| | Assignment 9 (Due: Septemeber 7, 2009, 13:00hrs) | |
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Chris Romarate
Posts : 54 Points : 55 Join date : 2009-06-20 Age : 33 Location : Tagum City
| Subject: Assignment 9 Wed Sep 30, 2009 9:49 pm | |
| The information environment is a construct based upon the idea that the existence and proliferation of information and information systems creates a distinct operating dimension or environment. As a combination of tangible (physical information systems and networks) and intangible elements (information and decision-making), the information environment is both a resource for military operations and a medium in which armed forces operate. In addition, an information environment incorporates all the factors affecting how an organization deals with information. It addresses all of a company's values and beliefs about information, how people actually use information and what they do with it, the pitfalls that can interfere with information sharing and use, and the technology and information systems that are in place. A broad perspective is necessary to understand the impact of intangibles because addressing intangible assets and capabilities will require changes in and adaptations to regulation, governance, attitudes and behaviors—in addition to systems and technologies.
That is why; the most intangible element of the information environment – information – is of supreme importance. This is because, in spite of its lack of physical existence, the content and flow of information within a specific geographic area produces real, tangible effects in the physical world. For these reasons, our understanding of the information environment must ultimately include how information content and flow affect the execution of military operations.
To rationally analyze the information environment and the relationship between its constituent elements, a framework is needed to organize our view of the environment. For this purpose, a model – the three domains of conflict – physical, information, and cognitive – that, in sum, explain the importance of information to military operations and, for the purposes of analysis, the character of the information environment.
The physical domain is the real world environments of land, sea, air, and space. It is where maneuver and conventional combat operations occur. As part of the information environment, it is where individuals, organizations, information systems, and the physical networks that support them reside.
The cognitive domain is where individual and organizational collective consciousness exists. It is where information is used to form perceptions and attitudes and make decisions. The information domain is formed by the intersection of the physical and cognitive domains, and is the abstract space where information exists. The domain consists of information and is where the functions of information systems (i.e., information collection, processing, and dissemination) create information content and flow. The information domain is the link between the reality of the physical domain and human perceptions and decision-making in cognitive domain.
Since people like us are also important to an information environment, we may consider us the peopleware that may belong to the intangible environment. If companies are going to begin to manage intangibles-oriented information successfully as part of their journey to become high-performance businesses, they will need to change many aspects of their information environments.
A new information strategy can set the tone for the overall changes. It should specify what new information entities the organization plans to collect and report on, and perhaps what information the organization will de-emphasize. The organization's intent relative to external reporting of the information should also be stated in its information strategy.
New information processes will be needed to generate and validate new information about intangible assets and capabilities. It's unlikely that all the information will already exist within the organization. For example, if the organization decides to regularly collect and manage information on its brand equity, it may need to initiate external surveys of customers to produce the information.
Organizations will need to develop a new performance anatomy, comprising a new information culture and set of behaviors. Perhaps the most important cultural and behavioral change will involve executives, who must begin to manage their businesses based on intangibles information. There is little use in having better information about human capital, for example, if managers don't try to act on it more effectively over time in a way that improves performance.
A new set of information entities will certainly lead to change in a company's information architecture, including its business applications. New metrics for growing intangible value will necessitate changes to business performance measurement systems. Enhancing management's decision-making capabilities to monitor and analyze intangible value will require improved business applications and analytic tools. These technologies, in turn, depend upon consistent, accurate information about intangible resources. This information will either need to be derived from existing databases, or new databases, and data warehouses must be constructed. Some of the intangibles information may be found externally and would need to be integrated with internal information before it can be useful.
Futhermore, we believe that changes in information governance may be necessary with an entirely new class of information. Governance issues around information appear naturally with any change in the balance of information power. Those who have their power wrapped up in financial information, for example, may well resist the new focus on intangibles. As evidence of the importance of information governance, at one firm that developed a balanced scorecard, a certain company had the new scorecard shut down while its developer (the director of quality) was on vacation! Whether this was a good idea or not, it certainly points out the need for attention to resolving political disputes.
In efforts to drive high performance, this overall model can be used to plan and assess an organization's movement toward intangible asset and capability management in relation to the information environment. We believe that pioneering companies that master all aspects of the management of intangible assets will be able to attain higher levels of business performance. In subsequent research, we'll describe how several aspects of this change may play out in detail, and provide examples of high-performance businesses and other leading organizations that have begun to manage information about intangible assets.
Finally, there is a need to ensure that quality information isn’t lost amongst the masses of digital data created everyday. If we can continue to improve the management, interrogation and serving of ‘quality’ information there is huge potential to enhance knowledge creation across learning and research communities. The aim of the Information Environment is to help provide convenient access to resources for research and learning through the use of resource discovery and resource management tools and the development of better services and practice. The Information Environment aims to allow discovery, access and use of resources for research and learning irrespective of their location.
Last edited by Chris Romarate on Thu Oct 01, 2009 1:35 pm; edited 2 times in total | |
| | | Norena T. Nicdao
Posts : 58 Points : 64 Join date : 2009-06-22 Age : 33 Location : Davao City
| Subject: Re: Assignment 9 (Due: Septemeber 7, 2009, 13:00hrs) Wed Sep 30, 2009 10:33 pm | |
| This essay talks about Information Environment, so I will discussed the following questions: • What should be my role within this environment? • How can the principles of information organization and representation help me in performing this role? • What are the challenges I will face in performing the role? How can I get possible solution to address these challenges?
As a student we have a big role when we talk about information because in our studies we encounter different explorations to gather some information from the different sources in the environment. We communicate to the people surround us. We write journals and read some books, newspapers, etc. and share what we had read to the people. I chose radio and television network or mass media network as my information environment. Nowadays, communication is easier, with the use of cell phone and other means of communication. I can relay information in some various media network. On that way I can give some information that you and I should know. Some media networks created some hotlines or communication hotlines that simple person can give an access to relay their information as fast as possible. They can help us to become more vigilant in our own little way. Communications is the art and technique of using words effectively to impart information or ideas. The field of study concerned with the transmission of information by various means, such as print or broadcasting. Any of various professions involved with the transmission of information, such as advertising, broadcasting, or journalism. The exchange of thoughts, messages, or information, as by speech, signals, writing, or behavior. Interpersonal rapport.A system, such as mail, telephone, or television, for sending and receiving messages. A network of routes for sending messages and transporting troops and supplies. Source: www.answers.com/topic/communication MASS MEDIA "Mass media" is a deceptively simple term encompassing a countless array of institutions and individuals who differ in purpose, scope, method, and cultural context. Mass media include all forms of information communicated to large groups of people, from a handmade sign to an international news network. There is no standard for how large the audience needs to be before communication becomes "mass" communication. There are also no constraints on the type of information being presented. A car advertisement and a U.N. resolution are both examples of mass media. IMPORTANCE OF MASS MEDIA Mass communicated media saturate the industrialized world. The television in the living room, the newspaper on the doorstep, the radio in the car, the computer at work, and the fliers in the mailbox are just a few of the media channels daily delivering advertisements, news, opinion, music, and other forms of mass communication. Because the media are so prevalent in industrialized countries, they have a powerful impact on how those populations view the world. Nearly all of the news in the United States comes from a major network or newspaper. It is only the most local and personal events that are experienced first-hand. Events in the larger community, the state, the country, and the rest of the world are experienced through the eyes of a journalist. Not only do the media report the news, they create the news by deciding what to report. The "top story" of the day has to be picked from the millions of things that happened that particular day. After something is deemed newsworthy, there are decisions on how much time or space to give it, whom to interview, what pictures to use, and how to frame it. Often considered by editors, but seldom discussed, is how the biases and interests of management will impact these determinations. All of these decisions add up to the audience's view of the world, and those who influence the decisions influence the audience. Mass communicated media saturate the industrialized world. The television in the living room, the newspaper on the doorstep, the radio in the car, the computer at work, and the fliers in the mailbox are just a few of the media channels daily delivering advertisements, news, opinion, music, and other forms of mass communication. Because the media are so prevalent in industrialized countries, they have a powerful impact on how those populations view the world. Nearly all of the news in the United States comes from a major network or newspaper. It is only the most local and personal events that are experienced first-hand. Events in the larger community, the state, the country, and the rest of the world are experienced through the eyes of a journalist. Not only do the media report the news, they create the news by deciding what to report. The "top story" of the day has to be picked from the millions of things that happened that particular day. After something is deemed newsworthy, there are decisions on how much time or space to give it, whom to interview, what pictures to use, and how to frame it. Often considered by editors, but seldom discussed, is how the biases and interests of management will impact these determinations. All of these decisions add up to the audience's view of the world, and those who influence the decisions influence the audience. • What are the challenges I will face in performing the role? How can I get possible solution to address these challenges? They encourage the person to be more observant to the surroundings that could affect us, the challenges that I possibly encounter in this information environment is that we should relay only facts information without bases. And to other those challenges we should verify the information that I would give so that I could not give wrong information that will lead to the destruction of the said matter. On my research I discussed the definition of Mass Media, its imporatance, the positive and negative effects on it. POSITIVES EFFECTS Without the media, most people would know little of events beyond their immediate neighborhood. The further one goes outside of one's circle of friends and family, the more time-consuming and expensive it becomes to get information. Very few, if any, individuals have the resources to stay independently informed of world events. With the news, however, all one has to do is turn on a television or turn to the Internet. Even when it is biased or limited, it is a picture of what is happening around the world. The more sources one compares, the more accurate the picture that can be put together. In addition to the media conglomerates, there are also a range of independent news outlets, though they have a much smaller audience. Some of these provide an alternative view of events and often strive to publish stories that cannot be found in the mainstream media. Technological advances in many industrialized (primarily Western) countries make it possible to read papers and watch broadcasts from around the globe. While language skills can be a barrier, it is possible to live in the United States and watch Arab-language broadcasts from the Middle East, or to get on the Internet and read scores of Chinese newspapers. Having access to these alternative voices limits the power of monopolies over information. Another important benefit of a functioning mass news media is that information can be relayed quickly in times of crisis. Tornado and hurricane announcement can give large populations advance warning and allow them to take precautions and move out of harm's way. In a country suffering war, a radio broadcast outlining where the latest fighting is can alert people to areas to avoid. In quieter times, the media can publish other useful announcements, from traffic reports to how to avoid getting HIV. It is a stabilizing and civilizing force. NEGATIVES EFFECTS The news media thrive on conflict. The lead story for most news programs is typically the most recent and extreme crime or disaster. Conflict attracts viewers, listeners, and readers to the media; the greater the conflict the greater the audience, and large audiences are imperative to the financial success of media outlets. Therefore, it is often in the media's interest to not only report conflict, but to play it up, making it seem more intense than it really is. Long-term, on-going conflict-resolution processes such as mediation are not dramatic and are often difficult to understand and report, especially since the proceedings are almost always closed to the media. Thus conflict resolution stories are easily pushed aside in favor of the most recent, the most colorful, and the most shocking aspects of a conflict. Groups that understand this dynamic can cater to it in order to gain media attention. Common criteria for terrorist attacks include timing them to coincide with significant dates, targeting elites, choosing sites with easy media access, and aiming for large numbers of casualties.[1] Protesters will hoist their placards and start chanting when the television cameras come into view. It is not unusual for camera crews or reporters to encourage demonstrators into these actions so they can return to their studios with exciting footage. The resulting media coverage can bestow status and even legitimacy on marginal opposition groups, so television coverage naturally becomes one of their planned strategies and top priorities. The "30-second sound bite" has become a familiar phrase in television and radio news and alert public figures strategize to use it to their advantage. INFLUENCE OF MASS MEDIAThe term mass media describes many forms of entertainment: television, film, music, newspapers, magazines, the Internet, and advertising. For decades these resources have been available to people of all ages. Because this is where we receive most of our information, it is used by media organizations to target and impact America’s youth. Idealized beauty standards, irrelevant sexualization, and domestication are only some of the ways that young women in the media are portrayed today. This article provides a general overview of how many of the things we are used to seeing, are sending a negative image to young people everywhere. Let’s be honest, the average person in this country does not look like Angelina Jolie, Halle Barry or Giselle Bundchen. So why is it that average women are not represented in mass media formats? It’s actually a simple answer. Idealized beauty standards are seen everywhere from commercials, to TV shows and movies. The ideal of beauty has dramatically changed throughout the years, considering that Marilyn Monroe was a size 14 at the height of her career. In today’s media environment she would have been expected to be at least 5 inches taller and weigh at least 25 pounds less. This ideal puts pressure on young women to look like the people featured in music, magazines, film and many other mass media formats, even if the goal of being that thin is unattainable without harming your body’s health. The film industry is one that has a major effect on how young women are viewed in society. Young women often have roles as passive and vulnerable characters who tend to leave the tough, strong and assertive roles to men. Women’s roles are written with irrelevant sexualization – their characters primary function is to please men. They ten display risqué and careless behavior. For example, wouldn’t it make sense that if two characters in a film are going to have sex that either one of them wears a condom? Especially if the target is a young audience since this is the population in which HIV has increased the most. Yet women in the movies rarely take steps to protect their sexual health. The music industry just like the film industry exhibits the use of irrelevant sexualization to attract an audience of young people. Music videos showcase behavior that is just as promiscuous as what you see in film. Women’s bodies are constantly displayed in a sexual way, and this behavior is imitated by young girls across the country who idolize them. Another negative portrayal is domestication. The majority of commercials about house products or child care are still aimed at women. This reinforces the sexist and dated stereotype of women only working inside the home (and men never contributing to housework or child care). It is clear that images of young women in the media have a tremendous impact on young people everywhere. Whether it is through film, music, or any other mass media format the public is constantly pressured to fit into today’s ideal of what beauty is. Young people are influenced to act like the characters they watch on TV. It seems that now more than ever in an industry obsessed with youth, there is no better way to describe what really matters than with the age old saying “sex sells”. Source: http://www.mysistahs.org/features/media.htm INFORMATION ENVIRONMENT DESIGN For me, the web, websites, and the information contained within is a constantly growing and changing collection of data. Architecture by definition is based on the concept of physical structures. The concept we deal with on the web is often very different than simple architecture because we must design around the concept of an ever expanding information set. For these reasons I prefer to call what we deal with in the web community as Information Environments, and their planning and construction, Information Environment Design or IED. From large to small, these are the web areas in which our data and information lives, growing and changing over time. In fact, with the growth of search and social media, the science of how web environments interact has become increasingly important. No longer does an Information Architecture stand alone, it is being shaped by its surrounding environments. PageRank and the semantic web are just examples of how Information Environments co-exist and effect each other. Our web is not dead, it is alive, and we must plan the use of our sites information accordingly. The Importance of Information Environment Design A well crafted Information Environment has repercussions on both usability and the optimization of a site for search. CreativeGood.com once found that 56% of internal search queries on e-commerce sites ended in failure. This is an obvious results of poorly constructed data sets. Poor Information Environment design will also lead to user abandonment, due to poor or counter intuitive navigation. For search, the difficulty of search engine spiders to effectively crawl data, and then relate the data sets within a site to each other. Source: http://www.searchandsocial.com/seo-blog/search-friendly-information-environment-design/ System flexibility is a key advantage in today's fast-moving marketplace. The right solution can help you asses, design, integrate, and manage your information technology (IT) environment. To keep pace with business needs as they change, you need to build an adaptive system, one where your business and IT solutions synchronize to capitalize on change. | |
| | | mayraflordurango
Posts : 30 Points : 30 Join date : 2009-06-22
| Subject: MIS_ASSIGNMENT 9 Thu Oct 01, 2009 12:44 am | |
| Subject: Assignment 9 (Due: Septemeber 7, 2009, 13:00hrs) Sun Aug 09, 2009 8:23 pm Reply with quote Identify an information environment of your choice and write an essay to address the following questions: (3000 words) • What should be your role within this environment? • How can the principles of information organization and representation help you in performing this role? • What are the challenges facing you in performing the role? How will you address these challenges? Short-live discussion....The world economy is currently dominated by information and communication technology and has consequently increasingly competitive and globalised. The changing economy also impacts on our living and working environment. Now, What should be the role in everyone of us? Dealing with different people its not a denial that many says"Hmmm.. Ahh IT student jai ka!" subdue to this individuals perception..he continue say." Owzz.. you know that you can be a great contributor for our country's progress pertaining that technology was fast rising right now.." And then I just keep on thinking..."Maybe?!But How?!" According to my research there are 6 Pirnciples and Processes of Information Organization that affects the environment socially and physically and this are the following: Topic-6: Principles and Processes of Information Organization * Understand the key principles of information organization 1. Communities 2. User orientation 3. Standardization and networking * Understand the key processes of information organization 4. Selection and evaluation 5. Organization 6. De-selection Reference: http://www.ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/raja/is206/topic-6.htm Vowing wtih this given and justified principles and processes, it will serve as a guide to acting individuals which liable in any responsibelities and duties among its nature. As an IT student, in my own notion there will be no compolsory principles and processes to be followed because the most important is, if you are liable and aware in everything that happen. Of course you had the power to take a big part inorder to solve any porblems. For example, the unended issue of corruption and cheatinns in our government that our country facing right now and then. In my part as An IT student, I can use the power that I have learn, specifically by the direct communication among the other youth for today through the use of the internet. By this, maybe the ignorant minds and sleeping thought of many people rught now are becoming aware and will do the right action for our own good and especially to save our motherland. As popularly say..."AKO MISMO"
Last edited by mayraflordurango on Thu Oct 01, 2009 1:12 am; edited 1 time in total | |
| | | Russel John Serrano
Posts : 34 Points : 36 Join date : 2009-06-21 Age : 32 Location : Apokon, Tagum City
| Subject: Assignment 9 ::MIS1:: Thu Oct 01, 2009 1:11 am | |
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| | | Fritzielaine A. Barcena
Posts : 53 Points : 54 Join date : 2009-06-20 Age : 32 Location : Tagum City
| Subject: Re: Assignment 9 (Due: Septemeber 7, 2009, 13:00hrs) Thu Oct 01, 2009 4:45 am | |
| The Information Environment (IE) is a term used to refer to work to develop and provide services which enable people to find and manage information efficiently and effectively in their learning, teaching or research. The information resources which people need are very varied - books, journals, research papers, teaching resources, videos, maps and more - and while they might be in any format they are increasingly digital.
There is now a critical mass of digital information resources that can be used to support researchers, learners, teachers and administrators in their work and study. The production of information is on the increase and ways to deal with this effectively are required. There is the need to ensure that quality information isn’t lost amongst the masses of digital data created everyday. If we can continue to improve the management, interrogation and serving of ‘quality’ information there is huge potential to enhance knowledge creation across learning and research communities. The aim of the Information Environment is to help provide convenient access to resources for research and learning through the use of resource discovery and resource management tools and the development of better services and practice. The Information Environment aims to allow discovery, access and use of resources for research and learning irrespective of their location.
• A changing environment
Over time there has been a great deal of change to the context in which we are working. The Information Environment programmes have primarily worked with the over-riding aim of improving access to and use of heterogeneous resources but have also taken account of changes and provided a way to test, develop and evolve appropriate means to manage and use resources.
The significant environmental changes have been:
• moves towards Open Access research and learning being undertaken on the Web as the Web is able to support flexible models of research and learning • dominance of search engines e.g. Google • the development of ‘Web 2.0’ applications and services which support collaborative working and the creation and sharing of digital resources • cloud computing • the huge and continuing growth in digital 'data' • increased awareness of the utility of service and resource orientated approaches to designing services
Cloud computing is a paradigm of computing in which dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources are provided as a service over the Internet. Users need not have knowledge of, expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure in the "cloud" that supports them.
