Web-based Systems Insights: Technology, Society, and Marketing

1. IMS5401Web-based Systems Development Topic 1: Introduction to Web-based Systems

2. Agenda 1. Unit administration 2. Introductions 3. Why study web-based systems? 4. The unit 5. Web evolution 6. Keeping it all in context: A cautionary word about technology, society and marketing

3. 1. Unit Administration • Teaching staff • Resources • Assessment • Plagiarism • Student responsibilities

4. Teaching staff • Lecturer: Martin Atchison Room S4.11 (Chisholm Tower) Phone 9903-1912 e-mail: martin.atchison@sims.monash.edu.au • Tutors: Robin Wilson Rabeena Prasad Kate Roberts Manoj Kathpalia

5. Unit Resources • Lectures and lecture overheads • Tutorials • Unit web site • References • Assignment information

6. Assessment • Examination 50%Held in scheduled exam period • Assignments 50%Details will be posted on web site later this week • Hurdle requirement: You must achieve a minimum of 40% of the marks for both components to be eligible to pass. If you fail one of the hurdle requirements, a maximum mark of 44% will be returned to the Board of Examiners

7. Assessment: Example of hurdle failure • Examination = 19/50 • Assignment = 32/50 • Total = 51/100 • Fail ! Official Result is 44/100 because the exam mark is less than 40% of the available marks for that component (19/50 = 38%)

8. Plagiarism • Note University policy • Note School policy and requirements • Note lecturer’s attitude

9. Your Responsibilities • You are responsible for your own learning • I help you with information and services • You must: • read widely • ask questions • think • form opinions and try to justify them • You don’t have to agree with me, but you DO have to be able to argue your case coherently

10. 2. Introductions • The lecturer • The class

11. The Lecturer • Background - general • Background in IS - industry and academia • Web background - BMultimedia, this unit • Beliefs/attitudes/values/etc • Interested in big picture • Critical/sceptical/(argumentative?) (not cynical!) • Pragmatic

12. The Class • What Course? (80% MIMS) • Technical knowledge about IT in general? • Technical knowledge about the web? • Experience in web development? • Expectations/attitudes towards the unit?

13. 3. The Unit: Why have a unit about web-based systems? • Technological change • Implications for IT professionals • Evolution of IS and types of IS • Evolution of the web • Need for the study of web-based systems

14. A brief digression about technological change/evolution • How do innovations start? • How do they spread? • How do they adapt and change? • How do they cause adaptation and change? • What comes first: • need creates innovation? • innovation creates need? • Complex area of study!

15. Implications of evolution for professional roles • Diversification • Specialisation • Commodification • Impact on changing professional knowledge base, roles and responsibilities

16. Evolution of IS and types of IS • Origins of computing • Origins of IS • Evolution of IS • TPS • MIS/DSS/EIS • KBS/AI/neural networks/etc • GIS/OAS/ERP/data warehousing/etc • Note basis for classification - continuous evolution of field • What are “web-based systems” (and how do we study them in any useful way)?

17. Evolution of the web and types of web system • The Internet and related technologies • The web as originally envisaged • Some ‘stages’ in the evolution of the web: • The publishing/media web • (The pornographer’s web) • The corporate web • The business and e-commerce web • The “virtual community” web • The corporate intranet web • The semantic web? The “web services” web?

18. Aspects of the web and web-based systems • The internet and the web • Web technologies and tools • Web applications and usage • Web development • Social/organisational impact of the web

19. Need for the study of web-based systems • The web provides a unique blend of elements: • New technologies and applications • New development needs/issues/approaches/processes • New management needs/issues/approaches/processes • Developing systems on the web may require: • Variations/adaptations of ‘old’ approaches • Completely new approaches • Use of the web may introduce new management opportunities and problems • Opportunities for changing business processes • New ares for management and control

20. 4. The Unit • Possible unit content • Actual unit purpose, objectives and limitations

21. What could (should?) a unit on web-based systems focus on? • 1. Fundamental web and Internet technologies • The technical infrastructure of the internet and web • Internet architectures • Communications protocols • Web services, development tools and technologies • Eg, see CSE4881 Internet architecture and protocols • 2. Web application development environments • Mark-up languages - HTML, CSS, XML, etc • Dynamic HTML - JavaScript, JScript, Java applets, etc • Sever-side scripting - CGI, Perl, ASP, PHP, etc • Eg, see CPE9005 Web development; CSE5060 Multimedia applications on the web

22. What could (should?) a unit on web-based systems focus on (cont)? • 3. Web page design • Graphic design and graphic communication • Interface design • Web usability design • Eg see IMS5302 Human factors and usability; VCM4002 Graphic design for multimedia • 4. Web applications for business • Electronic Commerce: B2B and B2C • EDI standards and protocols • Security • Eg see IMS5007 Electronic Commerce; BUS5960 B2C internet commerce • 5, 6, … etc!

