5-1

Network Computing

Discovery, Communication, and Collaboration

5-2

The Internet

The Internet is a global network of computer networks. It links the computing resources of business, government, and educational institutions using a common computer communication protocol.

5-3

The Internet

• Discovery

• Communication

• Collaboration

• Information superhighways

5-4

The Internet:Characteristics and Capabilities

• Accessing the internet

• TV access

• Internet (network) terminal

• TCP/IP

• Resources

• Benefits

5-5

The Internet:Benefits

• Messages - low cost

• Access to government information

• Library of Congress

• Forum

• Download documents and software

• Electronic commerce

• Access to newspapers, magazines, and books

5-6

The Internet:Benefits

• Cultural events

• Entertainment

• Collaborative research

• Free telephone call and video conferencing

• Access to museums worldwide

• Web translators - access to information in other languages

5-7

Supporting Discovery:Via the Web

The WWW is a vast collection of interconnected pages of information that are stored on computers around the world which are connected to the Internet.

5-8

Supporting Discovery:Via the Web

• Hyperlinks

• Hypertext

• Web site

• Client / server architecture

5-9

Supporting Discovery:Benefits of the Web

• Open

• Resourceful

• Efficient

• Dynamic

5-10

Supporting Discovery:Via the Web

• Creating Web documents

• Search engines

• Gopher

• Downloading software and files

• Supporting communication

5-11

Supporting Communication

Communication is an interpersonal process of sending and receiving symbols with messages attached to them.

5-12

Supporting Communication:Factors Determining the Uses of

Information Technology• Participants

• Nature of sources and destinations

• Location

• Time

• Media

5-13

Time / Place Framework

• Same-time/same-place

• Same-time/different-place

• Different-time/same-place

• Different-time/different-place

5-14

Same

Different

Time

Same Different

Place

5-15

Supporting Communication

• Electronic mail - e-mail– Internet and intranet

• Chat programs

• Newsgroups

• Mailing lists and electronic bulletin boards

5-16

Supporting Collaboration

Collaboration refers to the mutual efforts by two or more individuals who perform activities in order to accomplish certain tasks.

5-17

Supporting Collaboration

• Conventional approach– Nominal group technique– Delphi method

• Using IT to support groupwork

• Workflow systems

• Screen sharing

5-18

Groupware:Technologies and Infrastructure

• Visual communication

• Electronic voice communication

• Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS)

• Integrated technologies

• Intranet and extranet

5-19

Visual Communication

• Video teleconferencing

• Video mail

5-20

Electronic Voice Communication

• Advantages

• Applications

5-21

Electronic Voice CommunicationAdvantages

• Hands-free / eyes-free operations

• Disabled employees - voice commands

• Portable voice terminals

• Voice terminals - rugged

• Faster

• Fewer errors

5-22

Electronic Voice CommunicationApplications

• Interactive voice recognition

• Voice annotation

• Automated attendant

• Voice mail

• Audiotext

5-23

Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS)

A group decision support system is an interactive computer-based system that facilitates the solution of semistructured and unstructured problems by a group of decision makers.

5-24

Group Decision Support Systems

• Supporting face-to-face meetings

• Applications

5-25

Group Decision Support Systems Supporting face-to-face meetings

• Hardware

• Software

• People

• Procedures

5-26

Group Decision Support Systems Applications

• IRS - quality improvement

• European auto industry - support experts

• San Trans - contract negotiations

• El Rio Health Care - contract negotiations

• City of Louisville - public education

5-27

Integrated Technologies:Examples

• PictureTel

• Cardiff Software

• Netscape Communicator

• Lotus Notes / Domino

5-28

Lotus Notes

Lotus notes is a Windows-based client/server platform for developing and deploying groupware applications.

5-29

Lotus NotesCapabilities

• Tracking

• Team discussion

• Broadcasting

• References

5-30

Lotus Notes

• Application categories– Things to do– Contract library– Corporate policy documents

• Notes’ databases– Discussion databases– Document libraries– Information services

5-31

The Intranet

The Intranet, or internal Web, is a network architecture designed to serve the internal informational needs of a company using Web concepts and tools.

5-32

5-33

Extranets

The extranet is an infrastructure that allows secure communications among business partners.

5-34

Internet Implementation Topics

• Internet-based software agents

• Internet-based data mining

• Ethics on the net

5-35

Internet-based Software Agents

• E-mail agents

• Web-browsing-assisting agents

• Intelligent indexing agents

5-36

Internet-based Data Mining

• Resource discovery

• Information extraction

• Generalization

5-37

Ethics on the Net

• Privacy and ethics in e-mail

• Right of free speech

• Copyright

• Privacy of patient’s information

• Internet manners

• Monitoring employee’s use of the Internet

5-38

Managerial Issues

• Security of communication

• Data crossing national boarders

• Congestion

• Control of employee time and activities

• Questionnaires and referenda

• Organizational impacts

5-39

Managerial Issues

• Use of the decision room

• Cost-benefit justification

• Legal issues

• Controlling the access and managing the content of the material on the intranet

5-40

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