Some tips will be – 1. Make a point that one would not visit web sites such as mass advertising web sites as they are usually infectious with ad-wares and browser hijackers 2. Switching on those pop-up blockers. This would reduce the chances of a malicious ad-ware/spyware process getting run. most of the web sites…
The educational system should revise the curriculum according to the current technology demands in the society and to build creativity of students. I think the engineering schools in US are already doing it. If not, it is sad and the management should take necessary actions to consult the industry and experts to see what subjects…
Intel’s Maloney’s words – “It’s about the Web more than anything. I have young kids …….. doesn’t have access to the Web is overwhelming” – is very striking. OLPC efforts might be an answer to this concern. Strategy and plan alone doesn’t work when we are talking about reforming developing nations, cost effective infrastructure is…
The lesson learned should be lack of effective direction and control in implementing the plan. I remember from IST 601 that we should control technology, reverse should not happen. As wise users of technology, we should devise clear plans as how technology will be used, especially when it is to be used by kids. If…
Here is a nice article on what determines the usage of XO type laptops in developing countries – http://www.olpcnews.com/countries/india/ . The article can be used as a base for understanding how various levels of developing economies see and plan the usage of low-cost computers such as the ones envisioned by OLPC.
I think we should encourage funding on social impact research as it would lead us to explore and find answers to long disputed or rather complex issues. One major area in which funding can be flown in can be reaching out of computers and Internet in mass usage in the rural and village areas (talking…
Java (SunMicroSystems) and ActiveX (Microsoft) are two major technology platforms that has evolved itself a long way from years of R & D and support from the developer groups. In case of Java, Sun has invested a lot of money and effort to develop, innovate, maintain and release Java which can cater to all industry…
700 Mhz band is being developed and utilized with the intention of allowing entrepreneurs with less capital to establish broadband services, since it offers cheap means to setup service. This is the reason for the major players influencing Congress to gain an upper hand so that they kill competition and innovation. The term “public” means…
Again this is an instance of protecting consumer rights and freedom in utilizing the digital medium. The carriers have a very important role in maintaining a healthy pipe that is effectively utilized. There should be efforts to setup regulation and standards to avoid piracy and unauthorized usage of network traffic. At the same time the…
This reminds me of the most common issue – when should government leave the publishing of information to the private?. Intended quality and convenience of service determines the cost of the service. So its straight forward to believe and allow distributors to charge differently for different types of traffic. Faber’s view point is not different…
From the literature and court cases, FCC is less obliged to regulate broadband distributors as common carriers, as “Computer network Information” services are not subject to common carrier telecommunication service regulation under Title II of the federal Communications Act. (NCTA v. Brand X Internet Services et al., U.S. Supreme Court Nos. 04-277 and 04-281, June…
Here is another analysis article on a widely asked question – “Should treaties like the World Trade Organization’s TRIPS agreement be modified so developing countries can ignore software patents without facing WTO retaliatory measures?” Read along.. In my opinion, IPR should be preserved anywhere in the world. Making strict TRIP regulations has its major advantage…
Here is an interesting analysis article (short and sweet as we say) on “Should the US patent process be revised as suggested in S 1145 and HR 1908?”. Read along .. I think this move is a right one since it will help harmonizing with the method followed by European Union, where they follow first-to-file system. This…
Here is an short and to-the-point article on a most debated topic that I would want everyone to focus on now – “Should the Linux and Open Source communities be protected from software patent challenges?”. As a matter of fact, if we look deeply into the patents that various companies says Linux Kernel has violated,…
