Appunti di: Information system and digital trends (in inglese)

Information systems and digital trends

Technology and ICTs

Technology = the way we apply scientific knowledge for practical purposes. It includes machines (like computers) but also techniques and processes (like the way we produce computer chips). In fact, a hammer and the wheel are two examples of early human technology.

Information and communications technology (ICTs) = technology that is used to handle information storage, retrieval, management, and communications. The convergence of IT (information technology) and TLC (telecommunication).

Systems

A system is "a set of interrelated components, with a clearly defined boundary, working together to achieve a common set of objectives by accepting inputs and producing outputs in an organized transformation process."

An information system is "a set of interrelated components which are to collect, process, store, and distribute information to support decision making and control in an organization."

Information systems (IS)

Combination of six key components:

• Hardware
• Software
• Telecommunication
• Networks
• People
• Processes

Data, information, and knowledge

Data = raw facts.

Information = data that are organized, processed, or arranged in a meaningful manner.

Knowledge = ability to understand information, form opinions, and make decisions or predictions.

Digital (from "digit", number)

Digital operates on discrete digits:

• Numbers
• Letters
• Symbols

It deals strictly with ON and OFF: 0s and 1s (binary code).

Analog

It measures and responds to continuously varying electrical or physical magnitudes:

• Temperature
• Pressure

Bit (binary digit) = the smallest unit of information that is held in a computer’s memory. It’s either 0 or 1. Input → binary code (0s and 1s).

Digital convergence

Transformation of analogical signals and physical objects into DIGITAL ones:

It refers to the ability to view the same multimedia content from different types of devices thanks to the digitization of content (movies, pictures, music, voice, text) and to the development of ICTs.

Invention and Innovation

• Invention creates something new; innovation creates something that sells.

To invent something = to discover a new thing CAN be interpreted and understood using: technology.

To innovate something = is to introduce something new to the market, to manipulate existing inventions and turn them into a product or process that is of use in the real world MUST be interpreted and understood using: technology, socio-cultural factors, marketing factors.

Introduction to Computers

Hardware = everything you can touch and see (stupid)

• Based on 0s and 1s
• Examples: Hard-drive, Monitor, Keyboard

Software = programs and applications (smart)

• Part of the computer that cannot be seen
• Needed for the computer to function
• Designed to solve common or custom problems

Infrastructure components

Supercomputer = only one purpose (e.g. launch a shuttle), one to many users, typically used for scientific research, 5,000+ GB, cost up to 100 million.

Minicomputer = more users at the same time, typically used for providing websites or access to databases and/or applications, up to 512 GB, costs up to 50,000/100,000.

Microcomputers = one user, typically used for personal productivity, from 512 MB to 2 GB, costs up to 750/5,000.

System VS Application software

System software tasks:

• Booting (or starting) your computer
• Reading programs into memory and managing memory allocation
• Managing where programs and files are located in secondary storage
• Maintaining the structure of directories and subdirectories
• Formatting disks
• Controlling the computer monitor
• Sending documents to the printer

Common operating systems:

• Windows
• Mac OS
• iOS
• Android

Application software tasks:

• Word processing software
• Electronic spreadsheet software
• Database software
• Presentational software
• Communication software

How does a computer work?

4 operations (information processing cycle):

• Input
• Process
• Output
• Storage

4 computer components (1 for each operation):

• Input devices
• Processor unit
• Output devices
• (Auxiliary) Storage devices

Input devices

(Enable user to enter data)

• Keyboard
• Mouse
• Scanner
• Touch screen input
• OCR (optical character recognition)

The processor unit

Comprised of 2 components:

• Central processing unit (CPU) = Interprets instructions to the computer, Performs logical and arithmetic operations, Causes the input and output operations to occur
• Central computer memory =
  RAM - Random Access Memory
  - Computer’s primary storage of data to be processed
  - Silicon chips that store data and instructions as electronic signals
  - CPU can manipulate electrical signals
  - Contents of RAM will be lost when power is turned off
  ROM - Read Only Memory
  - Instructions and data are hard coded on the silicon chips.
  - Example: BIOS (basic input-output system)
  - Gives the computer the initial instructions to get it started once the computer is turned on.

