C20 0001 Fall 2006 Information Technology in Business and Society Monday Wednesday Tisch LC 9 Professor Anindya Ghose aghose stern nyu edu 212 998 0807 http pages stern nyu edu aghose Teaching Assistant Manuel Arriaga marriaga stern nyu edu Recitations King Wong king wong stern nyu edu Overview This course introduces you to information technology in business and society Broadly here s what you ll learn from the course and why this learning is important First as a future knowledge worker you will use personal systems in your work every day You need to know how to publish information on the Internet model and analyze decisions using a spreadsheet and get information from relational databases Over this course your in class conceptual learning of these topics will be complemented by a set of computer based self learning tools Second in the digital firm you will be involved increasingly in decisions about information systems You will therefore need to recognize the large scale systems that run modern organizations understand what drives the success of a company s IT investments and learn how these investments facilitate effective business strategy and emerging business models Third you must know how to evaluate and analyze information based products and services in the increasing number of industries that are being transformed by information technology You will learn about the unique economics of information pricing technological lock in and network effects so that you can perform informed business analysis and formulate effective strategy in the digital economy We will also discuss a set of special topics which may include digital music information privacy data mining and digital piracy Assignments projects and case studies through the course will reinforce your learning of how to use information technology to solve business problems Course web site Blackboard is a web based application that houses online materials for enrolled students across NYU You can access our course by logging into http sternclasses nyu edu using your Stern netID password and choosing the course titled Computer Based Systems for Management Support We will be using Blackboard extensively for this course so make sure that you log in and get familiar with the course web site as soon as possible Communicating with us electronically As far as is possible rather than emailing us you should post your questions on the relevant Blackboard discussion forum This is far more efficient than individual back and forth email There are two discussion forums currently active 1 Administrative questions about the course 2 General questions and comments about what we cover in class Before posting a question make sure that you read through the course content on Blackboard the frequently asked questions and the questions other students have posted Often you will find the answer to your question here In the event that you feel the need to email us directly with a question make sure you use C20 as the subject line so that we recognize that it is from one of you and so that our spam filters do not accidentally delete your message Avoid sending email attachments Required textbooks and software A package titled Managment Information Systems is available in the main NYU bookstore ISBN 0073475777 It contains the following material 1 2 3 4 5 A complete copy of Management Information Systems for the Information Age 6th Edition by Stephen Haag Maeve Cummings and Amy Philips Chapters 2 5 and 7 from Information Rules by Carl Shapiro and Hal Varian The article How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy by Michael Porter The case The iPremier Company Denial of Service Attack A computer based learning software package SimNet XPert Tutorial for Office 2003 These readings will be supplemented by selected online content which you can access from the Documents and Slides section of Blackboard Some links to information on installing and using SimNet XPert are available by clicking on the External Links button on Blackboard Deliverables grading and class participation During this course you will be assigned no more than six individual assignments and three group projects You will have one midterm examinations and one final examination You are expected to participate in classroom and online discussions The breakdown of points out of a total of 500 for each of these Assignments projects and quizzes 200 points Class Participation 50 points Midterm examination 1 70 points Midterm examination 2 80 points Final examination 100 points Total 500 points Each assignment and project will provide you with a set of instructions and guidelines Expect to use Excel Access and the Web extensively Examinations are closed book notes computer PDA iPod the idea should be clear We will discuss their format in due course In general homework will be due each Monday by midnight Late submissions will be accepted and graded but you will only be given credit for 50 of your score And your carriage may turn into a pumpkin Group projects should be done in groups of 4 students After you have posted your personal Blackboard page your classmates will know you better and this will help facilitate the group formation process During the semester your TA s will facilitate this process further and we will give you a set of detailed guidelines about working in teams You will also be asked to evaluate the contribution of each of your team members after each group project The classroom discussion presents a unique opportunity for you to develop and enhance your confidence and skills in articulating a personal position sharing your knowledge and reacting to new ideas All of you have personal experience with information technology that can enhance our understanding of the subject and that we want to encourage you to share The grade we assign for your class participation is a careful subjective assessment of the value of your input to classroom learning We keep track of your contributions towards each class session and these contributions can include but are not restricted to raising questions that make your classmates think providing imaginative yet relevant analysis of a situation contributing background or a perspective on a classroom topic that enhances its discussion and simply answering questions raised in class Emphasis is placed on the quality of your contribution rather than merely on its frequency A lack of preparation or negative classroom comments or improper behavior such as talking to