ITE 272 - INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY - PART II 1/14/99 ======= Introduction and Review. DATA - facts. Can more or less be fuzzy. "fuzzy" - is it meaningful? ..add meaning, relationships, patterns... INFORMATION - if it's meaningful to you. ..add beliefs , assumptions, designs KNOWLEDGE - where we wind up :) ======NEW======== ==+DATA+=== --->>> ==+INFORMATION+== --->>> ==+KNOWLEDGE+== add: add: meaning beliefs relationships assumptions patterns design ======NEW======== Information Technology is used to increase our speed and our efficency. Traditional View: hardware and software used to manage information Our View: We want to solve problems using tools. Our definition has two components: 1. Philosophy 2. Methodology - we want to focus on using tools to find solutions. KNOWLEDGE WORK and PRODUCTIVITY =============================== Knowledge and knowledge work internal knowledge There are 4 types of knowledge: [internal representation of reconition] 1) Declarative - [facts, et cetera] 2) Proceedural - [how do you accomplish something?] 3) metaknowledge - [knowledge about knowledge] (allows you to filter out useless knowledge) 4) impressionistic [creative problem solving - completely new things] MORE REVIEW.... :) [see ite271 notes] 1/28/99 ======= NEEDS ANALYSIS - traditional approach - system analysis - done by computer and information science people. System analysis is more focused on actually developing systems. Now we wish to discuss total needs of the organization. *Current State of organization * we want to lessen this gap... (needs) _ | | - between current state and desired state. *Desired State of Organization* desired state - current state = gap (CURRENT STATE) --requries a lot of information-- many times, the current state of the system will be the ACTUALS. Generally, this is information which will help you: How many errors are being made? Do the people have the information that they need? (GAP) Basically, this is simply the needs of the organization (DESIRED STATE) also called OPTIMALS. How do you determine the optimal state of an organization? Can be either knowledge based, performance based, ........Traditional Approach........to needs analysis More or less focused on the systems and the software. KNOW... ========================================================== In our model: (current state) (GAP) (desired state) "ACTUALS" "needs and causes" "OPTIMALS" so... Desired State - Current State = Gap -> Needs =========================================================== KNOW... Initially gather data. This could be objective data or subjective data. Objective data - Measurements (easier to deal with) Subjective part - more difficult to find. Data is not usually maintained by an organization. Usually has to be determined by interviews, et cetera. One of the things could be the feelings of people. Eventually, we're going to try to determine the causes of the "gap". Once we determine this, we're going to find and implement (and test) potential solutions. Eventually after you implement the solution - its still going to be potential -- after six months or a year, it might not be approphriate anymore. Extrant Data - Currently or actually existing data? So...we use this (extrant data) to determine the current state of the system. "stuff" that organizations collect about themselves. the owner usually doesn't know what to do with it, and you can usually find it READILY available. Eventually, this yields OBJECTIVE DATA. All the people in the organization can be great sources of information. PEOPLE, however, are NOT good information sources: People (generally in the organization) are: Biased Not Knowledgeable Not Related to System People OUTSIDE the organization: If you have a company that deals with people outside the organization. Customers Clients can just about have a massive impact on the needs analysis. 2/2/99 ====== (review) (from quiz) Briefly describe the two components of our definition of information technology: philosophy - harnessing power of tools to solve problems methodology - looking at the domain of the problems and tools and where they intersect. collection of data ================== (current state - needs analysis) issues about collection data: a) response rate - this MUST be high - and the response rate usually isn't that high. People try to bribe you, et cetera, to get some sort of reward for answering the questionnaire, et cetera. b. methods - alphastudy - basically a pre-collection of data. Send out some sort of sample questionnaire to figure out what to do. Example: "What's wrong with this company?" you will get back a variety of answers, but some of them will be similar. this gives you a FOCUS. megastudy - all at once, ask everybody about everything. might go into areas people haven't talked about at all. multi-staged study - instead of doing everything all at once, it focuses on limited issues and people. yields very useful data, but it takes a lot of time because it's multi-staged. (determining desired state - needs analysis) defined mission and goal? defined fuzzy statement? we get this information through interviews and group meetings. it will be a collaborative process. (what is the gap? - needs analysis) (a) Focus on the issue of performance problems and causes. that could be inapprophrate technology. it could also be a low level of performance from the user (due to absense of skill or knowledge) a solution would be test for skills. (b) then we might want to test for incentive. a solution for incentive might be money ; strong and suitible incentives probably need to be provided. could be money - but it could also be more vacation time, bonuses, et cetera known incentive or public incentive -- things such as employee of the month, et cetera. (c) absense of environment support - could be working in a hot room or absense of personel. your incentive to excel really revolves around this. your supervisors are usually supportive or confrontational. Policies and Proceedures - do they adequately and completely outline what is required (or expected?) Tools - items we really need to complete a task (d) absense of motivation - Are we performing at the desired level? (that could be the board of trustees or anyone.....everyone in the organization has to function with motivation) Keller's Model: Attention Relevance Confidence Satisfaction 2/4/99 ====== What kinds of tools might we use to conduct this needs anaylsis? 