Output devices

(Make the information resulting from processing available for use)

• Printer
• Computer screens
• Speakers

Auxiliary Storage devices

(Also known as Secondary Storage Devices)

• Hard drives
• CD-ROM
• Tape backup drives
• ZIP drives

Bit and Bytes

Binary digit = bit (each "digit" of a binary number, 0s or 1s)
1 byte = 8 bits (can represent a symbol/letter)
1 KB = 1 Kilobyte (1 thousand bytes)
1 MG = 1 Megabyte (1 million bytes)
1 GB = 1 Gigabyte (1 billion bytes)
1 TB = 1 Terabyte (1 trillion bytes)

ASCII VS UNICODE

ASCII = American Standard Code for Information Interchange (only enough for the "normal" alphabet, in fact, Americans didn’t care for other countries’ alphabet).
It supports specific characters and occupies less space.

Two standards:

• 7 bit ASCII → 128 characters possible
• 8 bit ASCII (1 byte) → 256 characters possible (enough for the time it was created)

With 8 bit ASCII = "ciao" is 4 bytes (each letter is 1 byte/8 bits)

UNICODE = universal coding system
It supports a large number of characters and occupies more space.

Three standards:

• (UTF = Unicode Transformation Format)
• UTF 8 = 256 characters possible
• x2 → UTF 16 = 65536 characters possible
• x4 → UTF 32 = 4294967296 characters possible

With UTF 32 = "ciao" is 32 bytes (each letter is 4 byte/32 bits)

Computer networks

Components of computer components:

• Two or more computers (hosts)
• A transmission medium (cable, wireless)
• A protocol (rules) dictating communication

Types of networks:

• Personal area networks (PAN) = wireless communication between devices (e.g. Bluetooth), under 10 meters
• Local area networks (LAN) = sharing of data/software/applications and other resources between several users, typically within a building
• Wide area networks (WAN) = connect multiple LANs, often with distributed ownership and management, large physical distance spanning multiple buildings or the area of a city to worldwide (Internet)

WAN’s types:

• Campus area networks
• Metropolitan area networks
• Enterprise WANs
• Global network

Internet

It’s a WAN, the wider global network (Network of networks). No one owns it. No formal management organization. Originally developed by the department of defense (its lack of centralization made it less vulnerable to wartime or terrorist attacks). It’s based on TCP/IP protocol (TCP = transmission control protocol, divide a message and re-integrate it when sent; IP = internet protocol, give information on the address of the sender and the receiver).

Internet’s history

• 1960s - US Defense Advanced Research Project (DARPA)
• 1969 → Arpanet - WAN that linked universities and research centers
• 1972 → Arpanet has 37 hosts/TCP/IP
• 1980s - inside Arpanet 3 different networks:
  • NSFnet (National Science Foundation Network)
  • BitNet (Because It’s Time Network)
  • CSnet (Computer Science Network)
• 1983 → Internet
• 1991 → WWW (World Wide Web)

Packet switching (vs Circuit switching)

Current data networks use packet switching. Messages are broken up into packets, which are sent individually to the destination. The receiving computer assembles the packets back into the message. This allows packets from different messages to be intermingled on the network. The internet’s standard communication language dictates how messages are broken and reassembled.

IP Addressing

Each computer on the Internet has a unique identification number called IP address. The IP addressing system currently in use on the internet uses a four-part number (four bytes). Each part of the address is a number ranging from 0 to 256 and each part is separated from the previous with a period "." (Example: 106.29.242.17). The combination of the four IP address parts provides 4.2 billion possible addresses (256 x 256 x 256 x 256). This number seemed adequate until 1998, now people are working to develop an alternate addressing system that will accommodate the projected growth (IPv6).

Domain Name Addressing

For Websites and individual pages, we use Domain Name Addressing:

• A unique name associated with a specific IP address by a program that runs on an Internet host computer.
• DNS (Domain Name System) = a distributed set of databases residing in computers around the world that is used to translate alphanumeric domain names into the equivalent IP address used by computers to find a website.
• The host computer that runs this software is called a Domain Name Server.
• Domain names can include any number of parts separated by periods, however, most domain names currently in use have only three or four parts.
• Domain names follow a hierarchical model that you can follow reading from left to right: Example → "gsb.uchicago.edu" is the computer connected to "gsb" = the internet at the Graduate School of Business "uchicago" = which is an academic unit of the University of Chicago "edu" = which is an Educational institution.
• NO OTHER computer on the internet has the same domain name.

