Principles of Information Systems and Data Management - Assignment Example

Assignment First Last Murdoch Dr. TeacherFirst TeacherLast ICT107 Principles of Information Systems and Data Management 20 August 2010 Assignment 1 1. Informatics Projects of the World a) PubMed MEDLINE - Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System: MEDLINE is a large database of reference information in medicine covering life sciences and hosts references to over 18 million articles from global research journals (“MEDLINE Fact Sheet”, 2010). Users can access MEDLINE for free using the PubMed website and find existing articles and information in their own field of research. If the references lead to a free article, a link is provided to that, and if the article is not free, information on how to buy the article from the source is offered. The database holds articles from over 5,400 journals sourced from around the world and has information in over 39 languages (“MEDLINE Fact Sheet”, 2010). MEDLINE is an excellent example of medical informatics. For example, a researcher in Australia working on new developments in cancer treatment can benefit from research or data out of Germany, or for that matter any country. The vast amount of medical information is funneled through MEDLINE and presented through a common language, the language being the search interface of MEDLINE. Semiotics are standardized in the database in which the entire data is categorized and indexed in a common vocabulary called the Medical Subject Headings, or MeSH (“Whats the Difference Between MEDLINE and PubMed?”, 2010). b) Informatisation Development Plan of Cultural Heritage in China: This social informatics project was launched by the Chinese government in 2006 as part of their 11th Five-Year Plan. The plan entails the preservation of tangible and intangible Chinese cultural heritage and offering an Internet based public cultural information service in parallel (Guoliang, Xinhua, & Jianguo, 2007). This work is an extension of heritage preservation work carried out since the 1980’s which included digitisation of cultural heritage information, building a dynamic database to host it, and creation of information centres countrywide such as the Digital Palace Museum (Digital Palace Museum, 2010) in Beijing. The new project aims to consolidate information in the centres across the country, build an interconnected database, and offer a single logical view to the cultural heritage archives to any user anywhere through the Internet (Luo, 2006). The new project will also document all archaeological work and related data and will be used as a reference in site preservations (Luo, 2006). This is an excellent example of social informatics as it uses information technology to preserve cultural heritage, documents and traces the social and historical changes in the society. The program offers researchers to study one of the oldest civilisations in the world that survives till today. c) Similar Images Google labs: Google launched the test version of their research project to search for “similar images” in April 2008 (Emigh, 2009). As recently as late 2009, this project was given its own space in the Google suite of websites (Murphy-Chutorian & Rosenberg, 2009). Just like the usual Google search for text, Similar Images allows searching for images that are similar to a given image. Google is ubiquitous in terms of its usage and the number of links it maintains to information on the Internet. Rearranging information from this large collection produces results of interest not only to ordinary users but also to researchers, academics, artists, and designers among others to enhance their understanding of any research they are undertaking. The search begins by typing the search term for an image and Google returns images corresponding to that search term. Then, from out of the several images displayed, if one wants to search for more images that are similar, they are found by clicking on the “Simiar Images” link below the desired image (Murphy-Chutorian & Rosenberg, 2009). From the informatics perspective this is a very powerful and unique tool as it processes the wide database of image links in Google and rearranges the output based on the image searched. The tool can be applied across informatics domains such as in art, history, design, architecture, media, and others. The power of this tool to process and present information in new ways can be imagined from the fact that searching for ancient Egypt architecture, and in turn looking for images similar to pyramids, one is presented pyramids not only from Egypt but also from the ancient Aztec civilization. This offers a new perspective to information which is out there but, in an instant, is categorized differently. d) BioNET: BioNET is large global taxonomy database initiative to promote “the science of discovering, naming, describing and classifying organisms” (“Who we are”, 2010). The non-profit project is funded by several international aid agencies, national governments, regional organisations and the U.N. (“Funding”, 2010). Support for taxonomy classification, development, species data, and training is provided through local chapters in 12 regions of the world. BioNET maintains a database of all activity in these regions and allows sharing through membership to research and government organisations. An environment informatics project, BioNET plays the crucial role of documenting organisms and species, categorises information on them with naming, classification, and scientifically agreed granularity levels. By placing newly discovered organisms in the hierarchy of taxonomy, the project allows building and discovering relationships with other organisms. The recorded properties or behaviour help in several applications such as, for example, agriculture where a pest’s taxonomy data can assist in developing targeted pesticides rather than using a broad spectrum pesticide which destroys other organisms critical for the agricultural community. 