The rise in importance of repositories as a means of managing and sharing digital resources created as part of learning and research has meant that since 2005 much of the JISC Information Environment programme investment has focused on that area. Whilst in the last tranche of repository funding there was some work in the area of preservation, discovery, and other shared infrastructure, there is now a need to move away from the emphasis on 'repository' and to see repositories and the wide variety of resources and delivery mechanisms as part of the wider Information Environment context.
visit my blog: http://prettypriti-pretty.blogspot.com/
Last edited by Fritzielaine A. Barcena on Thu Oct 01, 2009 5:28 am; edited 1 time in total | |
| | | kristine_delatorre
Posts : 58 Points : 60 Join date : 2009-06-21 Age : 33 Location : davao city
| Subject: Re: Assignment 9 (Due: Septemeber 7, 2009, 13:00hrs) Thu Oct 01, 2009 5:02 am | |
| There is now a critical mass of digital information resources that can be used to support researchers, learners, teachers and administrators in their work and study. The production of information is on the increase and ways to deal with this effectively are required. There is the need to ensure that quality information isn’t lost amongst the masses of digital data created everyday. If we can continue to improve the management, interrogation and serving of ‘quality’ information there is huge potential to enhance knowledge creation across learning and research communities. The aim of the Information Environment is to help provide convenient access to resources for research and learning through the use of resource discovery and resource management tools and the development of better services and practice. The Information Environment aims to allow discovery, access and use of resources for research and learning irrespective of their location. nformation technology (IT), as defined by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), is "the study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware."[1] IT deals with the use of electronic computers and computer software to convert, store, protect, process, transmit, and securely retrieve information. Today, the term information technology has ballooned to encompass many aspects of computing and technology, and the term has become very recognizable. IT professionals perform a variety of duties that range from installing applications to designing complex computer networks and information databases. A few of the duties that IT professionals perform may include data management, networking, engineering computer hardware, database and software design, as well as the management and administration of entire systems. When computer and communications technologies are combined, the result is information technology, or "infotech". Information technology is a general term that describes any technology that helps to produce, manipulate, store, communicate, and/or disseminate information. Presumably, when speaking of Information Technology (IT) as a whole, it is noted that the use of computers and information are associated. The flow of information has changed the way we live in today world. Information is the backbone of every system. Every morning when we read a newspaper having out so much information we came to know the latest happening in the world (of course in details), yeah you are right even the internet edition also. This is just a very basic example of IT. As my chosen Information environment, i do believe that by acquiring enough information in this field has took me to greater advantages. In today's fast paced technology, information makes the world round. Everything we do, speak has to deal with informations. IT is a broad area. Everyone is welcome to ponder and exchange useful informations. Example, INTERNET. Internet is a great example of Networks. Networks in which everyone shares. There are plenty of Career that are applicable to IT: Areas in Information technology In the developing information technology field their is a particular trend in specialisation . In partcular to databases, office information systems, local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), the internet and programming. Programming Information Technology News Artificial Intelligence Web Hosting Information Technology Jobs Computer Science Jobs Computer Science Degrees Information Technology Degrees Research papers Networks Internet Databases Robotics Multimedia Web design My PArt? simple. i wannabe be on Web design. Its my chosen path. i like it. Designing is an art. i Love designing.Web design is the skill of creating presentations of content (usually hypertext or hypermedia) that is delivered to an end-user through the World Wide Web, by way of a Web browser or other Web-enabled software like Internet television clients, microblogging clients and RSS readers. Web design is a kind of graphic design intended for development and styling of objects of the Internet's information environment to provide them with high-end consumer features and aesthetic qualities. The offered definition separates web design from web programming, emphasizing the functional features of a web site, as well as positioning web design as a kind of graphic design. I will be a great motivator. I'll do my best to inspired others. Stay close to opportunities and manage to be self-equip with latest technology. Obstacles may rise, with the help of GOd and discipline, everything is possible. http://ezinearticles.com/?Role-of-Information-Technology&id=141592 http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/themes/informationenvironment.aspx http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_design http://www.unixl.com/dir/information_technology/ | |
| | | rosemie nunez
Posts : 47 Points : 49 Join date : 2009-06-22 Age : 34 Location : Davao City
| Subject: information environment Thu Oct 01, 2009 8:32 am | |
| • What should be your role within this environment? • How can the principles of information organization and representation help you in performing this role? • What are the challenges facing you in performing the role? How will you address these challenges?
Coping with Climate Change
What is climate change? The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) refers to climate change as “any change in climate over time, whether due to natural variability or as a result of human activity.” What are the impacts of climate change? Climate change is indeed a global environmental problem. As industries, the transport sector and other human activities continue to pump more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the planet is now becoming more vulnerable to potential impacts. Ranging from severe droughts and heavy downpours to ocean acidification and spread of vector-borne diseases, climate change rapidly becomes a major threat to people in various parts of the globe. The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report cited that coastal areas, especially heavily-populated megadelta regions in South, East and South-East Asia, will be at greatest risk due to increased flooding from the sea and, in some megadeltas, flooding from the rivers. The whole world will be affected by rising sea levels. Changes in weather and climate could severely affect fisherfolks and coastal communities because of floods. When there is too little or too much rainfall during growing seasons, agricultural productivity will suffer thus affecting food security. What are the vulnerabilities of Philippine ecosystems to climate change? Sea Level Rise and Flooding As the country’s population grows and ecosystems are continuously degraded, floods will worsen the condition of low-lying coastal areas especially for fisherfolks and informal settlers. For metro cities such as Metro Manila, Cebu and Davao, wherein seventy percent of the country’s infrastructure is located, rising sea levels coupled with frequent storm activities will likewise severely affect these areas and put many lives at risk. This may be further aggravated if storm activities were to increase. Agriculture and Food Security During extreme weather events, crop production is at great risk. Any significant changes in weather and climate can directly affect the growth of crops and may result to yield decrease. A study by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development showed that in the case of selected municipalities Pampanga, Camarines Sur, Catanduanes, Bulacan, and Zambales where farming is the major source of income, respondents experienced food shortage due to the El Niño phenomenon. Some of the reasons cited by local respondents were drying of crops and fishpond areas, reduction in fish catch and absence of fish in catching areas, and an increase in the price of food commodities. Based on studies in the marine ecosystem, climate change has also been manifested in the marine environment. The rising sea level has resulted in smaller coastal areas, marine fish kill, occurrence of red tide, transfer of some marine fish species to safer grounds as their new habitat, and the stranding of marine mammals in beaches like the dolphins and whales. Water scarcity Another most serious potential threat arising from climate change is water scarcity. Freshwater availability in Central, South, East and South-East Asia is projected to decrease due to changes in climate. Coupled with population growth and the increasing demand for water, the IPCC projected that by the 2050s, more than a billion people would be adversely affected by the rapid decrease in water resources. What is adaptation to climate change? The IPCC defines adaptation to climate change as “an adjustment in natural human systems in response to actual or expected climate stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits benefit opportunities.” Adapting to climate change is determined by the level of development, access to resources and scientific and technical capacity of communities in various parts of the globe. The impacts of climate change can create challenges for the world's poorest communities as their livelihoods are likely to be affected by climate change. Some forms of adaptation may include more access to information on climate change, training and more technical measures, such as the production of drought-resistant seeds and better coastal protection. To lessen the impact of climate change on a country's development, our government must work hand in hand with key sectors in integrating adaptation into the country’s development policies. What are some good adaptation practices and strategies on climate change? The following are local strategies that can be adopted to prepare for future changes in climate. Water: * Water conservation * Water harvesting and storage * Better management of water supply systems Agriculture: Crop production * Forecasts and early warning * Diversification of herds, crops and livelihoods * More resistant crop varieties * Irrigation solutions * Soil conservation * Changes in timing of farming activities, in land use and in farm location * Use early maturing rice varieties in the face of climatic variability * Practice rice ratooning to increase rice production * Conserve rainwater to extend cropping period * Develop simple measures for handling rapid harvesting and postharvesting Fish production * Changes in fish stocking and harvesting * Improve fish cage management Health: * Improve access to health care * Disease monitoring and emergency responses Ecosystems: * Reduce other stresses * Rehabilitate habitats * Create protected areas and migration corridors * Plant trees along highways, forest reserve areas, water shed areas and mountains Coasts: * Integrated coastal resource management * Integrate adaptation to planning * Construct sea walls * Raise housing * Conserve ecosystems Increased flooding: * Elevate major thoroughfare * Modify existing drainage system * “Flood-proof” buildings * Provide flood hazard mapping and flood warnings * Provide temporary shelter for affected communities * Relocate affected communities should sea water level rise * Empower community institutions Clean Air and Good Health: Some Basic Facts Clean air is essential to good health. Unfortunately, toxic air pollutants and contaminants are adding a whole list of “unwanted” ingredients in the air that we breathe thus giving rise to a variety of serious health risks. How do these pollutants affect the body? There are thousands of chemicals and chemical compounds that can contaminate the air we breathe. When we breathe, contaminants enter the lungs where they are allowed to pass into the bloodstream. Once in the bloodstream, they are disbursed throughout the entire body where it negatively affects a person’s health. Experts say that certain pollutants such as particulate matter can be inhaled and end up setting deep inside the lungs. Some particles are large or dark enough to be seen as haze, soot or smoke. Others are so small they can only be seen by an electron microscope. The effects of air pollution on human health can vary greatly and can give birth to a multitude of health problems. The effects can range from irritated eyes and nose, headaches, fatigue, wheezing, long-term acute changes in lung function, respiratory illnesses, and impairment of the immune system or a shortened life expectancy. What are the major air pollutants monitored in the country? Carbon Monoxide (CO). It is an odorless and colorless gas produced by the incomplete burning of carbon-based fuels, including gasoline, oil and wood. It can also build up in high concentrations in enclosed areas such as garages and along roadsides during heavy traffic. Carbon Dioxide (CO2). It is a principal greenhouse gas emitted as a result of human activity. When exposed to CO2 in its solid or liquid state, this chemical can cause burns, frostbite, and blindness. If a person inhales CO2 in high concentrations, it can likewise cause unconsciousness and death. Lead (Pb). It is a highly toxic metal that produces a range of adverse health effects particularly in young children. Since ____, Lead has already been phased out of gasoline, which has considerably reduced the contamination of air with lead. Some of the sources for lead include paint (for houses and cars), smelters, cosmetic products and a few hair dye products. Ozone (O3). It is a gas that is a variety of oxygen. Ozone in the upper atmosphere is known as the ozone layer which shields the Earth from the sun's dangerous ultraviolet rays. However, at ground level it is considered a pollutant with highly toxic effects. Some of the major sources of ground-level ozone are vehicles and industries. Some of the ill effects of this pollutant include irritations in the respiratory tract, chest pain, persistent cough and an increased susceptibility to lung infection. Nitrogen Oxide (NOx). Nitrogen oxides are produced from burning fuels, gasoline and coal. It is a major contributor to smog and acid rain. In high doses, smog can harm humans especially asthmatics and can cause general illness of the respiratory system. Acid rain, on the other hand, can harm vegetation and change the chemistry of the water thus affecting marine life. Particulate Matter. It is any type of solid particles in the air in the form of smoke, dust and vapors. Particulate Matter is produced by many sources, including burning of diesel fuels by vehicles, fossil fuels, mixing and application of fertilizers and pesticides, road construction, industrial processes and operation of woodstoves. Some microscopic particles in the air can be breathed into the lungs causing increased respiratory disease and lung damage. Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) It is an odorless gas at low concentrations, but can have a very strong smell at high concentrations. SO2 is a gas produced by burning coal, most notably in power plants. Some industrial processes, such as production of paper and smelting of metals, produce sulfur dioxide. It can harm vegetation and metals and can cause lung problems, including breathing problems and permanent damage to lungs. Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). These are organic chemicals that found in gasoline, industrial chemicals such as benzene, solvents such as toluene and xylene, and perchloroethylene (principal dry cleaning solvent). Vehicle emissions are an important source of VOCs. These chemicals are released from burning fuel, such as gasoline, wood, coal, and from solvents, such as paints, glues, and other products used at home or work. What can we do for cleaner air and better health? About half of the air pollution comes from mobile sources such as cars, trucks, jeepneys and buses. Here are some things that you can do to clean the air: ท Use clean fuels for cleaner air and healthier environment. ท Clean fuels such as biofuels, ethanol and compressed natural gas emit fewer pollutants like hydrocarbons and greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. ท Maintain your vehicle’s engine to clean the air by: o Checking cleanliness of your car’s air cleaner o Changing oil periodically o Checking steering wheel free play o Following recommended tire pressure o Keeping wheels properly aligned o Making sure that battery, alternator, voltage regulator and fan are in good working condition o Making sure that brakes do not drag or bind o Checking fuel line connections o Not overloading your vehicle ท Have airconditioning units of your vehicles tested to check if refrigerant is ozone-friendly. ท A healthy lifestyle means saying no to smoking. o Smoking damages nearly every organ in the human body, and is linked to at least 10 different cancers. o Quitting smoking is one of the best things you can do for yourself and your loved ones. ท Yes to good health! Go organic. ท Prepare your food the environment-friendly way. ท Conserve energy and help clean the air. o Increased consumption of electricity means more burning of fossil fuels by power plants that contributes to global warming o Turn off the lights when you leave a room. o Use energy efficient lighting, equipment and appliances ท Avoid burning of garbage. Practice waste segregation, reuse and recycling. o Choose recycled products. o Choose products with recyclable packaging. o Reuse paper bags. o Recycle paper, plastics and materials o Print and photocopy on both sides of the paper. ท Our everyday activities affect the quality of our air. We should do our share to clean the air! ท When traveling alone and not in a hurry, take the mass railway transit or any form of mass transport instead of your car or a taxi. ท Walk or ride a bike when traveling short distances. ท Plant trees and ornamental plants in your surroundings. Plants absorb carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. ท Share rides with your neighbors, officemates, and friends. ท Plan your trips. ท Have your vehicle’s emission tested prior to registration. The Earth is a huge greenhouse? As you know, greenhouses use glass to keep the heat in. And just as the glass in a greenhouse holds the sun’s warmth inside, so the atmosphere traps the sun’s heat near the Earth’s surface. This keeps the Earth warm using what are called “greenhouse gases”. Without these gases, the sun’s heat would escape and the average temperature of the Earth would drop from 15oC – 18oC! Greenhouse gases and climate change For thousands of years, the Earth’s atmosphere has changed very little. The temperature and the careful balance of greenhouse gases have stayed just right for humans, animals and plants to survive. But today we are having problems keeping this balance. Because we burn fossil fuels to heat our homes, run our cars, produce electricity, and manufacture all sorts of products, we are adding more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. These activities are changing the atmosphere at a greater rate than humans have ever experienced. What could happen if the climate changes? By increasing the amount of “heat-trapping” gases, we are adding to the warming effect of the natural atmospheric greenhouse. This could warm the planet and have a huge effect on all forms of life. The global sea level could rise due to several factors including melting ice and glaciers. Rising sea levels could damage coastal regions through flooding and erosion. The climate of various regions could change too quickly for many plant and animal species to adjust. Harsh weather conditions, such as heat waves and droughts, could also happen more often and more severely. What are the Greenhouse Gases? Did you know that water vapor is the most common greenhouse gas? But there are others that are very important too. Some occur naturally and some come from human activity. Check out the list below. • Carbon Dioxide or CO2 is the most significant greenhouse gas released by human activities, mostly through the burning of fossil fuels. It is the main contributor to climate change. • Methane is produced when vegetation is burned, digested or rotted with no oxygen present. Garbage dumps, rice paddies, and grazing cows and other livestock release lots of methane. • You can find nitrous oxide naturally in the environment but human activities are increasing the amounts. Nitrous oxide is released when chemical Fertilizers and manure are used in agriculture. • Halocarbons are a family of chemicals that include chlorofluorocarbons (which also damage the ozone layer), and other human-made chemicals that contain chlorine and fluorine. Is the Earth getting warmer? Yes! Scientists may not agree exactly how much global warming will occur, or exactly how much the climate will change, but they do agree that some global warming has already occurred and there will likely be much more. The 12 warmest years in the past 140 years have all been since 1980, with eight of them since 1990. The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change noted that 1990 was the warmest decade and 1998 was the warmest year. So what’s wrong with warmer temperatures? For many in the temperate countries, warmer temperatures might not seem like such a bad thing. But in tropical countries, this would be significant. Scientists warn us of the possible consequences like: • more severe weather events like droughts, more powerful hurricanes, winter storms and tornadoes • flooding and erosion in the coastal regions • our forests and farms would be at greater risk from pests, diseases and fires • damage to our water sources Climate change could also affect the health and well-being of people. Many larger cities could experience a significant rise in the number of very hot days. Air pollution problems would increase, placing children, the elderly and people suffering from respiratory problems at greatest risk of health effects. Increases in molds and pollens due to warmer temperatures could also cause respiratory problems such as asthma for some people. What is being done around the world? Climate change affects the entire globe. Developed and developing countries are working together to find solutions to climate change. In June 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was signed by 154 countries that agreed to stabilize the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at levels that won’t cause harm. In December 1997, in Kyoto, Japan, 161 industrialized nations committed to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, as part of an international agreement on climate change called the Kyoto Protocol. Sources: www.climatechange.gc.ca www.emb.gov.ph Many of us just taking for granted how wonderful God’s creation is. We just let our air be polluted, water be black, soil be full of plastics. Even our the atmosphere, we just think that it is a simple air up there, but actually it is a mixture of gases that surrounds our earth that has many many function to give life in every living thing in this planet. Climate change it is the most talk about issue in this past weeks. Sudden floods like what happened in metro manila. Many died but many of us still continue the wrong doing in destroying our world. Burning of garbage, not separating the garbage, not serious in recycling, and not conserving water. If our planet can talk, maybe now we are all deaf because of its continuous crying, shouting to stop doing the things that can harm our planet. If our planet can produce tear in every cry maybe Earth is covered with its tears now. Diseases are everywhere, unfortunate for the poor. Because of change of climate every now and then creates a much stronger illness than before. People ACT now, not just LISTEN, but take it very serious. Its coming very soon we just don’t know when.
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| | | Stihl Lhyn Samonte
Posts : 55 Points : 55 Join date : 2009-06-22 Location : sasa, davao city
| Subject: MIS Assignment 9 Thu Oct 01, 2009 10:40 am | |
| Information Environment There is now a critical mass of digital information resources that can be used to support researchers, learners, teachers and administrators in their work and study. The production of information is on the increase and ways to deal with this effectively are required. There is the need to ensure that quality information isn’t lost amongst the masses of digital data created everyday. If we can continue to improve the management, interrogation and serving of ‘quality’ information there is huge potential to enhance knowledge creation across learning and research communities. The aim of the Information Environment is to help provide convenient access to resources for research and learning through the use of resource discovery and resource management tools and the development of better services and practice. The Information Environment aims to allow discovery, access and use of resources for research and learning irrespective of their location.
• What should be your role within this environment? Information is the foundation of sustainable development and is fundamental to successful planning and decision making. If decisions are made without sound data and information, they will be little better than best guesses and are likely to be wrong. Economic and social data are widely available and are relatively reliable and well understood. The situation with environmental data and information is somewhat different. High quality, comprehensive and timely information on the environment remains a scarce resource, and finding the 'right' information can pose problems: data are more difficult and expensive to obtain. It is also difficult to find indicators that capture and reflect the complexity of the environment and human vulnerability to environmental change. Environmental data acquisition remains a basic need in all countries. Despite the problems, scientific consensus based on best available data and knowledge, although sometimes partial and limited, has proved a powerful tool for bringing environmental issues to international attention, and prompting action. There have been great improvements in environmental research and monitoring but it is important that these efforts are maintained and improved to ensure a flow of timely and reliable information. A sub-set of that information needs to underpin early warning in relation to disasters and emerging issues, and to the factors underlying human vulnerability to environmental change.
The global economy and energy system are interdependent strands where changes in one will often cause fluctuations in the other. This relationship was highlighted by the recent economic crisis which saw cumulative effects in other spheres including world energy demand.
The provision of information will benefit from: • Structured and nested monitoring and observing systems including global satellites for collection of timely and reliable data on environmental components, using harmonized units of measurement and terms. • An effective, globally acceptable environmental information system supported by a harmonized set of data, indicators and indices and closely integrated with socio-economic information systems to provide basic information for decision making. • Maximizing the use of the Internet as a cheap and effective means of information exchange worldwide. • Identifying indicators and indices to capture the sustainability of environmental trends as well as trends in human vulnerability to environmental change. • Tools to create a knowledge base accessible to environmental policy and decision makers. • Presentation of complex data and information in an easily understandable form to decision makers.
• How can the principles of information organization and representation help you in performing this role? THE ORGANIZATIONAL/POLICY DOMAIN Principle One: Organizational Security Policy The organization will establish an inclusive set of rational and systematic policies for information assurance. These will be derived from a commonly accepted model of expert best practice. They will serve to ensure the protection and management control of the complete set of identified information and IT assets. This array of policies will be implemented through a strategic planning process. It will accurately reflect the long-term protection needs of each component of the information and IT resource base. It will ensure full and ongoing protection of all information assets. It will be continuously audited and enforced by the business. Principle Two: Defined and Documented Security Infrastructure The organization will design, implement and enforce a logical and consistent information assurance infrastructure. The infrastructure will be operated and maintained systematically and immediately responsive to the protection needs of the information and IT resource base. The architecture of this framework will embody procedures tailored to the particular organizational instance. These procedures will be based on as well as substantiate explicit best practice control objectives identified during the policy formulation process. The control objectives that the design process identifies as appropriate will be audited for conformance.
Principle Three: Education A proactive program will be established and maintained to ensure that the human resources of the organization are fully and continuously aware of security requirements and procedures relevant to their work. In addition the organization will develop a comprehensive plan to ensure that staff security capability will be maintained at acceptable levels, based on defined criteria. Finally, the organization will develop managerial capacity both with respect to security strategic planning and also with respect to supervision and control of the information resource.
Principle Four: Asset Management The organization will establish an identification process and a baseline control scheme for the purpose of specific asset accounting for security control. The baseline will document and maintain a specific record of the status of each instance of an information resource element. Every item in the baseline will be identified, given a unique identifying label and will be maintained as an entry within an asset accounting repository. A designated decision maker will authorize material changes to the form of any entry in the repository. Upon completion the change must be verified as correct before being recorded as the current version in the repository.
