Types of Knowledge

Management Systems
There are essentially three major types of knowledge
management systems:
enterprise-wide knowledge management systems,
knowledge work systems, and
intelligent techniques.
Enterprise-wide knowledge management systems are
general-purpose firm wide efforts to collect, store,
distribute, and apply digital content and knowledge.
These systems include capabilities for searching for
information, storing both structured and unstructured
data, and locating employee expertise within the firm.
They also include supporting technologies such as
portals, search engines, collaboration tools (e-mail,
instant messaging, wikis, blogs, and social
bookmarking) and learning management systems.

The development of powerful networked
workstations and software for assisting engineers
and scientists in the discovery of new knowledge
has led to the creation of knowledge work systems
such as computer-aided design (CAD), visualization,
simulation, and virtual reality systems. Knowledge
work systems (KWS) are specialized systems built
for engineers, scientists, and other knowledge
workers charged with discovering and creating new
knowledge for a company.
Knowledge management also includes a diverse
group of intelligent techniques such as data mining,
expert systems, neural networks, fuzzy logic,
genetic algorithms, and intelligent agents.
These techniques have different objectives, from a
focus on discovering knowledge (data mining and
neural networks),
to distilling knowledge in the form of rules for a
computer program (Expert systems and fuzzy logic),
to discovering optimal solutions for problems
(genetic algorithms).
ENTERPRISE-WIDE KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
Firms must deal with at least three kinds of
knowledge. Some knowledge exists within the firm
in the form of structured text documents (reports
and documentations). Decision makers also need
knowledge that is semi structured, such as e-mail,
voice mail, chat room exchanges, videos, digital
pictures, brochures, or bulletin board postings.
In still other cases, there is no formal or digital
information of any kind, and the knowledge resides
in the heads of employees. Much of this knowledge
is tacit knowledge that is rarely written down.
Enterprise-wide knowledge management systems
deal with all three types of knowledge.

ENTERPRISE CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
Businesses today need to organize and manage both
structured and semi structured knowledge assets.
Structured knowledge is explicit knowledge that exists
in formal documents, as well as in formal rules that
organizations derive by observing experts and their
decision-making behaviors.
But, according to experts, at least 80 percent of an
organization's business content is semi structured or
unstructuredinformation in folders, messages,
memos, proposals, e-mails, graphics, electronic slide
presentations, and even videos created in different
formats and stored in many locations. enterprise
content management systems help organizations
manage types of information.
.
They have capabilities for knowledge capture,
storage, retrieval, distribution, and preservation to
help firms improve their business processes and
decisions.
Such systems include corporate repositories of
documents, reports, presentations, and best
practices, as well as capabilities for collecting and
organizing semi structured knowledge such as e-
mail. Major enterprise content management
systems also enable users to access external sources
of information, such as news feeds and research,
and to communicate via e-mail, chat/instant
messaging, discussion groups and
videoconferencing.
In India, Nitco Tiles, the most preferred name and the
ideal choice of millions of households and the real
estate fraternity due to its rich repertoire of flooring
solutions, uses Hummingbird Document Management
Solutions tools to manage the massive amounts of
information it is required to maintain.
The system organizes and stores both structured and
unstructured content, including paper documents,
drawings, electronic files (MS Office docs) emails and
fax from its moment of creation until its ultimate
disposition.
The system helps to access data during a workflow or a
CRM application or for publication to the client Web
site. Every department of the company from legal and
knowledge management needs, including the CEO's
secretariat, accounts, designing and manufacturing can
use the data.
A key problem in managing knowledge is the creation of an
appropriate classification scheme, or taxonomy, to organize
information into meaningful categories so that it can be easily
accessed.
Once the categories for classifying knowledge have been
created, each knowledge object needs to be "tagged," or
classified, so that it can be easily retrieved.
Firms in publishing, advertising, broadcasting, and
entertainment have
special needs for storing and managing unstructured digital
data such as photographs, graphic images, video, and audio
content.
For example, Coca-Cola
must keep track of all the images of the Coca-Cola brand-that
have been created
in the past at all of the company's worldwide offices, to
prevent both redundant
work and variation from a standard brand image.
KNOWLEDGE NETWORK SYSTEMS
Knowledge, net work systems, also known .as
expertise location and management systems,
'address the problem that arises when 'the
appropriate knowledge is not in the form of a digital
document but instead resides in the memory' of
expert individuals in the firm.
AskMe and Tacit Software are leading knowledge
network system vendors.

