The course will end with a written exam.

Assignments

All work submitted must be your own original work. Only selective quoting of material produced by others is allowed. You must provide references to the material you use. By using your own words you demonstrate your understanding of the subject. Answers to questions in the assignments must be supported by suitable arguments.

Assignments 1, 3, 4 and 5 involve writing two pages of text using a word processor. Dubbel spacing of rows, large text, wide margins and large gaps between headings and paragraphs are not acceptable!

1. The Computerization of Society

Sometimes it seems as if computers ar being installed into everything and everywhere. Researchers talk about the computerization of society. In 1977 the head of a large computer company said that there was no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home! What properties do computers have that makes almost everyone want to have one? Is there a limit to what can be done with computers? What are the advantages and disadvantages of computers?

Answer the above questions and then conclude your two page essay by suggesting a new application for computers, something that might make things better in the future. Don't bother about what the system would cost. How could computers be used to improve the city buss system? What about using computers at football matches? Use your fantasy. No one could imagine television one hundred years ago! No system is perfect! Does your system have any problems associated with it?

2. Data representation and interpretation

To understand how computers work involves having some knowledge of how data can be represented in terms of zeros and ones, called bits. Eight bits grouped together are called a byte. Often text is coded using ASCII, arithmetic is done using the binary number system, sound and colour are represented by sequences of bytes.

The consequences of all this can sometimes be misleading. Data can be interpreted in the wrong way. Use the following examples to discuss different ways of interpreting the same sequence of bytes and draw conclusions as to what this means for computer users, not least when data is exchanged between different users.

When calculating a budget using a suitable computer program a user creates a file containing three binary numbers. The third number is the sum of the first two numbers. Each number is one byte long. Another user tries to read the contents of the file using a word processor. Using ASCII, the word processor shows on the screen first 7 and then $. What two decimal numbers do these first two bytes represent? What does the third byte contain and what character will the word processor show on the screen?

Suppose now that the data represents colours in a photograph. White, red, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet and black are each coded as a three bit number from 0 to 7 (in binary 000 to 111). What sequence of colours do the three bytes represent?

Problems like these often occur when files are sent as email attachments. What must users do to avoid such problems?

3. Computers as consumer items

Most large supermarkets now sell televisions. Customers can choose between different models without speaking to a salesperson. You can load a television into a shopping cart and pay for it at the check out counter together with milk and honey.

Suppose you were manager of a large supermarket. Would you seriously consider selling computers in the same way as televisions? Would customers load them into their shopping carts as they do televisions? Or is there a difference? What makes computers different?

Suppose you decided to employ someone to help customers who were interested in buying a computer. What facts would that person use when explaining the difference between two or more computer models? What sort of questions would customers probably be asking before deciding which model to buy? Is it easier to compare two (or more) televisions than two (or more) computers?

What sort of extra equipment would people perhaps buy for their computer if it was available at the supermarket?

4. Computers and Jobs

Despite enormous investments in computers over the past 25 years studies show that productivity has increased only marginally. With computers came the promise of a 3 day work week and a paperless office. Yet today most workers are still on a 40 hour week and many are working overtime. Selling items through the Internet is no more profitable than selling the same items through shops!

Despite the fact that computers don't seem to increase productivity businesses continue to spend huge amounts of money on them. This is often called the productivity problem or the productivity paradox.

Write a two page essay on why the productivity of workers has not increased in the way it was hoped it would. What factors are involved? What is the total cost of ownership (TCO) of a computer? Have computers created more jobs than they have replaced? Do computer specialists cost more to hire than non specialists? Are computers introduced into a workplace in a manner which make users enthusiastic and therefore more productive?

5. Failure of Information Systems

In some ways designing an information system is like designing any other consumer item. Car companies sometimes design and then build cars which turn out to be a failure (Ford's Edsel is a classic example). Similarly some information systems turn out to be a failure.

Why do some information systems fail? How does one go about designing and then developing an information system? Where does the work begin? What happens when the system is put into operation? What can go wrong? How can one say that the end result is a success or a failure?

Suppose your employer was about to start work on a new project to design, build and install a new information system. In a two page essay discuss what factors should be considered in order to ensure that the new system will not be a failure. Present arguments that support your choice of factors. Your essay should include answers to the above questions.