IT Innovation Flashcards
What are social information systems?
Most organisations use information systems that incorporate some social elements, including social media, direct messaging, chat, web conferencing, collaborative software, online forums, wikis and blogs.
In what ways can information systems provide social functionality
Information systems can provide social functionality in various ways.
- They can integrate directly with established social media such as Facebook and Twitter.
- They can incorporate social features to complement existing functionality.
- The organisation can implement corporate social media platforms such as Yammer.
- Applications can link to public social media platforms aimed at professionals, such as LinkedIn.
What are social technologies?
Increasingly, information systems are using social technologies and features. But what do we mean by social technologies?
- Social media such as Facebook.
- Various forms of text and teleconferencing software.
- Software that lets teams work together in different ways.
- Forums, wikis and blogs—websites where people can add content.
- Services like social bookmarking.
In fact, any technology that allows people to collaborate or work together could be considered a social technology.
What is the impact of social media?
Communication News (including fake news) Alternative viewpoints "Media bubble" Work and home life Link with depression Cyberbullying, stalking... Personal data
Why do organisations need to keep track of social media?
The organisation needs to keep track of what’s happening on social media platforms, because important events could occur that must be responded to. For example, in the case of poor customer service, people often resort to Twitter to complain. Organisations need to respond in a timely fashion.
What is currently fueling IT innovation?
New technology drives change in society. The development of computers has led to major changes in the way we live and work.
Several developments are currently fuelling innovation in IT, including big data, the Internet of Things, drones and robotics, AI and machine learning. The list is endless!
But IT innovation is rarely purely benign. There are concerns surrounding the effects of widespread information systems use on security and privacy, democracy, inequality, employment and culture.
What are the key IT innovations throughout time?
1950s: Mainframe computer
1960s: Minicomputer
1970s: Networking
1980s: Personal computer, mobile phone, internet, email
1990s: Web, Wi-Fi, SMS, Google
2000s: Social media, YouTube, Smartphone, mobile devices
What are some technologies that have changed the way we work?
Here are some technologies that have changed the way we work (or are likely to do so soon).
- Cheaper and faster storage technology
- Faster networks have enabled the Cloud (online services)
- Mobile devices and apps
- The Internet of Things
- Drones and other kinds of robots
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning
- 3D printing
- Blockchain
- Wearable computing
- Virtual reality
- Self-driving vehicles
- Brain-computer interfaces
- Quantum computers
What caused IS to branch out of business and government into society?
Information systems used to be the province of business and government, but now they’re firmly established within society. This trend began in a large way with the introduction of personal computers in the 1980s and the use of the web by ordinary people from the early 1990s onwards.
It was accelerated by:
- The development of mobile devices such as smartphones, and the apps that run on them.
- The use of social media and social networks.
- Pervasive information technology—for instance, the Internet of Things and smart homes.
Factors:
- Loss of privacy
- Effect on democracy
- Inequality
- Employment
- Cultural dominance
What is machine learning?
Machine learning is about computers being able to learn and make decisions without being explicitly programmed. There are different forms of machine learning, but all involve the use of data for training. The machine learning program can learn from large data sets.
What are two types of machine learning?
In supervised learning, the computer is trained by being given examples of how best to classify particular data. In unsupervised learning, the computer decides on its own classifications.
What is the Internet of Things?
The Internet of Things refers to the connection of everyday objects via networks, allowing them to send and receive information. It relies on sensors and actuators.
- A sensor receives some signal from the external world, such as sound, temperature, pressure or humidity, and can transmit information through the network.
- An actuator receives information from the network and can then tell a device to behave in a certain way.
The number of Internet of Things devices is growing exponentially and has already has long outstripped the number of people on earth.
What is blockchain?
In very simple terms, a blockchain is a record of a series of things that is very difficult to alter. Blockchain does this in two main ways.
- Each new record added to the database contains a value that’s computed from the previous entries. If an entry is altered, then all of the subsequent records have to be changed as well—which is, from a computing point of view, infeasibly hard work.
- The database is distributed around many other computers. Those computers all have to agree before a new record is added. If one copy of the database is tampered with, the other computers won’t agree with it, and therefore that change won’t be accepted.
In this way, Blockchain provides a virtually immutable record which can be relied upon.
What are the two main ways blockchain can occur?
- Each new record added to the database contains a value that’s computed from the previous entries. If an entry is altered, then all of the subsequent records have to be changed as well—which is, from a computing point of view, infeasibly hard work.
- The database is distributed around many other computers. Those computers all have to agree before a new record is added. If one copy of the database is tampered with, the other computers won’t agree with it, and therefore that change won’t be accepted.