Intec Engineering Partnership, a project management
company with more than 500 employees worldwide
serving the global oil and gas industry uses the AskMe
enterprise knowledge network system.
Using the system, an Intec engineer with a question
could access relevant documents, Web links, and
answers to previous related questions by initiating a
keyword search.
If no answer was found, that person could post a
general question on a Web page for categories, such-
as-Pipeline or Subsea, for other engineers accessing
that page to answer.
Alternatively, the person could review the profiles of all
company engineers with relevant expertise and send a
detailed e-mail query to experts who might have the
answer. All questions and answers are automatically
incorporated into the knowledge database.

A knowledge network maintains a database of firm
experts, as well as accepted solutions to known
problems, and then facilitates the communication
between employees looking for knowledge and
experts who have that knowledge.
Solutions created in this communication are then
added to a database of solutions in the form of
FAQs, best practices, or other documents.
COLLABORATION TOOLS AND LEARNING
MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
The major enterprise content management systems
include powerful portal and collaboration
technologies.
Enterprise knowledge portals can provide access to
external sources of information, such as news feeds
and research,- as well as to internal knowledge,
resources along with capabilities- for e-mil
chat/instant messaging, discussion groups, and
videoconferencing
Companies are starting to use consumer Web
technologies such as blogs, wikis, and social
bookmarking for internal use" to foster
collaboration and information ' exchange between
individuals/and teams.
Blogs and wikis help capture, consolidate, and
centralize this knowledge 'for the firm.
Collaboration tools from commercial software
vendors, such as Microsoft SharePoint and Lotus
Connections also offer these capabilities along with
secure online collaborative workspaces.
Wikis are inexpensive and easy to implement. Wikis
provide a central "repository for all types of
corporate data that can be displayed in a Web
browser, including electronic pages of documents,
spreadsheets, and electronic slides, and can embed
e-mail and instant messages.
Although users are able to modify wiki content
contributed by others, wikis have capabilities for
tracking these changes and tools for reverting to
earlier versions.
A wiki is most appropriate for information that is
revised frequently but must remain available
perpetually as it changes.

Social bookmarking makes it easier to search for
and share information by allowing users to save
their bookmarks to Web pages on a public Web site
and tag these bookmarks with keywords.
These tags can be used to organize and search for
the documents. Lists of tags can be shared with
other people to help them find information of
interest. Delicious and Digg are two popular social
bookmarking sites.

Companies need ways to keep- track of and manage
employee learning and to integrate it more fully into
their knowledge management and other corporate
systems. A learning management system (IMS)
provides tools for the management, delivery, tracking,
and assessment of various types of employee learning
and training.
Contemporary LMS support multiple modes of
learning, including CD-ROM, downloadable videos,
Web-based classes, live instruction in classes or online,
and group learning in online forums and chat sessions.
The LMS consolidates mixed-media training, automates
the selection and administration of courses, assembles
and delivers learning content, and measures learning
effectiveness.

