Bus 220: Business Communication and Information Systems
M8A1: Final Examination
June 20, 2013

1. Explain virtual reality. Provide three examples.

Virtual reality (VR) is a system “that enables one or more users to move and react in a computer-simulated environment.” (Stair & Reynolds, 2012, p. 337) Virtual reality applies sights and sounds in an artificial environment where human actions determine to an extent, what occurs inside the environment. Today, virtual reality is used in communication, training, and treatment in a spectrum of areas including the medical field, entertainment, and education.
Medical VR systems “provide a new human-computer interaction paradigm in which users are no longer simply external observers of images on a computer screen but are active participants within a computer-generated 3D virtual world.” (G & B, 2002) Inside the world of virtual reality, medial applications such as three dimensional visualization of anatomy, telepresence surgery, complex medical database visualization, rehabilitation, surgical simulators and virtual surgical equipment as well as virtual operating rooms are emerging. Facilitated through computer interface, these medical applications of virtual reality are essential in the field of medicine. These applications allow individuals to learn human anatomy by “flying inside and around organs.” (Satava, 1995) The purpose of VR systems in the medical field is to ultimately develop a digital physician. Virtual reality will allow individuals to perform actively in a virtual operating room. These methods of learning “will come to play a routine part of hospitals.” (Volter & K, 1995)
“The entertainment industry is one of the most enthusiastic advocates of virtual reality.” (Virtual Reality, 2009) Although more commonly used in video games, it is also used in interactive exhibitions in museums, galleries, theme parks, discover centers, and in interactive performances in theaters. With virtual reality glasses, the viewers are given the ability to see 3D objects that they can interact with from different angles. The CAVE systems, #d display, augmented reality systems, and simulators (Virtual Reality, 2009) are all virtual reality systems that are used in entertainment.
Another example of virtual reality lies in the field of education. Virtual reality is used for educational purposes for learning and teaching. Virtual reality provides a fun approach for learning for students. In three dimensional environments, children can learn about the solar system, by actually being in the solar system, interacting with it.

2. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of prototyping.

Prototyping “is the process of building a model of a system.” (University of Missouri) In regards to information systems, protyping aids system designers in building an easily manipulated information system for users and takes place in the analysis phase of the systems development life cycle. Prototypes can be anything as long as they increase “the quality and amount of communication between the developer/ analyst and the end user.” (University of Missouri) There are many advantages and disadvantages associated with prototyping.
Prototypes can work as an advantage in an array of ways. Development costs and time is reduced with the use of prototypes. They can be produced and operational within weeks and any errors that may occur can be corrected in the final product. User involvement is essential with prototyping and with it; developers receive constructive feedback from those users. It expedites system operations due to known expectations and results in higher satisfaction with users. Users can see how a system works to meet their needs which allows for a more positive opinion on the implementation of the system. Protyping also allows possible future system enhancements to be exposed to developers. Despite prototyping advantages, it still has its disadvantages. Developers become distracted by focusing on the prototype causing insufficient analysis. Users can be somewhat disappointed with the final product because they expect the performance to be identical to the prototype. Developers do not intend the prototype to exemplify the performance of the final system to users. However, users can become attached to the prototype and it can cause confusion when the final system is completed. Developers can become attached to the prototypes as well. When developers become attached, they sometimes attempt to convert the prototype into the final system causing a huge spectrum of system issues. One of the main attributes of prototyping is saving time. However, when excessive time is spent developing an intricate prototype, this element is lost. Prototyping can also be very expensive to companies.

