This course is designed to help students understand the role of information systems in modern society and the means by which these systems are created. We will begin by focusing on the economics of information and how new technologies change business decisions at various levels. Later we will look at the internal behavior of organizations that use information systems and see how the use and existence of these systems influence choices within the organization. Finally, we will send time talking about the development of information systems, various models used to create these systems and principles of effective software engineering. Interspresed throughout the semester will be technology interludes where we will focus for a few lectures on some of the basic technologies fueling the internet age. By the end of this course, students will have a better understanding of the people, process, and technolgy issues connected with modern information systems. Students should note, however, that despite the existence of technology interludes, this course is not a programming class designed to make them fluent in one specific language or technology. In this class students will be given instruction on HTML, CSS, JavaScript and the basics of relational databases, but this instruction is to introduce students to these technologies and allow them to explore them further on their own and in small class assignments. The focus of this course is not technology instruction and completing this course alone is not going to give a student sufficient exposure to these topics to be able claim mastery.