Top-level Domains (TLDs)

Generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs):

• .com - commercial organization
• .org - not-for-profit organization
• .edu - educational organizations
• .mil - military organizations
• .gov - governmental organizations
• .net - network service providers
• New: .biz, .info, .name etc.

Country Code Top Level Domain (ccTLDs): One for each country.

The Internet and the World Wide Web

The internet:

• Is a large worldwide collection of networks
• Use a common protocol to communicate with each other
• Based on internetworking or combining networks to form larger networks

World Wide Web: (one of the many applications running on the internet)

• Web protocols (e.g. HTTP)
• Web pages (documents containing HTML)
• Web servers (provide access via a Web site)
• Web browsers (provide interface to Web pages)

HTTP - HyperText Transfer Protocol

An application (or transfer) protocol = a set of rules that the computer uses to move files from one computer to another on the internet. HTTP is the most common transfer protocol. Two other protocols that you can use on the internet are: FTP - File Transfer Protocol and SMTP - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (for email).

HTML - HyperText Markup Language

Public files on web servers are ordinary text files, to allow web browser software to read them the text must be formatted according to a generally accepted standard. The standard used on the web is HTML. It uses codes or tags to tell the browser software how to display the text contained in the document.

Example: A web browser reading the following line of text...

<B> A review of the book <I>Wind Instruments of the 18th Century</I></B>

It recognizes <B> and </B> tags as instructions to display the entire line of text in BOLD. It recognizes <I> and </I> tags as instructions to display the entire line of text in ITALICS.

Extranets and Intranets

Companies have confidential data that need to be shared on a limited basis:

• Extranet = password-protected Website designed for sharing with select partners.
• Intranet = password-protected Website designed for sharing within the company.

Data and communication are protected via fire-walls and Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).

Information systems for taking decisions

You need data and information mainly for:

• Doing something
• Taking decisions

2 types of decisions:

• Structured = high level of certainty, in which procedure can be specified in advance (e.g. light switch)
• Unstructured = low level of certainty, in which procedure can’t be specified in advance

Decision-Making levels of an organization

Executive level: take decisions for the company (long-lasting decision, e.g. 5 years)

Managerial level: take decisions for their department (decision that lasts 1 year circa)

Operational level: take decisions for their work (at the moment)

Different types of IS according to different decision-making levels

Organizations use IS to:

• Be more productive and profitable
• Gain competitive advantage
• Reach more customers
• Improve service to their customers

All types of organization:

• Professional
• Social
• Religious
• Educational
• Governmental

Operational level

Who: employees, office workers, secretaries, assistants, supervisors

What: automate routine and repetitive activities (this involves transaction processing and lots of updates to the database)

Why: improve organizational efficiency, make the company run. Day-to-day business processes - Decisions both structured and unstructured.

Following actions and processes can often be automated by IS. IS is used to: automate and optimize processes and understand causes of performance problems. Main purpose: increase efficiency.

TPS - Transaction Processing Systems

Process day-to-day activities

• Collect data generated by these activities
• Used by a broad range of organizations (e.g. Banking system for managing your bank account; Grocery store checkout cash register with connection to network)

Business processes supported by TPS and databases

• Payroll processing
• Cash management
• Employee skill inventory
• Pricing and sales analysis
• Manufacturing resource utilization

Databases for structured data

Database = collection of related and structured data organized in a way that facilitates data searches

Entering and Querying data:

• The activity of entering data is typically managed through the use of forms
• Forms can be used to enter new data, update or delete existing data or create reports

Query = is a request for data or information from a database table or combination of tables (structured and specific queries)

Managerial level

Who: Mid Level and Functional managers

What: achieve strategic objectives, monitor and control operational-level activities

Why: improve organizational effectiveness

Mid Level managers and functional managers:

• Monitor and control operational-level activities
• Focus on effectively utilizing and deploying resources
• Goal is achieving strategic objectives

Managers’ decisions: Semistructured