3. Discuss the various phases of the traditional System Development Life Cycle.
System development encompasses five phases including “investigation, analysis, design, implementation, and maintenance and review.” (Stair & Reynolds, 2012, p. 393) Because the associated activities are continual, the system is also referred to a systems development life cycle (SDLC). Throughout the traditional system development life cycle, certain phases are performed in order for the development of the system to be a success.
The first phase in the development of an information system is system investigation. Its purpose is to “identify potential problems and opportunities and consider them in light of the goals of the company.” (Stair & Reynolds, 2012, p. 371) The development of a new system can involve substantial time as well as efforts to implement therefor a formal procedure called a systems request form is needed to initiate the investigation. The form identifies issues and/ or opportunities, objectives, an over view, and the costs and benefits of the projected system. In the investigation phase, feasibility analysis is completed. This key step calculates legal, technical, schedule, operational, and economic feasibility. The “primary outcome of systems investigation is a systems investigation report” (Stair & Reynolds, 2012, p. 373) which is also referred to as a feasibility study. This report summarizes the investigation and recommends a course of action. Once the report is completed, it is reviewed by a steering committee that ultimately decides if it is appropriate to move forward with system development.
Once the development has been approved, it moves to phase two, system analysis. Here, data is collected to “seek additional information about problems or needs” (Stair & Reynolds, 2012, p. 373) in regards to the systems investigation report. In order to collect this data, interviews, questionnaires and direct observation are needed. Because the collected data is collected in raw form, the data is manipulated in order to aid development team members. This process is called data analysis. Once all data is analyzed, an analysis report is generated and provided for managers to gain a better understanding the existing systems strengths and weaknesses. Once the system investigation phase has been completed and data has been collected and analyzed, the question “How will the information system do what is necessary to solve a problem?” (Stair & Reynolds, 2012, p. 379) This question is answered in the systems design phase.
The most important phase among the five phases is implementation. Implementation is the most important phase due to the many crucial stages that are involved within it. In this phase, users are prepared for the use of the new systems, training and hiring are completed as needed, the system’s location is prepared, and data is prepared and converted for the system. The system is also tested in this phase which is “essential to make sure that the new or modified information system operates as intended.” (Stair & Reynolds, 2012, p. 389) Once the system is tested, it goes through a start-up; also called cutover. “Start-up can be critical to the success of the organization” (Stair & Reynolds, 2012, p. 389) as well. The critical and essential steps in the implementation make it the most important phase in system development.
Once the system is implemented, it must be maintained. This is completed in the fifth phase, systems operation and maintenance. This stage involves “checking, changing, and enhancing the system to make it more useful in achieving user and organizational goals.” (Stair & Reynolds, 2012, p. 391) It is in this phase that the system is measured and brings “the development team back to the beginning of the development life cycle, where the process begins again.” (Stair & Reynolds, 2012, p. 392)

4. Discuss activities performed during the Analysis phase of the System Development
Life Cycle.

System development encompasses five phases including “investigation, analysis, design, implementation, and maintenance and review.” (Stair & Reynolds, 2012, p. 393) Because the associated activities are continual, the system is also referred to a systems development life cycle (SDLC). There are many components that take place in the Analysis phase of this cycle. The purpose of the system analysis phase is to gather data, determine requirements, consider alternatives, and investigate feasibility. “The primary outcome is a prioritized list of system requirements.” (Stair & Reynolds, 2012, p. 373)Here, data is collected to “seek additional information about problems or needs” (Stair & Reynolds, 2012, p. 373) in regards to the systems investigation report. In order to collect this data, interviews, questionnaires and direct observation are needed. These interviews, questionnaires, and direct observations are tools and techniques to aid in the data collection process. Interviews can be structures, where the questions are written in advance or unstructured, where the questions are not written in advance. When using the direct observation tool/technique, analysis team members “directly observe the existing system in action.” (Stair & Reynolds, 2012, p. 374) The needs for questionnaires are necessary when the sources of data are wide spread. Questionnaires are much like interviews in the sense that they too can be structured or unstructured. Because the collected data is collected in raw form, the data is manipulated in order to aid development team members. This process is called data analysis. Data modeling and activity modeling are both used in this phase. A data flow diagram (DFD) is often used in activity modeling. It is a “model of objects, associations, and activities that describes how data can flow between and around various objects.” (Stair &Reynolds, 2012, p. 375)Once all data is analyzed, an analysis report is generated and provided for managers to gain a better understanding the existing systems strengths and weaknesses.

