reached $312,000,000 in 1996 and predicted $51,000,000,000 by the year 2000. (Searcher, 1997) The Internet's effect on human culture is much like other forms of technology have exhibited in the past, as one researcher just ifies. â€Å"Psychologists are not even sure yet what to call this phenomenon. Some label it an â€Å"Internet Addiction Disorder. † Let's not forget the very powerful, but now seemingly mundane and almost accepted addiction that some people develop to video games.Video games are computers too†¦ very single-minded computers, but computers nevertheless. Or how about telephones? People get addicted to those too, and not just the sex lines. Like computers, telephones are a technologically enhanced form of communication and may fall into the category of â€Å"computer mediated communication† – as the researchers are dubbing internet activities. In the not too distant future, computer, telephone, and video technology may very well merge into one, perhaps highly addictive, beast.A teenager who plays hooky from school in order to master the next level of Donkey Kong may be a very different person than the middle aged housewife who spends $500 a month in America O nline chat rooms – who in turn may be very different from the businessman who can't tear himself away from his finance programs and continuous Internet access to stock quotes. Some cyberspace addictions are game and competition oriented, some fulfill more social needs, some simply may be an extension of workaholism. † (Suler, 1996 Rev. 1998) One researcher believes the Internet is and continues to become more of a crucially integral part of our lives. There are obvious parallels today. Predictions abound about how the Internet will, or won't change the way we shop, vote, bank and think. Like the telegraph, its true effects are likely to be subtle, long-term, and no less dramatic in the context of history. The Internet may well take the telegraph one step further, connecting the global community and defining an international ethos. Yet for now, as starry-eyed internet advocates promise spectacular and immediate social change and the occasional skeptic pooh-poohs its impa ct, the Net's ability to generate hyperbole and ho-hum reactions seems to be mimicking its revolutionary ancestor.The historical similarities are instructive. † (Harris Adler, 1995) Based on the above literature, the researcher hypothesizes that interactive chat with people, probably would provoke most teenagers' extreme use of the Internet. Unrestrained use of the Internet should produce a negative effect on those that use it excessively. METHODS There were 125 participating responses which consisted of worldwide Internet users between the ages of 12 and 20 years old. The study was conducted via a survey that was available on the Internet's World Wide Web, at the address . A link to the survey was placed on a frequently visited website.Approximately 149 responses were received throughout the collection period, 24 of the 149 received were discarded due to incomplete information resulting in the 125 complete surveys used for evaluation. The survey asked questions regarding the subjects' Internet use and how it affects his or her personal life. Since the survey was conducted online, all entries were by Internet users only. Procedure: †¢ 1. Compose survey in a HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) creator. The answers should be in the outline of form functions (pop-up menu, radio buttons, selection list). Name the file â€Å"survey. shtml†. †¢ 2.Create a warning webpage perchance the viewer is sensitive to material contained in the survey, create a link to the survey (survey. shtml), so the viewer can follow it to the survey. You may want the link to explain that you are not liable if the material harms them. Name the warning page, â€Å"index. html† (the file named â€Å"index. html† is the webpage that is automatically loaded as the default page when someone visits a website). †¢ 3. Find a UNIX-based server for serving the survey webpage. †¢ 4. Upload the warning and survey webpages onto the UNIX server in your website folder using a FTP (file transfer protocol) client. 5. Download the â€Å"TECform† CGI script, available at , then upload it to your UNIX server. The program allows results to be E-mailed to you. †¢ 6. Make a request to the administrator of your UNIX server to setup the TECform CGI script for you. If this cannot be done, follow the instructions that come with the script and configure it on your own. †¢ 7. Configure the questionnaire webpage using the instructions that came with the TECform script so webpage and the program may interact so the results can be E-mailed to you. †¢ 8.Inform classmates that use the Internet, and Internet users worldwide (via internet chat, newsgroups, and any other form of advertising) of the location of the online survey and request that they complete and submit it. RESULTS The ages of the subjects that participated in the study were in their mid-teens. 98. 5% of the respondents were male and 1. 5% were female. Most of the subjects were age 16 (20%), only 1. 6% of the respondents were age 12. 89. 6% of the subjects currently reside in the United States of America (including it's external regions), there was also a scant amount of Canadian subjects (7. 0%) and an irrelevant one subject each from the following countries: Japan, Finland, Sweden, and Brazil. The subjects' unweighted GPAs (Table 1. 2) demonstrated consistency with national statistics; the mean of the subjects' GPAs were A's, B's and C's, most had a B average. Of the 125 responses, 0% of the respondents had a failing GPA (one that rounded to O in the nearest tenth). The amount of respondents with A+ and D grades were about the same; 5. 5% of the respondents had an A+ average; 4. 8% of the respondents had a D average.The study reveals that as connection speed increased (waiting time for a website decreased), the actual time spent online per day increased (Table 2. 1). An average of 5. 33 hours was spent online daily by the respondents (Table 2. 1). T ime spent online ranged from a low of 4 hours to a high of 6. 55 hours per day. Intriguingly, the poles of the subjects' GPAs exhibited quite excessive amounts of time on the Internet, about 7. 7 hours per day (Table 2. 2). Those with A+ grades spent approximately 6. 72 hours online per each day. Those with a GPA score of C spent about 6. 31 hours online per day. Subjects with D grades spent around 8. 7 hours online per day; together the C and D grades' hours averaged to about 7. 5 hours per day. Again, there were no responses with a failing GPA. As Table 2. 3 explains, about 38% of the subjects replied that they were negatively effected by their Internet use, 62% answered that they were not effected negatively. Notwithstanding, whether they said they were effected negatively or not, the subjects' context of use is very similar. The two areas of use that differed the most were chat and web surfing. 36% of those that responded â€Å"yes† and 29% of those that responded â€Å" no† said they spent most of their online time in chat. 8% of those that responded â€Å"yes† and 33% of those that responded â€Å"no† said they spent most of their online time surfing websites. The respondents that thought they were effected negatively were the ones that chatted 6% more often and surfed the web 7% less. CONCLUSION The higher speed connection one has to the Internet, the more they can do at a time. One of the fastest connections, 10 Megabyte per second (shared T3) connections are extremely costly (about $25,000 / month) and most plausibly, a subject with access to a T3 would be a part of an educational institute in which the school would pay for Internet access.Figure 1. 1 illustrates that those with higher speed connections use the Internet for longer periods of time. It is a possibility that those who get a ‘rush' by using the Internet may be prepared to invest in higher speed connections. Figure 1. 2 illustrates that those who create Int ernet media spend the most time online per day and those who read newsgroups spend the least amount of time online per day. Internet users that create internet media most likely spend their full time online doing so, as opposed to others who use multiple areas of the Internet in their sessions.Subjects that mainly chat online also spend a great deal of time online (5. 5 hours/day). This backs up the hypothesis which puts forth that internet chat instigates a habit. As Figure 1. 3 conveys, most of those who create internet media (such as websites and advertisements) do not think that their Internet use affects their health negatively, it is sound to gather that they do not believe it affects them negatively because they may consider their use as part of their job. Figure 1. 3 also indicates that those who think they are effected egatively by the Internet generally chat more often than those that browse the World Wide Web. It can be assumed that those who chat excessively believe that their Internet use affects their life in a negative way. Thus, the researcher's hypothesis is correct. This is striking, the Internet's exponential growth first began with the popularity of America Online and it's chat rooms. The Internet was not perceived to be used socially for chat as much as it is today. The majority of subjects do not think their Internet use has a negative effect on their social habits or emotional well-being (Figure 1. ). This is typical, heeding that any type of addiction is seen as an abnormality among a civilization. However, there was a definite group that believe it does effect them negatively. If these teenagers proceed with their net habits and current circumstance, a major disorder may develop over ensuing years. The study provides an awareness to the community regarding overuse of the Internet among the emerging society of adults. It points out the different components of the Internet that the majority of teenage addicts are liable to obsess on.Over use of the Internet can genuinely restrain teenagers' experiences in life, their performance academically, overall happiness, and physiological well-being. The term ‘addiction' is used loosely in this study; withstanding, society's perception to this growing problem can be flexible depending on how varieties of people view the definition of addiction. The WordNet dictionary defines addiction as, â€Å"being abnormally dependent on something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming. † One researcher has termed the study of internet addiction as â€Å"Psycho technology. The Internet most certainly can be psychologically habit-forming, becoming a part of one's daily practices. To improve this study, the researcher would have restricted the ages of the subjects even slimmer, perhaps to ages 16-18. Also, the researcher would have redefined certain questions on the survey for worthier comprehension among the subjects, in particular the final one which stated, â₠¬Å"Does your internet usage affect your social or mental health in a negative way? † A more appropriate question could have been, â€Å"Do you believe your internet usage may obstruct the achievement of your personal goals? Then a separate follow up, â€Å"If so, do you think using the Internet is worth more than achieving your goals? † The researcher suspects the results regarding daily use may have been biased because the link to the survey was placed on a website that could be categorized as directed to more advanced users than basic or intermediate. This, however, cannot be confirmed, the results stand rational. Lastly, the researcher suggests including a personal comment field in the survey, quotes of intensely effected users would be a good addition to the study.