Review - Waves

1. Review - Waves • Wetware (human memory) • Greek Poet Homer • Memorized long poems (Iliad and Odyssey) – oral tradition • Written language in West approx. 800 BC • when these poems were written down on papyrus • Paper not mass produced until around time of printing press (1540 Guttenberg) • Personal Computer (1980) • MS-DOS • software that manages, or runs, the computer hardware and also serves to bridge the gap between the computer hardware and programs, such as a word processor. It’s the foundation on which computer programs can run.

2. Review • When the IBM PC running MS‑DOS ships in 1981, it introduces a whole new language to the general public. Typing “C:” and various cryptic commands gradually becomes part of daily work. People discover the backslash (\) key. • MS‑DOS is effective, but also proves difficult to understand for many people. There has to be a better way to build an operating system.

3. Review – NEW WAVE • Microsoft produces new operating system called Windows 1.0 because it best describes the boxes or computing “windows” that are fundamental to the new system. • Rather than typing MS‑DOS commands, you just move a mouse to point and click your way through screens, or “windows.” • There are drop-down menus, scroll bars, icons, and dialog boxes that make programs easier to learn and use. You're able to switch among several programs without having to quit and restart each one. Windows 1.0 ships with several programs, including MS‑DOS file management, Paint, Windows Writer, Notepad, Calculator, and a calendar, card file, and clock to help you manage day-to-day activities. There’s even a game—Reversi.

4. Windows 1.0 http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/history

5. Information Ecology – Chapter 3 • What is your definition of ecology? noun 1. The branch of biology dealing with the relations and interactions between organisms and their environment, including other organisms. 2. Also called human ecology. the branch of sociology concerned with the spacing and interdependence of people and institutions. 3. The study of the relationships between human groups and their physical environment Dates to 1873, coined by Ger. zoologist Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) as Okologie, from Gk. oikos "house, dwelling place, habitation" (see villa) + -logia "study of." Dictionary.com

6. Information Ecology – Chapter 3 • Information Ecology: Looking at managing information holistically • Holistic: of or relating to the medical consideration of the complete person, physically and psychologically, in the treatment of a disease • 1926, coined, along with holism, by Gen. J.C. Smuts (1870-1950), from Gk. holos "whole" (see safe (adj.)). In reference to the theory that regards nature as consisting of wholes. Dictionary.com • Why does this approach matter?

7. Information Ecology – Chapter 3 Let’s look at an example of ecology in nature • DDT: A colorless insecticide that kills on contact. It is poisonous to humans and animals when swallowed or absorbed through the skin. DDT is an abbreviation for d ichlorod iphenylt richloroethane. First came into use during WW II. • 1950s: • Ornithologists note rapid raptor decline – eggshells fragile – but what do raptors eat? • DDT buildup from bottom of the food chain • Led to awareness of how seemingly unrelated events can have unanticipated effects • Rachel Carson – “Silent Spring” 1962 • Fish & Wildlife employee – founding inspiration for the EPA – Presidential Medal of Freedom (posthumous)

8. Information Ecology – Chapter 3 • Agricultural chemical industry called the book everything from "sinister" and "hysterical" to "bland" • Public's concern was raised • President John F. Kennedy read Silent Spring and initiated a presidential advisory committee. In 1963, CBS produced a television special featuring Rachel Carson and several opponents of her conclusions. The US Senate opened an investigation of pesticides. • In 1964, Rachel Carson died of cancer in Silver Spring, Maryland. Just before she died, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. But she was not able to see the changes that she helped produce. • She did not advocate the banning or complete withdrawal of helpful pesticides, but rather encouraged responsible and carefully managed use with an awareness of the chemicals' impact on the entire ecosystem.[60] In fact, she concludes her section on DDT in Silent Spring not by urging a total ban, but with advice for spraying as little as possible to limit the development of resistance.

9. Information Ecology – Chapter 3 • Note : Although DDT, when it was first invented, was considered a great advance in protecting crops from insect damage and in combating diseases spread by insects (such as malaria), discoveries led to its ban in many countries. Residue from DDT has been shown to remain in the ecosystem and the food chain long after its original use, causing harm and even death to animals considered harmless or useful to man. Banned in the United States for most uses since 1972 but is still in use in some countries in which malaria is endemic. Chemical formula: C 14 H 9 Cl5 . • Takeaway from Silent Spring example: Awareness of the interconnectedness of things applies also to Information Management – hence the term “information ecology.” Otherwise we set ourselves up to fail because we are only looking/thinking in one way, not considering the impact other things may have on our “house”

10. Information Ecology – Chapter 3 • Past attempts at IM focused on two things: • Technology (hardware, software) • How to store data via computers (architectural design) • Using IE, focus is also on: • Information strategy • Politics • Behavior • Support staff • Work processes • Look beyond immediate information environment • Overall organizational environment – physical location, available technology, business situation, external market environment

11. Information Ecology – Chapter 3 • 4 key attributes of IE: 1) Integration of different types of information 2) Recognition of evolutionary change 3) Emphasis on observation and description 4) Focus on people and information behavior • Requires broader managerial skills and patience – not always quantifiable • Where to start? In what order? • Need to do something because time and again studies have shown that focusing just on uber-tech is too short sighted and is often doomed to failure

