Information Technology

Explore various topics in Information Technology including web browsers, IS capabilities, IT planning, systems integration, supply chain, volatile and non-volatile memory, object-oriented databases, data marts, HTML, expert systems, and geographic information systems.

Running head: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Name of Student
Name of University
Author’s Note

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Discussion activity 1
Web arena is in so much competition today because this particular browser was the only the
first as well as best web browser for UNIX. Arena is very popular at the starting of the World
web (Tan, Pan and Lu 2015). Web arena is famous because it helps in accessing the net
globally and it also allows for cheap as well as easy communication between people. Ideas
could also be easily shared.
In order to sustain the strategic benefits of IS an organization should follow various steps,
these steps include being proactive and not to be reactive, sets up a real sense of the direction,
it increases the efficiency of operations, aim in increasing the market share as well as
profitability, make the entire business more durable and some more.
‘An information system consists of hardware and software’, this statement is inadequate
because firstly a particular information system does not include only hardware and software,
and it also consists of telecommunication, data, procedures and people (Tan, Pan and Lu
2015). Hardware and software are the major components of a specific information system but
there exists some more components as well. Hence this statement is not true.
References
Tan, B., Pan, S.L., Lu, X. and Huang, L., 2015. The role of IS capabilities in the development
of multi-sided platforms: the digital ecosystem strategy of Alibaba. com. Journal of the
Association for Information Systems, 16(4), p.2.
Discussion activity 2
IT planning is very important because it helps in increasing the efficiency of a particular
organization. It also helps in reducing the risks that are involved in the activities of modern
business, it further helps in achieving the organizational objectives.

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Systems integration can be defined as a particular process that helps in bringing together the
components of sub systems into a particular system (Argenti 2018). This also ensures the fact
that the systems work together in the form of a system.
Supply chain is a particular network between a specific organization and suppliers in order to
produce as well as distribute a particular product to the end user. This particular network
includes various activities, entities, people, resources and data. The supply chain represents
various steps that it take for getting the product or service from original state to customers.
Supply chains are usually developed by various companies for the purpose of
reducing costs and hence remaining in their landscape of business. When supply chains are
used effectively, it can reduce the overall cost as well as boost profitability (Gleick, Kremen
and Li 2015). In case a particular link breaks down it would affect the entire chain and might
be costly for the organization.
References
Argenti, J., 2018. Corporate planning: a practical guide. Routledge.
Liu, J., Mooney, H., Hull, V., Davis, S.J., Gaskell, J., Hertel, T., Lubchenco, J., Seto, K.C.,
Gleick, P., Kremen, C. and Li, S., 2015. Systems integration for global
sustainability. Science, 347(6225), p.1258832.
Discussion activity 3
Difference between volatile and non-volatile memory in that volatile memory is a particular
device that holds a particular data till it gets a supply of power that is connect to it and could
not hold memory when it does not have the supply connected to the device, this is called a
volatile memory (Ríos, Stegmaier and Hosseini 2015). Whereas a non-volatile memory id
one that has the ability to hold data in it even if does not stay connected to any sort of source

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of power. Example of volatile memory is Random Access Memory and the example for non-
volatile memory is Hard drives as well as flash drives.
The medium that enables the fastest data communication is optical fibre because it is
moderate and yet growing, it has a very high bandwidth and does not have any vulnerability
to electromagnetic interference.
Benefits of video conferencing to an organization include edge over competition (Zournazis
and Marlow 2015). Video conferencing can prove to be a boon for the development teams of
product which seeks to bring about fresh ideas in the market. It minimized the travel costs
and telecommunications is made easy.
References
Ríos, C., Stegmaier, M., Hosseini, P., Wang, D., Scherer, T., Wright, C.D., Bhaskaran, H.
and Pernice, W.H., 2015. Integrated all-photonic non-volatile multi-level memory. Nature
Photonics, 9(11), p.725.
Zournazis, H.E. and Marlow, A.H., 2015. The use of video conferencing to develop a
community of practice for preceptors located in rural and non-traditional placement settings:
An evaluation study. Nurse Education in Practice, 15(2), pp.119-125.
Discussion activity 4
Advantages of the object oriented databases are as follows
 Ability to handle a huge categories of data types: unlike various traditional databases
such as hierarchical, network and object oriented database that are relational in nature
are usually capable of restoring various sorts of data such as picture, video, voice, text
numbers and many more.