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Notably, I thank the respondents of the survey for taking the time out of their active day to fill it out completely and in their best efforts, without you, this study would be completely inaccurate and not worthwhile. Second, I thank my parents for fully supporting my interests and pursuits. I also thank Dr. Young and Carnegie Mellon University for publishing their research, studies, and links to other articles on the Internet. Thanks to Rob J. Meijer for programming the comprehensive script used to process the survey results.Acknowledgements to Apple Computer, Inc. for developing a stable system and word processor to work in without fear of losing my manuscript (though I still save the document every 20 seconds). Finally, Mr. D. Ferraro for providing an abundance of answers to my countless questions and hours of helpful input. I hope each and every Internet user finds my study helpful to their enrichment and studies. REFERENCES CITED Internet Behaviour Questionnaire and Addiction Egger, 1996 HomeNet ProjectStudy by: Kraut, Lundmark, Patterson, Kiesler, Mukopadhyay, Scherlis, Zdaniuk, Thielke, Patterson, Carnegie Mellon University, 1998. The Psychology of Cyberspac e Turkle, 1996 Trapped in the Web Psychology Today; Potera, 1998 Research Over Internet Addiction Cochran, 1996 Internet Addiction: The Emergency of a New Disorder Dr. Young, 1996 Internet/Web Growth Exponential as Usual Searcher, 1997 Psychology of Cyberspace – Computer and Cyberspace Addiction Suler, 1996 revised 1998 Creation of a E-nation Canadian Geographic; Harris-Adler, 1995 WordNet Dictionary – Version 1. 6

Tradition v.s Common Sense

Traditions are a very Important aspect of human life. They are seen as another way of life. Many traditions teach things of value to children, things which parents hope will be passed on to future generations. In many societies however, traditions have taken over the common sense of the people.Nowadays, humans blindly follow traditions, not knowing or even acknowledging what they are really doing. Whether It Is a celebratory tradition or a tradition that has been followed since ancient times, unmans will not question the motives behind it; they will just continue to follow it. In the short story â€Å"The Lottery† by Shirley Jackson, villagers blindly follow their annual tradition, one that claims a life every year.All the villagers take part in this event knowing that there will be death yet no one dares to stop and question It, Even when some people do stop and question the reasons that began the tradition, they will not do anything about it because it is a tradition that ha s been followed countless and they do not want to be the only ones to question it or even worse, not follow it. This shows that human beings will tolerate acts of evil and Injustices In traditions, making them unable to step out of that circle and see what is really going on because of their preference of tradition over common sense.It does not matter if the tradition FIFO Traditions have been around for thousands of years, even before civilized human life began. They have been performed all over the world, in all points of time. In the overview by Joyce Moss and George Wilson, it is explained that ancient cultures believed sacrifices were necessary to benefit the community. In fact, during ancient times a tradition similar to â€Å"The Lottery' was such â€Å"a highly regarded mean of decision-making that eventually most civic matters were resolved by. † Joyce Moss & George Wilson) This is because traditions were among the main parts or sections of ancient human life.Even n ow, traditions are still a big part of human life. Many traditions around the world are a huge thing for humans. They will make special foods, decorations, and even rituals. However, many of these traditions are performed without thought. Many traditions are followed because it has been done before, no one has questioned it before, and so there is no reason to stop it now. In â€Å"The Lottery' one can analyze that the original meaning and aspects of the tradition have indeed been lost and that the tradition is followed Just because.The analysis made on study mode suggests that â€Å"Substituting slips of paper for chips of wood, a recital prior to the lottery, and a salute to address each person† are some of the aspects that have changed prior to the original lottery, the first one that began everything. (Analysis of the Tradition in Shirley Jackson's â€Å"The Lottery') It also mentions that the actual tradition has remained a routine. This leads to the conclusion that th e lottery is no longer continued because of the tradition, but because it has been done for so long it Just feels right to continue to follow it.In many societies, rituals are part of the traditions. Many believe these rituals are performed because of religion or a similar idea. What people do not know is that not all rituals are needed or performed because of religion. Many rituals are Just performed because of tradition. It does not matter if the ritual is harmful and has a active impact on society; many societies will still perform them Just to keep the tradition going. The short story, â€Å"The Lottery' by Shirley Jackson, shows a perfect example of this.The people of the town still perform the ritual because of the tradition held every year. They do not care if someone they love or care for dies; they just want to follow the tradition. Even the own family members participate in the ritual, which is stoning one of their own family members to death. These types of rituals are i ncredible acts of evil but humans still participate in them. In the last section of the overview by Jennifer Hicks, she explains very thoroughly the tradition of stoning. In it she explains that it was a standing ritual.She does mention that the â€Å"original paraphernalia for the lottery has been lost long ago. † (Hicks) There is a part in the story where old man Warner stated, â€Å"Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon. † This refers to human sacrifices benefiting the community with food, which is something that by the time the story takes place, which is around the 1700 to sass, should be known that it is not real. So why do they continue to do this? It is the simple reasons of following a tradition. There are many concerns on why human beings follow traditions that are inhumane instead of using their common sense.Most of the issues are due to the fact that many rituals followed by humans consist of bloodshed or even death. In many societies, traditions play a big r ole, causing more and more people to be a part of them. The main dilemma is why people accept traditions that sense that traditions that involve bloodshed and death can be no good to societies, especially societies filled with children. Traditions like these will only poison the minds of the young with the idea that a tradition must be followed no matter what. The reason people do not stop them is because they do not want to stand out.In the book â€Å"Shirley Jackson† by Friedman Lineman, it explains that Shirley Jackson was new to a small town when she moved. She did not really know anybody so she did not participate in the town's traditions. This caused other towns people to look at her weird, like an outsider. This can reflect on her short story of â€Å"The Lottery', in which the analysis can be made that Mrs.. Hutchinson was an outsider, not so much of Ewing new but the type that does not do what everyone else does, in this case, the tradition of the lottery.It is clea r that these traditions have taken over the common sense of the people. Now, people do not think before acting. They Just follow traditions to the letter. They do no stop to think about their traditions and if they are beneficial or plain out dangerous. They Just do not want to stand out; they want to be the same as everyone else. It is around these thoughts that the main concern revolves around. Humans will argue that traditions are needed when the reality is that they are not. They have gotten surrounded so much by traditions; it is like a second language to them.The short story â€Å"The Lottery' by Shirley Jackson explains how human beings in the village have been blinded by a tradition, which is the lottery. With careful analysis, it is easy to spot all blind actions carried out by the villagers. Everybody seems nice and Joyful throughout the story until the very end. â€Å"It seems as though Jackson is making a statement regarding hypocrisy and human evil. † (Analysis of the Tradition in Shirley Jackson's â€Å"The Lottery') What Shirley Jackson wants us to realize y writing this story is that people are so blinded by traditions; they might kill someone thinking it is alright.Shirley Jackson uses ideas similar to these to suggest that there is an underlying evil and weakness in human beings. The village, having performed such an act for so many years, continues on with