Principle Five: Business Continuity The organization will establish and maintain a comprehensive action plan and defined practices to insure that business processes will not be disrupted if the information base is illegally accessed, or harmed. That includes procedural mechanisms for the preservation and recovery of information that might have been lost. Additionally it will involve the implementation and documentation of a consistent mechanism for the safe backup at a proscribed point in time and storage of all information assets. It will further include technical processes for the insurance of continuous operation of the information processing and storage function should harm occur.
Principle Six: Regulatory Compliance The organization will establish comprehensive control procedures to identify and ensure the compliance of the information processing function and the information and IT asset base with all stipulations of contracts regulations and laws. This will include the definition of an oversight and accountability scheme to insure that due diligence will be continuously practiced.
• What are the challenges facing you in performing the role? How will you address these challenges?The explosion of unstructured information such as emails, instant messaging, audio, video, blogs and web pages provides a new richness of information for organizations to leverage for business value and competitive advantage. However, it also introduces new challenges and risks regarding performance management, business operations and compliance and risk analysis. In order for computers to automate the processing of this information, a fundamental shift in computing needs to occur - one beyond legacy keyword search and structured relational databases.
Sourceshttp://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/themes/informationenvironment.aspx http://www.grida.no/publications/other/geo3/?src=/geo/geo3/english/588.htm http://dlist.sir.arizona.edu/2144/ http://www.etalk.com/products/challenges-of-information/index.htm mY bLog:http://stihlyn.blogspot.com/ | |
| | | Jethro Alburo Querubin
Posts : 43 Points : 45 Join date : 2009-06-22
| Subject: assignment 9 Thu Oct 01, 2009 8:07 pm | |
| There is now a critical mass of digital information resources that can be used to support researchers, learners, teachers and administrators in their work and study. The production of information is on the increase and ways to deal with this effectively are required. There is the need to ensure that quality information isn’t lost amongst the masses of digital data created everyday. If we can continue to improve the management, interrogation and serving of ‘quality’ information there is huge potential to enhance knowledge creation across learning and research communities. The aim of the Information Environment is to help provide convenient access to resources for research and learning through the use of resource discovery and resource management tools and the development of better services and practice. The Information Environment aims to allow discovery, access and use of resources for research and learning irrespective of their location.
HOME is where i consider my information environment. It is where I started to learn speaking, talking, writing and relating to everyone.
A home is a place of residence or refuge and comfort.[1] It is usually a place in which an individual or a family can rest and be able to store personal property. Most modern-day households contain sanitary facilities and a means of preparing food. Animals have their own homes as well, either living in the wild or in a domesticated environment.
There are certain cultures in which members lack permanent homes, such as with nomadic people.
The word "home" can be used for various types of residential comunity institutions in which people can live, such as nursing homes, group homes (orphanages for children, retirement homes for seniors, prisons for criminals, treatment facilities, etc.), and foster homes.
In computer terminology, a 'home' may refer to a starting view that branches off into other tasks, e.g. a homepage or a desktop. Many such home pages on the internet start with introductory information, recent news or events, and links to subpages. "Home" may also refer to a home directory which contains the personal files of a given user of the computer system.
Since it can be said that humans are generally creatures of habit, the state of a person's home has been known to physiologically influence their behavior, emotions, and overall mental health.[citation needed]
Some people may become homesick when they leave their home over an extended period of time. Sometimes homesickness can cause a person to feel actual symptoms of illness.
*But, as of now, i find my course more interesting. IT profession is another information environment where i learn most second to my home.
Information technology (IT), as defined by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), is "the study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware." IT deals with the use of electronic computers and computer software to convert, store, protect, process, transmit, and securely retrieve information.
Today, the term information technology has ballooned to encompass many aspects of computing and technology, and the term has become very recognizable. IT professionals perform a variety of duties that range from installing applications to designing complex computer networks and information databases. A few of the duties that IT professionals perform may include data management, networking, engineering computer hardware, database and software design, as well as the management and administration of entire systems.
When computer and communications technologies are combined, the result is information technology, or "infotech". Information technology is a general term that describes any technology that helps to produce, manipulate, store, communicate, and/or disseminate information. Presumably, when speaking of Information Technology (IT) as a whole, it is noted that the use of computers and information are associated.
In recent years ABET and the ACM have collaborated to form accreditation and curriculum standards for degrees in Information Technology as a distinct field of study separate from both Computer Science and Information Systems. SIGITE is the ACM working group for defining these standards.
IT is now a business focussed profession, partnering with business to maximise the exploitation of information technology and since 2005 BCS has been leading a professionalism Programme for IT.
BCS is working to establish the IT profession on a par with others, such as HR, Marketing and Finance, and for the profession to be recognised as integral to business and seen as more than just a service provider.
The IT profession is as much about Information as about Technology and must be seen - and see itself - as an integral part of the business.
What defines a profession?
There are many definitions of what constitutes a profession. Typically they all refer to a disciplined group of individuals who adhere to high ethical standards and are accepted by the public as possessing special knowledge and skills in a widely recognised, organized body of learning derived from specialized education and training. Inherent in this definition is the idea that the responsibility for the welfare, health and safety of the community takes precedence over personal considerations.
CIPS and the IT Profession
The concept of establishing a profession for IT is one that has been actively promoted by CIPS since its inception in 1958. The IT profession has evolved from a trade to a profession that has an impact on all facets of society.
CIPS is committed to advancing the IT profession and is actively engaged in a number of initiatives that directly relate to the advancement.
Although the IT industry has made significant progress in the last fifty years there is still significant room for advancement in a number of key areas. CIPS is committed to moving the bar forward in all areas relevant to creating a robust, mature IT profession in Canada.
Courtesy British Computer Society
Most mature professions have reached the "Public" level, where all its practitioners practice with independence, the profession provides leadership, and society in general benefits from the quality and application of best practices. The "Governed" level is a state where the profession is well defined and where professional membership is the norm and industry stakeholders value the profession. The "Qualified" level defines a state where the professional qualification(s) are defined, professional institutes oversee the qualifications, and where the definitions of professional competence and core knowledge are well understood.
What will the future of the IT profession look like? A more mature IT profession will be demonstrating the required leadership in advancing and improving the IT delivered products and services through the responsible and progressive application of IT standards
Benefits of a More Mature Profession
Advancing the broader concepts of a profession and professionalism in IT will result in:
* An improved ability for organizations to exploit the full potential of IT effectively and consistently. * Create a profession that is respected and valued. * Create a source of real pride and aspiration for IT practitioners
• What should be your role within this environment?
The student computer facilities within the University campuses are owned and subsidised by each Faculty or School. Technology Services maintain the hardware and software component as per each Faculty or School's requirements.
What Technology Services support:
· Maintain hardware health
· Provide advice on computer hardware replacement and assist areas with planning of cyclic computer replacement
· Install academic applications onto the student suites and ensure that they do not conflict with core services such as authentication, printing, email and MyUni
What Technology Services do not support:
· Do not own the computer equipment or fund replacement of hardware or software
· Are not experts in academic software applications – the functionality and use of applications should be supported by each school
· Are not able to approve the installation and configuration of the software as suitable for teaching and research operations
*My role also is to provide system to companies and information to the people.
• How can the principles of information organization and representation help you in performing this role?
The principles and representation will help me improve myself as a student.
• What are the challenges facing you in performing the role? How will you address these challenges?
One of the challenges I've encountered is my capibility to do systems and comprehensive information to the people. Reason is that I am still a student. The level of my learning isn't widened yet. But, through studying and digging more of my course will help me improve myself and enhance my capability in doing things as an IT. reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home http://www.cips.ca/DefiningITProfession http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_technology
Last edited by Jethro Alburo Querubin on Fri Oct 02, 2009 10:47 am; edited 3 times in total | |
| | | Marren Pequiro
Posts : 56 Points : 74 Join date : 2009-06-20 Age : 34 Location : Davao City
| Subject: Information environment Thu Oct 01, 2009 9:39 pm | |
| INFORMATION ENVIRONMENT
Today, solutions to environmental challenges are aided by an arsenal of information and knowledge systems that were unavailable for most of the last 30 years when environmental management was predicated on “command and control” mechanisms such as remediation of specific sites or compliance with, and enforcement of, end-of-pipe emissions requirements and standards. As knowledge about the causes of environmental ills has grown, so too has the number of options on how to handle them and the development of collaborations and partnerships aimed at harnessing the growing incentive-based approaches to environmental protection. As additional information technologies and knowledge management techniques evolve, environmental considerations will join other areas of strategic importance to industry.
Information technologies are unique not just because of their growing use in decision-making and knowledge management systems, important as that is. Their use has also yielded significant improvements in the efficiency of energy and materials use. This has contributed to economic expansion without the increases in environmental impacts that would have resulted had the efficiency improvements not occurred. Advances in information technology are likely to continue to provide opportunities for the development of improved and new products and services An information environment can be characterized as the set of networks or online services that support publishing and use of information and learning resources. There probably isn’t a perfect information environment but we can only make use of these systems to their fullest potential.
An information systems environment is an area in which information systems professionals apply management systems and technology skills professionally in an organization. An environment does not and cannot constitute a single, focused knowledge area such as applications in mathematics, art, technology, law, statistics, or desktop publishing. Instead, an environment represents an ecosystem in which information systems are employed. The environment surrounds and impacts the systems and technologies that support it and whose inputs, processes or outputs are closely intertwined with their information system.
Since we are talking about information system environment, let me show some myths associating with information environment.
Myths of the IT Profession
1. IT professionals possess a complete disregard for business concerns.
2. Once you join the ranks of IT, you’ll work in solitary confinement for the rest of your life, living only for weekend sci fi movie or video/on-line game marathons.
3. You must have a computer science degree to get a job in IT.
4. If you don’t understand acronym-speak, don’t even think of conversing with an IT professional.
5. All IT professionals are techie gear-heads with little interest in anything outside of technology.
With these myths of IT profession, let’s throw it on through the role of IT professionals in these information environments.
Demystifying the Techie
1. IT is a challenge in organizing people, solving issues and problems through better process and organization.
2. The tech professionals role is hardly solitary nor is it confined to IT or submerged in a world of arcane acronyms. Emphasis is on business-focused problem solving.
3. The role entails tech professionals who are multifaceted, possessing a diversity of experience and skills.
4. The more one exercises both sides of the brain, the better positioned is the tech professional. Therefore, immersing in hobbies outside technology is ideal.
5. The ideal tech professional is one who can take abstract thoughts about what people are trying to achieve, where they want the business to go, and turn those thoughts into viable processes and solutions.
Probably, the most important characteristic of an information environment is interaction. An environment does not consist of only one being. It is an internetwork, an interweaving thread of digital resources. Therefore, this kind of environment should not be made rigid and one-sided. I think that an ideal information environment should be one that does not only allow the users to access and view digital information but also should allow them to modify the information. In my point of view, information or knowledge is not a stable thing.
Many changes and new discoveries are being made and an effective information environment should be able to address these changes and inform the users about them. For an environment to be interactive, it is necessary that it allows the users to share information via digital means. This process is similar to peer-to-peer communication or online file-sharing. Of course, it should be made sure that information exchanged is true and valid. So the mere fact that interaction is such an important key in information environment, the categories of IT skills could be connected for a fact that having such capabilities is linked with interacting with different people.
These are some IT skill categories to be chosen from:
IT Skill Categories
1. BUSINESS OPERATIONS- providing strategy, policy, operational planning and execution of work processes for the company as it relates to IT.
2. DATABASE DEVELOPMENT and ADMINISTRATION – designing, maintaining, and using files to store customer and business information. It is generally working with a database management software, finding ways to organize and store information, setting up computer databases for companies, and finding ways to
3. DIGITAL MEDIA - managing digital projects from conception to delivery, including: preparing, costing and writing proposals for clients managing the pitch process to appoint an agency to undertake detailed specification, design, development and delivery proactively managing agencies and other stakeholders evaluating project outcomes.
4. PROGRAMMING/ SOFTWARE ENGINEERING designing, creating and maintaining software. It also involves analyzing, designing, developing, testing and maintaining computer and Internet- based applications.
5. ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS ANALYSIS and INTEGRATION- overseeing the installation of necessary software, programming of databases and configuration of networks to allow efficient and secure transactions among computer systems.
6. TECHNICAL WRITING- communicating technical (specialized) information in appropriate form to an appropriate audience. A few examples of the documents created by technical writers are technical manuals, detailed specifications, online help, web content, and training manuals.
7. SECURITY and COMPLIANCE ensuring that systems, services, processes and information are demonstrably secure and compliant to the satisfaction of the range of supervising entities to which the company is accountable
8. NETWORK DESIGN and ADMINISTRATION devising a plan that allows a business or organization to use a network to further its goals. It focuses on designing, installing, and supporting an organization's network and Internet capabilities, daily on site support, maintaining network hardware and software, and developing network security.
9. TECHNICAL SUPPORT – providing assistance with hardware or software operation and application problems. In general, technical support attempts to help the user solve specific problems with a product - rather than providing training, customization, or other support services.
10.WEB DEVELOPMENT and ADMINISTRATION developing a web site for the World Wide Web or an intranet. It usually refers only to the non-design aspects of building web sites such as writing markup and coding. Web development can range from developing the simplest static single page of plain text to the most complex web-based Internet applications, electronic businesses, or social network services.
As presented, among the IT skill categories, I should say that I would like to be on NETWORKING DESIGN and ADMINISTRATION. For we all know that in this generation technology is in fast paced. Thus, giving people the privileged to use the innovation brought by these new emerging technologies. So in this sense, working in such environment where I can design my own network and eventually devise a plan that will develop in an organization that could use a network and further its goals. Since it focuses on designing, installing, and supporting an organization's network, my role with be essential in site support with the internet capabilities, daily.
The network hardware and software should always be stable and maintained. Well, it is already mentioned that with these roles that I must performed surrounded with this environment, the network security should be dealt also. It is always an issue because in this kind of environment, processing large amount of data is always the matter. These data are such significant and confidential information that the surroundings that apportioned in an organization. Securing these information must not be disregarded.
My role with this upbringing will be very important for a reason that business and IT are two different fields that should go hand in hand together.
Upon working in a company, some things should be consider because I know for a fact that living in a real life situation is not living alone. Thus, it is always inside a group and dealing with them is much essential. Thinking that you are to deal with different people with unique personality and skills. We should find time to mingle with them in order to be a productive and efficient worker. In such time that I would face the real world, there are a lot of factors and challenges that I will be reflecting of. These are the things that could be a factor in our role to those information system environments. The principles of information organization and representation are one of the factors. I have to know all these things so that I can perform my role effectively.
There are many principles of information organization and I think it differs in every organization. But there are three common principles that I need to consider.
These three principles of knowledge organization that I have known are knowledge needs to be organized for communities. Designing tools to support the organization of knowledge, guiding principle must be that of user orientation and predominant usage.
And lastly, standardization and networking provide infrastructures, which facilitate effective and efficient access to information and documents. The notion of information representation and organization traditionally means creating catalogs and indexes for publications of any kind. It includes the description of the attributes of a document and the representation of its intellectual content. Today the library catalog is no longer a tool for its own collection for the library visitors; it has become a network node that users can visit from anywhere in the world via a computer connected to the Web information space that is being used for e-publishing, e-businesses, and e-commerce. These principles, if properly used will help me to become even more effective in my job. The knowledge needs to be organized for communities is essential because I have as what I've said, I have to get involve with people because I will not work with myself alone, I have to deal with managers, stockholders, business associates, and every individuals who compose the organization or company.
Designing tools to support the organization of knowledge and guiding principle must be also considered especially for the kind of job that I have, to design and develop company data analysis and report solutions. This includes the ability to design front ends and interfaces. I must possess a talent in doing so. I have to make sure that the design I made is acceptable to the user and every individual who will take a glance unto it will surely understand. And finally, the last principle talks about standardization and networking provide infrastructures, which facilitate effective and efficient access to information and document. This principle generally talks about the demonstration and sharing of expertise and perspectives in relation to the organization of knowledge. If one wants to associate these principles into just a few words, they can use communities, user orientation and standardization and networking, respectively. I do believe that these principles of information organization will help to fulfill my role so that I will become an effective business intelligence analyst.
However, I also believed that it is not an easy task. I mean, there a lot of challenges that I had to face in performing this role. And I know that this is just natural. I mean in our every action, challenges always accompany us, not to bring us down but to make us strong so that next time around, we will become more effective. First and for most is the competition. We are all aware that competition is one of the most common problems in a job knowing that everybody’s aiming to become the best.
Maybe I can address this by making sure that I am really competent. Even when I am a fresh graduate, I had a lot of learning’s because I already practice even before I graduated. Also, another problem is that technology is changing. I mean, what we had right now is nothing to what we are going to have in the following years.
Technology changes so fast I had to keep myself in touch. I mean, I have to be always updated so that I will not find it hard to deal with other competing companies. Another challenge is if there exist someone who can perform better than I do. Maybe in this case, I had to humbly accept this and realize that each is given different talents and ability. What makes sense is the fact that we use this talent and we help hand in hand for the benefit of the company. We had different strengths and limitations and it's all right as long as we are giving our best in everything we did. My inexperience can also influence on how am I going to perform my role yet I know this can be handled well if I am just willing to learn and improve myself.
There are countless numbers of information environments present in the world today. With the fast development of technology, various information environments have grown so big that they are able to span the whole world. We should not be outdated with the latest trend that being produce with the fast paced innovation fetch with this kind of generation.
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| | | fatima paclibar
Posts : 28 Points : 32 Join date : 2009-06-22
| Subject: Re: Assignment 9 (Due: Septemeber 7, 2009, 13:00hrs) Thu Oct 01, 2009 10:47 pm | |
| Identify an information environment of your choice and write an essay to address the following questions: (3000 words).
• What should be your role within this environment?
• How can the principles of information organization and representation help you in performing this role?
• What are the challenges facing you in performing the role? How will you address these challenges?
I find this topic very ambiguous, at first, I thought this topic means evaluating some information environment group yet I was wrong. After some inquiry about this topic here is my reply to this post.
Looking back to the days before my high school graduation, I am so interested to be an “interior designer” in the future. Yeah! To be an INTERIOR DESIGNER! After searching what universities offer such course but sadly, I found not even one here in Davao. I feel so sad during that time. It’s so funny how I chose to take up Bachelor of Science in Information Technology in college. Knowing the fact that it is so unrelated with interior designing made me laugh, what made me decide to take up this course? Well, one of the career guidance conducted by Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in their presentation they list the top 10 most in demand jobs abroad and the top 1 among all other is IT specialist may it be programmer, web designer etc. all related to the Information Technology. After assessing myself if I really want to take up the said course and I said yes. I took the USEPAT or the University of Southeastern Philippines Admission Test, passed it, interviewed by our instructor of this subject (lolz), admit myself to this university and yes, I am now a certified IT student!!!(Hooray!)
To be an official student in this university is not easy, it’s quite tough. But, as time passed by, being a student in this university specifically under the Institute of Computing is tougher. It gives you a lot of pressure, sleepless night, formulating your algorithm even in your dreams and it’s very challenging! Indeed very, very, very challenging! I can sometimes say that programming is killing me! (haha!) Well, I am still alive and kicking, surviving, striving to a good programmer or analyst someday.
Going back to our topic, the information environment I chose is two, first, is the university I am currently in and the second one is my dream company where I will work in the future.
This is the definition of Information Environment I found in the internet, it is any organization having information system circulating in their environment. A lot structures nowadays, adopts this concept since we are living now in the world where computers (Information Technology) is the most commonly used in any establishment.
The information environment is the aggregate of individuals, organizations, and systems that collect, process, disseminate, or act on information. The actors include leaders, decision makers, individuals, and organizations. Resources include the materials and systems employed to collect, analyze, apply, or disseminate information. The information environment is where humans and automated systems observe, orient, decide, and act upon information, and is therefore the principal environment of decision making. Even though the information environment is considered distinct, it resides within each of the four domains. The information environment is made up of three interrelated dimensions: physical, informational, and cognitive.
This university I am currently in contributes a lot in developing a young programmer or an IT Analyst. One of the university mission is to able to produce competitive graduates and for them to be able to attain that said mission they hire the best instructors to train, to supervise, to instruct, to develop proficient graduates to be deploy in different fields and in our case in IT world. As an Information Technology student, we are to deal with IT people and IT world. The two meets at a common point which is business. We will be the bridge of the IT world and business may it be a construction business, trucking business, banking business etc. When I say IT world, I mean global affiliation of organizations that are capable to compete with each other.
So how can the principles of information organization and representation help me in performing this role? There are three principles of knowledge organization that I have known of. First is that, knowledge needs to be organized for communities. Second is that, in designing tools to support the organization of knowledge, guiding principle must be that of user orientation and predominant usage. And lastly, standardization and networking provide infrastructures, which facilitate effective and efficient access to information and documents.
What are the challenges I may encounter in performing my role? There are so many aspects to be consider first would be the readiness of the organization to adopt changes, second is the resources to be able to made these changes possible (all possible resources may it be skills, intellect, staff etc.), third is the integrity and security of the of the system, fourth is the cooperation of the human resources to these changes, fourth is the time – the timeliness of the said project and lastly the financial issues, let’s not be hypocrite to be able to establish, develop, maintain and implement an information system requires financial support and remember this is costly.