1. Interviews - verbal communication. includes open-ended questions -- (tell me about yourself, your hobbies, childhood, anything you want). and structured (closed) questions - (what kind of research have you been doing?) advantages - highly flexible -- example - why would you want to move to Mobile? catch onto body language disadvantages - very time consuming. very much effort - never know if anyone will give you useful information or not. 2. Observation you allow the organization to continue as it normally does and you observe the activities as they're taking place. Generally, you have to understand a little about the organization to make anything out of this. Advantages -> Flexible. It's easier to observe someone in their own environment. Because it takes place at the work site - it's difficult to schedule it. Get extra information by physically witnessing people (body language issue) Disadvantages -> ================= Hawthorne affect: If you feel like someone is watching you and you think you know how someone is going to want you to act -- you're going to act uniquely. ================= Observation Limitations: You might actually miss what is going on because you're hoping to see what you came to see. 3. GROUPS - You have meetings with groups of people. Advantages -> It's faster! You can talk to more people in a shorter amount of time. it's also WIDE-RANGING. This allows for easier decision making? Disadvantages -> Perceived as waste-of-time. Requires specific personel. (you need a planner, a facilitator, a recorder, participants) 4. QUESTIONNAIRE OR SURVEY - written instrument usually focuses on limited range of questions Advantages -> Respondents can do it on their own time Respondents can think about it Low Cost (lowest cost of all) Anonymity is preserved. Easier to score (very easy way to organize the data) Disadvantages -> Low response rate Questions must be correct 2/9/99 ====== Describe Results Write some kind of report to describe your results. When writing reports, you have two kinds of reports: FORMAL: Very business like - includes sections such as methods, results, conclusions. Very organized. Includes tables, charts, statistical information perhaps? (could have 30 or so odd pages in it?) You have to try very hard to keep an objective view. Be careful NOT to include negative criticisms. Keep your criticisms positive. INFORMAL: Could be nearly anything -- an email, a memo, a casual letter. Be sure not to use ambiguity. If you can't get away from it, you might need further study. Avoid judgemental bias. Examples: (objective) If you had ten subjects and eight of them had no problems, you might say 80% of the subjects reported no trouble using equipment. [80 percent said THEY COULD do it] (judgemental) Most workers can use the equipment [this is your guess] Of course, give them options and possible solutions which might correct their difficulties. [you like to have more than one option] ...according to stats, this will become a very large field in the next several years... 2/11/99 ======= Test Thursday Feb 18 I. Review from last semester II. Needs Analysis III. Systems Design Systems Design A. Two approaches 1. Customize an existing software product such as using plug-ins to extend the capabilities of an existing product. examples might include shockwave or realaudio, extra classes for java, or libraries of software. B. Use macros to automate operations use a macro language or use something that can do complex operations or record mouse clicks and keystrokes c. Use templates and wizards for reusability. 2. Custom Application Development drawbacks: time consuming ; requires lots of work. SDLC (software development lifecycle) (waterfall?) requirement specs analysis design implement test install maintain is this a single user environment? is this a shared environment? requires more documentation. [beginning - test two] 2/23/99 ======= Systems Design: Two Approaches -- 1) Customizing Existing Packages A) Plug-ins B) Macros C) Templates / Wizards 2) Custom Application Development SDLC (waterfall cycle) 3) Selecting an approach: A) Improve Productivity - Quality can eventually be compromised. Sometimes, someone can be given increased technology, and all of a sudden, they are expected to do the work of two people. B) Reduce implementation costs: aqusition costs - (software, et ceteta, required to implement your goals) customizing costs - more than likely whatever you get is not going to work exactly how they want it to work -- unless it is customized to some degree. training costs -- always costs associated with implementation of new software lessen implementation risks -- low risk -- macros and plugins high risk - developing complex or new applications Analysis Factors: Alternatives Custom Application Application w/options Application w/macros ------->>>>> ================== ===================== ==================== (Analysis factors..) Functionality can be best pretty good could be better? Productivity can be the best good better Implementation highest lowest low Costs (not tested) Implementation highest lowest low Risk generally........we've been talking about system design. We have not actually discussed creating a custom system yet. We have discussed issues with it, but we haven't touched the topic yet. Why would an IT person need to know how to program? 