it, with no complaints or questions being asked, and the main purpose being to carry on the tradition. In the story, it states, â€Å"There's always been a lottery says Old Man Warner. â€Å"Nothing but trouble in that,† he says of quitting the event. (122) However, almost all the villagers how some type of anxiety or fear toward the tradition.Comments like â€Å"Don't be nervous Jack† (122) and â€Å"Get up there Bill† (123) indicate that the people may not be entirely comfortable with the lottery. Yet everyone still goes along with it. Nobody openly express es or shows their fear toward the lottery. Shirley Jackson may be trying to show the reader that many individuals are not strong enough to go against or stand up to their disapproval for the fear of being rejected by their own society. Instead, the villagers will continue to risk not only their lives, but the lives of their Emily members as well.She makes suggestions that human beings are not always who they seem and can turn their back on you at any time for the sake of their beliefs, or in this case, tradition. Throughout history, humans have made the choice to choose their traditions over their common sense. They do not think of the effects that will be caused because of their actions. Nowadays, people in societies continue to follow traditions or â€Å"trends† side to watch an argument, accident or incident, rather than stepping in and doing something about it.They do not step in because they do not want to stand out in front of everybody else; they do not want the spotli ght on them. They are frightened that they will be rejected later on. It is the same thing with traditions. Human beings do not care if there is death in the tradition, they will continue to follow it as long as they do not stand out and are not rejected or looked down on. This shows that human beings will tolerate acts of evil and injustices in traditions, making them unable to step out of that circle and see what is really going on because of their reference of tradition over common sense.People need to stop and think about the effects caused by traditions instead of Just blindly following the traditions of their ancestors. If this is not stopped, future generations will continue to make blind choices as well, due to the lack of common sense. Works Cited â€Å"Analysis of the Tradition in Shirley Jackson's â€Å"The Lottery†. † Studded. Com. Studded. Com, 2008. Web. 2008.. Friedman, Lineman. Shirley Jackson. Boston: Twenty Publishers, 1975. Print. Hicks, Jennifer. â €Å"Overview of the Lottery. † Short Stories for Students. Detroit: Gale, 2002.

Chapter One Overview of Information Systems

1. 1 Introduction When Rutherford B. Hayes, the 19th president of the United States, saw a demonstration of the telephone in the late 1800s, he reportedly commented that while it was a wonderful invention, businessmen would never use it. Hayes believed that people had to meet face to face to conduct substantive business affairs, and he was not alone in that assessment.Few of Hayes's contemporaries could foresee the profound changes that would be ushered in by the telephone and other technologies of the day, including steam engines, production machinery; transportation technologies such as railroads and automobiles, and communication technologies such as the telegraph and telephone. As we are in the 21st century, we are once again experiencing an intense period of technology-enabled innovation, creativity, and excitement that has been spurred by the information and telecommunications technologies and associated changes in our life, work and society.We are now in  the information/kno wledge age — a time when information and knowledge are power. Leading industrial countries are transforming from industrial-based economies to information/knowledge-based economy. Information is everywhere. Information and knowledge have become critical, strategic assets for most organizations. We live in an â€Å"information society,† where power and wealth increasingly depend on information and knowledge as central assets. It is a new world of doing business.Business and other organizations all over the world are focusing on information and knowledge as their key strategic resources. All firms today, large and small, local and global, use information systems to achieve important business objectives, such as operational efficiency, customer and supplier intimacy, better decision making, and new products and services. A continuing stream of information technology innovations from the Internet to wireless networks to digital phone is continuing to transform the business world.These innovations are enabling entrepreneurs and innovative traditional firms to create new products and service, develop new business models, and transform the day-to-day conduct of business. In the process, some old businesses, even industries, are being destroyed while new businesses are springing up. In 2005, journalist Thomas Friedman wrote an influential book declaring the world was ‘flat’ by which he meant that the Internet and global communications had greatly reduced the economic and cultural advantages of developed countries. U. S. nd European countries were in a fight for their economic lives, competing for jobs, markets, resources, and even ideas with highly educated, motivated populations in low-wage areas in the less developed world. The globalization trend of the world economy greatly enhances the value of information systems to the organizations. In today's global business environment, information technology is creating new opportunities for organ izational coordination and innovation. Organizations require powerful information and communication systems to manage business on an international scale.Manufacturers are using information systems to order supplies and distribute goods faster than ever before; financial institutions are employing them to transfer billions of dollars around the world electronically; investors are using them to make multimillion-dollar decisions. This globalization presents you and your business with both challenges and opportunities. The challenge for you as a business student is to develop high-level skills through education and on-the-job experience that cannot be outsourced. Information systems will continue to change our business, society and lives.Information system and technologies will also play large roles in your career. Along with the changes in business come changes in job and careers. No matter whether you are a finance, accounting, management, marketing, operations management, or informa tion systems major, how you work, where you work, and how well you are compensated will all be affected by business information systems. When interviewing potential employees, business firms often look for new hires who know how to use information technologies and systems for achieving bottom-line business results.It is widely recognized that understanding information systems is essential for managers and employees because most organizations need information systems to survive and prosper. Employees will depend on the information systems to increase their productivity. Management will use the information systems to improve their decision-making processes. Thus the knowledge of information systems and the ability to put this knowledge to work can result in a successful personal career. The knowledge and skill you learn from this subject will be valuable throughout your business career. 1. Computer Literacy and Information System Literacy Today, computers are everywhere: at work, at s chool, and at home. Many daily activities either involve the use of or depend on information from a computer. Computer advances impact all individuals, families, organizations, and schools (see Figure 1-1). Computers already are an essential part of people's daily lives, as much as the automobile, television, and telephone. Computers are taking on many new roles — providing vast information resources, fast communications, effective learning tools, and powerful support for activities in businesses, schools, and homes.Information systems and technologies have become a vital component of successful businesses and organizations. They thus constitute an essential field of study in business administration and management. Almost any career in your future will involve a computer in some way. You probably recognize that it will not be easy to get through the rest of your life without knowing about computers and information systems. In today's technology-rich world, a great demand for computer and information systems professionals exists and continues to grow.The computer and information systems industries offer many rewarding careers and jobs, but require a unique combination of hands-on computing skills, creative problem solving ability, and an understanding of business needs. In preparing yourself to enter today's fast-paced, ever-changing, and information-intense business environment, you need to understand the new thinking in business. Managers and professionals such as engineers, scientists, or architects are collectively known as knowledge workers, since their main contribution to the activities in which they are involved is their knowledge and skills.The term literacy has been used to describe two types of knowledge that are key to succeed as a knowledge worker in today's information/knowledge-based business environment. One kind of knowledge is computer literacy; the other is information systems literacy. The knowledge and understanding of computer syste ms and the ways they function are called computer literacy. Computer literacy focuses primarily on knowledge of information technology. This knowledge includes an understanding of computer terminology, recognition of the strengths and weaknesses of the computer, and an ability to use the computer.It also stresses computer equipment and devices (hardware), programs and instructions (software), databases, networking, and telecommunications. The requirements that determine computer literacy change as technology changes. As you study about computers, you will become aware of their importance, their versatility, and their pervasiveness in our society. There is no better way to understand computer systems than through interacting with one. So being computer literate also means being able to use computers for