IST 1100 Module 13

I have thoroughly enjoyed this class, it has been informative and enlightening. I never thought I would be a blogger, and honestly never even knew how to go about being one, it is nice to be stretched and accomplish something you wouldn’t normally do otherwise.

I enjoyed the reading “The World Is Flat” I learned a lot about the mechanics of business operations and why so much business is sent over seas. It was interesting to hear his outlook and the ever evolving and ever flattening world 10 years ago before smartphones became such a staple of life. So much of what he said was true, but I wonder how he would have reacted to be able to see 10 years into the future when everyone carries a mini computer around in their pocket with access to the world's collective knowledge at any given moment, that is truly a world flattener.

I definitely enjoyed reading about companies like Amazon and eBay and his take on them ten years ago. I enjoyed learning about their origins and how the technology that was available at that time contributed to their growth. It was fascinating to hear what he had to say about them then with what we know about them now and how much things have continued to evolve.

This class has really given me a new appreciation for the technological advances we have seen in this world and for how they simplify our lives. I guess you could argue that they don’t always make our lives more simple but they give us abilities to do things we

could never do otherwise. Thomas Friedman always stressed how the world was flattened out due to several technological things that have happened over the past few decades. I always felt it was more of a shrinking than a flattening but I guess that’s all in the way you look at things. I find it absolutely amazing that I can visit China and send a picture to all of my friends from a device I have on me all of the time. 200 years ago it took people 6 months to get from London to Salt Lake City. Now we can be there in hours and send media in seconds. It is an amazing time we live in, I feel like the technology has made the world so small and has connected in ways we never could have before.

I really don’t have any suggestions for improvements for the class. I thought it was great and very educational. I would maybe say that I thought the book felt a little dated. Although the information is relevant, the author regularly talked about events in the present tense that were very old. He talked about iPods as this new and amazing thing where iPods now are almost non existent, Apple doesn’t even do regular updates on them anymore. iPhones were never mentioned and neither was Android. The only smartphones he mentioned were Blackberries and Palm Pilots. Both of which are more or less relics. Other than the book being dated I thought the class was great, I enjoyed being a “blogger” for a semester. I enjoyed telling people I had to go post to my blog as opposed to do an assignment, it made me feel cool for some reason.

I enjoyed “A Logic Named Joe” it is pretty cool that it was written so long ago and so accurately depicted the future and our ability to talk to our phones and our computers and ask direct questions. I found the part where the husband ask hows to kill his wife especially interesting because I watch crime reality shows and so often questions like that are asked to the computer and later found by investigators.

All in all I have enjoyed the class and I will suggest it to other students!

IST 1100 Module 12

I wasn’t familiar with the acronym GNR. I have of course heard of its three components: genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics, but I was not aware of their specific ties. There have been large strides made in each of these areas over the past several decades. Artificial intelligence, automation, biotechnology, and genetic manipulation and understanding has all seen large strides made. This specific article was written 15 years ago so we have had a chance to see how things have developed since then. To summarize the author’s feelings about GNR and its potentially negative effect on the future, Joy discusses some of his colleagues opinions and predictions about the future, many of which he thought only existed in science fiction. Joy’s colleagues Ray and John had both been on a panel discussing robotics and certain human elements that they thought with time would begin to merge. The ideas they put forth were startling to Joy. They painted a picture of a future society ran by machines, machines that could think for themselves and do anything a human could do better and more efficiently. The machines would become so advanced that no human effort would be needed or wanted. 

 There were two schools of thought, one was where there were a few “Elites,” people who controlled the robots and they worked for them. In this scenario the non elites would either be treated almost like cattle, basically having little purpose, or they would be exterminated, seeing that their existence was superfluous. The second scenario put the computers in charge, they had become so intelligent that decisions necessary to keep the complex system running would be so difficult to solve that only the computers could do it.  This is the basis of many science fiction films, to see the rise of machines and the oppression of the human race at the hands of artificial intelligence, but is it realistic? 

 Another element of the talk that Joy had with his colleagues that made him uncomfortable was the idea of nanotechnology and robotics being used to make humans nearly immortal. Being able to replace worn out biological aspects of human beings with artificial ones. I presume that what you believe is really what would dictate one's feelings on the subject. Perhaps Joy felt that tampering with life in such a manner is unethical or not intended by a higher power. If one's beliefs are more along the lines of survival of the fittest and darwinism, using mechanics to extend one's life is only another form of evolution. We evolved to the intelligent state we are in, used that intelligence to invent ways to improve our lifespan, and integrated those things with our own physical bodies. Sounds like we just moved evolution along a little bit. 

