ICT: Unit 2: L.O.3

Question 1

What are the categories of Information used by Individuals?

Answer 1

1) Communication–> sending some information to others
(e.g. face to face web conferencing/ encrypted email)

2) Entertainment–> something people find enjoyable
(e.g. streaming platforms)
–>(these often analyse user data for business decisions and recommendations)

3) Education and Training–> learning new knowledge or skills (Online methods include free resources) e.g. Wikipedia/ Youtube
-(also paid services such as premium courses)

4) Research–> finding out some new information
(e.g. using news articles)

5) Planning–> coming up with the steps needed for some future goal
(e.g. using ‘To Do Lists’)

6) Financial–> Dealing with a person’s money
(e.g. online banking platforms/ live-stock market apps)

7) Location Dependent–> Specific to one particular area
(e.g. using geo-tagged social media posts)

Question 2

What are the categories of Information used by Organisations?

Answer 2

1) Knowledge Management and Creation–>
systems that organise information across an organisation, and allow new information to be collected
(e.g. the database systems to hold customer data)

2) Marketing–> how the organisation advertises, promotes, and sells its goods or services
(e.g. social media marketing campaigns)

3) MIS–> a system to collect, analyse, store, and present data (several business functions are integrated in one place)
(e.g. used as a central system all employees can log into)

4) Financial Analysis and Modelling–> looking at patterns within information and making predictions for the future

(e.g. analysing sales figures to look for trends and to evaluate the progress of different products)

5) Contact Management–> the systems to hold and retrieve contact details
(e.g. a sorting facility may be used to retrieve the details for the next day’s appointment)

6) Decision Making–> what the organisation chooses to do based on the information they have
(e.g. board room meetings discussing the latest modelling)

7) Internal and External Communication–> the methods to send messages to staff (internal) and other stakeholders (external)

(e.g. instant messaging)

Question 3

What is ‘Big Data’?

Answer 3

Data which is so large or complex, traditional data processing software cannot deal with it
(e.g. all the sales data under a popular loyalty scheme)

(+)–> may provide more detailed patterns/trends

(-)–> harder and takes longer to analyse

Question 4

What are the stages of ‘Data Analysis’?

Answer 4

1) Identify the need:
–>what do you want to find out?
–>what data is needed to allow this analysis?

2) Define Scope:
–>what is realistic and actually needed
–>setting out more detail of the process (e.g. timescales/constraints/exact content)

3) Identify Potential Sources:
–>where could the data come from

4) Source and select information:
–>selecting the best information available
–>evaluate the reliability and accuracy

5) Select most appropriate tools

6) Process and analyse data:
–>using the chosen tools

7) Record and Store Information:
–>retain results for later

8) Share results:
–>sharing any conclusions with stakeholders

Question 5

What are the different Data analysis tools?

Answer 5

1) Data Tables:
–>showing data in rows and columns e.g. in a spreadsheet or database
–>may let you easily sort or filter data

2) Visualisation of Data:
–>e.g. generating a chart or graph
–>often makes a dataset easier to understand

3) Trend and Pattern Identification:
–>e.g. extending a line graph into the future to make predictions

4) Data Cleaning:
–>removing outdated/inaccurate data

5) Location Mapping:
–>showing movement of objects (e.g. a flight tracker over a map)

Question 6

What is an information System and what are the different types?

Answer 6

–>How information is organised in software and hardware

(the 2 types are Open and Closed Information systems)

Question 7

What are characteristics of an ‘Open System’?

Answer 7

-Open systems are able to interact with other systems in order to share information
e.g.
–> Using one system’s login to access another system
–> A shopping website launching a card provider’s system

Question 8

What are characteristics of a ‘Closed System’?

Answer 8

-Closed systems keep all information contained and do not communicate with other systems
e.g.
–> Safeguarding system of a school
–> Company database inside a building

Question 9

Evaluate the differences between ‘Open’ and ‘Closed’ Systems

Answer 9

Open:
–>Those outside the organisation have access (e.g. customers)
–>The organisation can make use of other services which already exist (less time ‘reinventing the wheel’ –> saves time/costs

Closed:
–>Organisation has full control
–>Hackers can’t access from the outside
–>They may have to spend time ‘reinventing the wheel’