If there are obstacle that hinders you from doing what is supposed to be done think of these quotations.
“If you can’t go under, go over; If you can’t go through, go round. If you can’t go right, go left; If you can’t get an angle, take two plates and make it. If you haven’t the right material, go get it. If you can’t find it, make substitutions; If you can’t substitute, improvise; if you can’t improvise, make an innovation; but above all, get the job done!”
There’s no such thing as IMPOSSIBLE, only CHALLENGING.
If want thing to be done so badly, there are many ways how to kill a cat. Stop complaining. Start doing what should be done. Utilize your time wisely. Be responsible with your actions.
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| | | Jan Neil Enanoria Gador
Posts : 32 Points : 32 Join date : 2009-06-22 Age : 34
| Subject: Assignment 9: Information Environment Essay Fri Oct 02, 2009 1:26 am | |
| When I read the assignment in Sir RSG’s forum I actually thought that I was going to compose an essay about environment, environmental issues and the like. I was really confused and decided not to compose anything yet. So before I wrote anything I took time to ask other people about the assignment and thanks to them I was enlightened. The assignment was to write an essay about an information environment, and then the thing that popped out of my mind is a place where people could acquire and share information. There were two things that I thought about when I thought about information environment it was the school where I spend most of my time aside being home and the World Wide Web. These two environments are both environments where people could acquire and share information with other people who are also in these environments.
SCHOOL
Let’s talk about the first environment that I thought about which is the school. Almost all people like me acquire information and learning from school. The school is a place that is conducive to learning. It the second home of a child one he or she gets out of his/her house. Education is very important especially in a person’s growth, without it a man is empty. Although the school is not only place where we can learn but it is the most basic next to our home.
WORLD WIDE WEB
The World Wide Web is the network of all networks. Here you can find various and lots of information that you want to find. Almost all people have already encountered the World Wide Web especially those people who are constantly in touch with social networking web sites such as face book, friendster, twitter and the like. The internet is one of the strong medium for sharing and acquiring information and it is widely used as of today by people who want to share information or acquire information. School and the World Wide Web, the two environments are the two things that popped in mind but what really is an information environment?
INFORMATION ENVIRONMENT
What is an information environment? An information environment is a physical environment in general like a school. It can also mean or specifically mean our natural resources like lakes, streams, land and the like. There are also environment that contribute or has specific purpose such as a sports complex or a gym where you can do stuffs such as playing. An environment may also political aside from being physical or is not a physical environment. However in this case, the kind of environment that is being pointed out in this topic is the kind of environment that is both physical and political at the same time. It is an environment where ‘we’ the people in this environment can learn through acquiring information and the information that we get greatly impacts our lives.
I also got to get information about information environment from someone in school. An anonymous tipster told me that an information environment is an environment or an area where people like us or should I say IT professionals use and apply managements system and technology in a certain organization. An information environment represents an entire environment in which information systems are employed.
When I heard the definition of information environment I was really curious about it. Although I know in my mind that one day I will be able to be in an environment such as an information environment. To be honest this is the first time that I heard the term “Information Environment” and I am curious about it because I did not know that this kind of environment exists in an organization. If it really does then I want to see it.
As an Information Technology (IT) student the things that I could get involved at that are related to my course is being a programmer in a company, I could be a web administrator or a database administrator, a web developer, etc. all of these things come into my mind when I think about graduating and having a job, although I am currently influenced by music and I have to say that I am very, sophisticatedly and undoubtedly into it, I know someday I will still be able to utilize and make use of my knowledge in information technology. I have many interests pertaining to my course and there many possibilities that are available if I focus and get to it (hard and fast.)
My role in this environment is (I think) crucial because I hold or have the capacity to shift and make the information right or wrong or use it for good or bad. Although there is nothing to worry because I am a good hearted person and I would certainly use my knowledge for good and not use it to cause trouble or destroy anything. Information is important especially to those who would need it. I think my role or should “our” role because I am not the only information technology student being talked about here, is very important as to give the right information. Not just give the right information but also real information. The reason why I think that my role in this kind of environment is important is because I give or share the wrong information then the people who will acquire the information that I shared will surely get the wrong information. Would it be good if the people get the wrong information? I’m sure it is not.
We, the people who are responsible for giving the right information should be able organize information for the community. There should also be tools designed to support the organization or the community of knowledge. Providing a network which will facilitate an efficient access of information and documents is also one of the things that we must do. Knowledge really needs to be organized for a certain organization or else there will be chaos. Just imagine people who will be needing information for their task happen to get the wrong information or the inappropriate one I am sure there will be trouble. False and misleading information pose great threat to a company.
In coming up with this task we would surely encounter problems and challenges along the way. Challenges and problems are the axiom in performing a task. Challenges like maintaining the integrity of the information so that the information that will be shared is reliable and true. Another thing is the confidentiality of information. These challenges need to be addressed. As a person bearing the responsibility to address these challenges I will begin with my self. I will discipline my self to keep the information true and keep it confidential whenever it is needed. Starting from one’s self can be a determining act that could make a change. There will always be people who will try to mess up things and there will always be people who would do everything to fix it. This post will be cut short, this topic is really new to me and there are still a lot of things to be learned. I will update this post in the near future if I find something interesting and related to this topic.
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| | | AlyssaRae Soriano
Posts : 38 Points : 39 Join date : 2009-06-20 Age : 34
| Subject: Re: Assignment 9 (Due: Septemeber 7, 2009, 13:00hrs) Fri Oct 02, 2009 1:51 am | |
| TOPIC: Identify an information environment of your choice and write an essay to address the following questions: (3000 words)
• What should be your role within this environment? • How can the principles of information organization and representation help you in performing this role? • What are the challenges facing you in performing the role? How will you address these challenges?
To identify what information environment I will discuss, first I will define what is environmental information or information environment.
What is environmental information? The definition of environmental information is very wide and is defined in the EIRs as information which relates to: • The state of elements of the environment – such air, water, soil, land, landscape and natural sites, flora and fauna, including cattle, crops, GMOs, wildlife and biological diversity – and it includes any interaction between them
• The state of human health and safety, conditions of human life, the food chain, cultural sites and built structures, which are, or are likely to be, affected by the state of the elements of the environment and the interaction between them
• Any factor such as substances, energy, noise, radiation or waste, including radioactive waste, emissions, discharges and other releases affecting, or likely to affect, the state of the elements of environment or any interaction between them
• Measures and activities affecting, or likely to affect, or intended to protect the state of the elements of the environment and the interaction between them. This includes administrative measures, policies, legislation, plans, programmes and environmental agreements
• Emissions, discharges and other releases into the environment
• Cost benefit and other economic analyses used in environmental decision making
Environmental information covers a broad range of topics, such as: • the environment itself, including air, water, earth and the habitats of animals and plants • things that affect the environment, such as emissions, radiation, noise, and other forms of pollution • policies, plans and laws on the environment
Examples of environmental information are: • levels of chlorine in swimming pools • water-quality and air-quality test reports • genetically modified crops • air-conditioning systems in public buildings
Regulation 2(1) ‘Environmental information’ has the same meaning as in Article 2(1) of the Directive, namely any information in written, visual, aural, electronic or any other material form on —
Information can therefore include or be found in:
•Documents, leaflets, reports, books, notes, data sets, memos, meeting notes, post-its, the back of an envelope - in fact, anything written. •Pictures, maps, plans, designs, models, video, posters, diagrams, sketches, graphs, illustrations. •Tape recordings, answer phone recordings, recorded presentations, Dictaphone tapes, compact discs. •Any type of computer file, word-processor file, database, spreadsheet, computer models (including 3D models), specially written bespoke programs, calendars, emails, archived webpages/sites, temporary or cached files, still images, video images, computer-generated images. •Any other material form – that is, other forms not widely available, or not yet developed or invented.
However, it does not include information that does not yet exist but that could be created by the manipulation of existing information. In other words authorities are only obliged to release information held and are not required to research or manipulate data to create new information. Example: If an authority is asked for a graph of air quality for the last 12 months, but it only holds the raw data and no graph has been created, they would only be required to release the data, and would not be required to create a graph.
Information is not restricted by geographical location A. The state of the elements of the environment, such as* air and atmosphere, water, soil, land, landscape and natural sites including wetlands, coastal and marine areas, biological diversity and its components, including genetically modified organisms, and the interaction among these elements;
*Note use of ‘such as’ – this indicates that the elements listed here are purely representative, and are not the only things which should be considered as elements.
The state of the elements – this includes the physical, biological and chemical characteristics. It is not limited to current conditions but includes past and predicted future conditions.
Air and atmosphere – the atmosphere is the collection of gases that surround the earth and that are retained by the earth’s gravitation. The atmosphere extends up to approximately 660km in altitude. The distinction between air and atmosphere suggests that air refers to air within buildings and structures, underground, indoors, in the workplace and elsewhere where it is confined in some way. Air and atmosphere should not always be taken to mean ‘air’ as a whole and in its entirety. The gases which make up the atmosphere and air are also included separately: for example, carbon dioxide, oxygen etc.
Water – will mean water in all its forms (vapour, ice, liquid) and is not limited by scale (from oceans to the smallest droplet). It includes water underground or on the surface, water in natural settings (rivers, lakes) and man-made settings (canals, ponds).
Soil – soil can be taken to mean the unconsolidated mineral or organic material top layer of the earth’s surface in which plants grow.
Land – land was described in the guidance for the 1992 EIR as: all land surfaces, buildings, land covered by water, and underground strata. By including underground strata the implication is that land covers natural minerals and deposits such as salt, coal, limestone, slate, iron etc.
Landscape – Landscape is defined by the European Landscape Convention 2000 as ‘an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors’. A more technical definition may be of more use when attempting to ascertain what landscape will mean in terms of environmental information. A specialist environmental definition of landscape is ‘the traits, patterns, and structure of a specific geographic area, including its biological composition, its physical environment, and its anthropogenic or social patterns. An area where interacting ecosystems are grouped and repeated in similar form’ (from EPAGLO).
Natural sites, including wetlands, coastal and marine areas – ‘natural sites’ recognises the importance of protected areas such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). However, a site will not need to have been designated to qualify as a ‘natural site’. All natural sites that are ascribed a specific value, local value, special natural or historic value can be taken to be a natural site. ‘Natural’ does not necessarily mean devoid of human interference, and the management of a site will not preclude it from being classified as natural. Wetlands, coastal and marine areas were included specifically (Amendment 15) by the European Parliament as they thought that ‘natural sites’ did not make it clear that these types of areas were also to be considered.
Biological diversity and its components – Article 2 of the Convention on Biological Diversity 1992 defines the term as ‘the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems’. The components of biodiversity then must be taken to mean: genetic diversity – the genetic composition of a species (genes, DNA, RNA, etc.); species diversity - every living thing, every single species (plant, animal, bacteria, viruses etc); ecosystem diversity – all habitats whether natural or man-made (from arctic wilderness to urban sprawl). In addition, biological diversity and its components should not be limited in time; for instance, it will include dead and extinct individual organisms and species.
‘Genetically modified organism’ (GMO) – UNECE describe GMOs as ‘any organism with the exception of human beings that possesses a novel combination of genetic material obtained through the use of modern biotechnology’. In addition, the European Community has used the following definition: ‘genetically modified organism (GMO) means an organism, with the exception of human beings, in which the genetic material has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination’. Please note: definitions for ‘modern biotechnology’ and ‘micro-organism’ are available if required, please consult the reference listed in note 3.
the interaction among these elements – this recognises that no one aspect of the environment can be fully understood in isolation and that the interaction between the elements is just as important as the elements themselves. | |
| | | AlyssaRae Soriano
Posts : 38 Points : 39 Join date : 2009-06-20 Age : 34
| Subject: Re: Assignment 9 (Due: Septemeber 7, 2009, 13:00hrs) Fri Oct 02, 2009 2:03 am | |
| ... CONT B. Factors, such as substances, energy, noise, radiation or waste, including radioactive waste, emissions, discharges and other releases into the environment, affecting or likely to affect the elements of the environment referred to in (a); • Factor – factor in this sense should simply be taken to mean something that has an effect on an element of the environment. It is important to note at this stage that it is possible for an ‘element’ to be a ‘factor’, for instance, water will become a ‘factor’ in an incidence of flooding. Equally, a ‘factor’ may also be an ‘element’. • Substances – includes all material/matter, natural or synthetic, for example chemicals, pharmaceuticals, hormones, antibiotics, oil, particulates, gases, liquids. A European definition of substances states: ‘substances means any chemical element and its compounds, as they occur in the natural state or as produced by industry, whether in solid or liquid or gaseous form’ • Energy – can be expressed in traditional scientific language, as thermal, chemical, electrical, kinetic, potential, light, and sound. Common usage for the term centres on power generation, oil-fired, coal-fired, gas-fired, nuclear and renewable energy (wind power, solar energy etc). However, energy is not restricted to large-scale power plants and electricity generation. It also includes heat (heat, in the form of hot water emitted into a river for example, can have a drastic affect on the plants, animals and fish living in the vicinity). Energy will include sunlight, geothermal energy, radio waves, microwaves etc. • Noise – although noise is itself energy, it is included here separately. It was also specifically mentioned in the original European Directive on Environmental Information in 1990 (1990/313/EEC) and in the original UK EIR in 1992. Noise is subjective, localised and transient. A simple dictionary definition of noise is ‘a sound, especially one that is loud, unpleasant, or disturbing’. Noise also includes vibrations (Environmental Protection Act, 1990, s79(1)(g)). Many different laws and standards in the UK relate to noise. Examples include construction noise, transport noise, noise from aircraft, noise from premises, occupational noise, noise-making equipment, day time noise, evening noise, night-time noise. • Radiation or waste, including radioactive waste – radiation can be natural (sun, cosmic rays, radioactive minerals), or man-made. There are two main types of radiation: ionising and non-ionising. Ionising radiation is either particulate (alpha, beta, neutrons) or electromagnetic (x-rays, gamma rays). Non-ionising radiation consists of electromagnetic radiation from extremely low frequency (ELF) to ultraviolet (UV). • Waste – waste can be broadly interpreted to mean anything discarded. This would include household waste, industrial waste and commercial waste (which are collectively described as Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)); construction and demolition wastes; mining and agricultural wastes; sewage sludge and dredged spoils; and Special Waste, hazardous, toxic waste. The waste sector is highly regulated and the definition of waste can be controversial. For instance, if ‘waste’ is to be used to generate power through incineration, it has been argued that this therefore allows it to be categorised as fuel as opposed to waste (at the time of writing, it is classified as waste until full recovery, i.e. combustion, is complete). There are many categories of waste, and special rules/prohibitions apply to transboundary movement of wastes (Basel Convention, 1992). The Environment Agency regulates waste in the UK and has a good section on its website if further information is required. • Radioactive waste – radioactive materials are used in many situations, settings and industries and are more widespread than you might think. Radioactive materials are used in common products such as the luminous dials on watches,ceramic glazes and smoke detectors. Radioactive waste is generated by hospitals, pharmaceutical industry, research establishments, and of course the nuclear power generation industry. Radioactive waste is categorised as either High-level Waste (HLW), Intermediate-Level Waste (ILM), Low-Level Waste (LLW) or Very-Low-Level Waste (VLLW). VLLW is disposed of in landfill or by incineration; LLW is disposed of at a facility at Drigg, near Sellafield. ILW and HLW are both stored on-site, and there is currently no government policy for the disposal of ILW and HLW. • Emissions, discharges and other releases – a common, widely quoted definition of emission comes from the European IPPC Directive: ‘emission shall mean the direct or indirect release of substances, vibrations, heat or noise from individual or diffuse sources (…) into the air, water or land’. ‘Discharges’ is not expressly defined in legislation; however, common usage of the term in this context suggests it is generally reserved (although not exclusively) for liquid releases into water. A definition for ‘releases’ is available from the Environmental Protection Act 1990 which states, ‘…release includes – (a) in relation to air, any emission of the substance into the air; (b) in relation to water, any entry (including any discharge) of the substance into water; (c) in relation to land, any deposit, keeping or disposal of the substance in or on land…’ • affecting or likely to affect the elements of the environment referred to in (a) - information about the factor will not be environmental information unless the factor is affecting or likely to affect the elements of the environment, although it is hard to imagine when a factor would not have such an effect. There is no indication that the effect must be detrimental or large scale, so it may be minimal or negligible. The test for ‘likely to affect’ is that the effect must be substantially more than remote. However, it need not be more likely than not. “The definition of environmental information should be clarified so as to encompass information in any form on the state of the environment, on factors, measures or activities affecting or likely to affect the environment or designed to protect it, on cost-benefit and economic analyses used within the framework of such measures or activities and also information on the state of human health and safety, including the contamination of the food chain, conditions of human life, cultural sites and built structures in as much as they are, or may be, affected by any of those matters. ”References: http://74.6.239.67/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=what+is+information+environment&fr=yfp-t-157&fp_ip=PH&u=www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/environmental_info_reg/introductory/eirwhatisenvironmentalinformation.pdf&w=information+environment+environmental+environmentalist&d=Gjp4rd29Tcbt&icp=1&.intl=us&sig=7sVXvDCMWaE8vLyA2mkYBA-- http://74.6.239.67/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=what+is+information+environment&fr=yfp-t-157&fp_ip=PH&u=www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/environmental_info_reg/introductory/what_is_environmental_information.pdf&w=information+environment+environmental+environmentalist&d=XYhn2t29Tdep&icp=1&.intl=us&sig=NWnCbGok3Ru_26958ElaGA-- http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/Law/EIRs/EnvironmentalInformation.asp Now, the information environment that I chose is the WORLD WIDE WEB. What is the WorldWideWeb anyway? As according to Wikipedia, a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. With a web browser, one can view Web pages that may contain text, images, videos, and other multimedia and navigate between them using hyperlinks. Using concepts from earlier hypertext systems, English physicist Tim Berners-Lee, now the Director of the World Wide Web Consortium, wrote a proposal in March 1989 for what would eventually become the World Wide Web. He was later joined by Belgian computer scientist Robert Cailliau while both were working at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1990, they proposed using "HyperText [...] to link and access information of various kinds as a web of nodes in which the user can browse at will", and released that web in December. Connected by the existing Internet, other websites were created, around the world, adding international standards for domain names and the HTML. Since then, Berners-Lee has played an active role in guiding the development of Web standards (such as the markup languages in which Web pages are composed), and in recent years has advocated his vision of a Semantic Web. The World Wide Web enabled the spread of information over the Internet through an easy-to-use and flexible format. It thus played an important role in popularizing use of the Internet. Although the two terms are sometimes conflated in popular use, World Wide Web is not synonymous with Internet. The Web is an application built on top of the Internet. What should be your role within this environment? The terms Internet and World Wide Web are often used in every-day speech without much distinction. However, the Internet and the World Wide Web are not one and the same. The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks. In contrast, the Web is one of the services that runs on the Internet. It is a collection of interconnected documents and other resources, linked by hyperlinks and URLs. In short, the Web is an application running on the Internet. As a student and so exposed with the applications roaming all around the Internet, I should be aware of what are the advantages and disadvantages of over usage of it. By that, my role in the World Wide Web is to bring the user and the applications closer by telling my peers the compensation of duelling the web, as vice versa, I should also be able to tell my peers the drawbacks of excess usage in the web. The Web can be a great partner especially those times when we are bored, we can easily sit down on our chairs, turn on our computers, and browse the internet, and then we can surf all the web applications that finds our interests. In addition, as an Information Technology student, I can use my field of study to spread information using blogs, social network applications, and the like so that people will be aware of the happenings every now and then. How can the principles of information organization and representation help you in performing this role? In performing this role, I should be quite observant enough. As based on the facts above, Information does not stop on geographical location. To be honest, it is not that easy for me to get in touch always in the web for the reason that there are much important things that needs my concern rather than to browse the web. I may have not stated explicitly all the principles that could help me in performing the roles, yet , I do know that the ‘hidden’ principles would be an advantage for me to help me represent my field of study. What are the challenges facing you in performing the role? How will you address these challenges? First challenge for me, if I were to convey information on the web, is the lack of time to research the true story of a certain event. I am not a web user addict, but I find myself leaning on it especially on ‘nothing-to-do’ times. To address this, obviously, I must spend my time gathering inputs first before posting it on my personal web journals. Also, information can be gathered not just by surfing the internet, I can also make use of the broadcasting technology for me to congregate more necessary inputs. And secondly, if I were to convey infos, another challenge, is my sense of consistency. You can not gather data in just one sitting, you must be steady enough for you to finish congregating data. The web is so transparent nowadays. I myself can sometimes gain news from browsing different web applications especially yahoo. But still, vigilance is always the best tool for everything. Reference:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Www | |
| | | janraysuriba
Posts : 34 Points : 35 Join date : 2009-06-20 Age : 36 Location : Davao City
| Subject: Re: Assignment 9 (Due: Septemeber 7, 2009, 13:00hrs) Fri Oct 02, 2009 3:42 am | |
| Information Environment
The concept of a "physical environment" is one that we understand well. We talk about the environment in general, and that has come to specifically mean our natural resources: the lakes, the streams, the land, our oceans and air. We can also talk about specifics of the environment that contribute to an immediate purpose. For instance, if we want to go swimming, we can talk about if the lake is free of fish or if the water is a good temperature for swimming.