 So now for my thoughts, what do I think about these predictions? And are they realistic or justified? My feeling is no, this dystopian scenario is not something I ever see being a reality. Computers can get faster and more capable every day, but that jump to one being self aware and making decisions on its own is one I am confidant will never happen. The question was posed: “What should we do?” I don’t feel it’s something that we even need to worry about. Life is unique and I believe by design, intelligence and awareness are, in my opinion, not created. Matter can be manipulated and formed but the core component that makes us human, intelligent humans, is something that cannot be artificial. I admit that I could be wrong, maybe one day we will see robots like c3po on star wars. An artificially intelligent robot that can respond like a human being to questions asked and even feel and think for itself. But until that day I will hold to what I think our future holds and that is faster better more powerful computers but not humanoids like the terminator.

IST 1100 Module 11

This was a fun assignment to do because The Matrix just happens to be one of my favorite movies! The premise behind the Matrix is pretty ridiculous but I love it anyway. The computer related part of The Matrix isn’t ridiculous but more why the Matrix was created. So the movie takes place sometime in the future where a war has broken out and humans have become enslaved to machines. The machines have rounded up all but a few humans and have put them in incubator type cocoons they have created. The Cocoons are stacked in large towers where their combined heat and electromechanical energy is used to power the machines and their cities, they are basically used like batteries. The machines created an artificial world that all of these bodies are connected into, it makes them feel like they are still living in the world before the war and that everything is ok. Thomas Anderson, also known as Neo is a computer hacker that is contacted by another hacker named Morpheus in The Matrix who wants to show Neo the real world. The only world that Neo knows is the fabricated computer The Matrix, the real world is the one where humans are enslaved and used as batteries. Morpheus shows Neo that because the Matrix isn’t real it can be manipulated. Neo is able to move faster, be stronger and bend and reshape matter within the computer world.

Ok so that is the basic plot of the Matrix, the dumb party is why the machines would ever create the Matrix in the first place, they could have just sedated the humans, plus humans aren't good batteries. But as far as all of the computer stuff and the Matrix itself it is really cool. So the Matrix is this big interactive virtual world. The characters in the movie like Neo and Morpheus can plug into the Matrix or unplug, so they can come and go as they please. There are programs built to hunt down people like this and kill them. If you die in the Matrix, you die in real life, your mind believes you are dead so it shuts down. The question I was asked to answer is if the way computers are used in the Matrix are realistic or ridiculous. Of course technology like this does not exist, but I wouldn’t call it ridiculous. Technology is always evolving and it could be that one day virtual reality will be so good that we could be sedated and plugged into a completely fabricated world. We would be able to feel and think and experience things in that world like it was real. I don’t know if we'll ever get to this point but it seems more viable now than it did ten years ago, that’s for sure. In the Matrix, the world was all connected into one big network, that concept is definitely true, it is just like the internet. We are so connected now it’s almost scary, luckily there are a lot of security protocols that keep us safe.

In the Matrix the characters were able to plug into the matrix and have information uploaded to them, this way they could learn how to fly a military helicopter in just seconds, or learn a martial arts style just by the information by uploaded to their brain. This is a very cool concept for the movie but definitely not something that is based in reality.

We were also asked to address any social or cultural issues raised by the film. That is a difficult question to answer. One thing I would say is that the movie is a bit violent, it features a lot of gunfights and killing of law enforcement. The only thing is that in the movie, the people were just computer programs, but it may have had a negative effect on some younger people that saw that as glamorizing violence and because it was in a virtual world, perhaps it desensitized younger people to it. I feel like this would be a very small group though. The other thing that maybe I might say is if technology does advance enough, lines between virtual worlds and reality may blur. There is already issues in the world with people being sucked into games and virtual environments to the point where it consumes their lives.

IST 1100 Module 10

To think this was written almost 70 years ago is crazy and a little spooky. The idea of a logic, or a computer. that can answer questions, connect individuals, and give advice is exactly the world we live in today. Things like Siri and Google now have made the story even more like our modern lives where we are able to just speak to our electronic devices like they are intelligent, self aware beings.

Certain aspects of the story seemed particularly prophetic. One of my favorite shows is Forensic Files, it is a crime investigation show where forensics are used to convict killers and solve mysteries. I have seen most of the episodes and many of them are about husbands or wives killing their spouses. Many of the investigators used forensics involved with computers and analyzing people's hard drives and internet searches. The detectives were able to pull things off of computers even after they had been erased and what they found would be used to convict the criminals or tie the crime to him or her. Very often what they would find would be internet searches about how to kill your spouse, exactly like what happened in Joe The Logic. When twisted individuals decide they want to do something like commit a murder they know they can turn to the internet for anonymous and detailed answers. Just like in the story people everyday use the world's collective knowledge that is the internet to try and hatch schemes with the intent of hurting or terrorizing others.