For example, the Whirlpool Corporation uses
CERTPOINT's learning management system to
manage the registration, scheduling, reporting, and
Content for its training programs for 3500 sales
people.
The system helps Whirlpool tailor course content to
the right audience, track the people who took
courses and their scores, and compile metrics on
employee performance.
Knowledge Work Systems:
Knowledge workers, include researchers, designers,
architects, scientists and engineers who primarily
create knowledge and information for the
organization. Knowledge workers usually have high
levels of education and memberships in
professional organizations and are often asked to
exercise independent judgment as a routine aspect
of their work, for example, knowledge workers
create new products or find ways of improving
existing ones.
Knowledge workers perform three key roles that are
critical to the organization and to the managers
who work within the organization:

1. Keeping the organization current in knowledge as
it develops in the external worldin technology,
science, social thought, and the arts
2. Serving as internal consultants regarding the areas
of their knowledge, the
changes taking place, and opportunities
3. Acting as change agents, evaluating, initiating, and
promoting change projects



REQUIREMENTS OF KNOWLEDGE WORK SYSTEMS

Reliance on office systems, such as word processors,
voice mail, e-mail, videoconferencing, and
scheduling systems. (why?)
Require highly specialized knowledge work systems
with powerful graphics, analytical tools, and
communications and document management
capabilities.
Require great computing power to handle the
sophisticated graphics or complex calculations.
Give the worker quick and easy access to external
databases.

Feature user-friendly interfaces (why?)

Knowledge workstations often are designed and
optimized for the specific tasks to be performed; so,
for example, a design engineer requires a different
workstation setup than a financial analyst. Design
engineers need graphics
with enough power to handle three-dimensional (3-
D) CAD systems.
However financial analysts are more interested in
access to a myriad of external data-bases and
optical disk technology for efficient storing and
accessing massive amounts of financial data.
EXAMPLES OF KNOWLEDGE WORK SYSTEMS
1. CAD/CAM (computer-aided manufacturing)
Provides engineers, designers, and factory managers
with precise control over industrial design and
manufacturing
CAD is an important industrial art extensively used in
many applications, including automotive, shipbuilding,
aerospace industries, industrial and architectural design
and many more. CAD is also widely used to
produce computer animation for special effects in
movies, advertising and technical manuals.
2. Investment workstations
High-end PCs used in financial sector to analyze trading
situations instantaneously and facilitate portfolio
management.

Used to leverage the knowledge and time of its
brokers, traders, and portfolio managers.
Firms such as Merrill Lynch and UBS Financial
Services have installed investment, workstations
that integrate a wide range of data from both
internal and external sources, including contact
management data, real-time and historical market
data, and research reports.
Provide one-stop information faster and with fewer
errors, (what was the scenario earlier?)
Streamline the entire investment process from
stock selection to updating client records.
3. Virtual reality systems
Virtual reality is an artificial environment that is created
with software and presented to the user in such a way
that the user suspends belief and accepts it as a real
environment. On a computer, virtual reality is primarily
experienced through two of the five senses: sight and
sound.
Virtual reality can be divided into:
1. The simulation of a real environment for training and
education.
2. The development of an imagined environment for a
game or interactive story.
They Provide drug designers, architects, engineers, and
medical workers with precise, photorealistic
simulations of objects.


INTELLIGENT TECHNIQUES
Knowledge management also includes a diverse
group of intelligent techniques such as data mining,
expert systems, neural networks, fuzzy logic,
genetic algorithms, and intelligent agents. (based
on AI and database technology)
These techniques have different objectives, from a
focus on discovering knowledge (data mining and
neural networks),
To capture tacit knowledge and distilling knowledge
in the form of rules for a computer program (Expert
systems and fuzzy logic),
to discovering optimal solutions for problems
(genetic algorithms).
Expert Systems:
Expert systems are an intelligent technique for
capturing tacit knowledge in a very specific and
limited domain of human expertise. These systems
capture the knowledge of skilled employees in the
form of a set of rules in a software system that can
be used by others in the organization.

How expert systems work?
Expert systems model human knowledge as a set of
rules that collectively are called the knowledge
base. Expert systems have from 200 to many
thousands of these rules, depending on the
complexity of the problem. These rules are much
more interconnected and nested than in a
traditional software program.
The strategy used to search through the knowledge
base is called the inference engine. Two strategies
are commonly used: forward chaining and
backward chaining.
Forward chaining
Forward chaining is a 'data driven' method of
reasoning. It begins with the available data,
compares it with the facts and rules held in the
knowledge base and then infers or draws the most
likely conclusion. IF -> THEN. Forward chaining
starts with the symptoms and works forward to find
a solution.
Backward chaining
Backward chaining is a 'goal driven' method of
reasoning. It begins with a goal and then looks at
the evidence (data and rules) to determine whether
or not it is correct. THEN -> IF. Backward chaining
starts with a hypothesis and works backwards to
prove or disprove it.