some type of applications. However, no one expects you to become a computer expert.Today, information systems provide the communication and analytic power that firms need for conducti ng trade and managing businesses on a global scale. In addition to understanding computers, the modern knowledge worker should have information systems literacy. From an organizational perspective, an information system is an organizational and management solution, based on information technology, to a challenge posed by today's dynamic environment. To fully understand information systems, you must understand the broader organization, management, and information technology dimensions of information systems (see Figure 1-2).Figure 1-2 Organization, management, and information technology dimensions of information systems Information systems are integral part of organizations. The key elements of an organization are its people, structure, operating procedures, politics, and culture. Organizations are composed of different levels and specialties. Different levels and specialties in an organization create different interests and points of view. Information systems come out of this cauldr on of differing perspectives, conflicts, compromises, and agreements that are a natural part of all organizations.Management's job is to make sense out of the many situations faced by organizations, make decisions, and formulate action plans to solve organizational problems. Managers perceive business challenges in the environment, they set the organizational strategy for responding and allocate the human and financial resources to achieve the strategy and coordinate the work. The business information systems in organizations reflect the hopes, dreams, and realities of the managers. Information technology is one of many tools managers use to cope with change.Information technology infrastructure provides the foundation or platform on which the firm can build its specific information systems. Each organization must carefully design and manage its information technology infrastructure so that it has the set of technology services it needs for the work it wants to accomplish with infor mation systems. Let us use UPS's package tracking system to identify the organization, management, and technology elements. The organization element anchors the package tracking system in UPS's sales and production functions (the main product of UPS is a service–package delivery).It specifies the required procedures for identifying packages with both sender and recipient information, taking inventory, tracking the packages en route, and providing package status reports for UPS customers and customer service representatives. The system must also provide information to satisfy the needs of managers and workers. UPS's management is responsible for monitoring service levels and costs and for promoting the company's strategy of combining low-cost and superior service.Management decided to use automation to increase the ease of sending a package via UPS and of checking its delivery status, thereby reducing delivery costs and increasing sales revenues. The technology supporting this system consists of handheld computers, barcode scanners, wired and wireless communications networks, desktop computers, UPS's central computer, storage technology for the package delivery data, UPS package tracking software, and software to access the World Wide Web. The result is an information system solution to the business challenge of providing a high level of service with low prices in the face of mounting competition.Therefore, information systems literacy is knowledge of how and why data, information, knowledge, computer, and information technology are used by organizations and individuals. It includes not only knowledge of computer technology but also aspects of the broader range of information technology. Information systems literacy can involve knowledge of how and why people use information technology; knowledge of organizations, decision-making approaches, management levels, and information needs; and knowledge of how organizations can use information systems to achiev e their goals.Thus, the key aspect of information systems literacy is knowing how to deploy information technology to help an organization achieve its business goals and to gain a competitive advantage. In general, knowing about various types of hardware and software is an example of computer literacy. Knowing how to use hardware and software to increase profits, cut costs, improve productivity, increase customer satisfaction, and improve management decision-making is an example of information systems literacy. Information system literacy includes a ehavioral as well as a technical approach to studying information systems. The field of management information systems (MIS) tries to achieve this broader information systems literacy. One of the main objectives of this course is to lay the foundation for information systems literacy. 1. 3 Data and Information Today, information is one of an organization's most important and valuable resources. Organizational information systems contain information about people, places, things, ideas and events within the organization and in the environment surrounding it.By information we mean data that have being processed into a form that is meaningful and useful to the recipient. Data are therefore the raw facts for producing information. The relation of data to information is that of raw material to finished product. The information systems process data in unusable form into a usable form that is information for intended recipient. As the simplified example shown in Figure 1-3, the student name, ID number, semester, curse codes, and course grades all represent data. The computer processes the data to produce the grade information (report). | | Figure 1-3 The process of transforming data into information| Organizational activities require information. Producing products, assigning workers, making sales, billing amounts due, and providing customer services are examples of activities that use information. Data represents real-wor ld facts, such as an employee's name, weekly sales, customer numbers, or product inventory. Data items are organized for processing purpose into data structures, file structure, database, and data warehouse. Data are simply raw facts and has little value beyond its existence.Information systems manipulate and process data to create information. The information in an information system take a variety of forms including text, numbers, pictures, sounds, animations and videos. The value of information is described most meaningful in the context of a decision. In other words, the value of information is directly linked to how it helps decision-makers achieve their organization's goals. If there were no current or future choices or decisions affected by a piece of information, the information would be unnecessary.It is cited frequently in explaining why information systems that collect vast amounts of data often fail to satisfy managerial information needs. The value of information might be measured in following three dimensions: * Content — information should be accurate, relevant, and complete * Time — information should be timely and current * Form — information should be provided at the appropriate level of detail and in the most appropriate form. More specifically, information should have certain characteristics to make it valuable.The characteristics of valuable information include being accurate, verifiable, timely, organized, meaningful, useful, and cost effective. * Accurate information is correct information. Inaccurate information often is worse than no information, because inaccurate information can lead to incorrect decisions. For example, you assume that your transcript correctly list your grades. If your transcript incorrectly reports low grades in your major courses, a potential employer might deny you an interview. * Verifiable information means that the information can be confirm by the user.For example, before relying on the c umulative GPA on your transcript, a potential employer might want to check that the GPA is calculated correctly. The potential employer can verify the accuracy of the accumulated GPA by calculating it from the individual semester GPA values. * Timely information has an age suited to its use. Your transcript, for example, has value for a potential employer only if the employer receives it in time to make a hiring decision. Although most information loses its value with time, some information, such as information on trends, gains value as time passes and more information is obtained.Your transcript, for example, gains value as you complete more coursework because it reflects your work ethic and dedication over a time period. * Meaningful information is relevant to the person who receives it. Because certain information is meaningful only to specific individuals or groups, unnecessary information should be eliminated. * Cost-effective information costs less to produce than the value of the resulting information. Most organizations periodically review the information they produce in reports to determine if the reports provide valuable information.Based on that review, the companies can determine whether to continue, scale back, or even eliminate these reports. The need for timely information can change for each business decision. Some decisions require weekly or monthly information while other decisions require daily information. Timeliness is an aspect of information that depends on the situation. In some industries such as insurance and construction, information that is a few days or weeks old can be relevant, while in other industries such as 911 centers and stock trading information that is a few minutes old can be almost worthless.Real-time information means immediate, up-to-date information. Real-time systems provide real-time information in response to query requests. Many organizations use real-time systems to exploit key corporate transactional informatio n. Real-time systems provide valuable information for supporting corporate strategies such as customer relationship management. The growing demand for real-time information stems from organizations’ need to make faster and more effective decisions, keep smaller inventories, operate