12. Information Ecology – Chapter 3 1) Integration of different types of information • Information ecologies thrive on information diversity (as in nature) • Text, audio, video • Computerized/non computerized • Structured/unstructured • Frequently information planning only deals with 1 type of information • Warehouse system: monitor # of items shipped but not customer complaints • Many firms don’t have effective communication between IS, library, market research or staff who can find requested information among multiple online sources • Information providers should combine all information available to meet customers’ needs • Managers/analysts must push for information integration • Meet and identify key topics to focus on • Understand how diverse information sources/formats/perspectives can be utilized for organizational benefit • Resist thinking that all information problems can be solved by putting data into a computer • “It’s up to non-IT-oriented providers to package information in forms that engage and spark the information consumer”

13. Information Ecology – Chapter 3 2) Recognition of evolutionary change • Need to expect that IE will constantly change • Information systems in place must be flexible • Change is not necessarily predictable • “Nothing ever stays the same” • Example of timber company and spotted owls • Needed to know where owls were to cut timber • Didn’t fit with existing information engineering effort (lost $$) • Most information in documents, maps, photographs • Company ultimately abandoned machine-engineering approach • Traditional approaches to system modeling/development can become obsolete before they are finished – IT managers now realize: • Cannot predict the future • Example: Kean University phone registration • Cannot completely freeze changes during software development cycle • Utilize iterative prototyping/rapid application development approaches • Focus should be on awareness of inevitability of change and how to manage it • Appropriate compromise for the organization between permanent information structures and those that can be modified • Example of Gold, Silver, Bronze data conversions from last lecture • “Evolution is an organizational fact of life”

14. Information Ecology – Chapter 3 3) Emphasis on observation and description • Must be able to fully describe what you are trying to solve before trying to solve it • Example of Charles Darwin – travelled the known world and described nature in detail • 1859 book “On the Origin of Species” based on his 5 year travels on HMS Beagle – posited the Theory of Evolution • “Puzzled by the geographical distribution of wildlife and fossils he collected on the voyage, Darwin began detailed investigations and in 1838 conceived his theory of natural selection” – Wikipedia

15. Information Ecology – Chapter 3 • This close description allowed Darwin to understand how a species fit into its environment as well as the dynamics of environmental change • “It’s the height of ignorance and hubris to believe we understand the information requirements of an organization after only days or weeks of interviews with a few people; yet this all-too-common assumption drives many information engineering projects.” • Hubris/ˈhjuːbrɪs/, also hybris, from ancient Greekὕβρις, means extreme pride or arrogance. Hubris often indicates a loss of contact with reality and an overestimation of one's own competence, accomplishments or capabilities, especially when the person exhibiting it is in a position of power. In its modern usage, hubris denotes overconfident pride and arrogance. Hubris is often associated with a lack of humility, though not always with the lack of knowledge. It is also referred to as "pride that blinds", as it often causes one accused of hubris to act in foolish ways that belie common sense. In other words, the modern definition may be thought of as, "that pride that goes just before the fall".

16. Information Ecology – Chapter 3 • If we can’t anticipate the future, we shouldn’t plan it in detail • Focus instead on describing and understanding existing information environment (no small task) • Who has what information • Sources of information support • How information and knowledge are used in work processes • Organization’s work processes and objectives for information • Understand and model today’s information rather than speculative future state • Understand existing processes before designing new ones • How is information gathered, shared and used today? • Who are the effective information users, and what can we learn from them? • “The first step is to observe the relevant “species” – information users – in their natural settings.”

17. Information Ecology – Chapter 3 4) Focus on people and information behavior • IE is not just about providing information or observing workers’ behavior, but facilitating effective use of information • I can send an email with information on a problem to a coworker – how can they get to that information again in the future? • My solution: Existing application we use in house has a Knowledgebase • How does information get into the KB/stay current • How do I get coworkers to use it? • Am I getting the right information into the KB? • Previous focus has been on production and distribution of information, not what users do with it • Consequently we don’t fully know how to help individual workers seek, share, structure and make sense of information • Don’t know much about shaping or developing positive information cultures • Information attitudes and behaviors that recur throughout an organization • How does your organization treat information? Do they share? Is the authority of the information presenter more powerful than the quality of the information itself?