Case Based Reasoning:

Organizational knowledge can be captured and stored
using case based reasoning. In case based reasoning,
descriptions of past experiences of human specialists,
represented as cases are stored in a database for later
retrieval when the user encounters a new case with
similar parameters.
The system searches for stored cases with problem
characteristics similar to the new one, finds the closest
fit and applies the solutions of the old case to the new
case. Successful solutions are tagged to the new case
and both are stored together with the other cases in
the knowledge base. Unsuccessful solutions are also
appended to the case database along with explanations
as to why the solutions did not work.
Fuzzy Logic Systems:
Fuzzy logic is a form of many-valued logic; it deals
with reasoning that is approximate rather than fixed and
exact. In contrast with traditional logic theory,
where binary sets have two-valued logic: true or false, fuzzy
logic variables may have a truth value that ranges in degree
between 0 and 1.
Fuzzy logic has been extended to handle the concept of
partial truth, where the truth value may range between
completely true and completely false.
The reasoning in fuzzy logic is similar to human reasoning. It
allows for approximate values and inferences as well as
incomplete or ambiguous data (fuzzy data) as opposed to
only relying on crisp data (binary yes/no choices).
Fuzzy logic is able to process incomplete data and provide
approximate solutions to problems other methods find
difficult to solve. Used for problems that are difficult to
represent by IF-THEN rules .
Helpful where linguistic variables are used.


Neural Networks:
Neural networks are used for solving complex,
poorly understood problems for which large
amounts of data have been collected. They find
patterns and relationships in massive amounts of
data that would be too complicated and difficult for
a human being to analyze.
Neural networks discover this knowledge by using
hardware and software that parallel the processing
patterns of the biological or human brain.
Neural networks learn patterns from large
quantities of data by sifting through data, searching
for relationships, building models, and correcting
over and over again the models own mistakes.
A neural network uses rules it learns from
patterns in data to construct a hidden layer of logic.
The hidden layer then processes inputs, classifying
them based on the experience of the model.
Applications are found in medicine, science, and
business
E.g. Visa International uses neural networks to help
detect credit card fraud by monitoring all Visa
transactions for sudden changes in the buying
pattern of card holders


Figure 12-15
Genetic Algorithms:
Useful for finding optimal solution to specific
problem by examining a very large number of
possible solutions for that problem
It works by representing information as a string of
0s and 1s
Used for solving problems that are very dynamic
and complex, involving 100s and 1000s of variables
Programmed to evolve by changing and
reorganizing component parts using processes such
as reproduction, mutation, and natural selection:
worst solutions are discarded and better ones
survive to produce even better solutions

Figure 12-16
E.g. GE engrs used genetic algos to help optimize
design of Jet turbine aircraft engines, where each
design change required changes in up to 100
variables
Hybrid AI system
Integration of multiple AI technologies (genetic
algorithms, fuzzy logic, neural networks) into a
single application to take advantage of the best
features of these technologies.

Intelligent Agents:
Software programs that work in the background
without direct human intervention to carry out
specific, repetitive, and predictable tasks for an
individual user, business process, or software
application.
The agent uses a limited built in or learned
knowledge base to accomplish tasks or make
decisions on the users behalf such as deleting junk
emails, scheduling appointments or travelling over
interconnected networks to find the cheapest
airfare to Kolkata.