If we are talking about the "physical environment of a room", such as a classroom, we can talk about the physical attributes of the room: the color of its walls, the cleanliness of its floor, the placement of windows, the temperature and the like. We can also talk about the attributes of the room that contribute to its specific purpose: whether there is a computer in the classroom for students, whether the chairs are comfortable, if the VCR is functioning, if the video feed is "wavy", and so on.
We also talk about the "political environment," which is not a physical environment, but an environment of ideas, attitudes, laws and emotions. For instance, if a law is proposed, legislators have to consider the political environment. Is there a sense that the general population would accept this law? What would be the consequences if the law was passed? What would be the consequences to a particular legislator (like the proposer of the legislation, particularly!) if it were even proposed? And this process of consideration would include the economic situation of the country (a related system), whether the proposer is about to retire (personal consequences), and the implications of the implementation of the law.
The information environment shares attributes of all of these definitions of an environment. It is both a physical environment and an environment of ideas. It is the ways that information is being presented to us, the kinds of information that is being presented to us, and the impact that that information has on us. And "us" means "us" as people living in an information-rich society, as well as "us" as "professionals". Without carrying the analogy too far, we can understand that in this context, information is all around us.
With this very broad definition, our information environment includes advertising, nutritional labels on cans of soup, and messages on our microwaves and the signs on our highways. These, by in large, we leave to others.
When we consider the information environment, we need to consider these aspects:
• The technologies being used • Laws and policies - and rights and ethics - governing the transfer of information • The impact of all of this on the information professional, and on the user • Our changing sense of community
Information professionals have always focused on the information technologies of importance to its users: books, videos, maps, sound recordings and the like.
The Technologies
Properly speaking, the information technologies, as described in your textbooks, include the telephone, the wireless, the computer, the television, and many others. We will touch on some of these: the television and the computer, for example.
But we have a real problem with technologies, and that is convergence. Ten years ago we could leave television to the mass communications folks. Now, with the rise of networks such as Home and Garden TV, the Food TV network and the like, television networks are turning into video databases. And some of the digital library experiments are working with building databases of educational programming. Useful, "how-to" information that one might want to retrieve, is becoming widely available. So, we have issues of convergence of technologies in the sense of content: an entertainment technology is being used for practical, useful information. These networks recognize the retrieval value of their information, and so must we.
We have issues of convergence of the technologies themselves: when personal computers first became available, often you used your television as a monitor. (Actually we do in our UTK SIS classrooms, too!). But the point is, that was the ONLY option for some machines in the late 1970's and early 1980's. Now, you can buy machines that are both televisions and vcr's all in one box. Businesses can buy a fax/printer/answering machine and so forth all in one machine. With voice mail, a computer is integrated into the telephone system to marry your telephone with your answering/message system.
Convergence is also happening at the service or industry level: the telephone company, for example, is very interested in becoming your video provider. And your Internet provider. They have an established market base: there are telephone wires strung into about 98% of all the homes and businesses in this country. Your cable company is ALSO very interested in becoming your telephone service provider. They also are gaining a large share of the television market, and, they have the bandwidth (the capacity of their wires) to carry the traffic.
Of course the technology, or rather the converged set of technologies, that is gathering the most attention, is the Internet. And the part of the Internet that has found its way into the children's section of the Sunday funnies, into commercial jingles, into talk radio, into cereal boxes, is of course the Web (formerly known as the World Wide Web). A project that started out as a means for physicists to exchange scientific and technical information now has them talking to children in classrooms a continent away.
The Internet, and particularly the Web, will be used as the "backbone" for the class because it enables us to examine all of the aspects of the information environment in a single microcosm. If you studied "An introduction to bibliography" in the 1930's, you would learn the structure of an early book: quartos and folios, signatures and colophons, and how they were all put together. Librarians were taught how to work with books published in the early days of printing. Publishing has changed a good deal, and much of the work of cataloging these resources has been done. The parts of a book, because of the mechanization of the publishing industry, are pretty standardized (although the serials people will rightly argue this point). Now, however, we need to learn about how Web pages are constructed.
We talk about the global community of the Internet. But community networks also have grown up as local resources for sharing community-level information. Often, public and school libraries are actively involved in these as well.
Laws and Policies and Ethics We can speak of a continuum of "things" governing behavior: ettiquette and just good manners, social conventions of what is proper, policies of organizations and groups, ethical principles, laws, and interpretations of laws by the courts. The Internet has brought consideration of all of these right onto the front page of the daily newspaper. Ettiquette in the Internet arena is called "nettiquette". Usenet groups have their own social rules for behavior, and they differ from group to group. Perhaps of most concern for information professionals are the areas of intellectual property (copyright, for example), intellectual freedom and censorship, and privacy.
When all we had to worry about was print, copyright was, well, interesting for copyright lawyers. The photocopy machine changed all that, and librarians had to learn the laws. Then personal computers, with the ability to easily copy software, made the issue of piracy an international economic discussion. With the Web, and the ability to easily copy and paste text, plagiarism is a hot topic indeed. As is copyright of a Web page, and the images thereon. And because the internet is a global, international arena, we have become very conscious of the different views of intellectual property in different countries. In some, for example, it can be argued that intellectual property belongs to the community as a whole, and not to an individual. This puts a very different perspective on how you use and work with resources.
Even five years ago, censorship was a concern for librarians and lawyers. The debate for information professionals focused on books that were "challenged" by parents or members of the community for various reasons such as racisim or sexual content. In the courts, cases focused primarily on pornography, but also on the means to violence: how to build a bomb, for example. But it was no where near the hot topic it is today, on an international scale. The latest debate focuses on "filtering" - whether a filter of some sort should be placed on internet computers to prevent people from reaching sites of "questionable" content, usually focusing on pornography and violence. But who is to decide what is "questionable?" and from what perspective? and from what country? Is materials selection censorship, do we practice it already? Companies like SurfWatch are making millions of dollars enabling people to individually censor the Net. All libraries are reviewing their policies and consulting lawyers to figure out what they can - and cannot - do.
The Impact on the Information Professional
What does all of this mean for the information professional? Clearly, job advertisements are increasingly technical. And discussions amongst librarians are focusing on copyright, on intellectual property, on censorship, and on privacy.
The immediate and traditional environment of the information professional is very different from what it was even three years ago, just before Mosaic was released. It is increasingly difficult, if not impossible altogether, to escape to a back corner and avoid information technologies. Five or six years ago, the "hot topic" was how to move bibliographic information from an online database to a personal bibliographic database. This is now hardly discussed.
The information environment of the user has also radically changed: if the typical undergraduate cannot find resources through his or her personal computer, the resources simply don't exist. Businesses are the fastest growing sector of the Web, and they expect to radically change the way we receive news, stock information, sports information and the like (not to mention books, groceries, fishing tackle and other goods).
What particularly is changing is the nature of the relationships between the technologies, the information professional, the information resources, and the users. Some relationships are becoming more adversarial, some more cooperative; some increasingly based on finance and economics. Particularly challenging is the international character of these relationships, and our increased awareness of practices and policies in other countries.
The Importance of Community Information professionals are integrally related to their communities. And the idea of "community" is no longer defined as "your users." It is an international community: the information policies of other countries directly affect the way that you can access information about them, and the way that they can access information about you. In the issue of copyright, for example, the Berne Convention specifies that an author's rights will be respected according to the laws of the receiving country. We have agreed to these treaties. But what are those rights? In the issue of censorship, the laws of some Scandanavian countries are more liberal than those of the United States. Whose laws do you accept? If you answer quickly, well, the US laws, how do you accept the fact that other countries have different copyright laws, which may not accept US conventions? What are their rights? It is also national: you are by definition a part of the national information policy sphere. Pages needed here. And it is local. Indeed, what do your users want and need? According to what standards? Tammy Benshoof of KORRNET will answer some of these questions. The issue of community information networks is a natural outgrowth of the need to communicate, the need to be in touch with other people, and the technolgies that are pressing upon us. The public library clearly answers local community needs, according to local community standards. But what are we to make of the Benton Report, that suggests that the public library staff can be replaced by volunteer retirees? What does that tell us of the public perception of the local library?
The Importance of Community
Information professionals are integrally related to their communities. And the idea of "community" is no longer defined as "your users." It is an international community: the information policies of other countries directly affect the way that you can access information about them, and the way that they can access information about you. In the issue of copyright, for example, the Berne Convention specifies that an author's rights will be respected according to the laws of the receiving country. We have agreed to these treaties. But what are those rights? In the issue of censorship, the laws of some Scandanavian countries are more liberal than those of the United States. Whose laws do you accept? If you answer quickly, well, the US laws, how do you accept the fact that other countries have different copyright laws, which may not accept US conventions? What are their rights?
It is also national: you are by definition a part of the national information policy sphere. Pages needed here.
And it is local. Indeed, what do your users want and need? According to what standards? Tammy Benshoof of KORRNET will answer some of these questions. The issue of community information networks is a natural outgrowth of the need to communicate, the need to be in touch with other people, and the technolgies that are pressing upon us.
The public library clearly answers local community needs, according to local community standards. But what are we to make of the Benton Report, that suggests that the public library staff can be replaced by volunteer retirees? What does that tell us of the public perception of the local library? . http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/whatis.html
I choose an information environment that is related to my course. As an IT student I choose the internet. Internet is the world’s information pool. It is where many data and information can be found. Any information that you want to know is here in the internet. Except for those top secret information. From news, information on products, sports etc. You can find it in the internet. Here is where you can see what is happening in the world.
My role within the information environment that I choose is the same as every one that are using the internet. To send and receive information. By uploading images, videos, making web sites or by sending email you send information to where you want to send them. As an IT you have the role in internet environment is not just to send and receive information but to manage those information.
Principles of Information Organization and Representation can help you manage and organize information so that you can present the information much better. There are many principles of information organization and representation.
In the internet environment there are many challenges that you will face. First is the internet connection. Before you can be in this environment you should have good stable internet connection. There are many information that are in the internet, one of the problem is how will you search for the right information that you where searching? | |
| | | IK
Posts : 46 Points : 47 Join date : 2009-06-19
| Subject: Re: Assignment 9 (Due: Septemeber 7, 2009, 13:00hrs) Fri Oct 02, 2009 7:40 am | |
| "Deloitte" caught my focus.
It is a brand under which tens and thousands of dedicated professionals in independent firms throughout the world collaborate whose roles are to provide information on audit, consulting financial advisory risk management and solutions to every problem met in the real environment today. These people are likewise committed to helping those in need. People join together or contribute to local communities and for the environment. The gifts help make such better places to live.
Deloitte also covers the following:
Aerospace and defense, automotive, banking and securities, consumer products, health care providers, health plans, insurance, life services, oil and Gs, Power and utilities, private equity, hedge funds and mutual fund, process and industry products, real estate, retail, telecommunication, tourism hospitality and leisure, US State and federal government.
Representations of information are also evidenced through latest technology advents like the Podcasts system, video library which caters from the generation Xers to mature and baby boomers. These are tools that help operate at peak efficiency which present better results to clients, master new skills and be more successful.
Reputation for providing high quality services with integrity has earned its trust of the clients from all over the world for it also fosters ;professional development and career advancement.. Delivery of comprehensive solutions to complex challenges, applies ever-revolving range of innovative ideas, and practical strategies to help get needed results are inspiring motives that keep the company going.
The principles of information, organization and representation, basically guided the creation of its vision for the effective implementation and delivery of its high-quality service to clients particularly in its information aspects. Information is basically channeled through the use of highly sensitive, modern, updated information equipment in its various forms. Some are channeled through print media and books which offer insightful and practical guidance from some of the most respected professionals from around the world. Related studies, publications and surveys and reports are produced which contents are organized into distinct categories. Emails alerts are always on the go for the dissemination of all needed information. A collection of articles, white papers and information from ach member firms examining important business topics are also provided.
Lastly, part of the challenges faced in performing the roles are, challenging assignments, winning the team opportunities to learn and grow and explore career can never be discounted too as the driving forces to make one going and be successful! | |
| | | alma cabase
Posts : 56 Points : 58 Join date : 2009-06-20
| Subject: Re: Assignment 9 (Due: Septemeber 7, 2009, 13:00hrs) Fri Oct 02, 2009 11:09 am | |
| The first thing that came to my mind when I read the term working environment is an animation studio., Even before when I was just a kid I was always fascinated on how the animation s where made, on how the drawings move, and especially on the machines that they used to create the incredible works of art. Since I don’t even know what a computer is before and how it contributed to the animation industry, eventually I gave up with those thoughts. In the past years of my college life and even at present, slowly, I became aware about the involvement of the computers in the development of the animation industry. The common software that the animation companies used in their products where introduced to me. Software like adobe multimedia studio, toon boom, audio converters and video edit pro are some of them. These software were not directly introduced to me and where not even brought up in class. I came up with these software when we were task to make different systems. These applications were used especially when it comes to the design part of the system. It may be not that important but still the design of the system offers some additional points. Before I put the concentration of my topic on what my position will be most likely in this environment and on what I could contribute to its growth, let me have a little background about this working environment.
Cave paintings
The earliest examples derive from still drawings, which can be found in Palaeolithic cave paintings, where animals are depicted with multiple sets of legs in superimposed positions, clearly attempting to convey the perception of motion. Pottery of Persia A 5,200-year old earthen bowl found in Iran in Shahr-i Sokhta has five images painted along the sides. It shows phases of a goat leaping up to a tree to take a pear. However, since no equipment existed to show the images in motion, such a series of images cannot be called animation in a true sense of the word. Egyptian murals An Egyptian mural, approximately 4000 years old, shows wrestlers in action. Even though this may appear similar to a series of animation drawings, there was no way of viewing the images in motion. It does, however, indicate the artist's intention of depicting motion.
Zoetrope
A zoetrope is a device which creates the image of a moving picture. The earliest elementary zoetrope was created in China around 180 AD by the prolific inventor Ting Huan (丁緩). Driven by convection Ting Huan's device hung over a lamp. The rising air turned vanes at the top from which were hung translucent paper or mica panels. Pictures painted on the panels would appear to move if the device is spun at the right speed. The modern zoetrope contraption was produced in 1834 by William George Horner. The device is basically a cylinder with vertical slits around the sides. Around the inside edge of the cylinder there are a series of pictures on the opposite side to the slits. As the cylinder is spun, the user then looks through the slits producing the illusion of motion. No one thought this small device would be the initial beginnings for the animation world to come. As a matter a fact, in present day beginning animation classes, the Zoetrope is still being used to illustrate early concepts of animation. Leonardo shoulder study (ca. 1510) Seven drawings by Leonardo da Vinci extending over two folios in the Windsor Collection, Anatomical Studies of the Muscles of the Neck, Shoulder, Chest, and Arm, show detailed drawings of the upper body (with a less-detailed facial image), illustrating the changes as the torso turns from profile to frontal position and the forearm extends.
The magic lantern
The magic lantern is the predecessor of the modern day projector. It consisted of a translucent oil painting and a simple lamp. When put together in a darkened room, the image would appear larger on a flat surface. Athanasius Kircher spoke about this originating from China in the 16th century. Some slides for the lanterns contained parts that could be mechanically actuated to present limited movement on the screen.
Thaumatrope (1824)
A thaumatrope was a simple toy used in the Victorian era. It was a small circular disk or card with two different pictures on each side that was attached to a piece of string running through the centre. When the strings were twirled quickly between the fingers the two pictures appear to combine into a single image. The creator of this invention may have been either John Ayrton Paris or Charles Babbage.
Phenakistoscope (1831)
A phenakistoscope disc by Eadweard Muybridge (1893). The phenakistoscope was an early animation device, the predecessor of the zoetrope. It was invented in 1831 simultaneously by the Belgian Joseph Plateau and the Austrian Simon von Stampfer.
Praxinoscope (1877)
The praxinoscope, invented by French scientist Charles-Émile Reynaud, was a more sophisticated version of the zoetrope. It used the same basic mechanism of a strip of images placed on the inside of a spinning cylinder, but instead of viewing it through slits, it was viewed in a series of small, stationary mirrors around the inside of the cylinder, so that the animation would stay in place, and provide a clearer image and better quality. Reynaud also developed a larger version of the praxinoscope that could be projected onto a screen, called the Théâtre Optique.
Flip book (1868)
The first flip book was patented in 1868 by a John Barns Linnet. Flip books were yet another development that brought us closer to modern animation. Like the Zoetrope, the Flip Book creates the illusion of motion. A set of sequential pictures flipped at a high speed creates this effect. The Mutoscope (1894) is basically a flip book in a box with a crank handle to flip the pages.
Stop motion
Stop motion is used for many animation productions using physical objects rather than images of people, as with traditional animation. An object will be photographed, moved slightly, and then photographed again. When the pictures are played back in normal speed the object will appear to move by itself. This process is used for many productions, for example, clay animations such as Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit, as well as animated movies which use poseable figures, such as The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach. Sometimes even objects are used, such as with the films of Jan Švankmajer. Stop motion animation was also commonly used for special effects work in many live-action films, such as the 1933 version of King Kong and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad.
CGI animation
Computer-generated imagery (CGI) changed animated films forever. The first film done completely in CGI was Toy Story, produced by Pixar. The process of CGI animation is still very tedious and similar in that sense to traditional animation, and it still adheres to many of the same principles. A principal difference of CGI Animation compared to traditional animation is that drawing is replaced by 3D modeling, almost like virtual version of stop-motion, though a form of animation that combines the two worlds can be considered to be computer aided animation but on 2D computer drawing (which can be considered close to traditional drawing and sometimes based on it).
Animated humans
Most CGI created films are based on animal characters, monsters, machines or cartoon-like humans. Animation studios are now trying to develop ways of creating realistic-looking humans. Films that have attempted this include Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within in 2001, Final Fantasy: Advent Children in 2005, The Polar Express in 2004, and Beowulf in 2007. However, due to the complexity of human body functions, emotions and interactions, this method of animation is rarely used. The more realistic a CG character becomes, the more difficult it is to create the nuances and details of a living person. The creation of hair and clothing that move convincingly with the animated human character is another area of difficulty.
Cel-shaded animation
Main article: Cel-shaded animation A type of non-photorealistic rendering designed to make computer graphics appear to be hand-drawn. Cel-shading is often used to mimic the style of a comic book or cartoon. It is a somewhat recent addition to computer graphics, most commonly turning up in console video games. Though the end result of cel-shading has a very simplistic feel like that of hand-drawn animation, the process is complex. The name comes from the clear sheets of acetate, called cels, that are painted on for use in traditional 2D animation. It may be considered a "2.5D" form of animation. True real-time cel-shading was first introduced in 2000 by Sega's Jet Set Radio for their Dreamcast console. Besides video games, a number of anime have also used this style of animation, such as Freedom Project in 2006.
Film animation
The history of film animation began in the 1890s with the earliest days of silent films and continues through the present day. The first animated film was created by Charles-Émile Reynaud, inventor of the praxinoscope, an animation system using loops of 12 pictures. On October 28, 1892 at Musée Grévin in Paris, France he exhibited animations consisting of loops of about 500 frames, using his Théâtre Optique system - similar in principle to a modern film projector. The first animated work on standard picture film was Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906) by J. Stuart Blackton. It features a cartoonist drawing faces on a chalkboard, and the faces apparently coming to life. Fantasmagorie, by the French director Émile Cohl (also called Émile Courtet), is also noteworthy. It was screened for the first time on August 17, 1908 at Théâtre du Gymnase in Paris. Émile Courtet later went to Fort Lee, New Jersey near New York City in 1912, where he worked for French studio Éclair and spread its technique in the US. The first puppet-animated film was The Beautiful Lukanida (1912) by the Russian-born (ethnically Polish) director Wladyslaw Starewicz (Ladislas Starevich). The first animated feature film was El Apóstol, made in 1917 by Quirino Cristiani from Argentina. He also directed two other animated feature films, including 1931's Peludopolis, the first to use synchronized sound. None of these, however, survive to the present day. The earliest-surviving animated feature, which used colour-tinted scenes, is the silhouette-animated Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) directed by German Lotte Reiniger and French/Hungarian Berthold Bartosch. Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), often considered to be the first animated feature when in fact at least eight were previously released. However, Snow White was the first to become successful and well-known within the English-speaking world. The first animation to use the full, three-color Technicolor method was Flowers and Trees (1932) made by Disney Studios which won an academy award for this work. The first Japanese-made anime film was the propaganda film Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors (桃太郎 海の神兵) by the Japanese director Mitsuyo Seo. The film, shown in 1945, was ordered to be made to support the war by the Japanese Naval Ministry. The film's song AIEUO no Uta (アイウエオの歌) was later used in Osamu Tezuka's anime series Kimba the White Lion. Originally thought to have been destroyed during the American occupation, a negative copy survived and the film is now available in Japan on VHS.