2. Murdoch Teaching Timetable – Design Evaluation a) 13 design principles: 1. Is it new or surprising? The timetable contains both new and older information. Along with current information, timetable for past semester 1 may not be relevant any more. 2. Is it reliable? Yes, the information is reliable as it comes from the university’s own website and not any outside source. 3. Is it accurate? It is not accurate. For example, the timetable does not contain correct entries for ICT107. 4. Is it relevant? Yes, it is relevant as it contains useful information about the teaching timetable and no unnecessary information. 5. Is it timely? Yes, it is timely as it contains current semester information. However, some older information is also included which is not really required but is not a major concern. It would have been a concern if it was cluttered with old information. 6. Is it usable? No, the form is designed poorly. For example, the drop down list for step 1, and the radio buttons for step 2 are placed far right of the screen. This creates the confusion whether they are separate items by themselves or part of the two steps. It takes time to learn the form. 7. Is it complete? It is complete as far as semester 2 and trimester 3 are concerned. However, if someone wants to plan ahead and look for information on summer semester, it is absent. 8. Is it simple? Yes, it is simple as it contains few and necessary fields to enter. As mentioned in “usable” criterion, it takes slightly more time to understand because of poor placement of fields. 9. Is it economical? From the user perspective, it takes a few clicks to produce the desired result so it can be deemed as economical. Also, the information is concise and relevant and no resources seem to be employed in holding overly unnecessary data. However, from the overall design perspective, this answer is best addressed by the designer themselves as it is not known what resources are employed at the back end database. 10. Is it flexible? Yes, it is flexible. It has few and simple fields to select various options. Drop down list, radio buttons, and course code with text search are some of the flexibility features. 11. Is it verifiable? Yes, it can be independently checked from the university office and the course information. 12. Is it accesible? Yes, it is accessible as it is available on the Internet. 13. Is it secure? No, it is not secure as far as access is concerned as it is not protected behind any user name and password. However, it would be difficult to change the data as it lies on the university servers which are protected by security firewalls. b) Most important and least important features: The most and least important features are: Most important Least important Accuracy Security Timeliness Newness Useability Reliability Students depend on the timetable to make their plans and schedules for the week and the semester. It is important to have an updated, timely and accurate timetable for any student. It is equally important to have the timetable presented in a usable manner as the student should not need to spend unnecessary time in sifting through cluttered information. The student accesses the timetable from the university website which is already governed by common reliability features. Therefore, any special reliability feature need not be built into the timetable if accuracy has already been considered an important feature. Similarly, security is of less concern too being on the university website and behind appropriate site wide firewalls. It is good that the timetable is not accessed through a user name password access because the student may at times wish to use the timetable from outside the campus and without the need to login. Finally, newness is not required because timetable information is created for the entire year and the student needs to access the same information over and over again. c) Most important and least important features: I am not a new student at Murdoch having spent a year at the university. While evaluating the form, my prime consideration was accessing the information with the least amount of data entry and without any ambiguous or complicated options. I think this would also have been the consideration for any new students as well who may be overwhelmed with a number of new things to catch up with. Once the data was displayed, even though I was a little concerned with the less than attractive layout, it was not much of an issue. However, this may not be true for everyone, particularly new students, who would wish the results to be laid out in a very readable, and particularly printable form. English is my second language but this was not a barrier in understanding and using the form or to interpret the results. The language used in the form was very simple and to the point. I noticed the poor placement of form fields and did not like it but continued to use it without difficulty. This was perhaps because I am used to filling out forms online and others who may be new to this may find it more difficult. However, as a foreign student, I would not form a good image of the institution if such frequently used web pages were not well designed. I also believe all students would have the same opinion. As a visual thinker, I would have preferred better font selection, font size, and colour highlights specifying my course selections. I am not sure how other students would have liked it but believe that these features must be considered aesthetically and visually important regardless of the target audience. 