Weekly Blog #16

This week in class we were to learn about ethics and technology. It is a shame to see how many of the new technologies are used unethically. The most recognizable unethical behavior includes computer fraud: identity theft, email spam, phishing, hacking and many more. Some others are debatable. Some people argue that peer to peer file sharing its legal the same way as if you make a copy of a CD for a friend. On the other hand, others argue that file sharing is stealing and should not be allowed. Computer technology and information systems have improved our lives tremendously. You can now instantly view, send, share or store all kinds of data, including email, pictures, video, medical diagnostics etc. Of course there are those who use it to take advantage of others. The following article: P2P Botnets pose Fresh Network Threat shows how a new type of malware: Botnets can be used unethically. It explain how a botnet can spread itself on a P2P network and launch and attach which since it is not located on any specific location, uses hundreds of computers on the P2P network they are very difficult to detect and stop.

Individual Blog Assignment #5

How did your group make the decisions? What problems did you encounter in the process? Did your group make decisions in a different way than the whole class did? Why? What kind of information system do you need to design to support such a process of negotiation? Provide a simple hardware/software configuration.

At the beginning our group decided to send me all the value tables to create an Excel spreadsheet with all the possible combination solutions in order to find the one that would maximize the best outcome for everyone. We then decided to delete any combinations that would give any of the members of the group less than 20 points we ended up with 2 possible combinations. The first option would give myself the lowest score with 26 points and a total for the whole group of 264 points. The second option would give John the lowest score of all with only 20 points but will give a total of 375 points to the group. After intense negotiation, the whole group, John included, agreed to select the second option since with the exception of John everyone else in the group will benefit much more than with the first combination. Then, after speaking to the professor we realized that we weren’t limited to just find the best combination. As long as the whole group agreed, we had the power and ability to trade, pool the points given by the professor among ourselves. In other words there weren’t any restrictions and you could go outside the box. Right then we decided to pool all the points given by the professor and redistribute them evenly among all members of the group, even though some members had way more points than others, in a combination that would give us all a maximized result.
After speaking with several other groups they had all done what we did originally. They also created spreadsheets and chose a combination that everyone agreed on. I also saw a group before class where all its members were discussing and trying different combinations. They were the only ones that I know that did not use an Excel spreadsheet. I am assuming that they didn’t want to share their results with their group.
To support this process of negotiation I would design a server-based system with an internet linked interface to make it easier for all parties to access and communicate. We would then need an application that would allow all parties to communicate, negotiate, share and disclose data if wanted. After all parties input their data, the system automatically calculates the best options for each member and also identify the best options for the groups as a whole to ease negotiations.

Weekly Blog # 15

This week in class we learned about the system development life cycle, and more specifically about system design. The first step of the design is to create a blueprint, or blueprints. The two most important models are Data Flow Diagram and the Entity Relationship Diagram. The Data Flow Diagram shows how the data and processes flow and can have different levels. You can Zoom in or out for example from the concept all the way to the programming language for each of the steps. The Data Relationship diagram is not dynamic. It does not show the flow of information. All information on the system is organized in objects which are easier to describe. Each object has attributes which can have different formats. Both these two models can be made using the UML language which already defines the guidelines and rules of the diagrams.
The following article: QuickUML 3.0 - UML Design Tool for Universal Binary Mac OS X and Windows Vista announces release of quick UML. This new 3rd version adds new diagram presentation features, code generators for other programming languages and many other features. Its new presentation features allow attributes, operations, properties and events to be define for each class and each project can be presented as one multi-panel window.

Weekly Blog #14

This week in class I learned about information system development and system reengineering. It involves several steps like identify inputs and outputs, flow of activities, resources etc. We also learned about the types of improvements that can be done, including from sequential to parallel, enhancing the decision authority, information sharing, eliminate buffering, automation and changing from batch to continuous. Another thing we learned was about the system development life cycle, which comprises of the following components: planning, analysis, design, development, testing, implementation and maintenance. The following article: Planned Systems Intenational Wins Contract to Provide Enterprise - Wide Provider Database to Military Health System talks about the contract Planned Systems International won to provide Enterprise-Wide Provider Database to Military Health System. The $2.5 million contract will help integrate functions that consolidate data and cross-link them to multiple business operations, processes and applications. The contract will provide a variety of services including technical management, system development, system integration, and formal testing.