Family Watchdog Analysis GIS Lab: Attributes of Information Parent Perspective General Goal: Keep children away from risk Specific Usage: – Look up specific people, i.e., soccer coach, Religious Ed. Teacher, neighbors. – Look at surrounding areas for possible dangerous areas. – Is the bus stop safe? Is the walk to Walmart safe?

My Top Three (parent perspective) Complete – A parent would be very upset if the system was missing the sex offenders in their neighborhood. If the data is incomplete. The systme is useless Timely – Similar to complete, if the data only gets updated once a year, a sex offender could move next door and they system may report it for a long time. Accurate – What if an address is entered incorrectly? Sex offender could be next door but the inaccurate system reports them on a different street.

Different Perspective Police Office / Investigator Perspective General Goal: To find suspects and reduce incidents Specific Usage: – Look for known offenders near an area where there was an incident – Look for problem areas to patrol, i.e., sex offenders near playgrounds, schools, bus stops, etc.

Police Officer’s Top Three Complete – The map may have sex offenders but not playgrounds, bus stops, schools, etc., which means you can’t identify problem areas so easily Timely – Sex offenders may move often to avoid scrutiny. An officer needs to know about this movement ASAP. Reliable – You don’t want the system going down in the middle of an investigation. For parents, who might access the system occasionally, reliability is less of a concern, but for an officer it may be quite important

Bottom Choices Parent Perspective: The economy of the data is not a concern for parents since they have no stake in the profits of the system. – However, the organization that provides the system has to worry about cost, or they may not be able to provide the system in the future. The flexibility of the data is not a concern since parents are unlikely to need the data for other purposes. – Whereas, a police officer may want to combine the sex offender map with other crime maps.

Bottom Choices Police Office Perspective Simplicity might not be a factor, since a police officer may get the training to use a very complex GIS crime mapping systems. – Simplicity is more important for novice users A police officer may be able to better determine what information is relevant vs. irrelevant. They probably want complete information even though some of it may seem irrelevant.

Argument about Security Answer depending on how you define secure. Secure (top secret): – A tip on the whereabouts of a fugitive is more valuable if the cops can keep it a secret – If the media reports it, the criminal might flee before the cops arrive. Secure (authorized control): – The information could be publicly accessible, but only authorities can edit and control it

Argument about Security Secure (top secret): Least Important The more information shared, the more awareness there will be about dangerous sex offenders. This system should NOT be a secret. Secure (authorized control): Most Important If the sex offenders could edit the information, the system breaks down completely. – PARIS, France (CNN) -- A French judge has issued an arrest warrant for U.S. cyclist Floyd Landis for allegedly hacking into the computer system of the French anti-doping agency's laboratory

Excel Lab: Data  Information

Simplicity Formatting and labeling data is one way to transform data to information Labels add context and explanation Formatting add Simplicity, – i.e., easier to understand and interpret [Sidoti Example]

Convention Center Data  Information

Input  Processing  Output Input: Raw Data Output: Information (report, chart, graph, map) Processes: (always verbs) Processing examples from Excel Lab? – Lookups (automation) – Sorting – Averaging (simplification) – Subtotaling (simplification, more relevant)

CMC Lab Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Communication vs. Collaboration Other benefits – Work flow – Task Management – Calendaring – Document/Content Management

IS for Competitive Advantage The last major topic 5 Forces (Porter’s) 5 Strategies (role of Information Systems).