Lecture 13 Information and History

Objectives Revolution or Paradigms of Information Systems Development of Information Systems in historical context –Unit of analysis: the Internet

Revolution or Paradigms Computer Age ( ): –Information systems as a paper dragon to reduce costs of routine paperwork processing to speed up paperwork –Processing facts into data “How to compute?”

Revolution or Paradigms Information & Knowledge Age (1980s) : –Information systems for general supports and management information helped managers in control, planning, and decision makings Managers asked for specific types of information  ad hoc reports Emerging of DSS and Expert Systems to generate concept and knowledge based on rules and patterns “What to compute?”

How  What to Compute?  It is no longer a question of How to Compute  We need to know What to Compute: –What kinds of calculations/ measurements to make? –What kind of control is most beneficial to everyone? –What should be in reports to provide the most benefit?

Revolution or Paradigms Information Wave (1990s): –Information systems as a strategic resource using information to create competitive advantages optimization of agricultural, industrial, and other business operations

Revolution or Paradigms Role of Information systems in 2000s and beyond? –Information systems as a vital link for business alliances? –Information systems (i.e., Internet and Web) as a main path to customers?

History of the Internet

ARPA Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) was created in response to the Soviet Union’s launching Sputnik in 1957 –Mission of advancing technology that might be useful to the military

The Concern In case of nuclear wars, traditional circuit-switched telephone networks were considered too vulnerable –Loss of one line or switch would terminate all conversation using it and might partition the network

The Idea Network should be a packet-switched network, consisting of subnet and host computers –Each subnet would be connected at least two other subnets –If some lines were destroyed, messages could be automatically rerouted along alternative paths

Kick-off ARPA began working toward the Internet technology in mid 1970s Internet architecture and protocol took their current form around

Into Academic Most university computer science departments were running a version of the UNIX operating system available in Berkeley Software Distribution Implementing TCP/IP for use with UNIX and funding Berkeley to integrate TCP/IP with its software distribution ARPA was able to reach over 90% of the university computer science departments

Global Internet Began around 1980 when ARPA converted machines attached to its research networks to TCP/IP Department of Defense mandated that all computers connected to long-haul networks use TCP/IP

Growth Original ARPA’s network was separated into two networks –ARPANET – for research –MILNET – for military purposes only During 1980s, more LANs were added to ARPANET Domain Name System was developed

NSFNET National Science Foundation (NSF) took an active role in expanding the TCP/IP Internet to reach as many scientists as possible NSF designed a high-speed successor to the ARPANET and opened to all university research groups NSF built backbone network to connect six supercomputer centers in San Diego, Boulder, Champaign, Pittsburgh, Ithaca, and Princeton Provide access to many regional networks to connect to major research institutions in the given areas

Commercialization As growth continued, government could not continue financing networking Commercial organizations wanted to join but were forbidden

Competitive Infrastructure NSF awarded contracts to four network operators – PacBell, Ameritech, MFS, and Sprint – to establish Network Access Point The concept of a single default backbone was replaced by a commercially-driven competitive infrastructure

Explosion of the Internet –There are multiple backbones, –Thousands of mid-level (i.e., regional) networks, –Hundreds of thousands of LANs, –Millions of hosts, and hundreds of millions of users