Another interesting correlation between the story and reality is the personal connection between people that Joe created. The ability to search for someone and potentially violate someone's privacy. Things are so similar today, if we hear something about someone what do we do? We immediately go to the internet. If it’s someone famous we just Google them and there seems to always be a wealth of information available. If it’s someone not famous we can typically still find stuff out on Facebook or twitter. With everyone being connected it is hard to keep things as private as people used to be able to.

Another correlation was the sexual advice that Joe was able to give out to kids. The internet is an amazing tool and very useful, but it is also full of material that isn’t for all ages and from some perspectives for any age. Young kids are often exposed to pornographic material at a young age because of how accessible it is. Adult material used to only be available in magazines or special movies, now you can access literally millions of pornographic or sexually explicit sites from your phone while sitting in the park. That is to say it’s always available, literally from anywhere. This idea in A Logic Named Joe was very prophetic. Children are curious by nature and when there is suddenly accessibility to what seems like an infinite amount of information it is very difficult to protect or stop children from accessing harmful material.

It’s interesting that the author of the story has Ducky ultimately shut Joe off to “save the civilization.” With all of his foresight when he wrote this it is very intriguing that that is the conclusion he came to. Most of us live and die by the internet and the devices we use to connect to it and our world probably couldn’t function without them. We would at least have to relearn how to function because of how big of a part they play in our lives. So that’s the question, is our amazing ability to access information and stay connected damaging? I think that is very debateable, with the good comes the bad. I see technology as a positive thing, but it has rotten portions. If we can avoid these the “Joe” world isn’t a bad one, but people will always use powerful tools like the internet to promote terrorism, sexual exploitation, violence, and debased human behavior.

IST 1100 Module 9

It is amazing to me how big international companies run and how they are able to orchestrate their constant supply demands and order fulfillments. Thomas Friendman’s experience of buying a Dell laptop and tracking where all of the parts came from is astounding. There are a few key elements to Dell’s order fulfillment symphony that allows it to work. It really is alike a big clock with many different gears and cogs all working together in harmony. First Dell has a workflow system in place that partners with Visa, and I’m sure many other major credit card companies. Once the order is finalized and payment is received, it is released to Dell’s production system. One of six major Dell factories that are located all over the world receives the order. An amazing fact I never would have know is that each of Dell’s factories is surrounded by what are called supplier logistics centers. These centers are owned by the various suppliers of Dell parts. If you are a supplier for Dell, your job is to keep these Logistic centers full so that when the factories need your part you can truck it over within minutes. That is so amazing to me, what an awesome and impressive system! Dell sells on average 140,000 to 150,000 computers a day, as of 2004, I wonder what that number is today. Part of this process as a side note is the constant evolution of the parts as to stay up to date. That is a huge process in itself, Dell has designers that are constantly working on new models for their computer lines, each new model will use new state of the art components. Each component in each computer can come from various suppliers, that way if something goes wrong with a part Dell can still fill the order. There are multiple companies they use for each part in their PC’s. All in all the process involves many different hands and an order could come from many locations all over the world.

We live in a great world with amazing opportunities and technologies that we can utilize. we also however live in a scary world full of extremists and radical diluted idealists. Thomas Friedman talks about Al-Qaeda and their use of the flattened world. He says that instead of using the tools to create products and profits, they create mayhem and murder. He says,”The flat world-unfortunately-is a friend of both infosys and Al-Qaeda.” Terrorist groups do have supply chains, they are used for destruction not profit. instead of investors they use donors and recruits and ultimately victims. These groups use all of the tools offered by the flat world, they use uploading to recruit followers and raise money. They use digitally distributed propaganda through social media and the internet to stimulate and raise interest in their cause. They use outsourcing to train recruits, and supply chaining to distribute the tools and the martyrs needed to accomplish terroristic missions. The flat world is as much a friend to them as it is to the honest and civil. Like so many things, it is a two edged sword.

It’s very interesting to think of oil as a curse, I mean we use it every day to fuel our cars so we can drive to work, visit friends, go shopping, and take vacations. We use it in planes so we can travel all over the world! Companies use it so they can have something we ordered from them arrive at our door in only a few days. It powers machinery that creates the items that we use on a regular basis. Our world runs on oil. The truth is though that for every person out there using oil and its’ byproducts are leaving a footprint, a footprint that negatively affects our planet. How is this tied to the flattening of the world? Well, a big aspect of the flattened world is the widespread access of information from virtually anywhere on the planet, the ability for countries to progress quicker and “catch up” to more advanced countries like America. As countries advance and more and more individuals are able to start participating in a global economy, it creates greater wealth, and with wealth the individual’s want what American’s have, refrigerators, cars, microwaves, toasters etc. So more and more people begin using more and more oil and a bigger carbon footprint is left on the world. Oil is a curse because we need it, but at the same time it is hurting our planet.