For eg. P&G used agent based modeling to improve
coordination among different members of its supply
chain in response to changing business conditions.
Figure 12-17
Student Loan Data on Loan

Key Technology trends that raise Ethical issues:

1. Trend:
Computing power doubles every 18 months
Impact:
More organizations depend on computer systems
for critical operations
2. Trend:
Data Storage costs rapidly declining
Impact:
Organizations can easily maintain detailed
databases on individuals

Trend:
3. Data analysis advances
Impact:
Companies can analyze vast quantities of data
gathered on individuals to develop detailed profiles
of individual behavior.
Trend:
4. Networking advances and the internet
Impact:
Copying data from one location to another and
accessing personal data from remote locations are
much easier.
Ability to combine myriad pieces of information abt
customers
Think of all the ways you can generate computer
information abt yourself, it would reveal almost
everything abt you.
Cos. Can fine target for marketing campaigns
Identify buying patters and suggest individual
responses.
Do profiling
Eg. Data brokers such as Choice Point and NORA
ChoicePoint gathers info. From all the sources in U.S
abt every adult in U.S & sells it to businesses and
govt.agencies.

NORA- Nonobvious relationship awarness , takes
information abt people from disparate sources and
find obscure,nonobvious relationships.


What are the Ethical and Social concerns raised by
the global digital networks?



Who will account for the flow of info. Over these
networks?

Will you be able to trace info. Collected abt. You?

What will these networks do to the traditional
relationships between family, work and leisure?

How traditional job designs be altered?

Ethics in an Information Society:
Basic concepts are:

Responsibility

Accountability

Liability

Due process
Responsibility means accepting the potential costs,
duties and obligations for the decisions you take.

Information systems are filtered and do not have
impact by themselves.

Accountability:
Means who is responsible, who took the
responsible action.
In case of IT it clearly falls on the users.



Liability:
Individuals can recover the damages from others.
Due Process:
A process in which laws are understood and known
and there is an ability to appeal to higher
authorities to ensure that laws are applied correctly.
Ethical Analysis:
Steps to analyze a situation involving ethical issues:
1. Identify and describe clearly the facts.
2. Define the conflict or dilemma and identify the
higher order values involved.
3. Identify the stakeholders.
(Groups which are involved in the situation, who have
an interest in the outcome, who have vocal opinions)
4. Identify the options that you can reasonably take.

5. Identify the potential consequences of your options.
(ask what if I choose this option consistently over time?)
CANDIDATE ETHICAL PRINCIPLES TO MAKE A
DECISION:
1. Do unto others as you would have them do unto
you.
2.If an action is not right for everyone to take, it is
not right for anyone.
3. If an action can not be taken repeatedly, it is not
right to take at all.
4. Take the action that achieves higher or greater
value (Utilitarian Principle)
5. Take the action that produces the least harm or
least potential cost (Risk aversion Principle)
6. Assume that virtually all tangible and intangible
objects are owned by someone else unless there is
a specific declaration otherwise.

Professional Codes of Conduct:
Codes of ethics are promised by professions to
regulate themselves in general interest of the
society.
Eg. Avoiding harm to others
Honoring property rights
Respecting privacy of information

Real world Ethical Dilemmas:
Eg. Cos using IT to reduce size of workforce.
Eg. Voice recognition softwares.
Many Cos. Monitor what their employees do on
internet to avoid waste of resources.
In each instance we can find groups lined up on
either side of the table.
What is the right thing to Do in above situations?
Discussion on the Moral dimensions of
Information Systems:
What is Privacy?
Why millions of workers are subject to High-tech
surveillance?
U.S. federal statutes and Indian privacy laws set
forth conditions for handling info. abt individuals in
areas such as credit reporting, education, financial
records, newspaper records and electronic
communications.



Major privacy laws in India include:
Freedom of Information Act,2002
Right to information Act, 2005
Commission of Inquiry Act,1952
RBI Act,1934,
Companies Act, 1956
IT Act,2000
Most American and European privacy law is based
on a regime called Fair Information Practices (FIP).
FIP principles are based on mutuality of interest
between record holder and the individual.
A record may not be used to support other activities
without the individuals consent.
The European Directive on Data Protection:
It requires Cos. To inform people when they collect
info. Abt them and disclose how it will be stored &
used.
Informed Consent taken by customers.
EU member nations cant transfer personal data to
countries, that do not have similar privacy
protection regulations.

