Future of Information Systems
Marlei Pozzebon
École des Hautes Études Commerciales de Montréal and McGill University
I. INTRODUCTION
II. HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE: RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS
III. THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS REVOLUTION
IV. DIGITAL CONVERGENCE
GLOSSARY
artificial intelligence (AI) A science and a technology
that attempts to mimic human sentience or to em-
ulate certain aspects of human behavior, such as rea-
soning, inference, learning, and problem solving.
automated teller machine (ATM) A special-purpose
transaction terminal used to provide remote bank-
ing services.
client/server Platform or network that contains one or
more host computers (servers) that provide services
to the other interconnected computers (clients)
where the responsibilities between the server and
the clients are separate: often the client handles data
entry whereas the server maintains the database.
collaborative automatic virtual environment (CAVE)
Special 3-D, virtual reality room that can display
images of people located in other CAVEs all over
the world.
data mining Exploring huge repositories of data to
uncover patterns, trends, or anomalies.
distributed processing A form of decentralization of
information processing made possible by a network
of computers dispersed throughout an organization.
extranet A portion of an intranet that is made avail-
able to outsiders, often suppliers, consumers, or
subscribers.
fuzzy logic systems Computer-based systems that can
process incomplete or partly correct data and can
solve unstructured problems with incomplete
knowledge.
Encyclopedia of Information Systems, Volume 2
Copyright 2003, Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.
V. THE INTERNET AND HIGH-SPEED WEB-BASED
APPLICATIONS
VI. KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND KNOWLEDGE WORKERS
VII. CONCLUDING REMARKS
intelligent agent A special-purpose knowledge-based
system that serves as a software surrogate to ac-
complish specific tasks for end users.
internetworked Attribute of a computing environ-
ment where Internet, intranet, extranet, and other
computer networks are used to support business
processes, managerial decision making, and work-
group collaboration among organizational mem-
bers, customers, suppliers, and other partners.
intranet An internal company network that uses the
infrastructure of the Internet and the Web,
telecommunications protocols, and browsers.
knowledge worker People whose primary work activi-
ties include creating, using, and distributing infor-
mation. A typical worker in the information age
whose performance depends on how well he/she
utilizes information and knowledge to create value
for the organization.
large-scale integration (LSI) A method of construct-
ing electronic circuits in which thousands of cir-
cuits can be placed on a single semiconductor chip.
network computer (NC) A computer that has no hard
disk or house applications, but rather has just a
browser, memory, keyboard, and a modem to down-
load applications from the Internet.
networking The sharing of computing resources by
various computers linked together via a network.
object-oriented language (OO language) Program-
ming language that encapsulates data and opera-
tions within objects that are manipulated by pro-
grams, increasing the reusability of the code.
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