Individual Assignments
The Blogs: This course is designed to help students understand how information systems
and technology are used and how they impact (positively or negatively) the competitive position of organizations.
Through an overview of the technologies, activities, and applications of IS, this course will help you in acquiring
an appreciation for the possibilities created by IT based solutions in today's organizations.
To facilitate this effort, students will blog regularly (at least once per week) on some technology or information system. It
might be a technology that you encounter at work, or something new that has hit the market. You must discuss your impressions of it, and
what is being said about it. While web-based materials and popular press articles will be important, students must also cite research-oriented, peer-reviewed journals in their blogs. Students must have at least one substantive blog entry each week that summarizes what they have found, how it relates to the industry of choice and how it relates (if it does) to what we have discussed in class.
An example of using a blog for this purpose can be found at http://blog.hbs.edu/faculty/amcafee/.
There will be at least one question on the final exam pertaining to the blogs.
Due Date: by Tuesday night each week
Deliverable: send URL to Professor Sauter (only the first time)
Email 1: Send an email message to Dr. Sauter Due Date: January 27
Email 2: Create a "signature" for your email and send an email message to Dr. Sauter. Due Date: January 27.
As an example, my signature is:
Facebook: Create a profile on Facebook. Join at least two groups and link to at least two fan pages. Connect to my profile by February 3.
LinkedIn: Create a profile on LinkedIn that presents your professional side. Post a complete profile, including an appropriate photograph.
Join at least two appropriate professional groups. Connect to my profile by February 10.
Twitter: Create a Twitter Account. Tweet at least three times this semester on some technology development you encounter. You might want to
link these tweets to your blogs. Send me your account by February 10.
Web Page Development: For this assignment, you will create a personal home page, and put it up on the World Wide Web. The page should include some basic information about you, and some links to sites related to you and your interests. Your home page should have a title (what the browser displays at the top of the window). I suggest you call it Home Page of , but you can use any title. You must include at least two images or graphics on your home page. You may either copy the image to your html directory, or you may create a direct link to the image's original site.
The body of the personal home page should have your name and e-mail address. Make use of the available headings to give a professional appearance to your page. The e-mail address should include a "hot link," so that any person with proper settings in their browser should be able to send you a message directly from your home page.
Following your name and e-mail address, you should have a section describing yourself. You might entitle it "About Me." In this section you should include links to the class page, the IS Area, the College of Business Administration and the University of Missouri - St. Louis. State your education background, and include a link to other colleges and universities you have attended. If you are employed, state where you work, and include a link to the company home page if it exists. You may then include any additional information you would like to share with us (remembering that the page can be accessed by anyone in the world). If there are sites related to this information, include a link to them.
The next section should include information about your interests, hobbies, etc.; you might entitle it "My Interests and Favorite Links." Search the Web and find pages which relate to your interests. You must include at least four more links of your choice.
Another section should include information about your professional interests. This might be technological pages you believe to be interesting. Or, it might include information of interest to your current employer, job or industry. You must include at least four more links in this area.
Your personal home page file should be named "index.htm" or "index.html." If you created the page in Windows, you will need to transfer it to the html directory on your Admiral account. This directory is the public directory. You can do this transfer using the FTP program demonstrated in class or use of your SAMBA drive.
You can use my sample page as a reference to how to do your home page. Of course, you are free to add more and make your page more "cool." After you create your home page, ensure that all of the links are working properly. Once your page has passed the final quality check, send me an email message providing me with the location of your page. On the due date, print a copy of your home page and turn it in.
Due Date: March 3
Format: send URL to Professor Sauter
Wiki's: Create a user-id in Wikipedia. Edit an entry or create a new entry using that user-id. Send me the topic and the user-id. Due Date: February 24.
Group Assignments
Current Topics in IS: Visit the website of an Information Systems-related content provider and scan its contents.
What is the focus of the different websites? What are the hot technologies and related issues?
What are the most important for business managers? Each group must select a different website; all choices
must be approved.