Internet challenges to Privacy:
Info. Sent over vast networks of networks passes
through many diff. computer systems.
Much of the monitoring and tracking of web site occurs
without the visitors knowledge.
Eg 1. Advertising networks such as Double Click
These tools help websites to better target their
offerings.
Eg 2. Cookie Technology:-
Cookies are written by a web site on a visitors hard
drive. When the visitor returns to that Web site, the
web server requests the ID no. from the cookie and
uses it to access the data stored by that server on that
visitor. The web site can then use these data to display
personalized information.
Eg3. Web Bugs:-
Tiny graphic files embedded in e mail messages and
web pages that are designed to monitor who is
reading the email message or web page and
transmit that info. To another computer.
Eg.4 Spyware:
Secretly installs itself on user computer.
Sends banner ads and other unsolicited material to
users.
Reports users movements on the internet to other
computers.
Eg 5: Googles behavioral targeting
Enables advertisers to target ads based on the
search histories of Google users.
Gmail users are shown ads based on the contents of
their emails.
Google Chrome has a suggest feature to suggest
related queries and websites as the user enters a
search.

U.S. e-commerce sites are using Opt-out and opt-in
models of informed consent.
Individual firms like Yahoo & Google and online
industry have adopted policies on their own to
address the public concern abt tracking people
online.
However, many Cos. With websites do not have
privacy policies and less than half of the online
users actually read privacy statements of websites.
Technical Solutions:
Many tools are used for encrypting email, deleting
cookies or for detecting and removing spywares.
P3P or The Platform for Privacy Preferences,
enables automatic communication of privacy policy
between an e-commerce site and its visitors.
P3P enables web sites to translate their privacy
policies into a standard format that can be read by
the users web browser software.
The browser software evaluates the web sites
privacy policy to determine whether it is compatible
with the users privacy preferences.
However, P3P works only with websites of members
of the world wide web consortium who have
translated their web site privacy policies into P3P
format.
Property Rights: Intellectual Property (IP):

What is IP?

How IT has made it difficult to protect?

IP is subject to a variety of protections under three
different legal traditions:

1. Trade Secrets
2. Copyright
3. Patents
Trade Secrets:

It is any Intellectual work a formula, device,
pattern or compilation of data- used for business
purpose, provided it is not based on information in
public domain.

Trade secrets law protects the actual ideas in a work
product, not only their manifestation.

The creator or owner should bind employees and
customers with nondisclosure agreements and
prevent the secret from falling in public domain.
Software containing unique elements, procedures
or compilations can be included in trade secret.

limitation of trade secret protection arises when the
software is widely distributed.
CopyRight:
A statutory grant protecting creators of IP from
having their work copied by others for any purpose
during the life of the author plus an additional 70
years after the authors death.
For corporate works it lasts for 95 years after their
initial creation.

Extended to books, periodicals, lectures, dramas,
musical compositions, maps, drawings, artwork of
any kind, and motion pictures.
What is the intention behind copy right
protections?

In India IPR of computer software is protected
under the provisions of Indian Copyright Act, 1957.

Copyright protects against copying of entire
programs or their parts. Damages and reliefs are
readily obtained from infringement.

What is the drawback of copyright protection?


Eg. In early 1990s, Apple computer sued Microsoft
Corporation and Hewlett Packard for infringement
of the expression of Apples Macintosh interface,
claiming that the defendants copied the expression
of overlapping windows.
Patents:
A patent grants the owner an exclusive monopoly
on the ideas behind an invention for 20 years.

