Distance Learning IS

In this class we used a number of different information systems including moodle, our blogs and the Internet. Moodle was the main tool used in obtaining assignments, posting completed work, communicating with other students and the professor, and viewing the grades on our assignments. One of the most important things I learned from the class is that we use information systems everyday of our lives. Although I did not know many of the terms and concepts in the book it was fairly easy to catch on because we use a number of different technologies in our day-to-day lives.

Our blogs helped us to publish our research in a public forum to be shared with others. Today most of our learning is done through the Internet. Books are becoming used less and less; you can even buy your books through the Internet now and use an electronic version as opposed to print.

This class was a great example of a real life information system for me being that I have never taken an online class or used moodle before. At my school we use Blackboard, which is similar but different at the same time. The Internet has allowed us to be able to take classes in the comfort of our own home and on our own time. This was extremely convenient for me because I go to Rowan University and I am graduating in the spring and needed a few extra credits; it is great that I was able to take this course without having to get acquainted with a new campus.

I think this class will be very helpful to all of us in the future as the Internet continues to grow. Almost every profession can benefit from the growing information the Internet provides us. With Web 2.0 we can share information and exchange data with others in our field. With the mass amount of knowledge and information available to us 24/7 we can do almost anything. 

KMS/DSS

Knowledge management (KM) system is a phrase that is used to describe the creation of knowledge repositories, improvement of knowledge access and sharing as well as communication through collaboration, enhancing the knowledge environment and managing knowledge as an asset for an organization (1). KMS is very important to businesses because it helps them share and reuse knowledge giving them a competitive advantage. In e-business KMS allows organizational response, innovation, competency and efficiency and systematic leverage.  Collaborative technology makes it easier to manage knowledge properly. Among these are information overload, technology advancement, increased professional specialization, competition, workforce mobility and turnover, and capitalization of organizational knowledge (1). The architecture of KMS could be developed by using four layers, including application layer, technology layer, infrastructure layer, and repository layer.

A Decision support system (DSS) is a system that businesses and organizations use in making decisions through a computer based information system. DSS is a way of modeling information in order to make decisions. A properly designed DSS is an interactive software-based system intended to help decision makers compile useful information from raw data, documents, personal knowledge, and/or business models to identify and solve problems and make decisions (2). The key to decision support systems is to collect data, analyze and shape the data that is collected and then try to make sound decisions or construct strategies from analysis (3). There are many kinds of DSS, which include Model Driven DSS, Communications Driven DSS, Data Driven DSS, Document Driven DSS, and Knowledge Driven DSS. DSS can access all current information assets, compare sales figures between one week and the next, project revenue figures based on new product sales assumptions and high level summary reports.

1. http://www.tlainc.com/articl83.htm

2. http://www.informationbuilders.com/decision-support-systems-dss.html

3. http://www.tech-faq.com/decision-support-system.html

Electronic Business

E-business infrastructure is the share of total economic infrastructure used to support electronic business processes and conduct electronic commerce transactions (1). It includes hardware, software, telecommunication networks, support services, and human capital used in electronic business and commerce. Examples of e-business infrastructure are computers, routers and other hardware, satellite, wire, optical communications, network channels, system and application software, support services, electronic payment, and human capital. Electronic business (e-business) can easily be defined as any process that a business organization conducts over a computer-mediated network (1). E-commerce is any transaction completed over a computer-mediated network that involves the transfer of ownership or rights to use goods or services (1). People use e-commerce on a daily basis some of the most common examples include buying books on Amazon or Barnes & Noble, booking a flight and hotel room through Orbitz or simply paying your Macy’s charge card online.

 Enterprise 2.0 is the term for the technologies and business practices that liberate the workforce from the constraints of legacy communication and productivity tools like email (2). It provides business managers accurate information at any time through a web of inter-connected applications, services and devices. It makes collective intelligence accessible at any time, which gives a business a huge competitive advantage in the form of increased innovation, productivity and agility (2). Enterprise 2.0 is the use of web 2.0 technologies within an organization to provide communication and sharing throughout other networks. Enterprise 2.0 aims to help employees, customers and suppliers collaborate, share, and organize information. Andrew McAfee describes Enterprise 2.0 as "the use of emergent social software platforms within companies, or between companies and their partners or customers" (3). In a way e-business, enterprise 2.0 and web 2.0 are all connected and use one another to share information.

1. http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/ebusines.htm

2. http://www.e2conf.com/about/what-is-enterprise2.0.php

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_2.0

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is a fairly new concept to the world wide web. Whereas before companies would hire people to publish information for them in order for the public to view now people can publish their own materials. Web 2.0 is dynamic in the way that it allows users to connect and share information  it is more organized and is based on serving web applications to users (1). Web 2.0 has brought about the creation of application programming interface (API) which gives other websites or software developers access to its capabilities and allows them to exchange data. APIs provide the capability for website designers to incorporate Google and Yahoo maps and driving directions directly into their existing website. When your favorite restaurant embeds driving directions on their homepage, you may have an API to thank (2).

APIs and other data feeds such as Real Simple Syndication (RSS), have created what is referred to as a “mash-up,” in which many data sources are put together to create entirely new services. A great example is Zillow.com, which pulls property tax data, housing sales reports, and overlays it atop street maps and satellite images to show home values and to visualize real estate trends (2). APIs make the contents of other sites more accessible to users which in turn helps expand the market for existing products and services. Another example of some of the services available through web 2.0 include   Meebo. It uses one interface from all the major IM services and allows you to send and receive instant messages from all the major IM services. All you have to do is give Meebo your usernames and passwords for all your accounts and let them be the intermediary for all your online interactions thereafter (2).

1.   http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/Web_2_point_0.html           

2.   http://www.esecurityplanet.com/views/article.php/3638076/The-Dangers-of-Web-20.htm

3.    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0