Some possible sites include: Information Week (information-week.com),
Computerworld (computerworld.com),
CIO Magazine (cio.com),
Datamation (http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/),
News Factor (newsfactor.com),
PC Magazine (pcmag.com/),
Wired (wired.com),
InfoWorld (infoworld.com),
InfoWeek (informationweek.com),
Technology Review (techreview.com/),
ZD Net (zdnet.com/),
New York Times Technology Pages (http://www.nytimes.com/pages/technology/index.html),
Business Week Technology Section (http://www.businessweek.com/technology/),
Washington Post Technology Section (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/technology/) (requires free registration).
Deliverables: A short class presentation; electronic copies of the slides for your presentation (these will be posted online for the class)
Presentation Date: January 27
Internet Tools and Business: Select four companies that exist in a particular segment
of business. For example, you might select companies in the steel manufacturing business, or in the logistics
business, or small theatres. You will, as a group, evaluate how they are using the Internet as part of their
business plan. Discuss what it is, how it helps their business, who seems to be using
it (especially blogs and social networking services), why they use it and, if possible, when they
started using the Internet. Describe the use and evaluate its effectiveness. Identify whether a company's strategy
is useful, and how you expect their use to evolve. In addition, identify whether the different companies follow similar or
different strategies and, if different, if one (or more) seem more successful than others. Develop some general
guidelines to help other companies in this industry design their Internet. This analysis will be summarized in a
paper and a presentation to the class. You must examine at least three specific components: the website,
blog use, and social networking group use, as described below, but may look more broadly. It is expected
that you will look not only at what they are doing, but what people write about what they are doing in publications.
Website:
What is the purpose of the company in developing the site?
Does the site convey a positive or useful message for the company?
Who is the intended audience?
What information content is provided?
What functions are provided?
Can the user purchase goods?
Is the site well designed from the point-of-view of clarity, ease of use, speed of access?
Is the site aesthetically pleasing?
Blogging:
Do the companies sponsor blogging sites? If so, what are the policies they have on their site?
What kinds of information are found on the blogging sites?
Are there non-company-sponsored blogging sites regarding their products? If so, how does the
information on these sites compare to the corporate-sponsored sites?
What are the ranges of people who blog about the products? Do you know anything about their background?
How do the efforts of the various companies compare?
How do the corporate websites and blogging sites compare in terms of message and format?
Develop some general guidelines to help other companies in this industry design their blogging effort.
Social Network Use Evaluation: (include, at the very least, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter)
Do they sponsor social networking sites? If so, what kinds? If so, what are the policies they have on their site?
What kinds of information is found on their social networking sites?
Are there non-company-sponsored social networking sites regarding their products? If so, how does the
information on these sites compare to the corporate-sponsored sites?
What are the ranges of people who are engaged on these sites? Do you know anything about their background?
How do the efforts of the various companies compare?
How do the corporate websites, blogging sites and social networking sites compare in terms of message and format?
Develop some general guidelines to help other companies in this industry design their social networking efforts.
|
Due Date: February 24; Submit presentation electronically by February 23.
Deliverables: A paper and a class presentation. The paper does not have a length requirement. The presentation should be about 15 minutes.
Technology Trends: Select an item or group of items in Grace's Place and research it. Learn
when the item was used in business, why it was used, its capabilities, and what benefits and capabilities it provided over its predecessor technology.
Discuss the descendent technology that is in use today and how it evolved from that which is in Grace's Place. In addition to its history, write a
description of your item that could be used for someone who does not know about technology. Do NOT simply copy your report from Wikipedia or some other
summary. Each group must do something different; all choices must be pre-approved.
Deliverables: A Class Presentation; Submit presentation to professor electronically by
Presentation Date: March 24; Submit presentation electronically by March 23.
Cyber Crime: Select a current example of Cyber Crime, Cyberwar, Cyberterrorism or I.S. Ethics that is in the news. Research it. Discuss
the issues, technology and the applicable federal, state and local laws that impact it. Identify the issues which enable problematic
behavior. What kinds of penalties have been imposed for such behavior in the past? How should this example affect your
management in an IT world?
Deliverables: A class presentation; electronic copies of the slides for your presentation (these will be posted online for the class)
Presentation Date: May 5; Submit presentation electronically by May 4.
|