IST 1100 Module 8

I decided to go back to school at the end of 2011 after an extensive period of indecisiveness and confusion about my future. I had gone to a few semesters of school several years before this time and had taken all of my classes on campus. When I decided to go back things had changed quite a bit and more and more classes were offered online. I purchased a very nice computer with the intention of using it for school. Over the past several years I have gotten more use out of it than I ever thought I would, it is definitely one of the best purchases I ever made.

Since then I have extensively implanted myself in the Google way of life. They offer just about everything I would ever need, in regards to school and personal productivity and entertainment, as a cloud service. I write every paper for school on Google Docs, I have google spreadsheets I use for various things, and it is all accessible from any computer I pull up my account Google on. It really is quite amazing.

Taking courses online is really a dream come true for me. I love the ability I have to be able to sit in the comfort of my own house and watch a lecture online. If I need to get up for something I can pause it, or if I miss something I can rewind it. I can read and re read everything that is given to me by a professor and I feel like I am in more control. Plus I don’t have to make the long and expensive commute to school several times a week and park half a mile away from the building where my class is.

So in a nutshell, my entire education, at least since I have taken it very seriously, has been on my personal computer, and as an extension my iPad and my phone. Without a powerful computer and high speed internet, my educational life would be much different than it currently is.

Another very important role that computers have played in my education is the ability to access the world's resources by means of the internet. I think even as a kid how we would have a giant stack of encyclopedias and look up a specific topic to write a report. They would become outdated so quickly, and they weren’t cheap. Now with online dictionaries and the constant flow of updated information, the world is so different. Everyone is so connected, everyone can be as smart as they want to be, or learn as much as they want to learn. I can look up any topic on anything and read about it for days, I have the worlds information literally at my fingertips. It almost seems like magic, if we explained this concept to someone from several hundred years ago they would probably think that witchcraft was involved.

We have been reading The World Is Flat, I can’t help but think that it’s more like the world is tiny. I could take a trip to China and post everything I do on Facebook, it’s like all of my friends and family are there with me. Two hundred years ago a trip from Utah to China could have taken half a year.

I am very grateful to live in such a technological age and have the tools I have to further my education and improve my life. I don’t know how I ever got by without my computer, Google, and the internet

IST 1100 Module 7

Part of the Flattening process in the world economy was for individual countries to find their comparative advantage and exploit it.  Perhaps some countries didn't actively look for it, maybe they just fell into it.  Either way there are several factors that can give one country an edge in certain areas of international commerce over another.  Without this comparative advantage, or competitive edge, there wouldn't be a need for international trade, outsourcing, or offshoring.  The whole reason for these things is because one country can offer something that no other, or few other countries can.  So the question is "Why are some countries or regions better at doing some things than other countries or regions?"  A big reason for this that Friedman mentions is a countries, or cultures, openness and willingness to change and evolve.  This gives them an advantage and can make them better than the competition.  He uses the example of generations adapting to getting higher levels of education.  There are geographical advantages, certain crops can only be grown in some places of the world, so that gives them an unprecedented advantage in that area.  Culture can make a difference, what are individuals expectations for monetary compensation?  If a country will do the same work for less money, that gives them an advantage.  Government regulations and taxes can hurt or help countries in their thrive to compete.  If the country doesn't accommodate small business growth and innovation, it doesn't matter how smart the residents of that specific country are, talent and brain power will be wasted because of foolish politics. Some advantages will come naturally, others must be worked for, this is the nature of comparative advantage.

The idea of the self-directed consumer is really wear commerce is going, at least e-commerce and large portions of every day sales interactions.  A self-directed consumer is in essence an employee of the company, at least a temporary employee that does some of the work for the company.  With electronic payments and internet browsing a company can just list all available products on a website, kind of like a big buffet of goods set before us.  Instead of needing a waiter to come and be the middle man we choose what wee want, how we want it and pay for it, all without ever having to interact with a single soul.  Things were very different before the flattened world came around.  things are much more efficient and slick, on both the part of the seller and the buyer.

The last question was if globalization meant Americanization?  That is an interesting question, I think the simple answer is no.  I mentioned comparative advantage, if countries became American clones, there wouldn't be the diversification needed to create a healthy international economy.  However, America is the greatest Country on earth with the most opportunity, so as countries develop and enter the flattened world they are becoming more like America in many ways.  So I don't think this is a cut and dry question, it can be looked at in a few ways.  I think the more "Americanized" the world becomes, the better off all of earth's inhabitants will be.  I still feel that unique cultures and strengths is what makes a powerful world trade system.  