The intention behind this protection is to ensure
that inventors of new machines, devices or
methods receive the full financial and other
rewards of their labor and yet make widespread use
of the invention under the license from patent
owner.
The key concepts in patents are originality, novelty
and invention.
In India, NASSCOM, is trying to bring awareness
about patenting.
The strength of patenting is that it grants a
monopoly on the underlying concepts and ideas of
software.
The difficulty is passing through the stringent
criteria of nonobviousness (the work must reflect
some special understanding and
contribution),originality and novelty as well as years
of waiting to receive protection.
Challenges to IPR:

Digital Media differ from books, periodicals, and
other media in terms of ease of replication; ease of
transmission; ease of alteration making theft easy.
Before internet, copies of Intellectual Properties
had to be stored on physical media.
According to a survey, 38% of software installed in
2007on PCs worldwide was obtained illegally.
World wide, for every two dollars of software
obtained legitimately, one dollars worth would be
obtained illegally.
Eg. Illegally copying and sharing of MP3 music files
over internet.
File sharing services such as Napster, Grokster,
Kazaa and Morpheus helped users to locate and
swap digital music files.
The music recording industry did win some legal
battles for shutting these services down but has
not been able to halt these activities entirely.
High speed internet connections now are
threatening illegal video sharing and motion
pictures industry.
Mechanisms are being developed to sell and distribute
books, articles and other IP legally on the internet and
one such move is Digital Millennium Copyright Act
(DMCA) of 1998.
The DMCA implemented a World intellectual
organization treaty that makes it illegal to circumvent
technology based protections of copyrighted materials.
ISPs are required to take down sites of copyright
infringers that they are hosting and block it.
Microsoft and other major software and information
content firms are represented by SIIA- software and
Information Industry Association, which lobbies for
new laws and enforcement of existing laws to protect IP
around the world.
The SIIA runs an antipiracy hotline for individuals to
report piracy activities and educational programs to
help organizations combat software piracy and has
published guidelines for employee use of software.


Computer Related Liability Problems:

During the weekend of March 15,2002,tens of
thousands of BOA customers in California , Arizona
and Nevada were unable to use their paycheks and
social security payments that had just been
deposited electronically. Checks bounced,
Withdrawals were blocked because of insufficient
funds.
The reason was an operating error which occurred
on banks computer center in Nevada. The bank lost
track of money that should have been credited to
customers accounts, and it took days to rectify the
problem.


The answer is Given the centrality of software to
everyday life, organizations can be held liable for
such instances.

Also online services such as America Online, might
be held liable for postings by their users.
System Quality: Data Quality and System Errors:

What is an acceptable, technologically feasible level
of system quality?

For which type of consequences the individuals and
organizations be held responsible?

What is the responsibility of a producer of
computer services should it withdraw the product
that can never be perfect, warn the user or forget
about the risk?
Three principal sources of poor system performance
are:
1. Software bugs and errors
2. Hardware or facility failures caused by natural or
other causes and
3. poor input data quality.

There is a technological barrier to perfect software,
and users must be aware of the potential for
catastrophic failure.
By far the most common source of business system
failure is data quality. Organizations report data
error rates ranging from 0.5 to 30%.
Quality of Life: Equity, Access and Boundaries:
The negative social costs of introducing IT and
systems are beginning to mount.
Many of these negative consequences are not
necessary the violations of individual rights or
property rights only.
They can be extremely harmful to individuals,
societies and political institutions.
Computers and IT can destroy our valuable culture
and society even while they bring us benefits.
If IT is a balance of good and bad consequences
who should be held responsible for the bad
consequences?



Rapidity of Change: Reduced Response Time to
competition:

IT has created much more efficient national and
international markets.
The now-more-efficient global market place has
introduced Time based competition.

We stand the risk of developing a Just-in time
society with just-in-time jobs and just-in-time
workplaces, families and vacations.
Maintaining Boundaries: Family, Work, and Leisure
The advent of IT along with the growth of
Knowledge-work occupations, means more and
more people will be working when traditionally
they would have been playing or communicating
with family and friends.

The work umbrella now extends far beyond the
eight hour day.

Threat of anti social behavior among middle school
and teenage children.
Computer Crime and Abuse:

Computer crime is the commission of illegal acts
through the use of a computer or against a
computer system.
Simply accessing a computer system without
authorization or with intent to do harm, even by
accident is now a crime in U.S.A
Computer abuse is the commission of acts involving
a computer that may not be illegal but that are
considered unethical.
A popular form of computer abuse is Spamming

What is a Spam?

