DA AS Applied I.C.T: February 2007

Data information and knowledge (My Homework)

Q1. Define the word data?
Ans1. Data may be defined as a collection of values.

Q2. Define the word information?
Ans2. Information is data that is meaningful.

Q3. Define the word knowledge?
Ans3. Knowledge is a broad understanding of the context in which a particular piece of information occurs.

Q4. What does data represent?
Ans4. Data represents events, objects, individuals, dates, times, amounts etc.

Internal and external information (Ben Kilgore)

1.Internal refers to produced or required information retrieved within the bounds of the company. i.e. is directly related to the resources, transactions etc.

2.External is produced or required information retrieved by individuals or organisations outside the compnays boundries.

3.Internal ---> Internal
External ---> Internal
Internal ---> External

4.information such as accounts, performance reports, development plans & historic anaylsis.
data relating to reports generated on general trends, customer/client perference etc.
Shareholders, government bodies and financial institutions require information to keep tabs on the company.

Aims of each Act (Phillip Rabbitt)

Aims of each Act:

Computer Misuse Act 1990:
Aim: An Act to make provision for securing computer material against unauthorised access or modification; and for connected purposes.
Penalty:A person guilty of an offence under this act shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale or to both.(£5000)Example:
(1)Any act which causes an unauthorised modification of the contents of any computer;
(2)To impair the operation of any computer;
(3) To impair the operation of any such program or the reliability of any such data.

Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

Aim:It gives the creators of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works the right to control the ways in which their material may be used.
The rights cover: Broadcast and public performance, copying, adapting, issuing, renting and lending copies to the public. In many cases, the creator will also have the right to be identified as the author and to object to distortions of his work.
Penalty:2 year imprisonment and a fine
Example:
(1)Using software under the terms of the liscence
(2)Illegal copy or distribution of product unless strictly for back-up purposes, under the terms of the liscence.
(3) Fair dealing with a literary, dramatic, musical … for the purposes of research for a non-commercial purpose does not infringe any copyright in the work provided it is accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement.

Cost of information ( Paul Cooper)

Information incurs costs in many different ways:

Data collection is data colected directly. Companies who want to respond to requests for information often have to ooffer prizes to guarantee adequate responses.

Data entry is data which is keyed in, this takes time and a person has to be payed to do it. there are automatic processes to enter data, however these still need people to operate the systems.

Data processing this is processing the inputted data. this requires hardware and software resources. large scale processing could take up large parts of the companies ICT resources.

Characteristics of information ( David Galbraith)

1. the answer is Internal, external, primary and secondary.

2. Quantative qualitive formal and informal come under nature information.

3. Strategic information is used by high level management. An example of this is report forecasting a rise in interest rates.

4.Time comes under three headings also, historical, current and future.

Data Information Act 1984-1998 (Emmet Ryan)

The 1998 data protection act extended that of 1984, including paper based data.The law was introduced to help answer those what-if questions...who will be able to access the information?,will it be vunerable to hackers?, may my information be sold on?
However they were exceptions to the law...if the information required was to safeguard the national security, if used for the prevention/detection of crime and if the data was used strictly for the collection of taxes.
Therefore the rights of individuals include to have any errors corrected, compensation for any distress caused as result of the act being broken, to see data held on themselves within 40 days days of payment and to prevent processing likely to cause damage or distress.The act generally provided individuals with certain rights and impossed penalties for the breaking of the law.

This is the Homework for Emmet Ryan.

John Clifts Homework

How information adds value to an organisational value?

Information tells organisation how well its doing in relation to its competitors. For example information on gaps in a particular market. It canm help an organisation take action ahead of its competitior.
Information adds value to an organisation by;