The real deal in animation is entertainment. For years a lot of people in this field have dedicated their time and effort to develop this industry and as long as people continue to seek fun and happiness this business will eventually grow. Base on my current learning and experiences I won’t be able to fit in to any job specification that any position in this business will require, but sooner or later if I will focus my attention in this craft I would be fitted to be a cinematic director/editor. I have a little talent in drawing but as an IT practitioner I would prefer to be in the editing department in the company. It would be very interesting to make astonishing effects that would add more life in the animation, to be the one to arrange the drawings and the scenes using an animation tool to make it more understandable and concise, to fill the drawings with colors and lighting effects that would definitely give it a boost in terms of attraction and fun for the viewers and most important of above all is to be the one to integrate the drawings with the sound effects and music. I came up to the idea that the latter is the most important one because music and audio is the soul of the animation. It gives the animation a great sense of reality and it makes it a lot more fun. The audio will also play a very important role for the animation to have a story. It will give the animation the spirit, the impact, and the ability to attract more viewers and patrons through funny and interesting dialogues I have browsed the internet regarding the job description of this job and the qualifications that it requires. These are the results and the links to where I found these facts.
JOB DESCRIPTION: CINEMATIC DIRECTOR (38 STUDIOS)
Would you like to become part of the team that includes the creative visionaries behind Drizzt Do’Urden and Spawn? 38 Studios is currently seeking an experienced Cinematics Director to join our art department. This is a full-time time position with competitive salary, full benefits and 401k, and the chance to be part of online gaming history!
Position Responsibilities
• Creation of cinematic sequences to the highest quality standards for interactive gaming; this includes both story driven cinematics and elements of game play that require cinematic presentation. • Overseeing all creative aspects of cinematic production, including the direction of the storyboarding process, workload estimates, blocking direction, and final cinematic presentation. • Produce art that adheres to a unified studio art vision. • Collaborate closely with Art Director, Animation Lead, Character Lead, Environment Lead, Design Department and Marketing Department to achieve the best possible fusion of storytelling and aesthetics. • Establish cinematic production pipeline, protocols, and tools. • Develop Cinematic Department staff, set and maintain schedules. • Identify and address risks in the production pipeline. • Work in conjunction with established pipelines and procedures for game art production, and help to identify additional processes and art tools necessary to do so efficiently. • Promote a productive and energetic culture within the team and studio.
Knowledge, skills & ability requirements
• Knowledge: Strong understanding of cinematic principles (camera direction, editing, lens, etc.). Knowledge and experience with a variety of 2D and 3D software packages, including expert knowledge of Photoshop, Maya, and Unreal. Skill in 3DStudio Max will be considered. Range of interests in cinematic style from live action to CG to 2D animation, etc. Must be able to demonstrate a strong, hands-on knowledge of art creation tools and production experience.
• Competencies: Exceptional artistic abilities, ideally across a variety of media, both traditional and electronic. Animation and storyboarding skills a plus. Strong time management and organization skills with a proven ability to prioritize, solve problems, and meet deadlines. Able to collaborate with other game team leads in a deadline-driven environment. Effective self-tasker. Firm understanding of art production pipelines, ideally within a game development environment. Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Experience: Expected minimum 4 to 6 years of applicable industry experience with at least two completed products as an Artist and one completed product as a Lead.
LINK: http://jobs.gamasutra.com/jobseekerx/viewjobrss.asp?cjid=18621&accountno=210
Job Title : Cinematic Designer
Job Category Artists Location Dallas, Texas, Texas, United States, North America Job Description This Dallas based independent development studio has made a name for itself creating award winning, blockbuster interactive entertainment for all major platforms. By employing the industry's most talented people and using proven production methods they consistently create games that are technologically advanced, creative, and above all, fun to play. They offer excellent benefits, generous profit sharing, and the opportunity to settle in a fun, affordable city.
They are currently seeking a cinematic designer and/or director to work on an upcoming high-profile sci-fi action title currently in development.
Required Skills:
- Understanding of cinematic principles and techniques for visual storytelling - Be passionate about games and digital media - Be able to follow direction and work well with a team
Desired Skills:
- Film school or amateur/professional film experience - Familiarity with cinematic cut-scene setups and animation - Familiarity with UnrealEd, Hammer/Worldcraft, and/or Q3Radiant - Ability to design and/or draw rough storyboards - Professional or published work is a plus Salary $HIGH Date posted 14/09/2007 Recruiter This job is advertised on behalf of Datascope USA using their internal reference DS12119. LINK: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/jobs/datascope-usa/texas/united-states/north-america/cinematic-designer-id13856 JOB PROFILE: CINEMATIC ARTIST Job Category Artists Skills Required 3D modeller, Animator, Character Artist Location Alberta, Canada, North America Job Description Cinematic Animators Our Client has created some of the world's best-selling and award-winning title. They are hard at work on many projects including an epic fantasy RPG and unannounced projects including a highly anticipated massively multiplayer online game.
Their games have continually achieved critical and commercial success. All of their published titles are in the top 5% highest rated games. Today our client has more than 400 staff at its two locations and continues to grow. They have sold over 20 million games (including engine licenses) in the past ten years!
Our client is in search of Cinematic/Character Animators to enhance their animation team. Successful candidates must have at least 3 years experience in character animation for games, and a strong understanding of the fundamentals of traditional animation. Candidates must also have experience with game cinematics; creating storyboards, recording mo-cap, and putting final polish into a cinematic.
Education and Experience
- Post secondary program in computer generated animation is preferred.
- At least 3 years of experience in computer generated animation.
- 3+ years of game development experience would be an asset.
- In-depth technical knowledge of 3D Studio Max would be an asset.
- Experience with mo-cap would be an asset.
Skills / Abilities / Knowledge / Personal Suitability
- An understanding of character creation (model, texture, rig) is preferred.
- Complete knowledge of 3DSMAX's animation tools is required.
- Knowledge of Motion Builder and Motion Capture animation an asset.
- Must be able to work in team environments, and be able to share knowledge.
- Insight into animation pipeline is an asset.
- An understanding of human and animal anatomy is an asset.
- Leadership skills are an asset.
- Passion for animation and gaming is required.
- The ability to take initiative is required.
Duties
- Animate dynamic, believable and appealing characters for both in-game and cut scene environments.
- Be able to take responsibility for an animation or cinematic, seeing it through to completion, in a timely manner, to the highest quality possible.
- As a team player, you must be able to take direction, and both give and receive critiques on animation.
- Clearly communicate your progress to your supervisor, and work with that individual to achieve dynamic, believable, and appealing animation.
Portfolio Requirements
3D portfolio
- Examples of various animations applied to humanoid figures and animal figures
- Examples of cinematic work
- Character rigging examples
2D portfolio (no originals please)
- Storyboarding skills
- Figure drawing
- Color work
This industry has gone far, from the early days of black and white 2d animations to the present digital 3d high definition animations. With regards to what I can help in the development of this industry I would definitely have some great ideas in the future to further enhance my work. But at present I do not have definite suggestions but I have some ideas here that in some point could give the animation business a boost.
1. Realistic approach
Nowadays, animation with the use of the current graphic technologies that are usable, is going to the forefront of reality. I know that the current animations are almost at the verge of their goal but improvement is still possible. I do not know how to do it at present, but with the different experience and learning that I may encounter in the future maybe I will be able to develop a software that will be able to render realistic colors to the drawings and some image editing software that will fix the lines and curves that the artist may have overlooked. I will also give greater attention in the relationship of my animations scenes to its counterpart reality. With more and more developments in technology, sooner or later the concept of reality will definitely be upon the reach of the animation industry.
2. Unique Transitions
As a cinematic director it will be my job to manage and decide on how the scene transitions will work. Base on the animations that I have seen in the past years, their transitions are getting redundant. A common thing is a transition where it fades to black going to another scene or it lightens up. These transitions have been used for decades and are getting overused. Animation must evolve and must always be trendy. It must always give its viewer a new flavor. It must give them something to be excited for, something to look for, and something to make them interested, make them ask for more.
Last edited by alma cabase on Sat Oct 03, 2009 8:55 pm; edited 1 time in total | |
| | | ailaine adaptar
Posts : 50 Points : 57 Join date : 2009-06-19 Age : 104
| | | | sharlyn joy pines
Posts : 53 Points : 59 Join date : 2009-06-19 Location : Philippines
| Subject: Re: Assignment 9 (Due: Septemeber 7, 2009, 13:00hrs) Tue Oct 06, 2009 7:22 am | |
| What does the term 'Information Environment' mean?
The Information Environment (IE) is a term used to refer to JISC's work to develop and provide services which enable people to find and manage information efficiently and effectively in their learning, teaching or research.
The Internet has changed the information environment in which people involved in scientific work live in slightly over ten years. The information resources which people need are very varied - books, journals, research papers, teaching resources, videos, maps and more - and while they might be in any format they are increasingly digital.
For me, the information environment that I would like to choose is the “LIBRARY”. Yes! It is because I used to spend my vacancy in the library. I love to read stories, news and any topic that would interest me. As I surf the net, I find it hard to look for an information environment that I was comfortable to discuss but I caught myself to explain this topic the way I understand it. Information environment! It could be any of many interpretations. And I would want it the simply way I understand it. But this time, I would want to imagine a not just so, so library but a Digital Library.
The Library
Libraries are organized to facilitate access to controlled collections of information. Traditional libraries (TL's) possess three organizational characteristics that, together, provide a basis for such access. These are • the organization of information into physical information objects (IO's) such as books; • the physical organization of the collections of IO's according to various attributes, such as subject matter and author; • an organized information environment that facilitates direct access to the IO's based on such attributes as author, title, and subject matter, as well as a limited degree of indirect access to the information contained in the IO's. This last characteristic of a TL typically involves multiple sources of information to support access, such as librarians, catalogs, and the manner in which the collections are organized physically. Since it involves information about information, we term this characteristic the meta-information environment of a library.
The Meta-Information Environment of Digital Libraries
As currently conceived, digital libraries (DL's) are libraries in which the controlled collections are in digital form and access to the information in the collections is based almost entirely on digital technology. From a user's point of view, digital technology changes the three organizational characteristics of TL's. First, the organization of information into physical IO's is replaceable with a more flexible organization into logical IO's. Second, the single physical organization of a collection of IO's is replaceable with multiple logical organizations of IO's.
The third and most significant changes, however, occur in the meta-information environment of a library. In terms of advantages, having the IO's in digital form permits the use of digital technology in extracting information from the IO's. The extracted information may satisfy a user's ultimate need for information or it may be employed by ``digital librarians'' in characterizing the IO's in the collection. In the latter case, this meta-information may be employed in providing access to the information encoded in the IO's. In terms of disadvantages, important interactions between librarians and users that occur in the meta-information environments of TL's may be lost with the near-automation of information access in DL's.
The goal of this is to suggest a framework for the design of the meta-information environments for DL's that takes advantage of digital technology and compensates for the loss of direct user-librarian interactions.
We briefly examine the use of the terms ``metadata'' and ``meta-information''. We then employ a simple scenario of library use in order to characterize the meta-information environment of a TL. We generalize this characterization to the meta-information environment of libraries in general. The environment is modeled in terms of a set of high-level services which are, in turn, supported by sets of lower level services, some of which are provided by an extensible set of ``knowledge representation systems''. Finally, we examine the implications of this general characterization in terms of a design for the meta-information environment of a DL. In particular, we suggest a design that is implementable within a distributed object framework.
Metadata and Meta-information in Libraries
The term ``metadata'' has been applied in a large variety of contexts. For example, the topics of papers at a recent conference on metadata ranged from metadata in data dictionaries and its use in controlling the operations of database management systems; to metadata used for describing scientific datasets and supporting data sharing among scientists; to metadata used in DL's to support user access to information [6].
The concept of metadata, when applied in the context of current libraries, digital or traditional, typically refers to information that
• provides a (usually brief) characterization of the individual IO's in the collections of a library; • is stored principally as the contents of library catalogs in TL's; • is used principally in aiding users to access IO's of interest.
The Meta-information Environments of Traditional Libraries
To motivate a general characterization of meta-information in the context of DL's, we briefly examine a ``typical'' usage scenario of a TL. We employ this scenario as a basis for constructing a general model of the meta-information environment of TL's that may be generalized to encompass the case of DL's.
What should be my role within this “Library”?
Well, as a student here, my role is simply to seek information that would satisfy me and that would help my academic needs. That’s why I consider myself simply as a user. I am the user of the information in the digital environment. I used to requests information from the server and the server will immediately return information that I needed. It would be done in just a click away and in a split of seconds unlike the traditional that you have to sweat to look for the information that you want to know.
kulang pa...
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| | | Jovanne Nick Cacayan
Posts : 36 Points : 37 Join date : 2009-06-20 Age : 34 Location : TAGUM CITY
| Subject: Re: Assignment 9 (Due: Septemeber 7, 2009, 13:00hrs) Wed Oct 07, 2009 2:42 am | |
| Identify an information environment of your choice and write an essay to address the following questions: (3000 words)
• What should be your role within this environment? • How can the principles of information organization and representation help you in performing this role? • What are the challenges facing you in performing the role? How will you address these challenges?
We are tasked to choose an information environment but before anything else, let me define my opinion with regards to information environment. An information environment is much similar to a learning environment wherein we develop our skills and potentials. In this phase, we are provided with guidance and direct instructions through information agents. These agents could be school, work, colleagues, organization, and others...
These information environmen greatly affects the learnings, intellegence, and behavior of the individuals. Especifically in their workplace environment.
This is my chosen information environment :
>INTERNET
INTERNET As reference from the net, internet is a network of networks that relies on the Internet Protocol. Internet is publicly accessible network of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet Protocol (IP). It is a "network of networks" that consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic, business, and government networks, which together carry various information and services, such as electronic mail, online chat, file transfer, and the interlinked Web pages and other documents of the World Wide Web.
Technical aspects
At the technical level there are several avenues for which the reader may have an interest (and not all are necessarily specifically educational technologies, e.g.
* In the e-learning domain: o standards for learning contents delivery over the Internet like learning object standards o videoconferencing o Specialized portals like learning management systems * Technology-enhanced classrooms * Document standards used to produce contents on the Web. o This includes several XML-based standards, HTML, PDF, etc. o Also look at content management systems. * Software for working together o computer-mediated communication o groupware * Software to organize exchanges in larger communities: o Social software, a recent trend that combines earlier groupware and computer-mediated communication into applications that usually server a wider virtual community o Virtual environments o On-line gaming, e.g. MMORPGs * The semantic web (futur plans to make a smarter Internet). * Programming/development: * web application * web application framework * portalware
Conceptual aspects
For conceptual issues, either follow up the links in the technical articles or start with the Instructional design model article or the educational technology article which attemps to give an overview of the field.
MY ROLE IN THIS ENVIRONMENT ●responsible user- being a responsible user will contribute a lot in networking. Especially nowadays that internet is prone to computer crimes such as hacking, cracking and etc. that could result unto system failure and network breakdown.
PRINCIPLES IN HELPING ME PERFORM THIS ROLE
Every person shall be free to use the Internet in any way that is privately beneficial without being publicly detrimental. ● The burden of demonstrating public detriment shall be on those who wish to prevent the private use. ● Such a demonstration shall require clear and convincing evidence of public detriment. ● The public detriment must be of such degree and extent as to justify the suppression of the private activity
CHALLENGES WITH INTERNET
The rapid growth of the Internet, both in terms of data traffic and in terms of diversity of services, has led to a high complexity of the Internet architecture, which is ever harder to manage, the more the Internet grows and the more new services are added. Over time, a number of additional protocols have been put on top of the TCP/IP protocol suite, in order to accommodate the increased requirements of fixed and mobile Internet services. There are currently close to 40 different protocols on the data plane and more than 40 protocols on the control plane of the Internet.
The entirety of these protocols looks more like a patchwork than a consistent architecture that addresses current and future challenges. In the course of deploying these patches, almost all of the original architectural principles have been breached. This has led to a number of urgent problems, particularly in the areas of security and scalability. Some pundits even speculate that the Internet may soon be on the brink of collapsing, if its rapid growth continues.
The challenges resulting from the current patchwork architecture are manifold, and the goals for the envisioned architecture are sometimes conflicting. Although there is no common and agreed vision yet, most experts would probably agree that the Future Internet should be dependable, scalable, manageable, sustainable, and flexible in order to integrate new services yet unknown. The main challenge is to develop an Internet architecture that has all these attributes. Will it be possible to protect users from spam and malicious code, yet retain the openness of the Internet? How can privacy and accountability be reconciled? Can the Internet be open for a multitude of new services while at the same time ensuring high reliability?
So far, the experts are still struggling to comprehend the scope of the challenges. The right approach for addressing these challenges is even more unclear yet.
Other challenges are: * User satisfaction: this requires the highest level of sensitivity to the user's perception. Are users satisfied with the results they are getting? Response time, availability, and accurate, fresh content.
* Broadband: while there are some pockets that remain limited by dial-up access, the vast majority enjoy the luxury of broadband Internet pipes availing them to rich, multi-media content.
* Content and application flexibility: this subject could warrant a series of articles. The point here is that applications and Web services are being designed for the Web. Static pages are moving into history and dynamic content and vertical services that run over the Internet are taking over.
* Convergence: VoIP is beginning to make its way into the mainstream.
* Mobility: Wireless technologies not only for voice, but also for an increasing number of diverse applications.
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| | | felix a. sumalinog jr.
Posts : 38 Points : 42 Join date : 2009-06-22
| Subject: Re: Assignment 9 (Due: Septemeber 7, 2009, 13:00hrs) Sun Oct 11, 2009 11:26 am | |
| Information Environment: Virtual Library
The Virtual Library was the first index of content on the World Wide Web and still operates as a directory of e-texts and information sources on the web. It was started by Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of HTML and the Web itself, in 1991 at CERN in Geneva. Unlike commercial index sites, it is run by a loose confederation of volunteers, who compile pages of key links for particular areas in which they are expert. It is sometimes informally referred to as the "WWWVL", the "Virtual Library" or just "the VL".
Information resources or information services that are available over the Internet. At BMCC, the Virtual Library site provides access to a large number of library resources (indexes, journals, and reference materials, for example) and online reference service via the campus computer network. Students access these resources through a browser on a workstation anywhere on campus or remotely from home. A search aid that combines Internet technology with traditional library methods of cataloguing and assessing data.
The individual indices, or virtual libraries live on hundreds of different servers around the world. A set of index pages linking these individual libraries is maintained at http://vlib.org/, in Geneva only a few kilometres from where the VL began life. A mirror of this index is kept at East Anglia (UK). A VL specific search engine has operated for some years and is now (VLsearch) located on its own server at vlsearch.org.
The central affairs of the Virtual Library are co-ordinated by an elected Council. A central index (the 'Catalog') is maintained and joint services provided by the Council on behalf of the association.
My Role in virtual library is Systems Administrator. A system administrator, systems administrator, or sysadmin, is a person employed to maintain and operate a computer system and/or network. System administrators may be members of an information technology department. The duties of a system administrator are wide-ranging, and vary widely from one organization to another. Sysadmins are usually charged with installing, supporting, and maintaining servers or other computer systems, and planning for and responding to service outages and other problems. Other duties may include scripting or light programming, project management for systems-related projects, supervising or training computer operators, and being the consultant for computer problems beyond the knowledge of technical support staff. A System Administrator must demonstrate a blend of technical skills and responsibility.
The challenges facing me in performing the role of systems administrator are:
1. Operating Systems and Applications Challenge – I can address this challenge by maintaining a database system, and handling the responsibility for the integrity of the data and the efficiency and performance of the system. I will make sure that the network infrastructure such as switches and routers, and diagnoses problems with these or with the behavior of network-attached computers. I can confront this challenge by analyzing system logs and identifying potential issues with computer systems, introducing and integrating new technologies into existing data center environments, and performing routine audits of systems and software and backups. I can also meet this challenge by applying operating system updates, patches, and configuration changes and performing system performance tuning 2. Problem Solving and Troubleshooting Challenge- I can address this challenge by responding to individual users' difficulties with computer systems, provide instructions and sometimes training, and diagnose and solve common problems. I will perform routine maintenance and upkeep, such as changing backup tapes or replacing failed drives in a RAID. Such tasks usually require physical presence in the room with the computer; and while less skilled than sysadmin tasks require a similar level of trust, since the operator has access to possibly sensitive data. I am also ready and to be on the call when a computer system goes down or malfunctions, and must be able to quickly and correctly diagnose what is wrong and how best to fix it.
3. Software Engineering or Developing Challenge– I will face this challenge by maintaining web server services (such as Apache or IIS) that allow for internal or external access to web sites. Tasks include managing multiple sites, administering security, and configuring necessary components and software. Responsibilities may also include software change management. I must understand the behavior of software in order to deploy it and to troubleshoot problems, and generally know several programming languages used for scripting or automation of routine tasks.