What do they intent to market?

Spamming has grown because it only costs a few
cents to send thousands of messages to internet
users.
How Spams are costly for businesses?

Spams can be combated by using spam filtering
software to block a suspicious email.
What are the loopholes in Spam filtering
softwares?
Employment: Trickle-Down Technology and
Reengineering Job Loss

Redesigning business processes could cause millions
of middle level mangers and clerical workers to
loose their jobs.
Bright and educated workers will move to better
jobs in other growth areas but unskilled, less
educated and older workers will suffer a job loss.

Careful Planning and sensitivity to employee needs
can help companies redesign work to minimize job
losses.
Eg. Walmarts changes in job scheduling
Equity and Access: Increasing Racial and Social
Class Cleavages

Does everyone have an equal opportunity to
participate in the digital age?

Several studies have found that certain ethnic and
income groups in the U.S are less likely to have
computers or online access even though computer
ownership and internet access have soared in past
five years.
Higher income families in each ethnic group are
more likely to have computers and internet than
lower income families in the same group.
A similar digital divide exists in Asian schools
located in high poverty areas and schools using high
quality educational technology programs or
internet access availability for their students.

This digital divide should be narrowed by making IT
available to every one just as basic telephone
service is now.
Health Risks: RSI,CVS and Technostress :
What Are Repetitive Stress Injuries?
Repetitive stress injuries (RSIs) are injuries that
happen when too much stress is placed on a part of
the body, resulting in inflammation (pain and
swelling), muscle strain, or tissue damage. This
stress generally occurs from repeating the same
movements over and over again.
RSIs are common work-related injuries, often
affecting people who spend a lot of time using
computer keyboards.

The following complaints are typical in patients who
might receive a diagnosis of RSI:
Short bursts of excruciating pain in the arm, back,
shoulders, wrists, hands, or thumbs (typically
diffuse i.e. spread over many areas).
The pain is worse with activity.
Weakness, lack of endurance.
The most often prescribed treatments for repetitive
strain injuries are rest, exercise, and massage.
Since the computer workstation is frequently
blamed for RSIs, particularly of the hand and wrist,
ergonomic adjustments (Modifications of posture
and arm use) of the workstation are often
recommended.

Computer vision syndrome (CVS) is a temporary
condition resulting from focusing the eyes on a
computer display for protracted, uninterrupted
periods of time.
Some symptoms of CVS include headaches, blurred
vision, neck pain, redness in the eyes, fatigue, eye
strain, dry, irritated eyes, double vision, and
difficulty refocusing the eyes.
These symptoms can be further aggravated by
improper lighting conditions
Technostress:
Technostress is the negative psychological link
between people and the introduction of new
technologies.
Whereas ergonomics is the study of how humans
react and physically fit with machines in their
environment, technostress is, in many ways, the
resistance of change that accompanies newly
introduced machines to work, home, and leisure
situations.
The main symptom of technostress is anxiety.
Anxiety can appear as: irritability, headaches,
mental fatigue, depression, nightmares, panic,
resistance, and a feeling of helplessness.


Lacks the human touch. Human qualities are sometimes ignored

The ability to replace a human job. This gives rise to humans feeling
insecure and may have the fear of losing their job

Human capabilities can be replaced using a machine and therefore
can foster feelings of inferiority among workers and staff

Artificial Intelligence can malfunction and do the opposite of what
they are programmed to do

May corrupt the younger generation

There is no filtering of information

This type of technology can be misused to cause mass scale
destruction




Limited sensory input. Compared to a biological mind,
an artificial mind is only capable of taking in a small
amount of information.
The inability to heal. Biological systems can heal with
time and treatment. For minor conditions, most
biological systems can continue normally with only a
small drop in performance. Most computer systems, on
the other hand, often need to be shut down for
maintenance.
Information overload for some managers
High implementation costs
System may become slow, large, and hard to manage
Need good internal processes for data management