23. What is the focus for this unit? • What does the internet/web enable us to do? • How can these capabilities be used to meet people’s information needs? • Strengths and weaknesses of web technologies for different information needs? • Issues when designing a web-based system to meet an information need? • Issues in implementing and managing web-based systems in organisations?

24. Unit Objectives • Critically examine the nature of the web and web technologies and their implications for web systems • Examine the evolution of ideas about web development and web usage • Assess the implications of this for real-world web development practice • Critically evaluate current state of theory and practice of web development and management • Provide a grounding for on-going involvement in web development and management

25. Unit Limitations • Depth • Breadth • Descriptive vs critical content

26. 5. What IS the web? • Elements of the Web • Evolution of the web (and its elements) • The web’s evolutionary past and future

27. Elements of the Web (1) Connecting computers THE WEB Formatting documents for: (a) display (b) searching Digital representation of documents Linking documents

28. Elements of the Web (2) • Connecting computers so they can exchange information • Linking documents so that authors can indicate connections and readers can move easily between related documents • Enabling documents to incorporate all forms of representation - graphics, sound, animation, video, etc • Formatting documents to make them:(a) readable; and(b) searchable

29. Evolution of the Web: Connecting computers • Information theory and communication (1940s) • Networks (early 1960s) • RAND Corporation and redundant networks • DARPA • Packet switching (1964) • ARPANET (1969) • Message passing, addressing and TCP/IP (early 1970s) • The Internet (1984)

30. Evolution of the Web: Linking documents • Cross-referencing between documents (??) • Hypertext/hypermedia (1965) • Ted Nelson and Xanadu - world-wide information publishing and document access (1967) • Tim Berners-Lee and the web at CERN (1989) • Mosaic and instant hyper-linking (1993) • World Wide Web Consortium and world-wide document standards - W3C (1994)

31. Evolution of the Web: Message representation • Coding systems for communication (1840 - Morse) • Digital codes (late 1800s - early 1960s) • ASCII code for digital representation (1963) • Computer graphics (1960s) • Graphical user interfaces, icons, etc (early 1980s) • Combining text, graphics, sound, animations, etc in a single document (early 1990s) • Sound/video broadcasting on-line (early 1990s) • Streaming media (mid-late ’90s)

32. Evolution of the Web: Formatting for displaying • GML (early 60s) • SGML (1960s-1970s) • HTML (plus text browser) (1991) • Mosaic browser with graphical display (1993) • HTML and browser variants (mid-late 90s)

33. Evolution of the Web: Formatting for searching • Library cataloguing and indexing systems (??) • Dewey information classification system (1873) • Metadata and document searching (??) • Automated information retrieval systems (1940s - Vannevar Bush) • Dublin Core (1995) • XML, RDF, etc (late 1990s)

34. Evolution of the Web • Note that the web was not invented; it evolved • The person most often credited with inventing the web (Tim Berners-Lee) thinks it has turned out differently to what he intended and it needs to be re-invented • No-one knows what stage its evolution has reached (though lots of people try to predict it) • The web evolved from the convergence of many technologies; predicting any one of these is difficult (if not impossible); predicting how they will converge and blend is definitely impossible

35. 6. Keeping it all in context: Technology, society and marketing • Forecasting technology - an impossible (but necessary) activity • Society - who knows about computers and technology; who wants to know? • How much do we over-state the usefulness and importance of technology (symbol of the advances of science)? • Marketing - the computing industry is dominated by marketing hype, which the media are keen to support and people are willing to swallow

36. Usage of the Internet and the web to date • See graphs of usage in tute exercise • What do you use the web for? Why? • What don’t you use the web for? Why not? • Will this change for you in future? • If so, will it be because of changes in you or because of changes in the web? • How does this compare with your class? • How different are you from the rest of the world?

37. What does this mean for information professionals? • Understanding what people need/want • Understanding what technology can offer • Understanding how to teach people about what is possible • Understanding how to apply technology to what people need/want • Accepting the limitations of what can be done (with technology OR with people!)