more efficiently, and track performance more carefully.Nevertheless, timeliness is relative. Organizations need fresh, timely information to make good decisions. Information also needs to be timely in the sense that it meets employees’ needs, but no more. If employees can absorb information only on an hourly or daily basis, there is no need to gather real-time information in smaller increments. Many people request real-time information without understanding one of the biggest pitfalls associated with real-time information’s continual change. Imagine the following scenario: Three managers meet at the end of the day to discuss a business problem.Each manager has gathered information at different times during the day to create a picture of the situation. Each manager’s picture may be different because of this time discrepancy. Their views on the business problem may not match since the information they are basing their analysis on is continually changing. This approach may not speed up decision making, and may actually slow it down. Organizations must evaluate the timeliness of the information required for each business decision. Organizations do not want to find themselves using real-time information to make a bad decision faster.Information and knowledge are becoming the foundation for many new products and services. Information/ knowledge-intense products such as computer games require a great deal of knowledge to produce. Entire new information-based services have sprung up, such as Lexis, Dow Jones News, and America Online. These fields are employing millions of people. Information technology constitutes more than 75 percent of the invested capital in s ervice industries such as finance, insurance, and real estate. Knowledge is used more intensively in the production of traditional products as well.In the automobile industry, both design and production now rely heavily on knowledge and information technology. 1. 4 Information Systems 1. 4. 1 The Concept of System System concepts underlie the field of information systems. A system is a set of elements or components that operate together to accomplish an objective. Many examples of systems can be found in the physical and biological sciences, in modern technology, and in human society. A system (sometimes called a dynamic system) has three basic interacting components or functions: *   Input involves capturing and assembling elements that enter the system to be processed.For example, raw materials, energy, data, and human effort must be secured and organized for processing. * Processing involves transforming processes that convert input into output. Examples are a manufacturing pro cess, the human breathing process, or mathematical calculations. * Output involves transferring elements that have been produced by a transformation process to their ultimate destination. For example, finished products, human services, and management information must be transmitted to their human users. The system concept becomes even more useful by including two additional components: feedback and control.A system with feedback and control components is sometimes called a cybernetic system, that is, a self-monitoring, self-regulating system. * Feedback is data about the performance of a system. For example, data about sales performance is feedback to a sales manager. * Control involves monitoring and evaluating feedback to determine whether a system is moving toward the achievement of its goal. The control function then makes necessary adjustments to a system's input and processing components to ensure that it produces proper output.For example, a sales manager exercises control wh en reassigning salespersons to new sales territories after evaluating feedback about their sales performance. 1. 4. 2 Information Systems An information system is a specialized type of system and can be defined in a number of different ways. An information system can be defined technically as a set of interrelated information technology components that collect (or retrieve), process, store, and distribute data and information and provide a feedback/control mechanism to meet an objective.From a business perspective, information systems can be defined as a combination of hardware, software, and telecommunications networks which people build and use to collect, create, and distribute useful data and information, typically in organizational settings. Information systems support managers and workers make decisions, control operations, analyze problems, visualize complex subjects, and create new products and services. An information system contains information about an organization and it s surrounding environment.The basic activities of input, processing and output in an information system produce the information that organization need for decision-making and operations. An information system also requires feedback and control components to meet an objective (see Figure 2-4). | Figure 1-4 An information system| In an information system, input is the activity of gathering and capturing raw data from within the organization or from its external environment. For example, in producing paychecks, the number of hours worked for every worker must be collected before the pay amounts can be calculated and checks can be printed.Processing involves converting or transforming data into more meaningful form. Processing can involve making calculations, making comparisons and taking alternative actions, and storing data for future use. In the payroll example, the required processing may first involve calculating gross pay. If weekly hours worked are greater than 40 hours, overtime pay must be determined. Then deductions are subtracted from gross pay to get net pay. Output involves producing useful information in a proper form such as reports, paychecks or documents, and transferring the processed information to the user.In some cases, output from one information system can become input for another. Information systems also provide feedback/control mechanism to allow people to evaluate the performance of the systems and make necessary changes to input or processing activities. Information technologies (IT) are tools used to build information systems. Information technologies include hardware, software, database, networks, and other related components. Information systems use and integrate these technologies to meet the information needs of different users.The information technology, then, must support the goal of the information system, which is to provide accurate, timely, relevant, complete, well-formatted information that users value. Computer architecture ensures a fit between information systems and technologies. Computers are valuable tools. As technology advances and computers extend into every facet of daily living, computers have become an essential part of organizational information processing because of the power of the technology and the volume of data to be processed.When we use the term information systems, we are referring to computer-based information systems (CBIS) — organizational information systems that rely on computer technology to collect, process, store and disseminate information. A CBIS is composed of hardware, software, database, telecommunications, people, and protocols/procedures, as shown in Figure 1-5. | | | Figure 1-5 The components of an information system| In a computer-based information system, hardware consists of physical computer equipment and associated devices used to perform input, processing, and output activities.Software is a broad term given to the instructions that direct the operatio n of the hardware. Database contains all data utilized by application software. Telecommunications is the electronic transmission of signals for communications and enables organizations to link computer systems into effective networks. Information systems personnel include all the people who develop, program, operate, manage, use and maintain the information systems. Protocols are standards and guidelines used for designing and deploying information systems.Procedures include strategies, policies, methods, and rules for developing, managing and using the information systems. Although computer-based information systems use computer technology to process raw data into meaningful information, there is a sharp distinction between a computer system and an information system. Electronic computers and related software programs are the technical foundation, the tools and materials, of modern information systems. Computer systems provide the equipment and software for processing, storing and distributing information. Knowing how computer systems work is important in esigning solutions to organizational problems, but computer systems are only part of an information system. Computers and programs alone cannot produce the information a particular organization needs. To understand information systems, you must understand the problems they are designed to solve, their architectural and design elements, and the organizational processes that lead to these solutions. In other words, to be information systems literate as opposed to computer literate, you must understand the broader organization, management, and technology dimensions of information systems. 1. 