1) Understanding. You must understand the underlying technology and be able to communicate it. 2) writing simple programs (and macros). simple programming structures: - these solve problems: sequence - steps repitition - loops decision - branching out Program Design Architecture: - SLDC - Different Design Architectures (Paradign - latest way of doing things) B) Improve Functionality (example - set a database) C) How to improve functionality (provide structure, maintaining info) object oriented, structured (proceedural), and visual 3/4/99 ====== Compare the three program architectures: (structured) (event-driven) (object oriented) a view of the program sequence of random activities independent transactions response to msgs organizing structures hierarchical interface objects objects processes (that you work with) system components proceedures interface objects objects containing and data and data data & methods design principals decomposition prototyping encapsulation and inheritance design process SDLC user involved design objects and test them in a structured program, the programmer has control. in event driven programming, the user has control. modularity - do one task at a time. development team ================= one of the most important parts of the development team is the STEERING committee. They represent different functional components of an organization (the client) They will look at cost, benefits, et cetera. CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER - Information Officer. Person in charge of managing IT for the organization. Usually a high ranking position. In a small organization, it's like...the systems analyst will probably do this. SYSTEMS ANALYST - Looks at the big picture to try to determine the specifications SYSTEMS DESIGNER - Details of design. (small organization, this might also be the systems analyst) PROGRAMMERS - Do the actual coding. Must understand specifications. CONTRACTORS - outsourcing. could also deal with consulting organizations. DESCRIBING THE DESIGN ===================== Flowcharts - STRUCTURED - standardized symbols. (graphical). Used for flow of control. Data Flow Diagram - ------->>>>>>>> Data flow direction Circles or Squares -- process square - source or sink rectangle - data store. DATA DICTIONARY =============== Information about the NAMES of data, types of data, structure of data, and relations. why do we need this? a) large systems - documentation b) consistancy - common names c) maintainability- makes large collections of data easier to work with CASE TOOL -- Computer-Aided Systems Engineering Tools approach to programming system allows user to describe the functionality in the same method. Characteristics of CASE TOOOL: Description Toold Centralized Information Repository Interface Generators: (drag and drop methodoligy) ; (by example) project management tools: Tracks state of projects order, completion of parts scheduling - manages resoureces and personnel event time and cost budgeting 3/16/99 ======= GRAPHICS - [demo showed with a small graphic , and a graphic enlarged to show the pixels]. in black and white, each pixel can be represented by 1 bit, a 1 if the pixel is black and 0 if it is white. the computer opens a black and white bitmapped image then it starts looking for numbers that describe information. Everytime it comes to a 0, it draws a white pixel. when it comes to a 1, it comes to a black pixel. RASTUR IMAGE PROCESSING [raster - areas used to display the image] - this is the process of displaying an image on the screen. bitmap images are usually from 'paint' program. - you manipulate pixels. with a draw program, you actually work with objects. BITMAP vs VECTOR GRAPHICS terminology - (bitmap, pixel) - and raster scanning. bit depth -- number of bits used to store info. lowest is 1 bit -- 4 bit color - 2^4 colors - 16 colors 0000 0001 0011 0100 0101 0110 0111 1000 1001 1010 1011 1100 1101 1110 1111 8 bit -- 2^8 - 256 colors 16 bit -- 2^16 - 65,536 colors 24 bit -- 2^24 - 16,777,216 colors eventually, as we start working with files, we're going to need MORE MEMORY [for working with graphic files] With VECTOR IMAGES - you use an algorithm to draw the images. might be a combination of shapes, such as lines, squares, circles, et cetera... vector image - (all you need is end points) this is ENTIRELY mathmatical - can create perfect images. (draw) * -------------- * with a bitmap image - you keep track of EVERY PIXEL more or less freehand. **CONSIDERED OBJECT-ORIENTED GRAPHICS** (paint) ****************** with a bitmap image, it's very difficult to resize because the images are not necessarily perfectly square! ADVANTAGES / DISADVANTAGES (of bitmapped and vector images) ========================== BITMAPPED IMAGES: Bitmapped images are simple to create and store. More difficult to manipulate. VECTOR IMAGES: Vector images take less space. May take more time to display, but easier to change and resize. COLOR MODELS ============ Perceived as wavelengths of light. Either obserbed or reflective. subtractive color model: pigment / paint - uses wavelengths of light ; reflected blue to see blue, (if looking at a blue chair) - all the other colors are obsorbed, except for the blue color OF the chair. primary colors - red -> (adding yellow and orange) blue -> (adding red and purple) yellow -> (blue and green) tertiary colors - all other colors, which are made from these. tints or shades of colors are created by adding white or black respectively. tints lighten a color, and shades darken a color. tone is in the middle - which tone of blue are you using? 3/18/99 ======= CYMN - cyan yellow megenta ; this is for printed colors RGB - for computer colors BROWN ===== RED - 147 GREEN - 72 BLUE - 17 properties of color - Hue - warnmess or coolness of a color. === Warm Colors - red, orange -> more emotional Cool Colors - blue, green -> more calm Value - amount of dark or light in a color ======= Saturation or Intensity - the brightness of a color ======================= Gray-Scale - shades of grey - 8 bit ; 256 shades of grey. 4/15/99 ======= powerpoint.. new presentation.... select an autolayout... OR... microsoft word select "view outline" do your outline there. go back to powerpoint... insert slides from outline...