Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is defined as incorporating techniques that involve the structure and composition of matierials on a nanoscale. It is becoming very important in today's information age by developing computers that are faster and smaller with more memory. Some of the areas that it is important in is energy, information and communication, and heavy industry. With energy, it can help reduce energy consumption and make for more environmentally friendly energy systems. With information and communication, it can help make larger and faster storage devices and develop faster and cheaper computers. With heavy industry, it can help in areas such as aerospace, construction, refineries, and vehicle manufacturing.

Global Information Systems

Global Information Systems are defined as information systems tht work across national borders, facilitates communication between headquarters and subsidiaries in other countries, and incorporates all the technologies and applications found in a typical information system to store, manipulate, and transmit data across cultural and geographic boundaries. Some of the challenges to using GIS are lack of standardization, cultural differences, diverse regulatory practices, poor telecommunication infrastructures, and lack of skilled analysts and programmers.

M-Commerce

M-Commerce is defined as using handheld devices such as smart phones and PDAs to conduct business transactions. A popular application of m-commerce are iPhone apps that include games, entertainment, news, and travel. Google offers applications such as gmail and mobile Internet. MSN offers Windows Live services, Hotmail, and Windows Live Messenger.

Biometric Security Measures

Biometric security measures are defined as elements that are unique to a person that can not be stolen, lost, copied, or passed on to others. Some examples of these measures are facial recognition, fingerprints, palmprints, and retinal scanning. Some advantages of biometric security measures are they offer a high degree of accuracy and have the potential to be used in many civilian fields. Some disadvantages are high costs, users' reluntace, and complex installation.

Differences Between OLTP & OLAP

The difference between OLTP and OLAP is that OLAP is used to locate multiple sources of information and is based on time, product, and location which is different from OLTP. OLAP is used to faciliate business intelligence by being used for inventory and is used for fast manipulations and calculations. It also helps a business by sifting through massive amounts of statistics to find specific information.

Google Keyword Toolbar Activity

Recently in class, we were asked by our instructor to do a search on the google keyword tool. I chose to do my search on the recent Super Bowl champs, the Green Bay Packers. I found out that they had 823,000 global searches and 673,000 local search. When I did a search on them, the page displayed the following ads:

www.footballfanatics.com/Packers_Champs
http://www.packertime.com/
http://www.sportsfanshop.jcpenney.com/

Benefits of an Extranet

Benefits of an extranet to an organization are coordination, feedback, customer satisfaction, cost reduction, and expedited communication.

Coordination: Improves relations between business partners such as suppliers, distributors, and customers
Feedback: Gives customers an oppurtunity to express opinions on new products
Customer Satisfaction: Links customers to an organization so they can get information on products and  services
Cost Reduction: Can reduce inventory costs by providing information to participants
Expedited Communication: Links intranet for access to critical information

Qualifications of Information in an Information System

In order for information to be useful, it must have qualities such as timeliness, intergration with other data and information, consistency and accuracy, and relevance. These qualities are important because if the information lacks any of them, incorrect decisions are made, there is a misallocation of resources, and windows of opportunity are overlooked. They also help users explore different options and gain insight into tasks.

Differences Between Computer Literacy and Infomation Literacy

The first question that may be of interest to you is "What are the differences between information literacy and computer literacy?" Computer literacy is defined as having the skills in using software such as word processing, spreadsheet, database management systems, and presentation software, and also havng basic knowledge of hardware and software. Information literacy is deifined as understanding the role of  information in generating and using business intelligence. BI provides historical, current, and predictive views of business operations and environments. BI also gives organizations competitive advantage.

Welcome

Welcome to my Information Systems blog. I am very excited about sharing the information that I have learned from the Information Systems course I am taking at this time. I will be answering different questions on various topics to keep you informed. Please check back periodically to see if I have answered any questions that my be of interest to you.