4. Computer Security Challenge– I will dare this challenge by engaging into a study and training to make a specialist in computer and network security, including the administration of security devices such as firewalls, as well as consulting on general security measures. Particularly when dealing with Internet-facing or business-critical systems, I must challenge myself to have a strong grasp of computer security. This includes not merely deploying software patches, but also preventing break-ins and other security problems with preventive measures. Computer security administration is also my role that is responsible for overall security and the upkeep of firewalls and intrusion detection systems, but all I must be generally responsible for the security of the systems in their keep.
My Blog:jhunix1@BLogspot
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| | | basith_jumat
Posts : 49 Points : 59 Join date : 2009-06-22 Age : 37
| Subject: Re: Assignment 9 (Due: Septemeber 7, 2009, 13:00hrs) Sun Oct 11, 2009 2:34 pm | |
| Identify an information environment of your choice and write an essay to address the following questions:
Improving Coal Efficiency and Reducing Environmental Pollution
The main objective of the TA is to assist the government in developing suitable environmentally friendly technologies for improving domestic coal utilization efficiency and reducing pollution in the building materials, metallurgy,coal, and chemical sub sectors. The TA will evaluate ways to improve energy efficiency in and reduce pollution from industrial enterprises of these four sub sectors and will recommend appropriate policy measures,institutional mechanism and financial incentives The TA through surveys, will ascertain the major problems prevalent in each subsector, including inefficiencies resulting from the use of outdated process design and technology ,inappropriate plant size equipment, and inefficient plant operations. Based on the results of the survey, one enterprises from each subsector, representing the common problem of the subsector. Technology plays important roles in our life. It enables us to do our activities easier. Something that might be so difficult to do in the past can be done easily with the technology innovations. No want will argue that technology also give huge impact in educational field. With technology, teaching and learning activities can be more interesting and fun. It may also help the learners to get the lesson objectives faster than the manual and conventional way.
• What should be your role within this environment?
As an IT student i have a big role within this environment because I can be a part of implementing this program through the learning that i got from the school i can expand my knowledge on how to be more efficient with this kind of program. Learning is a lifelong process that sometimes we encountered a problems that make as self pity but through this learning we can be strong enough to face consequences. working in this kind of environment I will not abuse any of its benefits. i will make use of its sites opportunities so that i can contribute a lot even though it is difficult.
And as a student I am aware that learning is a lifelong process. That is why information is abounding – never stops and never ends. As an IT student, I’ve had panoramas of several companies’ information systems. I have learned how information could be very crucial in a workplace and even at home. And I have also seen localities and circumstances where there is scarcity or outdated information. I know many of us are relying heavily on basic information exchange and getting just a bit of it at a time is not enough in this rapid competent world.
• How can the principles of information organization and representation help you in performing this role?
The TA make this program to help the government of china to reduce using of coal because it is not good of over used of it. With this goal, the organization help me on how to manage the benefits of this program and those opportunities that can give to all the people will be properly grab.
• What are the challenges facing you in performing the role? How will you address these challenges?
There are many challenges that I will be facing when I will be in an information environment. I will just state here the challenges that come to my mind right now.
Myself. If I will be working in an information environment, I must have discipline for myself. I have to be hardworking in my work, just like all my fellow workers will be doing. I mustn’t be late in work. I must follow what my boss says to me and must do it in time for the deadline, if there is. And I’ll just be absent if I really have an important excuse for it.
In an information environment, I must expect that I will be working with a team or if not, then other personnel. There are issues sometimes that fellow workers have arguments, and I must not be one of those workers. I have to a develop a camaraderie between my fellow workers so there will be no hindrance to the flow of work in our department. In short, there has to be chemistry,hehe.
Also, you have to be particular with the hardware and software that you’ll be dealing with when you work. What the company provides you; you have to make use of it. If you complain about it, then it’ll be a possible “kick out” for you. You’re just a worker following orders, and you really have a thick face (bagag nawong in bisaya) or in serious terms, boastful if you do that.
http://www.adb.org/Documents/TARs/PRC/26351-PRC-TAR.pdf | |
| | | Lynneth C. Llemit
Posts : 16 Points : 19 Join date : 2009-06-23 Age : 34 Location : Davao City
| Subject: Re: Assignment 9 (Due: Septemeber 7, 2009, 13:00hrs) Mon Oct 12, 2009 2:40 am | |
| Identify an information environment of your choice and write an essay to address the following questions: (3000 words)
• What should be your role within this environment? • How can the principles of information organization and representation help you in performing this role? • What are the challenges facing you in performing the role? How will you address these challenges?
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There is now a critical mass of digital information resources that can be used to support researchers, learners, teachers and administrators in their work and study. The production of information is on the increase and ways to deal with this effectively are required. There is the need to ensure that quality information isn’t lost amongst the masses of digital data created everyday. If we can continue to improve the management, interrogation and serving of ‘quality’ information there is huge potential to enhance knowledge creation across learning and research communities. The aim of the Information Environment is to help provide convenient access to resources for research and learning through the use of resource discovery and resource management tools and the development of better services and practice. The Information Environment aims to allow discovery, access and use of resources for research and learning irrespective of their location.
Internet:
A global network connecting millions of computers. More than 100 countries are linked into exchanges of data, news and opinions.
Unlike online services, which are centrally controlled, the Internet is decentralized by design. Each Internet computer, called a host, is independent. Its operators can choose which Internet services to use and which local services to make available to the global Internet community. Remarkably, this anarchy by design works exceedingly well.
There are a variety of ways to access the Internet. Most online services, such as America Online, offer access to some Internet services. It is also possible to gain access through a commercial Internet Service Provider (ISP).
I usually rely on Internet when i do me research and homework. It is where i spend my time when i'm bored.
Books and magazines
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of paper, parchment, or other material, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf, and each side of a leaf is called a page. A book produced in electronic format is known as an e-book.
Books may also refer to a literature work, or a main division of such a work. In library and information science, a book is called a monograph, to distinguish it from serial periodicals such as magazines, journals or newspapers. The body of all written works including books is literature.
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles, generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three. Magazines can be distributed through the mail; through sales by newsstands, bookstores or other vendors; or through free distribution at selected pick up locations.
I enjoy reading books and magazines, i spent more time reading these stuffs. aside from enjoyin it..i learn more things.
Online Community(online games and forums)
An online game is a game played over some forms of computer network. At the present, this almost always means the Internet or equivalent technology; but games have always used whatever technology was current: modems before the internet, and hard wired terminals before modems. The expansion of online gaming has reflected the overall expansion of computer networks from small local networks to the Internet and the growth of Internet access itself. Online games can range from simple text based games to games incorporating complex graphics and virtual worlds populated by many players simultaneously. Many online games have associated online communities, making online games a form of social activity beyond single player games.
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site.It originated as the modern equivalent of a traditional bulletin board, and a technological evolution of the dialup bulletin board system. From a technological standpoint, forums or boards are web applications managing user-generated content.
People participating in an Internet forum may cultivate social bonds and interest groups for a topic may form from the discussions.
discussing things online is like having an actual personal chat with someone..not just chat but an informative one.
Last edited by Lynneth C. Llemit on Sat Oct 17, 2009 2:28 pm; edited 1 time in total | |
| | | aeros salaga
Posts : 45 Points : 63 Join date : 2009-06-21 Age : 33 Location : Davao City
| Subject: Assignment 9: Information environment Mon Oct 12, 2009 5:49 am | |
| Identify an information environment of your choice and write an essay to address the following questions:(3000words)
• What should be your role within this environment? • How can the principles of information organization and representation help you in performing this role?
Representation is a system for extracting or highlighting some aspects of an original concept or object, together with some explanation of how the system does this. That is, we have some form of sign (in its broadest sense), which is generated from some original referent, by means of some code. .. The purpose of the representation will strongly influence which attributes are highlighted or selected as representative. information organization can be understood from four perspectives: o a data perspective o a relationship perspective o an operating system (OS) perspective o an application architecture perspective • What are the challenges facing you in performing the role? How will you address these challenges?
Information Environment
There is now a critical mass of digital information resources that can be used to support researchers, learners, teachers and administrators in their work and study. The production of information is on the increase and ways to deal with this effectively are required. There is the need to ensure that quality information isn’t lost amongst the masses of digital data created everyday. If we can continue to improve the management, interrogation and serving of ‘quality’ information there is huge potential to enhance knowledge creation across learning and research communities. The aim of the Information Environment is to help provide convenient access to resources for research and learning through the use of resource discovery and resource management tools and the development of better services and practice. The Information Environment aims to allow discovery, access and use of resources for research and learning irrespective of their location. Reference: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/themes/informationenvironment.aspx Contribution of the information environment to self-care
A wide range of information innovations exist to assist individuals and families with self-care, from devices and technologies through to complex, tailored initiatives spanning the patient and the primary care practice team. They also range from relatively low-tech simple interventions through to integrated e-health initiatives. Devices and technologies: These include self-care support devices, such as smart inhalers, information kiosks, mobile texting support, and consumer health portals, and complex telehealth initiatives. Trials of texting support has been shown in New Zealand have been effective in increasing smoking quit rates, for both Maori and non-Maori populations. A review of patient-focused interventions found home-based telecare can reduce patients’ sense of isolation and improve self-efficacy, quality of life, patient empowerment and psychological outcomes. Information: Patient reminders of appointments for health checks and screening are a simple yet effective form of support to self-care. Decision aids are interventions designed to help people make choices about their health care by providing information about the options and outcomes that are relevant to a person's health status. A Cochrane review of decision aids (many of which were internet-based) found they can improve people's knowledge of the options, create realistic expectations of their benefits and harms, reduce difficulty with decision making, and increase participation in the process (O'Connor et al 2007). Skills training: Provision of information and skills to individuals to better manage long-term illness has long been part of health services to varying degrees. Patients' abilities to care for themselves are enhanced by services that teach skills needed to carry out medical regimens, guide health behaviour change, and provide emotional support. Self-care support networks: One of the simplest information interventions is finding out what is available locally and linking patients to the wide array of support organisations for people with long term conditions as a way of encouraging increased physical activity, socialisation and mutual support. Group-based learning, such as for diabetes self-management education groups, provide further tools for self-care. Another area of growing interest is the emergence of online ‘communities’ and online support groups that fulfil similar functions, and providing online environments for people to share stories. Personalised self-care plans: Individual care plans are developed by health professionals for their patients in ways that are tailored to their own circumstances. A Cochrane review in 1999 concluded that ‘optimal asthma self-management interventions led to reduced health care utilisation, days off work and nocturnal asthma when compared to usual care’, and that interventions without a written action plan were less efficacious (Bycroft 2004). The Flinders Model of Chronic Condition Self-Management provides a structured approach to care planning; it is being adopted by many practices in Australia and is generating interest in New Zealand. Electronic care plans provide a more rapid means of developing patient-centred care plans, but which are still intended to reflect the needs and realities of individual patients. Professional education: Relatively few GPs or practice nurses have specific training in behaviour change techniques, yet for long-term care such skills are highly desirable. Psychological tools and techniques in motivational interviewing, structured problem-solving, goal setting, cognitive behaviour therapy and brief structured interventions are some of the skills worth developing. There remain many gaps in our understanding of self-care interventions. A review of evaluations of self-care interventions found that despite the large number of studies carried out, the evidence base still has large gaps. Long term outcomes, cost effectiveness, the comparative effectiveness of different self care support strategies, and which components of complex interventions provide the greatest benefit, have not been adequately evaluated. (Coulter & Ellins 2006, Coulter & Ellins 2007).
Conclusion
The information environment has the potential to be a critical underpinning of self-care, supporting the actions of primary health care teams and empowering consumers or patients to minimise disease progression, improve their quality of life and to be more in control of their lives through the course of their conditions. An important theme that runs across the literature is that information does not stand alone in supporting self-care; rather, the ongoing provision of support and monitoring from the primary health care team, families and community networks are critical to the success of self-care strategies. The ongoing involvement of the primary health care team is also important to assist with the selection of information tools. Health researchers and technology companies will continue to develop new technologies and innovations, but is the appropriate targeting of these tools towards people’s needs that is likely to deliver the strongest health benefits.
Reference: http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/pagesmh/6501/$File/role-of-information-self-care.pdf In the context of an evolving information society, the term information ecology or environment on between ecological ideas with the dynamics and properties of the increasingly dense, complex and important digital informational environment and has been gaining progressively wider acceptance in a growing number of disciplines. "Information ecology/environment” said as metaphor, viewing the informational space as an ecosystem. information ecology draws on the language of ecology - habitat, species, evolution, ecosystem, niche, growth, equilibrium, etc - to describe and analyze information systems from a perspective that considers the distribution and abundance of organisms, their relationships with each other, and how they influence and are influenced by their environment. The virtual lack of boundaries between information systems and the impact of information technology on economic, social and environmental activities frequently calls on an information ecologist to consider local information ecosystems in the context of larger systems, and of the evolution of global information ecosystems. What should be your role within this environment? As Information Technology student, it is a big question about my role in this environment. Many “chikas” nowadays said that because of technology our world has been damage little by little. That because of existing and improving technologies nowadays we are getting destructive to our environment. This statement is all false, the truth is that only human are using the technology falsely, here is a short quote that I get from a movie about the earth and the environment… “Technology is not a problem, only human using it is a problem”, environment lies upon our hands. Technology has the capability to improve, develop and beautifies the environment. As an information Technology student my role to the environment is to care for it. Proper waste disposal is one of the most important things to remember of caring the environment. I have already attended many symposiums about technological waste proper disposal or in short proper waste disposal. It is the most effective way of caring our nature, our environment. When we said caring the environment is to preserve the nature, abusing it is also a way of destroying it. As an information technology student I would implement first to myself the proper way or the proper relationship between human and our environment. Second, make yourself as a model to every on how a small thing make a big thing to our environment. How can the principles of information organization and representation help you in performing this role?
The notion of information representation and organization traditionally means creating catalogs and indexes for publications of any kind. It includes the description of the attributes of a document and the representation of its intellectual content. Libraries in the world have a long history in recording data about documents and publications; such practice can be dated back to several thousand years ago. Indexes and library catalogs are created to help users find and locate a document conveniently. Records in the information searching tools not only serve as an inventory of human knowledge and culture but also provide orderly access to the collections. Just like every other business and industry, the representation and organization of information in the network era has gone through dramatic changes in almost every stage of this process. The changes include not only the methods and technology used to create records for publications, but also the standards that are central to the success and effectiveness of these tools in searching and retrieving information. Today the library catalog is no longer a tool for its own collection for the library visitors; it has become a network node that users can visit from anywhere in the world via a computer connected to the Internet. The concept of indexing databases is no longer just for newspapers and journal articles; it has expanded into the Web information space that is being used for e-publishing, ebusinesses, and e-commerce. The heart of such a universal information space lies in the standards that make it possible for different types of data to be communicated and understood by heterogeneous platforms and systems. We all know that TCP/IP allows different computer systems to talk to each other and to understand different dialects of networking language; in the world of organizing information content, the content is represented by terms either in natural or controlled language or both. The characteristics of its container (book, journal, film, memo, report, etc.) will be encoded in certain format for computer storage and retrieval. Libraries in the world have used MAchine Readable Cataloging (MARC) (Library of Congress, 1999) to encode information about their collections. In conjunction with cataloging rules, such MARC format standardized the record structure that describes information containers, i.e., books, manuscripts, maps, periodicals, motion pictures, music scores, audio/video recordings, 2-D and 3-D artifacts, and microforms. The Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) in Dublin, Ohio is the largest and the busiest cataloging service in the world. Almost 33,000 libraries from 67 countries now use OCLC products and services and more than 8,650 of them are OCLC members. As e-publishing thrives and Web information space grows, libraries have expanded conventional cataloging of their collections into organizing the information on the Web. In the early 1990s, OCLC started the Internet cataloging project, in which librarians from all types of libraries volunteered to contribute MARC records they created for Gopher servers, listserves, ftp and Web sites, and other net- worked information resources (OCLC, 1996). Another major undertaking in organizing information on the Web is OCLC's Metadata Initiative (Dublin Core Metadata Initiative, 1999) inaugurated in 1995, which proposed a metadata scheme containing 15 data elements. Among them are title, creator, publisher, subject, description, format, type, source, relation, identifier, and rights. The metadata scheme was named after the city where OCLC is located: Dublin Core Metadata Element Set (Dublin Core for short). Since its debut, it has become an important part of the emerging infrastructure of the Internet. Many communities are eager to adopt a common core of semantics for resource description, and the Dublin Core has attracted broad ranging international and interdisciplinary support for this purpose.