IST 1100 Module 6

I had never thought of free trade as potentially being something negative before. I figured, free means freedom, and the ability to do things openly without restrictions always allows for greater innovation and accelerated advancements in many markets. Free trade is the unrestricted sale and purchase of goods and services between countries without restraints or restrictions brought about by tariffs, duties and quotas. Reading The World Is Flat has definitely given me a new outlook on free trade and some of its’ pros and cons. The cons boil down to issues like outsourcing with other countries doing American jobs for a cheaper price. So much labor is outsourced to China and India now that it has become a major topic of discussion. Friedman makes some good points though. He says that although there is some negative impact with outsourcing and free trade, overall the impact is very positive. Free trade transforms the world into a global market and a global economy. we increase the knowledge pool and it allows countries to focus on what they can offer and what they do best, competitive advantage, and perfect it.

I feel that free trade is a wonderful thing and that in the big picture everyone benefits. individual countries grow and become wealthier, as well as their citizens. Friedman makes a good point though, for free trade to really work, countries need to step up education levels so that individuals will become more competitive in the flat world. The more open our global trade is, and the more markets that open up, the more demand for goods will increase which will spurn the creation of more jobs and everyone will benefit. The good definitely outweighs the bad.

Friedman talked about “The New Middle” in The World Is Flat. This is an interesting concept that basically illustrates the change in mediocrity, and to survive you have to be more educated and more unique than in previous generations. He uses the example of he and his daughter. He was told as a child to finish his dinner because there were starving kids in China and India. He thought to himself years later while watching his daughter do her homework, “Finish your homework, there are kids in China and India starving for your jobs.” In a flat world we have a lot more competition, a lot more to make us need to step up and be different, be something more than we used to have to be to get by. Friedman lists several skills and personality traits needed to make a “New Middle.”

Great Collaborators and Orchestrators - people who can create interaction with other companies and learn to branch out and work with others. The flat world is all about collaboration and utilizing the technologies that flattened the world.

Great Synthesizers - Individuals who will think outside the box and bring disparate things together in new and inventive ways.

Great Explainers - people who can take the newly synthesized information that may be complex and innovative and be able to simplify it and help others understand it.

This is a few Friedman listed, a few additional characteristics would be people that can innovate while being environmentally conscience. People who are adaptable, also people that are problem solvers. The bottom line is that the new middle is going to require skills and adaptive abilities unlike any other generation

Friedman says that in a flattened world, intelligence, or IQ is still important but he feels that a kid with passion and curiosity will out do a kid without these traits that has a higher IQ. Curious and passionate people are self starters and are motivated and that’s what drives innovation in the world today. I believe that a less intelligent person with drive and ambition will go farther than a lazy intelligent person. Intelligence without drive is all but wasted.

IST 1100 Module 5

A fundamental element of technical advancement and evolution in the world is that it takes time. Just because Edison developed a working light bulb, it didn't mean that the world was lit up over night. The progression of technology in the world is a process and it involves countless people and countless ideas. The triple convergence Thomas L. Friedman talks about in The World Is Flat is a good example of this long process with many elements that ultimately culminates in a complete shift of how the world functions.

The triple convergence is made up of three individual convergences, each building upon the previous to create a shift in the technological world. The first convergence was when all of the ten flatteners Freidman talked about in his book came to be. Each flattener was one step closer to a flattened world and once all were established, businesses and individuals could do things no previous generation in the history of the world could have imagined doing.

The second convergence was the process of businesses around the world adapting to the new available technology as outlined in the flatteners. Companies started to shift the ways they did business, utilizing outsourcing and offshoring, taking advantage of workflow software, better networking, going digital, etc.. There were so many things companies began to do and the world started to change.

The third convergence began with the wall coming down and the decline of communistic ideology. An entire new group of people, billions of people, suddenly came onto the playing field from India, China, and The Soviet union. With so many more minds and so many more countries participating in this flattened world economy, the world again changed forever, it converged.

The triple convergence is so important because it has defined the way human beings interact and trade. We all share this planet and we all require certain things ie. food and shelter. What would our world be like if we still lived like cavemen and we didn’t try to improve the world around us? This is why the triple convergence is important, because it marks a huge push forward for mankind. We can communicate so quickly and efficiently, we can all have nice things if we want them. Apple mass produces its’ iphone and millions of people around the world are able to buy it and do so many things with them. Would we still survive without them? Of course, but do they, and other products like them, help us enjoy life a little more? Or a little differently? The triple convergence has improved so many millions of people’s quality of life.

The India-Indiana story is a very interesting one. At first I was thinking how awful it was that the project was outsourced and that jobs were being taken from American workers. And how ironic it was that they were updating the unemployment system. But then Fred points out that from the other side of the argument, the state was saving millions of dollars that could be used to build schools and create jobs, and it would benefit Indiana tech workers. It really is not as cut and dry as it first seemed. So who was exploited? And who was the exploiter? The Indiana government exploited the money saving option of outsourcing the job to an Indian company. India exploited the fact that they knew no one would be able to outbid them. It really is just the nature of the system. It makes sense from certain viewpoints, but also at times seems unethical.

