Information Systems for You: Student's Book

Part 1 What is an information system?; data; information; the three stages of doing tasks; manual information systems; computerized information systems; examples of computerized information systems. Part 2 The components of an information system: hardware and software; why use computers?; are there any drawbacks in using computers?; processing data; types of computer; peripheral devices; microprocessors. Part 3 The "ins" and "outs" of systems - input and output: the "ins" and "outs" of a video library; input devices; output devices. Part 4 Storing data: the storage of data; memory (main store); magnetic media; optical disks. Part 5 Software: what is software?; operating systems (systems software); multitasking; multiuser; user interfaces; applications software; programming languages; translation programmes. Part 6 Collecting your data: the problems with college enrolments; coding data; putting the details into the computer; flood warning - an example of automatic data capture; automatic data capture using signals; turnaround documents. Part 7 Checking data: reasons for error; consequences of errors; how are errors avoided?; types of error; how to avoid errors. Part 8 How data is stored - databases: the parts of a database; a card box filing system; record design; manual filing systems; computerized databases. Part 9 Types of computer operation: life in the fast lane; real-time processing; doing all the processing in one go - batch processing; multitasking and multiprogramming; transaction processing; multi-access and timesharing. Part 10 Data transfer: file conversion; ASCII files; transferring files between wordprocessors; data/file compression; digital and analogue computers. Part 11 Ways of presenting your data: hard copy; presentation graphics; multimedia; CD-ROM; sound; MIDI; virtual reality. Part 12 How to describe an information system: describing systems; structure diagrams; data flow diagrams; systems flowcharts. Part 13 Systems analysis - sounds hard, what is it?: Harlequin Aquatics; fact finding; feasibility study; analysis phase; system design; testing the system; implementing (or introducing) the new system; documentation; system evaluation. Part 14 Weather forecasting - an application of data logging: weather reporting - the old way; problem; the solution; weather reporting; the sensors; analogue-to-digital conversion; advantages of data logging; transferring weather data to another package; weather satellites. Part 15 Transferring data around - a company with a communication problem: problems with the existing system; the solution to Binscope's problem; networks; local area (part contents)