4. Enterprise System Architectures System architecture refers to the arrangement of software, hardware, and tasks in an information system needed to achieve a specific functionality. To support the volume and complexity of today’s users and application requirements, information technology needs to take a fresh appro ach to enterprise system architectures by constructing smarter, more flexible environments that protect from system failures and crashes. Enterprise system architectures include the plans for how an organization will build, deploy, use, and share its data, processes, and IT assets.A unified enterprise system architecture will standardize enterprisewide hardware and software, with tighter links to the business strategy. A solid enterprise system architecture can decrease costs, increase standardization, promote reuse of IT assets, and speed development of new systems. The right enterprise system architecture can make IT cheaper, strategic, and more responsive. Enterprise system architectures are never static; they continually change. Organizations use enterprise system architects to help manage change.An enterprise system architect is a person grounded in technology, fluent in business, a patient diplomat, and provides the important bridge between IT and the business. An enterprise s ystem architect is expensive and generally receives a salary of $180,000 per year on average. Companies that have created solid enterprise system architectures are reaping huge rewards in savings, flexibility, and business alignment. Basic enterprise architectures contain three components, as shown in Figure 2-6. | | |   Ã‚   Figure 1-6 Three components of enterprise system rchitecture| Information Architecture Information architecture identifies where and how important information, like customer records, is maintained and secured. A single backup or restore failure can cost an organization more than time and money; some data cannot be recreated, and the business intelligence lost from that data can be tremendous. Three primary areas an enterprise information architecture should focus on include back up and recovery, disaster recovery, and information security. Each year businesses lose time and money because of system crashes and failures.One way to minimize the damage of a syste m crash is to have a backup and recovery strategy in place. A backup is an exact copy of a system’s information. Recovery is the ability to get a system up and running in the even of a system crash or failure and includes restoring the information backup. Organizations should choose a backup and recovery strategy that is in line with its business goals. If the organization deals with large volumes of critical information, it will require daily backups, perhaps even hourly backups, to storage servers.Deciding how often to back up information and what media to use is a critical business decision. If an organization decides to back up on a weekly basis, then it is taking the risk that, if a total system crash occurs, it could lose a week’s worth of work. If this risk is unacceptable, then the organization needs to move to a daily backup strategy. Some organizations find the risk of losing a day’s worth of work too high and move to an hourly backup strategy. Two tec hniques used to help in case of system failure are fault tolerance and failover.Fault tolerance is a computer system designed that in the event a component fails, a backup tolerance can be provided with software, or embedded in hardware, or provide by some combination. Failover is a backup operational mode in which the functions of a computer component are assumed by secondary system components when the primary component becomes unavailable through either failure or scheduled downtime. A failover procedure involves automatically offloading tasks to a standby system component so that the procedure si as seamless as possible to the end user.Disasters such as power outages, floods, and even harmful hacking strike businesses every day. Organizations must develop a disaster recovery plan to prepare for such occurrences. A disaster recovery plan is a detailed process for recovering information or an IT system in the event of a catastrophic disaster such as a fire or flood. A comprehensive disaster recovery plan takes into consideration the location of the backup information. Many organizations store backup information in an off-site facility. A hot site is a separate and fully equipped facility where the company can move immediately after a disaster and resume business.A cold site is a separate facility that does not have any computer equipment, but is a place where employees can move after a disaster. Security professionals are under increasing pressure to do the job right and cost-effectively as networks extend beyond organizations to remote users, partners, and customers, and to cell phones, PDAs, and other mobile devices. Regulatory requirements to safeguard data have increased. Concerns about identify theft are at an all-time high. Hacking and other unauthorized access contribute to the approximately 10 million instances of identity theft each, according to the Federal Trade Commission.A good information architecture includes a strong information security plan, along with managing user access and up-to-data antivirus software and patches. Managing user access to information is a critical piece of the information architecture. There is little doubt that security is a top priority for business managers, regardless of the size of their company. The main focus for most managers is preventing hackers, spammers, and other malcontents from entering their networks, and they are looking to enhance their network-security-management, intrusion-detection, content-filtering, and anti-spam software.Infrastructure Architecture Infrastructure architecture includes the hardware, software, and telecommunications equipment that, when combined, provide the underlying foundation to support the organization’s goals. As an organization changes, its systems must be able to change to support its operations. If an organization grows by 50 percent in a single year, its systems must be able to handle a 50 percent growth rate. Systems that cannot adapt to orga nizational changes can severely hinder the organization’s ability to operate. The future of an organization depends on its ability to meet its artners and customers on their terms, at their pace, any time of the day, in any geographic location. The following are the five primary characteristics of a solid infrastructure architecture: 1. Flexibility: Organizations must watch today’s business, as well as tomorrow’s, when designing and building systems. Systems must be flexible enough to meet all types of business changes. For example, a system night be designed to include the ability to handle multiple currencies and languages, even though the company is not currently performing business in other countries.When the company starts growing and performing business in new countries, the system will already have the flexibility to handle multiple currencies and languages. If the company failed to recognize that its business would someday be global, it would need to red esign all its systems to handle multiple currencies and languages, not easy once systems are up and running. 2. Scalability: Scalability refers to the ability of a system to increase in size as demand warrants. If an organization grows faster than anticipated, it might all types of performance degradations, ranging from running out of storage space to a slowdown in transaction speeds.Capacity planning determines the future IT infrastructure requirements for new equipment and additional network capacity. Performing a capacity plan is one way to ensure the IT infrastructure is scalable. There are three steps you can take to meet the demands for service at your system: scale hardware vertically, scale hardware horizontally, and improve the processing architecture of the system. Vertical scaling refers to increasing the processing poser of individual components. Horizontal scaling refers to employing multiple computers to share the workload and increase the ‘footprint’ of t he installation.Improving the processing architecture is a combination of vertical and horizontal scaling, combined with artful design decisions. 3. Reliability: Reliability ensures all systems are functioning correctly and providing accurate information. Reliability is another term for accuracy when discussing the correctness of systems within the context of efficiency IT metrics. 4. Availability: High availability refers to a system or component that is continuously operational for a desirably long length of time. Availability is typically measured relative to 100 percent operational.A widely held but difficult-to-achieve standard of availability for a system is known as ‘five 9s’ (99. 999 percent) availability. Systems, however, must come down for maintenance, upgrades, and fixes. One challenge organizations face is determining when to schedule system downtime if the system is expected to operate continually. Many organizations overcome this problem by having redunda nt systems, allowing the organization to take one system down by switching over to a redundant system. 5. Performance: Performance measures how quickly a system performs a certain process or transaction.Not having enough performance capacity can have a devastating, negative impact on a business. People usually use IT metrics to measure the system architecture. Efficiency IT metrics measure the performance of the IT system including throughout, speed and availability. Effective IT metrics measure the impact of the IT system on business processes and activities including customer satisfaction, conversion rates, and sell-through increases. Application Architecture Application architecture determines how applications integrate and relate to each other.Advances in integration technology are providing new ways for designing more agile, more responsive enterprise architectures that provide the kind of value businesses need. With these new architectures, IT can build new business capabiliti es faster, cheaper, and in a vocabulary the business can understand. Web services promise to be the next major frontier in computing. Web services contain a repertoire of Web-based data and procedural resources that use shared protocols and standards permitting different applications to share data and services.The major application of Web services is the integration among different applications. Before Web services, organizations had trouble with interoperability. Interoperability is the capability of two or more computer systems to share data and resources. If a supply chain management system can share data with a customer relationship management system, interoperability exists between the two systems. Web services encompass all the technologies that are used to transmit and process information on and across a network, most specifically the Internet.A Web service is really a piece of reusable software code. A software developer can quickly build a new application by using many of t hese pieces of reusable code. For example, a ‘Deposit’ Web service for a banking system might allow customers to perform the task of depositing money to their accounts. The Web service could be used by a bank teller, by the customer at an ATM, and by the customer performing an online transaction through a Web browser. The trick to building Web service is finding the right level of granularity.An open system is a broad, general term that describes nonproprietary IT hardware and software made available by the standards and procedures by which their products work, making it easier to integrate them. The designs of open systems allow for information sharing. In the past different systems were independent of each other and operated as individual islands of control. The sharing of information was accomplished through software drivers and devices that routed data allowing information to be translated and shared between systems.Open system integration is designed to: * Allow sy stems to seamlessly share information. The sharing of information reduces the total number of devices, resulting in an overall decrease in cost. * Capitalize on enterprise architectures. This avoids installing several independent systems, which creates duplication of devices. * Eliminate proprietary systems and promote competitive pricing. Utilization of open systems allows users to purchase systems competitively. 