5. Explain the evolution of social networking. Provide two examples of social networking sites. As technology has grown over the past decade, it has given society the ability to remain connected to friends, family, and even strangers across the world; the end result making social networking the largest industry of the present time. However, it was not always this way. Social networking evolved over time into this massive industry.
In 1978, social networking began with the Bulletin Board System (BBS). This was a complex system that required a dial up connection that exchanged user information through phone lines. Although the process was slow because only one could be logged in at a time, it was still a program that allowed users to connect. In the same year, Usenet was launched. This program allowed users to function as BBS did but added a feature to allow users to post news. Today, programs such as Yahoo! Groups still use forums from Usenet. In 1994, the first actual social networking site called Geocities was launched. Users were given the ability to create their own websites. Users were able to interact with others who shared the same interest in 1995 when TheGlobe.com launched. Instant messaging became popular in 1997, only two years later, when AOL and SixDegrees.com were launched. With these networking sites, users were able to friend each other and create profiles of themselves.
In the new millennium, developers launched Friendster, “the pioneer of social networking.” (Walker) Within three months of its launch, over three million people were using the social network. Within ten days of Friendster’s launch, another social network launched called MySpace. MySpace instantly became popular among users, giving them the ability to design their own pages, share their interests, and make friends. Other social networks such as Classmates.com began to launch. However, it was not until 2004 that the “most popular social networking website in internet history” (Walker) launched, Facebook.
Facebook continues to spread among internet users both young and old. Users are provided with a wide range of features including sharing pictures, videos, and feelings. The site is consistently growing, providing more features for users to interact with others across the world.

6. Explain social engineering. Social engineering is the process of “using social skills to get computer users to provide information that allows a hacker to access an information system or its data.” (Stair & Reynolds, 2012, p. 412) It is simply the art of manipulation on an individual to extract confidential information. Social engineering allows criminals to use computers to commit crimes. It is a way for criminals to access your computer. Spyware and malicious software are often used to gain personal sensitive information such as passwords from the user/victim. Common examples of social engineering include emails from friends, distress emails, and emails informing you are a winner of something. When an email is hacked into, the hacker has access to the victim’s contacts. The hacker will then send emails that appear to be from you to your contacts. If that contact opens up that email they are exposed to a number of viruses. If the hacker does not embed viruses into the email, he/she attempts to extract information from them. Sometimes, the hacker will pretend to be the victim and instruct the contact to send money to help them. Another example of social engineering is phishing attempts. These are emails informing the user that they have won something and need to provide or verify their information. I myself have fell victim to this type of social engineering. Even researching the content from the email will not help in determining the email is dangerous. Quite often, the logos and information contained in the email are real, but are stolen in an attempt to convenience the user that the requested information is safe to respond to. Social engineering is dangerous and can lead to identity theft and the loss of money. It is important for users to beware of unknown downloads, filter spam, and secure devises with anti-virus software.

References
G, R., & B, W. (2002, September). Introduction to the Special Issue on Virtual Reality Enviroments in Behavorial Sciences. Retrieved from Pubmed.gov: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12381034
Mashable. (n.d.). Social Networking. Retrieved from Mashable: http://mashable.com/category/social-networking/
McLemore, G. (2013, April). The Evolutions of Social Media. Retrieved from CNHSMEDIA.COM: http://cnhsmedia.com/2013/04/26/the-evolution-of-social-media/
Satava, R. (1995, June 19). Medical Applications of Virtual Reality. Retrieved from Pubmed.gov: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7643023
Stair, R., & Reynolds, G. (2012). Fundamentals of Information Systems. Boston: Course Technology/Cengage Learning.
University of Missouri. (n.d.). What is Prototyping? Retrieved from Information Systems: http://www.umsl.edu/~sauterv/analysis/prototyping/proto.html
Virtual Reality. (2009). Virtual Reality in Education. Retrieved from Virtual Reality: http://www.vrs.org.uk/virtual-reality-education/index.html
Virtual Reality. (2009). Virtual Reality in Entertainment. Retrieved from Virtual Reality: http://www.vrs.org.uk/virtual-reality-applications/entertainment.html
Volter, S., & K, K. (1995, Septemeber). Virtual Reality in Medicine. Retrieved from Pubmed.gov: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8588036
Walker, M. (n.d.). The History of Social Networking. Retrieved from http://www.webmasterview.com/2011/08/social-networking-history/
Webroot. (n.d.). What is Social Engineering. Retrieved from Webroot: http://www.webroot.com/En_US/consumer/tips/secure-what-is-social-engineering