3. Language and Culture in Informatics: Wikipedia a) Musical instruments: The articles on musical instruments provide an interesting insight into how language and culture are intertwined. These articles also confirm the assertion that the size of the article and the number of languages in which it is translated is directly proportional to the level of interest in the instrument and the region it originated from. Guitar, arguably the most popular instrument among the list, is described in most detail. Interestingly, the distinctions made in the naming references to guitar are few and are mostly qualifiers to the word “guitar”. In contrast, cittern has distinctions named entirely differently, for example the German “waldzither” showing that it didn’t share the universal cultural appeal as the guitar did. This demonstrates the wider cultural context in which guitar is recognised compared with the narrower localised contexts cittern assumed over time. Another aspect observable in these articles is the variation in languages in which they are translated into. While it is understandable that a regional instrument would garner interest in translation to languages of that region, there are surprise inclusions as well. For example, the Central Asian instrument, Komuz, is translated into the Finnish language, Suomi. This perhaps reflects the interest of speakers of that particular language to increase the knowledge and information access level in their own domain rather than usage of the instrument itself. The relationship of language with transformation in culture over time is reflected in the short article on cittern. Not very popular anymore, the instrument has perhaps its relevance with time and this resulted in a very short article. Other instruments though have maintained their relevance with spikes in popular culture acceptance. Ukulele has had revivals in different periods such as the 1990’s when popular international musicians championed the instrument through their use. This has resulted in relatively more detailed descriptions and translation into more languages. b) Classifying Wikipedia: Do you think that Wikipedia is best described as a truly universal encyclopaedia, an English one that has been translated, or a series of encyclopaedias each of interest to only a local cultural audience? Which do you think it should aim to be? Why? It would be difficult to place Wikipedia into a single specific category. It assumes the role of each category at the same time depending on the context in which it is used and who uses it. In fact, Wikipedia must not even aim to fall into a single category as well. There are reasons for this. The encyclopaedia is structured as an open ended collaborative effort and takes its natural shape according to the diversity of its contributors. This diversity represents the various cultures, languages, sub-cultures, and interests that exist. If Wikipedia were to take the shape, for example, a universal encyclopaedia, it would lose some of its diversity. It can be argued that a universal encyclopaedia translated into every language could be desired aim for Wikipedia. It may well be, but currently information technologies are not geared to provide automated translations between languages that would preserve the semantic and pragmatic contexts from one language and culture to another. For accurate translations, it is therefore necessary that human intervention is required where the translator must have contextual cultural knowledge of both languages. c) Can articles have global consensus: Theoretically it is possible to have global consensus on articles. Realistically, these would be few. For others, consensus would have to be qualified or defined as, for example, the maximum number of translations made, or the minimum number of variations in nomenclature. In the preceding example, the article on guitar could be said to be universally acceptable but there could always be specific cultures or regional nuances that might not be reflected. The more ubiquitous a symbol for an object and its usage is, the more universal its definition in the encyclopaedia be considered. The article on the planet earth or the sun would be universal, and more so perhaps than the article on guitar as they would be better recognised in most cultures. All of this could be discounted by pointing out that the article on sun may not be translated in a particular language. But as mentioned earlier, the universality is best described by its degree of acceptance rather than absoluteness. d) Could automatic translation of articles make them universal ? As mentioned earlier this cannot currently be achieved in view of technologies available. Currently information technologies are not geared to provide automated translations between languages that would preserve the semantic and pragmatic contexts from one language and culture to another. For accurate translations, it is therefore necessary that human intervention is required where the translator must have contextual cultural knowledge of both languages. References Digital Palace Museum (2010), Digital Palace Museum, Retrieved August 29, 2010, from http://www.dpm.org.cn/index1024768.html Emigh, J. (2009, October 28), Google Adds Bing-like Similar Images Feature. PC Magazine. Retrieved August 30, 2010, from http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/similar-images-graduates-from-google.html “Funding” (2010), BioNET, Retrieved September 1, 2010, from http://www.bionet-intl.org/opencms/opencms/whoWeAre/funding.jsp Gammack, J., Hobbs, V., & Pigott, D. (2007). The book of Informatics. Melbourne: Thomson. Guoliang, Z., Xinhua, Z., & Jianguo, D. (2007), “.cn China”. In F. Librero & P.B. Arinto (Eds.), Digital Review of Asia Pacific 2007–2008. Retrieved August 31, 2010, from http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-127120-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html Luo, J. (2006, December 4), Informatisation Status & Development Plan of China Cultural Heritage. Presentation at the MINERVA International Conference on Museums, libraries and archives online. Retrieved August 31, 2010, from http://www.minervaeurope.org/events/michael/materialiintconf06120405/presentations/luo.ppt “MEDLINE Fact Sheet” (2010, June 2), United States Library of Medicine, Retrieved August 30, 2010, from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/medline.html Murphy-Chutorian, E., & Rosenberg, C. (2009), Similar Images graduates from Google Labs. [Web log]. Official Google Blog. Retrieved August 30, 2010, from http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/similar-images-graduates-from-google.html “Whats the Difference Between MEDLINE and PubMed?” (2010, April 9), United States Library of Medicine, Retrieved August 30, 2010, from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/dif_med_pub.html “Who we are” (2010), BioNET, Retrieved September 1, 2010, from http://www.bionet-intl.org/opencms/opencms/index1.jsp Read More