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 Support schema evolution: a tight coupling between the data as well as applications in
a particular object oriented database makes the evolution of schema even more
feasible.
Disadvantages of object oriented databases are
 Lack of universal data model: there is no presence of data model for a particular
object oriented database which is universally agreed. Besides this most of the models
lack a theoretical foundation (Dennis, Wixom and Tegarden 2015). This particular
disadvantage is considered as a major drawback and hence it is much comparable to
the pre-relational systems.
 Lack of standard: there is lack of standard of object oriented database. There is
usually no standard query language for object oriented database.
Data marts focus on a particular functional area within an organization, it contains a
particular subset of the data that is stored in a specific data warehouse. Data mart is usually a
condensed version of a particular data warehouse. They are very different from data
warehouses, data mart carries just one subject area like sales or finance, a data warehouse
holds numerous subject areas. A data mart usually focuses on integration of data from a
particular provided subject area, a data warehouse works in order to integrate all the data
sources.
HTML is an authorized language that is used for creating various documents on the World
Wide Web. This is similar to the SGML. It is needed for using the web because it defines the
structure as well as layout of a particular web document with the help of using a huge variety
of attributes and tags. HTML code makes sure that proper formatting of images and text is
carried out, this is done so that the internet browser is able to display them (Yang, Wittern

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and Ying 2018). Without the code of HTML, a browser will not know the way by which it
can display texts in the form of elements.
References
Dennis, A., Wixom, B.H. and Tegarden, D., 2015. Systems analysis and design: An object-
oriented approach with UML. John wiley & sons.
Yang, J., Wittern, E., Ying, A.T., Dolby, J. and Tan, L., 2018. Automatically Extracting Web
API Specifications from HTML Documentation. arXiv preprint arXiv:1801.08928.
Discussion activity 5
Yes, every website a form of global IS, this is because a particular website could be
used globally by various individuals in numerous countries. An example of this is that
Tumbler is a particular blog that is used by numerous company as well as organizations for
the purpose of promoting or updating their customers along with people that use Tumbler as a
form of self-expression and self-opinion.
Purpose of an expert system is providing reasoned advice at a particular comparable
level to the one provided by a particular human expert (Xiȩ skiand Simiński 2017). The
capability usually has two vital aims, one includes enhancing various abilities of the leading
experts in various aspects and hence make a very high level of expertise that is available for
practitioners who are not much highly qualified.
Expert system is obtained from a particular Knowledge Based Expert System
terminology. This is a particular system which makes use of human knowledge that is stored
in a computer for solving issues which need expertise of human for the purpose of solving
issues. Expert system can be used as a method for obtaining competitive advantage because it
helps in achieving business transformation. Expert system has potential of being useful

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managerial tools for the purpose of decision making. They help in handling various problems
that are no well-structured and hence exhibit features which has the ability to complement
existing management data systems as well as decision support systems.
Geographic information system (GIS), can be defined as a particular computer based
tool which helps in analysing, manipulating, storing as well as visualizing geographic data,
this is usually done in maps (Greer, Wilbanks and Clifton 2018). Everyday around millions of
decisions are taken with the help of Geographic Information Systems. This is done because
geographic issues need spatial thinking. In this particular tool, users connect data along with
geography. GIS shows numerous different sort of data on a single map like streets, vegetation
and buildings. This helps people to easily see, understand and analyse patterns as well as
relationships.
References
Xiȩski, T. and Simiński, R., 2017, May. A performance study of two inference algorithms for
a distributed expert system shell. In International conference: Beyond databases,
architectures and structures (pp. 512-526). Springer, Cham.
Greer, A.D., Wilbanks, Z.B., Clifton, L.D., Wilson, B. and Graettinger, A.J.,
2018. Geographic Information System Enabled Culvert Design: A Case Study in Tuscaloosa,
Alabama (No. 18-02985).

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References
Argenti, J., 2018. Corporate planning: a practical guide. Routledge.
Dennis, A., Wixom, B.H. and Tegarden, D., 2015. Systems analysis and design: An object-
oriented approach with UML. John wiley & sons.
Greer, A.D., Wilbanks, Z.B., Clifton, L.D., Wilson, B. and Graettinger, A.J.,
2018. Geographic Information System Enabled Culvert Design: A Case Study in Tuscaloosa,
Alabama (No. 18-02985).
Liu, J., Mooney, H., Hull, V., Davis, S.J., Gaskell, J., Hertel, T., Lubchenco, J., Seto, K.C.,
Gleick, P., Kremen, C. and Li, S., 2015. Systems integration for global
sustainability. Science, 347(6225), p.1258832.
Ríos, C., Stegmaier, M., Hosseini, P., Wang, D., Scherer, T., Wright, C.D., Bhaskaran, H.
and Pernice, W.H., 2015. Integrated all-photonic non-volatile multi-level memory. Nature
Photonics, 9(11), p.725.
Tan, B., Pan, S.L., Lu, X. and Huang, L., 2015. The role of IS capabilities in the development
of multi-sided platforms: the digital ecosystem strategy of Alibaba. com. Journal of the
Association for Information Systems, 16(4), p.2.
Xiȩski, T. and Simiński, R., 2017, May. A performance study of two inference algorithms for
a distributed expert system shell. In International conference: Beyond databases,
architectures and structures (pp. 512-526). Springer, Cham.
Yang, J., Wittern, E., Ying, A.T., Dolby, J. and Tan, L., 2018. Automatically Extracting Web
API Specifications from HTML Documentation. arXiv preprint arXiv:1801.08928.

8INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Zournazis, H.E. and Marlow, A.H., 2015. The use of video conferencing to develop a
community of practice for preceptors located in rural and non-traditional placement settings:
An evaluation study. Nurse Education in Practice, 15(2), pp.119-125.