18. Information Ecology – Chapter 3 Model for Information Ecology • Any environment (physical or informational) consists of micro-environments which overlap and affect one another • IE has three environments which overlap: • Information environment (main focus) • Rooted in broader organizational environment • Both affected by external environment of the marketplace • Information initiatives should involve all 3 • In order to understand how to practically manage information across the 3 environments, start with description • The IE model demonstrates the many interconnected components of this approach

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20. Information Ecology – Chapter 3 The Information Environment • Strategy • Make “information intent” explicit – What do we want to do with the information in this organization? • Must involve top management • Likely to change and may require revision based on internal/external factors • Create a set of basic goals or principles • Politics • Information = Power • Information monarchy versus federalism • Information strategies inconsistent with political structures are bound to fail • Behavior/Culture • Most important and hardest to change • “Such positive behaviors as sharing and gaining lasting knowledge from information are too important to be left to chance or individual initiative; instead such behavior must become a basic management objective – and not just the province of IT managers or one czar” • Staff • People are the best identifiers, categorizers, filterers, interpreters and integrators of information • Organizational knowledge/best practices • Information must be continually pruned, restructured, interpreted and synthesized to be of value • Computers don’t do this very well – people do • The best IE don’t automate away the human role

21. Information Ecology – Chapter 3 • Processes • How information work gets done • All activities performed by information workers • Traditional options for changing how work gets done: • Process improvement (incremental change) • Process innovation/reengineering (radical change) • IE indicates that a thorough description of how work is currently done be performed before either option is begun • Architecture • Role of technology in IM • Usually thought of as encompassing servers, operating systems, databases, applications • IE: architecture serves as a guide to the structure and location of information within an organization • Where does your organization keep their information? • Index cards/ post it notes/other paper • On individual users’ PCs • Folders on a shared network drive • In the Cloud • Important to know where information is kept • Tendency to avoid documenting when organization plans on a different strategy in the future • May be preferable to map specific topic areas versus trying to map entire current IE • Ease of understanding and communication should always outweigh detail and precision

22. Information Ecology – Chapter 3 The Organizational Environment • Business Situation • Pay attention to business strategy, business processes, organizational culture/structure, human resources orientation, as you would with Information Environment • Each affects the other – i.e. business strategy affects information strategy and vice versa • Technology Investment • Company’s overall investment in IT will be a factor • Heavy focus can drive out information or limit creative thinking • More important – users’ access to information • “Too often managers invest in expensive technologies without seriously considering what information initiatives they will facilitate. As a result, the initiatives don’t fare well, and the technology is not used to maximum advantage.” • Example: Providing laptops to high school students • Physical arrangement • Physical proximity of users increases the frequency of communication within groups • How do we respond to this in today’s global corporations? • How does WFH fit in? • Physical aspects of information media • How you structure a document/presentation etc will help or hinder information transmission

23. Information Ecology – Chapter 3 The External Environment • Not always controllable by company/organization • Government regulations • Customer requirements • Actions of competitors • Country’s politics/cultural trends • Business Markets • Create general business conditions for a company • In turn this impacts company’s ability to acquire and manage information and what information the company needs • E.g. changes in customers, suppliers, business partners, regulators, competitors • Technology Markets • Where available relevant technologies are bought/sold • Company must know what’s available and then decide when and how a given technology might be of value • Information Markets • Buying and selling of information • Customer lists • Industry trends • May be able to sell information that is a by-product of business • Managers must evaluate business relevance, information quality and authority • E.g. Kelly’s Blue Book for automotive sales/customer satisfaction information • “Companies should identify all possible ethical means by which information can be gathered, including job interviews, trade shows, even newspaper employment ads, and put the information into a form in which it can be understood and used. The problem here comes not in gathering the information, but in systematically capturing, leveraging, and verifying it. Information gained at a trade show, for example, is often remembered and used only by the person who had the conversation.”

24. Information Ecology – Chapter 3 The IE Web • Creating change in one environment will impact the others • Often information systems don’t meet the business objective for which they were intended • True change is connected to all the components of the IE model • Technology is important but put in perspective as just one component • Technology and people are inextricably linked • All other components must also be considered • “Rather than simply assuming more technology yields a better information environment, thinking ecologically means accounting for how politics, strategy, behavior and other human factors all intervene in this relationship.” • Getting better information about customers • Utilizing scanner data or frequent buyer programs • Development of better analytical skills to better utilize vast amounts of data • Category manager to analyze sales of particular brands • Consider information about external environment – competitors, trends, the economy • “When it comes to planning.. ecological thinking calls for a certain humility [OPPOSITE OF HUBRIS!]. no manager will ever be able to anticipate all of the events that drive the nature and success of an information ecology. On a more day-to-day level, highly detailed plans tend to inhibit communications about information changes and directions. I have no doubt this model can help planners, but I suggest employing it modestly, with a grain of salt.”

25. Information Ecology – Chapter 3 • Information management Processes (Chester Simpson): • Formulate the problem • Identify information needs • Locate/capture appropriate information • Analyze/interpret it • Manipulate/package it • Distribute it • Store and dispose of it • Use it

26. Information Ecology – Chapter 3 Key information attributes: • Truth – user’s confidence in information • Guidance – information points to actions that should be taken • Scarcity – information is new or not available to competitors • Accessibility – availability of information to users in a form they can use/understand • Weight – attributes that give information significance, making it compelling and more likely to be used Information behavior: • Information managers talking to users to determine what information is needed • How does behavior and attitudes of information providers facilitate users’ access • How does level of trust between managers and staff affect information sharing • Information politics will change sloooowly • Incorporating all aspects of IE may be overly optimistic – but can direct attention to new areas which have been neglected in the past