The last section I wanted to talk about is the importance of intellectual property. We live in a large world, and a smart world. there are always new ideas and new products and services hitting the world’s markets. The problem is that there are people out there that instead of coming up with their own ideas, they wait for the opportunity to copycat someone elses idea, their intellectual property. Without this official term and definition, individuals ideas are not safe. The people that copy ideas are very efficient at it and could really ruin anyones chances of coming up with something unique and introducing it to the world. Because a person can declare something their intellectual property it helps protect them and their ideas. If someone take that idea, it is like stealing, they have taken your property.

IST 1100 Module 4

I conducted my interview with my brother, Paul Anderson. He is a system administrator and a help desk supervisor for a trucking brokerage called England Logistics. The company facilitates shipping via semi trucks for various clients. My brother is one of the IT specialists for this company.

He has always been very good with computers and from a young age we figured he would probably do something computer related for his career. A few years ago he went to Salt Lake Community College and received several technical certifications that allowed him to look for jobs in a corporate IT position.

At England Logistics, Paul is in charge of everything technical related. There are a myriad of things that can go wrong in a big company and it’s important to have an experienced team always ready to help out. Paul has become one of the supervisors and oversees a group of technically proficient individuals.

One thing that I have had to deal with at the company I work for is getting email setup on my phone. It is a common thing with people who work for corporations to need to get a secure access to their work email on their phone. This is one thing Paul deals with regularly. With the explosion of smartphones in the past few years as well as there being several popular mobile platforms, Paul has to be acquainted with various operating systems for smartphones to be able to help people effectively.

Paul takes calls throughout the day from anyone and everyone needing help with their computers. Anything from poor performance to congested hard drives to network issues, all are under his responsibility. Large companies like CR England, who England logistics does IT for, have a large intranet and a host a company servers. These must be maintained and regularly cared for. Company networks are prone to issues, they can either be hardware or software related. Hardware related issues can be anything from issues with someone's personal computer to something with the server or network hub or switches. Some of the Network specifics are dealt with by the service provider but many of the issues must be handled by the IT support team.

The server Paul deals with is actually a virtual server. A virtual server is a server that is at another physical location but can be accessed by the technical departments of multiple locations and manipulated as if the the server was at their location. Paul has access to this virtual server and has to regularly access it to make sure that it is functioning correctly and that the right people have access to the right files.

Paul’s job requires a broad array of knowledge and expertise. He must know phones, servers, networks, Windows, Mac OS, how to build and repair computers, and the physical layout of corporate networks. It is a good thing there are technical people like him in the world that keep us connected and up and running. Large companies nowadays rely completely on their Workflow software and networks to interact and be productive. IT departments and essential to a company running efficiently.

IST 1100 Module 3

I had always heard the terms outsourcing and offshoring and assumed they were in essence the same thing. It was interesting and informative to learn how the two differ and ways in which companies use both.

Outsourcing is when a company takes a function of their business operation they are doing in house, whether it be marketing, advertising, call centers, research, it could be an number of things, and they have another company do it for them. The process that is outsourced is then reintegrated back into the overall process. This is why there are advertising companies in the world that just do advertising for other companies, they are good at it and it is more efficient for other companies to just let them do it. The same goes for the example of 24/7 in India and all of the customer service they do for American companies. It is cheaper for the work to be done in India by 24/7 than to be done on American soil by the company themselves.

Offshoring is a completely different type of business strategy. With outsourcing someone else is doing the work for you, offshoring is doing the work yourself but in another place. Taxes, labor laws, and minimum wage are just a few things that vary from country to country. Things in China are drastically different than they are in the US. A company might decide they want to take their production factory and move the entire process to China, they could hire Chinese workers for a fraction of the cost that they would pay American workers and get tax breaks they wouldn’t get here.

Another thing that was explained in The World Is Flat that I wasn’t clear on was what a supply chain is exactly. I used to just think of Wal-mart as a supply chain, as in they are a chain of stores and they supply things to the public. It is a lot more than that and it is actually quite complicated. A supply chain is the entire process that gets products from development and manufacturing into a consumers hands and all of the steps in between. With the digital age and high speed internet, supply chaining has become even more efficient and useful by big store chains like Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is a beast in the supply chain world, It utilizes it like no other. There is a sophisticated tracking process that alerts a manufacturer or a distributor as soon as an item is sold in a store and preparations are made to ship another so that that item will be available as often as possible without the need of overstocking. Think of how much overstock and wasted inventory there would be if an effective tracking system tapped into the supply chain wasn’t in place for a company like Wal-Mart. When all of the moving parts of manufacturing, distribution, and retail are weaved together it makes for a much more efficient sales process and supply chain.