1. 5 The Role of Information Systems in Business 1. . 1 Business Environment Business students frequently ask, â€Å"Why do we need to study information technology? † The answer is simple: Information technology is everywhere in business. Information technology plays a critical role in reducing costs, improving productivity and generating growth by facilitating communication and increasing business intelligence. Information technology is supplying the foundation for new business models, new business processes, and new ways of distributing products, services and know ledge.Companies are relying on information technology and telecommunications to conduct more of their work electronically, seamlessly linking factories, offices, sales forces, managers, customers, and suppliers around the globe. Understanding information technology provides great insight to anyone learning about business. Business students who understand technology have an advantage in business. | | | Figure 1-7 Seven major factors that affect today's business environment| Before discussing the role of information systems in organizations, let's xamine some of the most important factors shaping today's new business. These and other factors have altered the environment of business and posed new challenges to business firms and their management. To you, these factors can be translated into a substantial career opportunity, if you understand them and prepare yourself through education to take advantage of them. Figure 2-7 lists seven important factors including globalization, competiti on, information as a key resource, organization restructuring, end-use computing, electronic commerce, and virtual workplace.Emergence of the global economy means that business today is global business. The success of firms today and in the future depends on their ability to manage business globally. Business globalization greatly enhances the value of information systems to organizations and offers new opportunities to business. Organizations need powerful information systems and communications systems to conduct trade and manage businesses on a global scale. Obviously, globalization has increased competition. Information technology is another reason competition is heating up.Globalization and information technology bring new threats to domestic business firms. Customers now can use global communication and information systems to shop in a worldwide marketplace, obtaining price and quality information reliably 24 hours a day. To become competitive participants in international mark ets, firms need powerful information and communication systems. In the information age, information is so important that businesses must have information to be successful. The need to capture and record information about what customers want has led to many databases and data warehouses.These databases and data warehouses contain valuable information to help firms to throb with the pulse of marketplace. These databases and data warehouses of great economic value are based on new information technologies. Today, many organizations are restructuring in a variety of ways. The explosive growth in computing power and networks is turning organizations into networked enterprises, which allow organizations to redesign and reshape their structures, scope of operations, control mechanisms, work practices, work flows, products, and services.Many organizations have reduced the number of levels in their organizational hierarchies. In these flatter organizations, employees are empowered to make mo re decisions than in the past. Contemporary information technology can make more information available to line workers so they can make decisions that previously had been made by managers. Companies can use information and communications technologies to organize in more flexible ways, increasing their ability to respond to changes in the marketplace, to take advantage of new business opportunities, and to reduce the cost of obtaining products and services from outside the firm.Many organizations use information technology to recast the management process, providing powerful new capabilities to help managers plan, organize, lead, and control. One important trend is using information technology for enterprise resource planning. For example, more and more firms are using the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. The ERP system is a business information system that integrates all facets of the business, including planning, purchasing, manufacturing, sales, finance and human resourc es.The ERP system creates an integrated database to coordinate business activities within and across functional areas by sharing consistent information, and automates many business processes. Information and telecommunications technologies are creating new ways of conducting business electronically both inside and outside the firm. The Internet is emerging as the primary technology platform for electronic commerce. Electronic commerce is the computerized process of buying and selling goods and services through the Internet, networks, and other digital technologies.The Internet links millions of organizations and individuals into a single network, creating the foundation for a vast electronic marketplace. An electronic market is an information system that links together many buyers and sellers to exchange information, products, services, and payments. Many organizations are increasingly apply Internet technology to facilitate the management and coordination of other business processe s within the firm — publishing company's policies and work procedures, scheduling work flow, reviewing production plan, revising design documents, and so on, which is called electronic business.Information and telecommunications technologies have eliminated distance as a factor for many types of work in many situations. Many companies are using networked information systems to coordinate their geographically distributed capabilities. Works can be done wherever the employees are located. The term virtual workplace describes a technology-enabled working arrangement where work can be done at virtually any geographical location as along as the work site is linked to one or more of the firm's fixed locations by some type of telecommunications capability.Some companies are even using networked information systems to coordinate with other organizations such as suppliers, distributor, or even competitors as virtual organizations to create and distribute new products and services with out being limited by traditional organizational boundaries or physical location. Intensive use of information technology in business firms, coupled with equally significant organizational redesign, has created a new type of business: the fully digital firm. The digital firm can be defined along several dimensions.A digital firm is one where nearly all of the organization's significant business relationships with customers, suppliers, and employees are digitally enabled and mediated. Core business processes are accomplished through digital networks spanning the entire organization or linking multiple organizations. Key corporate assets–intellectual property, core competencies, and financial and human assets–are managed through digital means. In a digital firm, any piece of information required to support key business decisions is available at anytime and anywhere in the firm.Digital firms sense and respond to their environments far more rapidly than traditional firms, g iving them more flexibility to survive in turbulent times. Digital firms offer extraordinary opportunities for more global organization and management. By digitally enabling and streamlining their work, digital firms have the potential to achieve unprecedented levels of profitability and competitiveness. A few firms, such as Cisco Systems, Dell Computer Corporation or Google, are close to becoming fully digital firms, using the Internet to drive every aspect of their business.In most other companies, a fully digital firm is still more vision than reality but this vision is driving them toward digital integration. For today's managers, information technology is not simply a useful handmaiden, an enabler, but rather it is the core of the business and a primary management tool. There are four major systems that help define the digital firm. Supply chain management systems seek to automate the relationship between suppliers and the firm to optimize the planning, sourcing, manufacturing, and delivery of products and services.Customer relationship management systems attempt to develop a coherent, integrated view of all the relationships a firm maintains with its customers. Enterprise systems create an integrated enterprise-wide information system to coordinate key internal processes of the firm, integrating data from manufacturing and distribution, sales, finance, and human resources. Finally, knowledge management systems seek to create, capture, store, and disseminate firm expertise and knowledge.Collectively, these systems represent the areas where corporations are digitally integrating their information flows and making major information system investments. For example, building only cars that customers order and building them in record time has been every automaker's dream. Now, it appears that Toyota Motor Corporation is coming close to making that dream come true. Toyota is using new software tools and Internet technology to drive its processes for designing a nd manufacturing automobiles and to integrate them with customers and suppliers.The company is moving toward a digital firm organization. In many organizations, end users are developing a growing percentage of information systems with little or no formal assistance from technical specialists. This phenomenon is called end-user computing. Information technology education programs at both the college and pre-college level and easy-to-use of both computer hardware and software have made more and more managers and employees have good computing knowledge and skills.End user computing involves you, as a future knowledge worker, in more than just developing a budget using spreadsheet software, creating a presentation using presentation graphics software, or using a system that someone else developed. It requires you to take an active role in developing systems that support your specific needs or the needs of a team. 1. 