Week 2 - Chapters 4-6

Chapter 4 - Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems

The chapter notes that information technology is introducing changes for which laws and rules of acceptable conduct have yet to be developed.  Increasing capabilities of storage, computing power, and networking capabilities only compound and magnify these issues.  The authors suggest that ethical, social, and political issues are closely linked and these relationships can be simplified into give general categories.  They include information rights and obligations (what rights do individuals have?), property rights and obligations (preservation of intellectual property), accountability and control (who is held liable when in inappropriate data is collected or is otherwise misused), system quality (standards of data system and quality), and quality of life (how and to what degree we preserve key values).  Undoubtedly like the majority of people in this era, I (or those close to me) have had my own share of impacts within this realm.  For one, my wife has been a prior victim of identity theft with someone trying to establish credit in her name.  I have wondered many times about the possible causation factors.  For instance, was it a compromise of credit card information stored within some shopping database?  If so, what about the associated obligation, accountability, and liability of those holding our sensitive data?  Another example is I have had a couple of photographer friends who have had their images and photos stolen online.  The modern available of online search and storage makes this much easier.  Furthermore, given the availability of pictures and other information online, many people may not even fully realize the ramifications of copyright laws and the potential damages that may be done to others when information is used or modified without permission.

Chapter 5 -  IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies

IT infrastructure was defined as the shared technological resources that provide the platform for specific information system applications, which include hardware, software, and services that a shared across the entire firm.  The "Should Businesses Move to the Cloud?" case study was particularly interesting in terms of its overview and the benefits/issues with ever-prevalent cloud computing.  For one, the case study highlights services provided through Amazon for game-maker Zynga.  This is a prime illustration of the flexibility that cloud services can provide small businesses.  Online cloud storage solutions, even including free services by Google, seemingly reduce the barrier of entry into the marketplace for those small businesses who may need such services while possibly not having the capital to invest in those resources.  I further thought about the productivity benefits that cloud computing offers educational platforms.  One obvious example is the Oklahoma Christian IT infrastructure and its associated reliance on Google Enterprise solutions (gmail e-mail, storage capabilities etc.).  Lastly, it was important of the case study to note that cloud services are not without flaws and that 100 percent uptime is not reality.  This was well-illustrated by an Amazon multiday outage that impacted many popular websites and online services including the likes of Netflix.  A study indicated that the majority of major cloud computing services were down about 10 hours per year with average availability at 99.9 percent or less. 

Chapter 6 -  Foundations of Business Intelligence: Databases and Information Management 

A fundamental point of the chapter was that an effective information system provides users with accurate (free of errors), timely, and relevant information.  It was noted that a surprising number of businesses lack these key characteristics because their information systems have been poorly organized and maintained.  Over time, traditional file management can create problems such as data redundancy and inconsistency, inflexibility, poor security, and lack of data sharing and availability.  A database management system (DBMS) is one tool that help in this process by permitting a centralization of data and data management.  The "Asking the Customer by Asking the Database" case study highlighted how companies such as Forbes, Monster.com, and Target utilize customer information.  In particular, I felt the Target information was especially insightful, if not a bit shocking or scary.  I was not surprised to learn that Target assigns a unique guest ID to its customers and retains and uses information such as age, martial status, number of children, what credit cards are used etc.  Target can even purchase additional information about your job history, ethnicity, and financial history such as bankruptcy's.  But, I was a bit taken back (but still impressed) to learn that Target has gone as far as creating a pregnancy prediction score based upon purchase habits.  Although they use the information to target baby-related coupons to women with high prediction scores, they are careful to not over-saturate in order to avoid the appearance of profiling and raising customer suspicions.