Google has become one of the biggest names in the digital world. This book points out the effect that google has had on the world and more specifically in the business world and it was written several years ago. Now Google has their android operating system on over a 1.5 billion devices worldwide, each integrated with google search that has pushed google to be even bigger than they were. Google has put the world at our fingertips. So much information is now available and it is available so readily and quickly. If businesses can maintain an online presence and do what it takes to show up at the top of search results, it can make a huge difference in the type of business they can drive. Another thing Google does that affects businesses is their ability to track individuals buying and click habits while they are online and advertise to them accordingly. Now people are getting ads for things that Google knows they will be interested in, thus being able to focus their advertising efforts and thereby helping companies that do business with Google be even more efficient.

IST 1100 Module 2

The world has really come so far technologically in the last few decades, and even more so in the last few years. It’s amazing to think of how things used to be and how much things have changed, how much more productive we are able to be now and the things we are able to accomplish because of the worlds available technology.

One huge breakthrough that allowed companies as well as individuals to be many times more productive than they had been in the past was the development of workflow software. The book, The World Is Flat uses the example of the production studio that made animated films for Disney. It was pretty amazing to learn about the software they used and some of its capabilities. So I would typically think if there was a studio, and they were going to make an animated film, all the various parts would be done on location. Things like the animations themselves, the editing, the voice acting and other components of making the film. But the studio used some amazing computer software that allowed them to collaborate with several different key players in the production process from all over the world. Individuals that were involved could access the ongoing project from computers in various locations and do their jobs remotely. The voice actors were even able to submit lines from special computers called “footballs.” This is the essence of workflow software, it creates standards and protocols that allow different people, departments, and computers to all access the same project and contribute simultaneously.

Imagine only a few years ago before standards had been put in place and we were still living and working in the metaphorical stone age. A company would take an order over the phone and write it down by hand, perish the thought, and take that order physically over to the shipping department. The shipping department would ship the product and the walk over to billing so that a physical invoice could be created. I’m sure during this time, people had learned to be efficient, or at least as efficient as they could be considering the limitations they dealt with. But with windows and universal email, and later microsoft office and similar products, things could be done in a blink, and everyone was tapped in. They used workflow software, software that created standards for digital communication and collaboration. Software that allowed several departments of the same company to access the same data and use that data to complete their individual responsibilities. Workflow software revolutionized how work was done and greatly improved efficiency.

A good example of workflow software is something that musicians use. Music isn’t always recorded with every artist involved in a single studio. Different studios collaborate, and they often hire studio musicians to play on specific tracks that are in different cities or even countries than where the song or songs are being recorded. In addition to that, after tracks are recorded and compiled, they are sometimes sent to other individuals to do mastering and mixing. For so many artists to be involved, special workflow software must be in place to allow for so many people to work from so many locations to make one final product. Without the internet, and standards in software like windows and mac os with other recording software, collaborations like this would not be possible.

Open Source Software is an amazing thing, I have a personal love for the Android Operating System for phones and this is open source. I have followed the development of Android and how it has evolved over the past several years that it has been around. Open source software is software that is developed with the intention of community collaboration. The source code is initially developed by a company or a team of programmers and rather than it being kept proprietary, the code is released to the world to do with it as they want. The only stipulation is that any improvements made to the software is resubmitted to the community for all to use and learn from. If a popular improvement is made to the software it can be assimilated back into the source code, and in this way the software is improved and advanced. Open source can be a very good thing. There are many many people in this world that are brilliant and can do amazing things in the programming and software worlds. But not all of these people are employed by the same company and don’t all have the ability to offer input on a large software project in the conventional way. This is where open source is so amazing, it allows anybody from anywhere to provide feedback and ideas. Going back to the example of Android, I have watched it advance and develop over the past 5 years, and every year Google will release a new version with improvements, many that surfaced before they were integrated into the source code. Android has become my mobile operating system of choice, and I feel it is largely because of it’s open source nature and the techy community behind it that is always coming up with new ideas and tweaks to make it better.

Outsourcing is a huge part of business economics, and for good reason. There are a few reasons why it is important and done by so many companies. The first and main reason is that for a company to think they can do every aspect of their business process ie production, development, advertising, marketing, shipping, customer service, finances etc. is nothing short of arrogant. As long as economies have existed, and there has been trade and commerce in this world, there has always been some individual or some group that can do one particular thing very well, and that was their trade. In history, before the industrial revolution, there may be someone that was a great fisherman, and someone else that was a great hunter, and maybe someone else that was great with crafting or metallurgy, the list could go on. I mention this because although times are different, the concept is the same even today. A big company like Verizon Wireless still outsources much of its’ advertising to a company I am familiar with, Mccan Erickson, they are an advertising agency and they are very good at what they do. Outsourcing allows a company to let someone who is an expert handle a particular aspect of their business because they can do it better, and from a financial standpoint they will probably save money letting another company worry about it because that company has learned how to do it the most efficient way.