This article is a good resource for those who want to know more about the most raised question – What is the impact of software patents on innovation in the software industry? Read along .. Interesting that I found this online petition against Software Patenting – Petition Against Software Patents. The petition states that Software programs…
This article is a good resource for those who want to know more about the most raised question – Is there a need for legal and technological protection mechanisms that are uniform internationally? Read along .. I reviewed the Betamax case (Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 464 U.S. 417 (1984)) from Wikipedia. See…
This article is a good resource for those who want to know more about the most raised question – How can the intellectual property community protect their intellectual property without the DMCA safeguards? Read along .. In my opinion, DMCA safeguards are a necessity for the IP community to keep up in business, although we…
This article is a good resource for those who want to know more about the most raised question – Should the prohibition in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act against breaking intellectual property safeguards be modified? Read along .. I agree to the general consent that DMCA should be amended to shift its view from complete…
This is an interesting article that I would recommend which tries to find some conclusion as how agencies may be controlled on posting biased or un-biased information. I think that Data quality regulations should be strictly used while assessing data released by federal agencies. A good example of why this is so can be seen…
The core idea of this article is to comtemplate on a most commonly discussed topic – Does making documents accessible over the web eliminate the need for printing documents? Here is the answer which you may not find in other all articles. This is an interesting question! The answer is NO. The very simple explanation…
There are so many articles about e-governance, but all these articles stress on what e-governance can do, with little thought on how and when e-governance systems should enclose and disclose information to the public. This article is different from all articles and lays down specific view as to when and how government documents could be…
Though Information Technology (IT) is seen as a core enabler of business continuity and competence, it is not always viewed so. I was impressed by a research paper in MIS quarterly by Michelle L. Kaarst Brown. Her research study (Kaarst-Brown M.L ) done in the referenced paper finds that the state of assumptions about IT could be…
“Competing commitment and how to overcome it” – A review of work done by Kegan R. and Lahey L. L. Overcoming employee resistance has been and is one of the main issues that every manager face in his day-to-day functions. Whether it is Information systems department or customer service department or marketing or production or…
Bertelsmann AG is the largest media and entertainment group in Europe and the second largest in the world to U.S. based Time Warner, Inc. Bertelsmann has operations in over 40 countries, primarily in North America and Europe. Bertelsmann’s Theory of Business is to provide information, entertainment and media services to inspire people’s daily lives, make…
Case Study: Opportunity A: Your bank is looking at an optical character recognition (OCR) system to further automate the check processing function. Check processing is a time sensitive function. If outgoing checks miss daily clearing deadlines, the bank looses use of the money for one day. Since your bank clears over one million checks per…
Overview Amazon.com offers Earth’s largest selection of online products. Being the #1 online retailer, it offers the most advanced and innovative ways of e-commerce that is capable to continuously deliver fastest, reliable, cheapest and most user-friendly online shopping experience for the customer. Marketing Strategy Focus and Market Segments Company’s mission is to become extremely customer-centric…
All organizations strive for excellence. The Theory of Business (TOB) of any company is considered the deciding factor, which determines the degree of excellence and ultimately defines the fundamental assumptions that the business is built on. The main thought process that leads to a well-defined TOB is an organization’s own experience and its openness to…
Technology cycles and innovation are two useful phenomena that can be used to explain how competitive advantage of companies can be maintained over time. Technology cycle can be defined as the period of time between the birth or introduction of a new technology and when it is replaced by a newer and substantially better technology….