5. 2 Functional Areas in Business Understanding information technology begins with gaining an understanding of how businesses function and IT’s role in creating efficiencies and effectiveness across the organization.Typical businesses operate by functional areas. Each area undertakes a specific core business function. These functional areas are interdependent (see Figure 2-8). For example, sales must rely on information from operations to understand inventory, place orders, calculate transportation costs, and gain insight into product availability based on production schedules. For an organization to succeed, every department or functional area must work together sharing common information. Information technology can enable departments to more fficiently and effectively perform their business operations. | Figure 1-8 Common functional areas in business| To perform the MIS function effectively, almost all organizations today, particularly large and medium-sized ones, have an internal IT department. The plans and goals of the IT department must al ign with the plans and goals of the organization. Information technology can enable an organization to increase efficiency in manufacturing, retain key customers, seek out new sources of supply, and introduce effective financial management.Information technology is a relatively new functional area, having been around formally in most organizations only for about 40 years. Job titles, roles, and responsibilities often differ from organization to organization. Most organizations maintain positions such as chief executive officer (CEO), chief financial officer (CFO), and chief operations officer (COO) at the strategic level. Recently there are more IT-related strategic positions such chief information officer (CIO), chief technology officer (CTO), chief security officer (CSO), chief privacy officer (CPO), and chief knowledge officer (CKO).The CIO is responsible for overseeing all uses of information technology and ensuring the strategic alignment of IT with business goals and objective s. The CTO is responsible for ensuring the throughput, speed, accuracy, availability, and reliability of an organization’s information technology. The CSO is responsible for ensuring the security of IT systems and developing strategies and IT safeguards against attacks from hackers and viruses. The CPO is responsible for ensuring the ethical and legal use of information within an organization.The CKO is responsible for collecting, maintaining, and distributing the organization’s knowledge. The CKO designs programs and systems that make it easy for people to reuse knowledge. All the above IT positions and responsibilities are critical to an organization’s success. While many organizations may not have a different individual for each of these positions, they must have leaders taking responsibility for all these areas of concern. It is not always easy for managers to make the right choices when using IT to support business initiatives.Most managers understand their business initiatives well, but are often at a loss when it comes to knowing how to use and manage IT effectively in support of those initiatives. Managers who understand what IT is, and what IT can and cannot do, are in the best position for success. Individuals anticipating a successful career in business must understand information technology including: * Information technology basics. * Roles and responsibilities in information technology. * Measuring information technology’s success. 1. 5. 3 The Role of Information Systems in BusinessIn 2007, American business invested over $1 trillion in information systems hardware, software and telecommunications equipment, more than half of all capital investment in the United States. In addition, they spent another $250 billion on business and management consulting and services, much of which involves redesigning firms’ business operations to take advantage of these new technologies. More than half of all business investment in the United States each year involves information systems and technologies. In 2007, more than 40 million U. S. usinesses had cot-com Internet sites registered. E-commerce and Internet advertising are booming. Companies today manage their operation and inventories in near real time in order to reduce their production and overhead costs and get to market faster. What makes information systems so essential today? Why are businesses investing so much in information systems and technologies? They do so to achieve the following six important business objectives: 1. Operational Excellence: Businesses continuously seek to improve the efficiency of their operations in order to achieve higher profitability.Information systems and technologies are some of the most important tools available to managers for achieving higher levels of efficiency and productivity in business operations, especially when coupled with changes in business practices and management behavior. 2. New Products, Services and Business Models: Information systems and technologies are a major enabling tool for firms to create new product and services, as well as entirely new business models. A business model describes how a company produces, delivers, and sells a product or service to create wealth. . Customer and Supplier Intimacy: Information systems can help a business know its customers and serves them well, the way they want to be served, the customers generally respond by returning and purchasing more. This raises revenues and profits. Likewise with suppliers: the more a business engages its suppliers, the better the suppliers can provide vital inputs. This lowers costs. 4. Improved Decision Making: Many business managers operate in an information fog bank, never really having the right information at the right time to make an informed decision.Instead, they rely on forecasts, best guesses, and luck. The result is over- or underproduction of goods, misallocation of resources, and poor response t imes. Information systems and technologies have made it possible for managers to use real-time data from the marketplace when making decisions. 5. Competitive Advantage: Information systems and technologies can help a business achieve a competitive advantage: doing things better than its competitors, charging less for superior products, and responding to customers and suppliers in real time. 6.Survival: Business firms invest in formation systems and technologies because they are necessities of doing business. Sometimes these necessities are driven by industry-level changes. Many federal and state statutes and regulations create a legal duty for companies to retain records. Firms turn to information systems and technologies to provide the capability to respond to these information retention and reporting requirements. Information systems directly affect how top management draw up long-tern planning, how managers make decisions, and what products and services are produced and how.In f act, information systems play a strategic role in the life of the firm. Figure 2-9 illustrates the relationship between businesses and information systems. | Figure 1-9 Growing interdependence between businesses and information systems| There is a growing interdependence between business strategy, organizational structure, operation rules and procedures, and production on the one hand, and IT infrastructure, IT strategy and information system management on the other. A change in any of these components often requires changes in other components.Existing information systems can act as a constraint on businesses. Often, what the organization plans to do in next five years depends on what its information systems will permit it to do. Developing new products and service, increasing market share, becoming the high-quality or low-cost producer, providing better customer service, and increasing employee productivity depend more and more on the scope and quality of information systems in th e organization. Businesses are not in the business of processing information for its own sake. Instead they rocess information in order to improve organizational performance and produce profits. From a business perspective, an information system is an important instrument for creating value for the organization. There are many ways in which information systems can contribute to firm value, including increasing the firm's return on its investments, enhancing the company's strategic position, or increasing the market value of the firm's stock. Information processing activities support management decision making, enhance the execution of business processes and as a result increase business value.Every business has an information value chain, shown in Figure 2-10, in which raw information is systematically acquired, and then transformed through various stages that add value to that information. From this perspective, information systems are part of a series of value-adding activities fo r acquiring, transforming, and distributing information that managers can use to improve decision making, enhance organizational performance, and ultimately increase firm profitability. | Figure 1-10 Business information value chain|