The other reason why a company would outsource would be to save money, the book talks a lot about the Indian call center 24/7. This call center is a prestigious place to work in India, and their employees are paid very well. However, it is still cheaper for big American companies to outsource their customer service to India then to pay American workers on American soil. This may sound like a bad thing, taking jobs away from Americans, but it is good business, and the Indian workers who do it enjoy it and make good livings doing it. Outsourcing will always be a part of big business.

IST 1100 Module 1

I have found Thomas L. Friedman’s: The World Is Flat to be a great read and very interesting.  His conception of technology making our world a flat one is very interesting.  One of the key points Friedman discussed is the different eras of Globalization and how they affected the world.

The first globalization, or Globalization 1.0 began with Christopher Columbus in 1492 and his historical journey west to test his theory that the earth was actually round and to find an alternate trade route to India.  He was able to prove his theory correct and in the process discovered a whole new continent and opened trade between the old world and the new world.  In essence, Globalization period 1.0 took the world from a size large to a size medium.  Countries began to look at where they fit into global competition and opportunities, and how they could use the resources they had to be part of a bigger world economy.  This all began to break down walls and knit the world together.  This era lasted until the year 1800 when Globalization 2.0 began.

The Globalization 2.0 era lasted roughly from the year 1800 to the year 2000, minus the time periods during the great depression and both world wars.  According to Friedman, this era shrank the world from a size medium to a size small.  The driving force of this second globalization era was multinational companies.  It started with the Dutch and English joint-stock companies as well as with the Industrial Revolution.  The first half was based around falling transportation costs credited to the invention of the steam engine and the railroad.  The second half was based around falling telecommunication costs thanks to the PC, telephone, satellites, fiber optic cables and the introduction of the internet.  A lot happened during era 2, and the beginning was drastically different from the end.  By the end there were far more efficient ways to travel, trade goods, and communicate, walls had come down, some literally, and there was indeed a world economy.  Every Country that was a part of this economy had to see where they fit in and how they could contribute.

Around the year 2000 we entered Globalization phase 3.0, this era has shrunk the world from a size small to a size tiny and has flattened out the playing field.  This latest era has seen the rise of personal computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones.  This era is based more around what individuals are able to accomplish and the amount of information any one individual can access at any time, it is a very empowering era.  Workflow software made it possible for companies to collaborate on the same digital content from anywhere in the world.  Something that wasn’t mentioned in the book because it is a few years old is the rise of cloud computing, I could go to an entirely different part of the world and pull up my Google account and have my email, music, pictures, school assignments, calendar, and many other things tied to it.  That concept has definitely made the world a “tiny” place.

So the major differences when comparing the three eras would be that the first era was about countries globalizing, the second era was about companies globalizing, and the third era was and is about individuals globalizing.  Of course each era had its own technological, mechanical, economical, and sociological advancements that made them unique but the big picture comparison is what organizations or entities were globalized.

When Friedman talked about the Berlin Wall coming down I found it very inciteful and interesting.  Of course the fall of the Berlin Wall was huge for Germany and for The Soviet Union, communism stifles growth and innovation, it just creates a lot of equally poor people as Friedman put it.  So when the wall came down, obviously those countries were very heavily impacted.  But Friedman points out that at that instant, when the wall fell, it meant something to the entire world. In Friedman’s words, “It tipped the balance of power across the world toward those advocating democratic, consensual, free-market-oriented governance, and away from those advocating authoritarian rule with centrally planned economies.”  It allowed bottom up economics, controlled by the interests, aspirations, and ideas of the people as opposed to top down economics, ruled and manipulated by corrupt governments.  Before the wall fell there were two types of systems in the world, after, there was only one left and everyone was forced to adapt.  During the Cold War the influence of the Soviet union and communism was felt all around the world, it wasn’t localized.  Many countries, even if their governments weren’t communist, still often had elements of it that buried the private sector in regulations that slowed economic growth.  To put it simply, when the wall fell, it created a ripple effect that was felt worldwide and a huge shift began, a new era began, back towards capitalism and democracy.

I feel that the story of Netscape is so important because its’ creators helped pioneer open protocols and open standards in the internet world which paved the way for what the internet is today.  The story also illustrates the evolution of technology and shows a company thinking of more than just making a profit, they were looking at the bigger picture.