If you are carrying around a 1,000-page report that contains information, then you might say information causes you to physically weigh more. In most situations, however, having more information does not result in a weight gain. It results in a change in your brain. If you give a copy of your transcript to a prospective employer, is that information? If you show that same transcript to your dog, is it still information? Where is the information? A transcript from a prospective employee is meaningful to an employer trying to fill a position. The content of the transcript (courses grades earned) has value in the hiring context. A dog has no use for the content of the transcript and so it has no value to him. If the piece of paper the transcript is printed on is crumpled up, then it might have value to the dog as an item to chase or tear up (depending on the dog). information. Give your own best definition of Student answers will vary. Despite its subjectivity, I like is data “information that is meaningful within a context.” Also, look for the fact that data usually must be transformed in some way to be meaningful; and to provide value, the information must make a difference to the recipient. Explain how you it is possible that we have an industry called the information technology industry, but we have great difficulty defining the word information. We have many everyday terms that are difficult to define. We speak of the health care industry, but we typically only define in the negative (the absence of “health” disease). This is just another example of a term that is broadly understood but difficult to define precisely. 2. The text states that information should be worth its cost. Both cost and value can be broken into tangible and intangible factors. Tangible factors can be measured intangible directly; ones arise indirectly and are difficult to measure. For example, a tangible cost is the cost of a computer monitor; an intangible cost is the lost productivity of a poorly trained employee. Give five important tangible and five important intangible costs of an information system. Give five important tangible and five important intangible measures of the value of an information system. If it helps to focus your thinking, use the example of the class scheduling system at your university or some other university information system. When determining whether an information system is worth its cost, how do you think the tangible and intangible factors should be considered? Tangible costs: Cost of hardware components
If you are carrying around a 1,000-page report that contains information, then you might say information causes you to physically weigh more. In most situations, however, having more information does not result in a weight gain. It results in a change in your brain. If you give a copy of your transcript to a prospective employer, is that information? If you show that same transcript to your dog, is it still information? Where is the information? A transcript from a prospective employee is meaningful to an employer trying to fill a position. The content of the transcript (courses grades earned) has value in the hiring context. A dog has no use for the content of the transcript and so it has no value to him. If the piece of paper the transcript is printed on is crumpled up, then it might have value to the dog as an item to chase or tear up (depending on the dog). Give your own best definition of information. Student answers will vary. Despite its subjectivity, I like “information is data that is meaningful within a context.” Also, look for the fact that data usually must be transformed in some way to be meaningful; and to provide value, the information must make a difference to the recipient. Explain how you it is possible that we have an industry called the information technology industry, but we have great difficulty defining the word information. We have many everyday terms that are difficult to define. We speak of the health care industry, but we typically only define “health” in the negative (the absence of disease). This is just another example of a term that is broadly understood but difficult to define precisely. 2. The text states that information should be worth its cost. Both cost and value can be broken into tangible and intangible factors. Tangible factors can be measured directly; intangible ones arise indirectly and are difficult to measure. For example, a tangible cost is the cost of a computer monitor; an intangible cost is the lost productivity of a poorly trained employee. Give five important tangible and five important intangible costs of an information system. Give five important tangible and five important intangible measures of the value of an information system. If it helps to focus your thinking, use the example of the class scheduling system at your university or some other university information system. When determining whether an information system is worth its cost, how do you think the tangible and intangible factors should be considered? Tangible costs: Cost of hardware components