Planning has advantages as well as disadvantages. This means that even though planning aids in improving organizational and individual performance, it might not work very well all the time throughout the existence of the organization. One important benefit of planning is that it encourages managers and workers to direct their persistent efforts towards activities that…
Market segmentation is the process of separating the varied market into segments, each of which has similar characteristics. For example, a cosmetic company may segment its market according to age and sex, thus concentrating on baby lotion (age), adult shampoo (age), after-shave (sex) and eye-liner (sex). The organization could then do research in each segment…
Case: A company invests $15000 and receives a $11000 cash benefit at the end of the first year and a $12100 cash benefit at the end of the second year. (Assume Cost of Money = 10%) Calculation: t=0 t=1 t=2 Costs Onetime investment (15000) Benefits Cash 11000 12100 F (15000) 11000 12100 P (15000) 10000…
Accounting can be considered as an information system that provides various tools to summarize financial performance or economic activities of an individual, family, organization or any other entity. The reports generated from an accounting system, aids the interested individuals, management, owners and creditors to make intelligent decisions in allocating resources. Financial management is the discipline…
Balance Sheet gives the snapshot of the business’s financial position at a particular instance. It basically measures the wealth of a business firm at that instance. On a Balance sheet, the main accounting formula is Owner’s Equity = (Assets-Liabilities). The Income statement on the other hand is the summary of the revenue and the expenses…
Assets and liabilities are the two major entities that find an entry in a business’s balance sheet for measuring its wealth. Assets are items owned by the business firm that have certain monetary value and will result in future benefits in the form of service and and/or cash flows. Two common assets are accounts receivable…
Process Management has its relevance when managers begin to conceptualize business activities as interdependent processes instead of functions and tasks. The basic requirement towards effective process management is IT enabled business process automation, usually an outcome of a reengineering task. For the processes to accomplish the set goals, we need to set various standards of…
Systems view refers to analyzing a problem situation as a system of interdependent processes that exchange input and output. This view helps to identify the important processes and their relationships as far as maximizing the organizational efficiency and goal achievement is concerned. This leads to the main principle of process improvement which is to emphasize…
Equity theory states that a person is motivated when he perceives that he is treated fairly. He usually picks a colleague who works with him, as the “referent”. He tries to equate his outcome (pay, status, job-title, job assignment) over input (education, training, intelligence, experience, number of hours worked) ratio to that of referent’s and…
Two major types of diversities is notable in an organizational setting, which every IT manager should take into consideration – Surface level diversity are those differences that are easily noticeable such as age, gender, ethnicity/race, culture, language, disability etc. Surface level diversity is easy to be measured and managers/recruiters can fall into the wrong practice…
Working in teams does not always ensure positive results. Two possible disadvantages are large number of employees quitting the job and “Social Loafing”. Teams require extensive learning of standard team policies and work procedures and adherence to specific individual responsibilities. This might lead to excessive team pressure when much is expected from each team member….
Managing diverse workforce is a crucial skill for a manager since there exists both surface level (demographic, cultural and language) and deep level (personal differences in attitudes, values, beliefs and personality) diversity among an organization’s workforce. A diverse workforce has various advantages attached to it such as cost benefits by saving dollars spent on expensive…
Information and Knowledge are two interrelated concepts. Information is processed data that has the capacity to give form or shape to a matter or to the mind. Formation of matter can be appreciated in the way that “messages passed from Genes instruct the cell machinery to build an organism” (Campbell J., 1982). Shaping of mind…
This review of a chapter from a famous management book reflects on a sample business case when a company which was moving towards bankruptcy was offered a fundreaising deal which might help her to to be saved. Read along the review as how we could apply ethical intensity and social responsibility to attach points to…
“..Scent of information..” (This is based on a reference sentence as seen in Krug’s User experience book) The above extract from Krug’s book caught my attention since often we deal with IA components that ensure scents of useful information while navigating or searching through the web site. The need to keep the user less distracted…
The freedom of expression, being one of the firmly stated and affirmed right in the US constitution, I think the question refers to effecting in a global scenario. Freedom of expression touches most sensitive areas such as religion, which has a soft corner for. Considering the current world situation, I think pushing for such agendas…
We have seen so much about IT and all of us have been a part of it by some means or other. We all know what IT refers to and what are its applications. I have been trying to define what is IT or Information Technology, since some time. This is puerly a personal effort…
Deepesh JosephAugust 2006 Information Management (IM) refers to any activity that leads to effective collection, storage, retrieval and analysis of information by focusing on business strategy and by continuously improving business competitiveness and adaptability. The ultimate goal of any IM job is to add up to the combined efforts to meet the required business strategy….