Reference: http://inform.nu/Articles/Vol3/v3n2p83-88.pdf
2. Information Organization • information organization can be understood from four perspectives: o a data perspective o a relationship perspective o an operating system (OS) perspective o an application architecture perspective 2.1. The data perspective of information organization • the information organization of geographic data must be considered in terms of their descriptive elements and graphical elements because o these two types of data elements have distinctly different characteristics o the have different storage requirements o they have different processing requirements 2.1.1. Information organization of descriptive data • for descriptive data, the most basic element of information organization is called a data item o a data item represents an occurrence or instance of a particular characteristic pertaining to an entity (which can be a person, thing, event or phenomenon) it is the smallest unit of stored data in a database, commonly referred to as an attribute in database terminology, an attribute is also referred to as a stored field the value of an attribute can be in the form of a number (integer or floating-point), a character string, a date or a logical expression(e.g. T for 'true' or 'present"; F for 'false' or 'absent') some attributes have a definite set of values known as permissible values or domain of values (e.g. age of people from 1 to 150; the categories in a land use classification scheme; and the academic departments in a university) • a group of related data items form a record o by related data items, it means that the items are occurrences of different characteristics pertaining to the same person, thing, event or phenomenon (e.g. in a forest resource inventory, a record may contain related data items such as stand identification number, dominant tree species, average height and average breast height diameter) o a record may contain a combination of data items having different types of values (e.g. in the above example, a record has two character strings representing the stand identification number and dominant tree species; an integer representing the average tree height rounded to the nearest meter; and a floating-point number representing the average breast height diameter in meters) in database terminology, a record is always formally referred to as a stored record in relational database management systems, records are called tuples • a set of related records constitutes a data file o by related records, it means that the records represent different occurrences of the same type or class of people, things, events and phenomena a data file made up of a single record type with single-valued data items is called a flat file a data file made up of a single record type with nested repeating groups of items forming a multi-level organization is called a hierarchical file o a data file is individually identified by a filename o a data file may contain records having different types of data values or having a single type of data value a data file containing records made up of character strings is called a text file or ASCII file a data file containing records made up of numerical values in binary format is called a binary file o in data processing literature, collections of data items or records are sometimes referred to by other terms other than "data file" according to their characteristics and functions an array is a collection of data items of the same size and type (although they may have different values) a one-dimensional array is called a vector a two-dimensional array is called a matrix a table is a data file with data items arranged in rows and columns data files in relational databases are organized as tables such tables are also called relations in relational database terminology a list is a finite, ordered sequence of data items (known as elements) by "ordered", it means that each element has a position in the list an ordered list has elements positioned in ascending order of values; while an unordered list has no permanent relation between element values and position each element has a data type in the simple list implementation, all elements must have the same data type but there is no conceptual objection to lists whose elements have different data types a tree is a data file in which each data item is attached to one or more data items directly beneath it (Figure 4) the connections between data items are called branches trees are often called inverted trees because they are normally drawn with the root at the top the data items at the very bottom of an inverted tree are called leaves; other data items are called nodes a binary tree is a special type of inverted tree in which each element has only two branches below it a heap is a special type of binary tree in which the value of each node is greater than the values of its leaves heap files are created for sorting data in computer processing --- the heap sort algorithm works by first organizing a list of data into a heap a stack is a collection of cards in Apple Computer's Hypercard software system • the concept of database is the approach to information organization in computer-based data processing today o a database is defined as an automated, formally defined and centrally controlled collection of persistent data used and shared by different users in an enterprise (Date, 1995 and Everest, 1986) above definition excludes the informal, private and manual collection of data "centrally controlled" does not mean "physically centralized" --- databases today tend to be physically distributed in different computer systems, at the same or different locations a database is set up to serve the information needs of an organization data sharing is key to the concept of database data in a database are described as "permanent" in the sense that they are different from "transient" data such as input to and output from an information system the data usually remain in the database for a considerable length of time, although the actual content of the data can change very frequently o the use of database does not mean the demise of data files data in a database are still organized and stored as data files the use of database represents a change in the perception of data, the mode of data processing and the purposes of using the data rather than physical storage of the data o databases can be organized in different ways known as database models the three conventional database models are: relational, network and hierarchical relational --- data are organized by records in relations which resemble a table network --- data are organized by records which are classified into record types, with 1:n pointers linking associated records hierarchical --- data are organized by records on a parent-child one-to-many relations the emerging database model is object-oriented data are uniquely identified as individual objects that are classified into object types or classes according to the characteristics (attributes and operations) of the object 2.1.2. Information organization of graphical data • for graphical data, the most basic element of information organization is called a basic graphical element o there are three basic graphical elements point line, also referred to as arc polygon, also referred to as area o these basic graphical elements can be individually used to represent geographic features or entities for example: point for a well; line for a road segment and polygon for a lake) o they can also be used to construct complex features for example: the geographic entity "Hawaii" on a map is represented by a group of polygons of different sizes and shapes • the method of representing geographic features by the basic graphical elements of points, lines and polygon is said to be the vector method or vector data model, and the data are called vector data o related vector data are always organized by themes, which are also referred to as layers or coverages examples of themes: geodetic control, base map, soil, vegetation cover, land use, transportation, drainage and hydrology, political boundaries, land parcel and others o for themes covering a very large geographic area, the data are always divided into tiles so that they can be managed more easily a tile is the digital equivalent of an individual map in a map series a tile is uniquely identified by a file name o a collection of themes of vector data covering the same geographic area and serving the common needs of a multitude of users constitutes the spatial component of a geographical database o the vector method of representing geographic features is based on the concept that these features can be can be identified as discrete entities or objects this method is therefore based on the object view of the real world (Goodchild, 1992) the object view is the method of information organization in conventional mapping and cartography • graphical data captured by imaging devices in remote sensing and digital cartography (such as multi-spectral scanners, digital cameras and image scanners) are made up of a matrix of picture elements (pixels) of very fine resolution o geographic features in such form of data can be visually recognized but not individually identified in the same way that geographic features are identified in the vector method o they are recognizable by differentiating their spectral or radiometric characteristics from pixels of adjacent features for example, a lake can be visually recognized on a satellite image because the pixels forming it are darker than those of the surrounding features; but the pixels forming the lake are not identified as a single discrete geographic entity, i.e. they remain individual pixels similarly, a highway can be visually recognized on the same satellite image because of its particular shape; but the pixels forming the highway do not constitute a single discrete geographic entity as in the case of vector data • the method of representing geographic features by pixels is called the raster method or raster data model, and the data are described as raster data o the raster method is also called the tessellation method o a raster pixel is usually a square grid cell but there are there are several variants such as triangles and hexagons (Peuquet, 1991) o a raster pixel represents the generalized characteristics of an area of specific size on or near the surface of the Earth the actual ground size depicted by a pixel is dependent on the resolution of the data, which may range from smaller than a square meter to several square kilometers o raster data are organized by themes, which is also referred to as layers for example, a raster geographic database may contain the following themes: bed rock geology, vegetation cover, land use, topography, hydrology, rainfall, temperature o raster data covering a large geographic area are organized by scenes (for remote sensing images) of by raster data files (for images obtained by map scanning) o the raster method is based on the concept that geographic features are represented as surfaces, regions or segments o this method is therefore based on the field view of the real world (Goodchild, 1992) o the field view is the method of information organization in image analysis systems in remote sensing and geographic information systems for resource- and environmental-oriented applications • in the past, the vector and raster methods represented two distinct approaches to information systems o they were based on different concepts of information organization and data structure o they used different technologies for data input and output • recent advances in computer technologies allow these two types of data to be used in the same applications o computers are now capable of converting data from the vector format to the raster format (rasterization) and vice versa (vectorization) o computers are now able to display vector and raster simultaneously o the old debate on the usefulness of these two approaches to information organization does not seem to be relevant any more o vector and raster data are largely seen as complimentary to, rather than competing against, one another in geographic data processing 2.2. The relationship perspective of information organization • relationships represent a important concept in information organization --- it describes the logical association between entities o relationships can be categorical or spatial, depending on whether they describe location or other characteristics 2.2.1. Categorical relationships • categorical relationships describe the association among individual features in a classification system o the classification of data is based on the concept of scale of measurement o there are four scales of measurement: nominal --- a qualitative, non-numerical and non-ranking scale that classifies features on intrinsic characteristics for example, in a land use classification scheme, polygons can be classified as industrial, commercial, residential, agricultural, public and institutional ordinal --- a nominal scale with ranking which differentiates features according to a particular order for example, in a land use classification scheme, residential land can be denoted as low density, medium density and high density interval --- an ordinal scale with ranking based on numerical values that are recorded with reference to an arbitrary datum for example, temperature readings in degrees centigrade are measured with reference to an arbitrary zero (i.e. zero degree temperature does not mean no temperature) ratio --- an interval scale with ranking based on numerical values that are measured with reference to an absolute datum for example, rainfall data are recorded in mm with reference to an absolute zero (i.e. zero mm rainfall mean no rainfall) • categorical relationships based on ranking are hierarchical or taxonomic in nature o this means that data are classified into progressively different levels of detail data in the top level are represented by a limited broad basic categories data in each basic category are then classified into different sub-categories, which can be further classified into another level if necessary o the classification of descriptive data is typically based on categorical relationships 2.2.2. Spatial relationships • spatial relationships describe the association among different features in space o spatial relationships are visually obvious when data are presented in the graphical form o however, it is difficult to build spatial relationships into the information organization and data structure of a database there are numerous types of spatial relationships possible among features recording spatial relationships implicitly demands considerable storage space computing spatial relationships on-the-fly slows down data processing particularly if relationship information is required frequently • there are two types of spatial relationships o topological --- describes the property of adjacency, connectivity and containment of contiguous features o proximal --- describes the property of closeness of non-contiguous features • spatial relationships are very important in geographical data processing and modeling o the objective of information organization and data structure is to find a way that will handle spatial relationships with the minimum storage and computation requirements 2.3. The operating system (OS) perspective of information organization • from the operating system perspective, information is organized in the form of directories o directories are a special type of computer files used to organize other files into a hierarchical structure directories are also referred to as folders, particularly in systems using graphical user interfaces o a directory may also contain one of more directories the topmost directory in a computer is called the root directory a directory that is below another directory is referred to as a sub-directory a directory that is above another directory is referred to as a parent directory o directories are designed for bookkeeping purposes in computer systems a directory is identified by a unique directory name computer files of the same nature are usually put under the same directory a data file can be accessed in a computer system by specifying a path that is made up of the device name, one or more directory names and its own file name for example: c:\project101\mapdata\basemap\nw2367.dat o the concept of workspace used by many geographic information system software packages is based on the directory structure of the host computer a workspace is a directory under which all data files relating to a particular project are stored 2.4. The application architecture perspective of information organization • computer applications nowadays tend to be constructed on the client/server systems architecture • client/server is primarily a relationship between processes running in the same computer or, more commonly, in separate computers across a telecommunication network o the client is a process that requests services the dialog between the client and the server is always initiated by the client a client can request services from many servers at the same time o the server is a process that provides the service a server is primarily a passive service provider a server can service many clients at the same time • there are many ways of implementing a client/server architecture but from the perspective of information organization, the following five are most important o file servers --- the client requests specific records from a file; and the server returns these records to the client by transmitting them across the network o database servers --- the client sends structured query language (SQL) requests to the server; the server finds the required information by processing these requests and then passes the results back to the client o transaction servers --- the client invokes a remote procedure that executes a transaction at the server side; the server returns the result back to the client via the network o Web server --- communicating interactively by the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) over the Internet, the Web server returns documents when clients ask for them by name o groupware servers --- this particular type of servers provides a set of applications that allow clients (and their users) to communicate with one another using text, images, bulletin boards, video and other forms of media • from the application architecture perspective, the objective of information organization and data structure is to develop a data design strategy that will optimize system operation by o balancing the distribution of data resources between the client and the server databases are typically located on the server to enable data sharing by multiple users static data that are used for reference are usually allocated to the client o ensuring the logical allocation of data resources among different servers data that are commonly used together should be placed in the same server data that have common security requirements should be placed in the same server data intended for a particular purpose (file service, database query, transaction processing, Web browsing or groupware applications) should be placed in the appropriate server o standardizing and maintaining metadata (i.e. data about data) to facilitate the search for the availability and characteristics of existing data
Reference: http://www.ncgia.ucsb.edu/giscc/units/u051/
What are the challenges facing you in performing the role? How will you address these challenges?
There are many things to face in performing my main role to the environment. As a model to every one, my performance should be flawless and most nearly perfect because you provide an idea or information to everybody watching your performances. As an Information technology student I should be aware about my environment. Many principles shown above as a sample of the information representation and organization. Those principles are challenging to me to face the role of myself to the environment. | |
| | | Jovylin O. Sandoval
Posts : 40 Points : 42 Join date : 2009-06-21 Age : 34 Location : Purok Anahaw Buhangin, Davao City
| Subject: Information Environment Mon Oct 12, 2009 6:12 am | |
| First in foremost, I can say that this assignment made me tricky, actually it really took time for me to do this assignment because at first I am so confused about it into the extent that I can’t decide what kind of information environment that I’m going to choose and of course, because I’ve been busy also in a past few days for my other projects on the other subjects. But now as I have my time already to do it and as I have kept on searching on the net about it, I already understood. It made me realized that this Information Environment is a term that is used to develop and provide services which enable people to find and manage information efficiently and effectively in their learning, teaching or research. Moreover, to understand it well and to know more about Information Environment, I will talk about it as it follows. First, I will define the ‘Information’ alone.
Information as a concept has a diversity of meanings, from everyday usage to technical settings. Generally speaking, the concept of information is closely related to notions of constraint, communication, control, data, form, instruction, knowledge, meaning, mental stimulus, pattern, perception, and representation. The information resources which people need are very varied - books, journals, research papers, teaching resources, videos, maps and more - and while they might be in any format they are increasingly digital. And now, there is a critical mass of digital information resources that can be used to support researchers, learners, teachers and administrators in their work and study. The production of information is on the increase and ways to deal with this effectively are required. There is the need to ensure that quality information isn't lost amongst the masses of digital data created everyday. If we can continue to improve the management, interrogation and serving of 'quality' information, there is huge potential to enhance knowledge creation across learning and research communities.
However, when we talk about also the Information Environment, it is the one that helps to provide convenient access to resources for research and learning through the use of resource discovery and resource management tools and the development of better services and practice. The Information Environment aims to allow discovery, access and use of resources for research and learning irrespective of their location. And as what I have read on the definition that my classmates wrote about it that an information environment could be anywhere, as long as it is a place or set of networks and services that support publishing and use of information and learning resources, that’s what made me thought of the Digital Library as my choice in information environment.
The Digital Library
The information technology explosion and its applications in every aspect of life have changed the entire scenario of the present world. The IT revolution and information explosion has led to the emergence of electronic information era. These days, the users are not satisfied with the printed available material, they require that printed information be supplemented with more dynamic multimedia documents. Thus digital libraries are becoming an important element in the era of information technology and it seems that the digital library concept should be considered a dynamic and essential component of an organization/institute.
To keep pace in the rapidly changing environment, infrastructure and service facilities should be made available according to the needs so as to compete and survive in the era of competitiveness. Major changes in the information environment have transformed the role of librarians into those of information managers.
In ancient days, the libraries were considered as storehouse of books and other reading material whereas the librarians were considered merely as the custodian of these documents. With the passage of time and rapid advancements in electronic information technology, the new means of communication have altered the way in which information is handled, stored and exchanged across the world. These advancements have transformed libraries from a mere static storehouse of documents to a dynamic powerhouse of information, serving all professional and non professionals in utilizing useful and need based collection of documents. The medium of information storage has changed from clay tablets, palm leaves, papyrus to papers and now to electronic and optical media. This has brought a revolutionary change in the way libraries adapt and function, shifting from print to electronic dissemination centre. All these desired the library professionals to switch over from traditional library system to digital library concept.
Digital Libraries are the electronic counterparts of traditional paper libraries, where the digital medium opens new opportunities, especially in the area of improved access support, increased content availability, powerful content interlinking, and reduced costs, but also imposes new challenges like long-term preservation in the context of fast changing storage technologies. Further important challenges are issues of copyright and digital rights management and the cost of digitization for not digitally-born content.
Various definitions for Digital Libraries exist. These can be summarized as follows: A Digital Library is an information system targeted towards a specific community, where content from different sources is collected and managed, content is structured and enriched with metadata, and a set of services is offered that makes the content available to a user community via a communication network, typically the Internet. The term Digital Library may be also used to describe any of the following:
- Collection of electronic journals and books - On-line educational portal - Repository of multimedia files - Archives of information created from local knowledge - Electronic version of libraries
Multimedia Libraries are also Digital Libraries, where the managed content is not restricted to the usually mainly textual documents. Such libraries contain, next to the “textual” contents, media types like music, videos, images, maps, and mixtures of different content types (multimedia objects) as they are, for example used in e-Learning or in the documentation of history. Multimedia libraries may also contain content types that were not supported in traditional libraries at all like 3D objects, executable software (e.g. computer games) or callable services. One of the main challenges for a multimedia library is to provide effective access to these types of context (based on adequate indexing) and to provide support for the “real-time” integration of different content types. Some challenges of multimedia libraries are closely related to those of museums and archives that make multimedia representations of their artifacts available online.
A Digital Library mediates between the information needs of its user community and the globally available content. Contributions in four task areas are essential for supporting this mediation:
• Content preselection: The library selects high-quality content potentially relevant for the members of its user community; • Content structuring: The library structures the content according to the predominant domain understanding of its user community; • Content enrichment: The library enriches content objects with descriptive and value-adding metadata provided by domain experts, librarians, and community members; • Library services: Support for content retrieval, access, annotation, etc. enable the identification of relevant material and facilitate access of content and its use by community members as a group or as individuals;
These contributions allow a Digital Library to reduce the gap that exists between the wide variety and large amount of globally available content and specific information needs of individuals and small group within its community. Ideally, many of these contributions should be achieved without or with little human inference. However, for technological reasons, but also for reasons of quality control and trust, human involvement and especially involvement of representatives from the library now and in the future will be essential for these tasks.
The Objectives of Digital Library The primary objectives of Digital Library include: • To collect, store, organize and access information in digital form. • To meet the requirements of patrons by providing better services. • To provide personalized and retrospective services in an efficient way. • To have large digitized database accessible to multiple users at the same time. • To save time of library staff by avoiding routine jobs. • To provide a coherent view of all information in any format. • To serve widely dispersed communities throughout the network. • To minimize massive storage and space problems of large libraries. • To reduce cost involved in various library activities.
Digital library is a combination of traditional and media collections, so they encompass both paper and electronic materials. The three main features of digital library are the storage of information in digital form, usage of communication networks, and copying by either downloading or on-line/ offline printing from a master file.
The Digital Information Users The users of digitized information may be broadly divided into four groups as given below: (i) Those who have started using latest technology and digitized information. (ii) Those who have been using these technologies and digitized information and are expanding it rapidly. (iii) Those who have the fear of using new technologies for information. (iv) Those who are intermixed between the above three groups but have no training to use the technologies for accessing global information.
The Components of Digital Library: The basic components that are required for digital library are: • Servers for database storage. • Adequate number of PCs connected in a LAN. • Local databases in machine readable form, CD-ROMs • RDBMS that supports variety of digital formats. • Search engines to index and provide access to resources. • Electronic document management functions that will aid in overall management of digital resources. • Well trained manpower.
The Advantages of Digital Library • Universally accessible. • Easy access to electronic resources. • Optimizing use of IT environment. • Knowledge content itself will be ubiquitous and inexpensive. • Ability to deal with large datasets. • Support wider range of materials. • Access to latest information. • No storage problems. • Faster information retrieval. • Increase in end users.
Barriers/ Hurdles/ Problems in Digital Library • The cost involved in the creation and maintenance of digital library environment is high. • Attitude of library professionals. • IPR is not being given due importance. • Preservation of electronic information. • Pricing in the digital environment is going to be complex.. • Lack of indigenous, efficient and effective library software. • Lack of information policy and information culture.
The Performing Role in Digital Library
So, for the role that I chose for this kind of Information Environment which is the Digital Library, I preferred to be an Information Manager because being an IT student and an IT professional someday and also as I belong in the field of Information Technology, I want to contribute my knowledge and skills in providing and disseminate a precise information regarding on the latest trends that we have right now in our industry and to keep pace with the latest developments that are taking place due to advancement of technologies so that many of the information seekers can benefit, use and learn from it. But, it is not possible for the information manager to go to library schools however, training can be arranged for them to have a bird’s eye view about the developments that are taking place.
In addition, here are some trends on the digital libraries: • A first trend in Digital Library technology is a more decentralized, service-oriented approach for Digital Library architectures. The overall goal here is to systematically make Digital Library functionality available to a broader audience, reduce the cost of entry for this technology, to improve flexibility and adaptability and to foster shared and synergetic use of content, metadata, services and other resources. In this context current technological developments like Grid Computing, Web and Grid Services and the Peer-to-Peer computing paradigm are exploited. The project DILIGENT (EU IST-004260), for example, works on building a Grid-based Digital Library infrastructure that enables the on-demand creation of tailored Digital Libraries, so called Virtual Digital Libraries on top of the generic infrastructure. In general, Digital Libraries migrate from centralized systems to dynamic federations of services.
• A second trend is the offering of additional services beyond search and collection management that reflects a broadened understanding of the role of a Digital Library within a community. This includes community services that support community formation, awareness of a community for trends in the domain and the role of individual within the community as well as services for fostering collaboration in the community. In addition, these are also services that enable community members to take a more active part in content provision and annotation. In summary, the idea is to support the collaborative information processes of the community in a more comprehensive and participative way, migrating from the information access support provided by Digital Libraries to the idea of tailored virtual information and knowledge environments. For research libraries this trend is reflected by current research activities in the area of e-Science.
• A third trend in Digital Libraries is the use of Semantic Web technology for intelligent search services. This includes semantic annotation of content objects based on domain ontologies, the use of concepts and ontological knowledge instead of strings in search, and concept-based clustering of query results. Another area of research and development in intelligent search support is to more systematically take context into account. On the one hand, this refers to user context. More comprehensive, ontology-based models of the user and his current situation (including user tasks and relationships a user is involved in) are used to go beyond existing personalization approach. On the other hand the context of an information object can be used to improve retrieval results like, for example, the information a content object is linked with or the annotations about a content object.
Furthermore, Information Manager has to take into consideration the following aspects before collecting information for the end product, which they have to offer:
• It must be according to needs of its users. • It must be equipped with powerful, easy to use, intelligent search engines. • It must have attractive user interface. • It must be reasonably priced. • It must allow access from, and delivery to the users’ workstation.
The Information Manager has also to keep in mind the following points to keep pace with the modern trends, if they want to survive:
• Continuous updating • Developing strong professional teams in their respective libraries. • Arranging continuous education and training programs for users and staff. • Accept the challenges being imposed due to advancement of technology. • Arrange lectures / training programs from time to time.
Information managers are only competent enough to provide efficient and intelligent access to the world’s information sources to its novice users. The knowledge and experience of libraries can be helpful in directing users to get an easy access to relevant information on the digital library network.
On the other way, the other information environment that I also chose was the Information science which is the interdisciplinary academic field that deals with the generation, collection, organization, storage, retrieval, and dissemination of recorded knowledge. Information Science combines elements of librarianship with ideas and technologies from many other fields, including social sciences, computer science, mathematics, electrical engineering, linguistics, management, neuroscience, and information systems theory. Within the field of information science, information may be defined as the knowledge contained in the human brain and in all electronic and written records. Information science is the scientific study of that information: how it is created, transmitted, encoded, transformed, retrieved, measured, used, and valued.
The role that I also like is being the Information scientist who’s the one will analyze the many and various phenomena that affect any aspect of information. Its interest is studying such questions as the following: What is the effect of information on individuals and groups when it is presented in various formats? How do publication dates, frequency of citation, productivity and prominence of authors affect the relevance of literature on a given subject? (This field of study is known as bibliometrics.) How do humans and computers interact? What is the reliability of retrieving information from online databases and the Internet?
For the information scientist, the library is only one of several sites for information storage and usage. Information scientists may study information stored in archives, switching centers (systems that establish connections between electronic communications, such as e-mail), or institutions such as schools and businesses. Information scientists work in such places as medical centers, computing companies, university and corporate research institutes, and indexing companies. They are concerned with a wide range of activities, from creation of computer file structures to experimental tests of interactive communication between computers and humans.
Challenges in performing the role
The digital library concept is growing at a fast pace. Emerging technology of digital libraries is an offshoot of information revolution which can drastically improve the efficiency and effectiveness of management of physical and financial resources of libraries. The challenge for information managers is to equip themselves with the capabilities to link with global trends for the ultimate benefit of information seekers. The arrangements for managing and supporting information technology will take different shapes depending upon the size of its parent institution, the institution’s existing computing and communication resources and the capabilities of the library’s management and staff. The information providers have to keep themselves abreast with the latest trends if they desire to survive in the present world. Whereas, Information scientists are working on better ways to manage massive databases containing not only text, but also numerical data; sound; and fixed, moving, and three-dimensional images. A major challenge for information scientists is to determine the extent to which information access systems can be made easy for non-specialists to understand and use. Information scientists are also working to further their understanding of human thought processes.
"Our profession should do what our commercial information suppliers are doing: focus on the users, their needs, their wants, and the practices of using information." - by OKERSON
References: • Encarta Encyclopedia • Digital Libraries and Changing Role of Information Managers.pdf • http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/themes/informationenvironment/overview.aspx • http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/6822/Multimedia-Libraries.html
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