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Contents
1004MGT - Business Informatics
</div>1. A working knowledge of the role information plays in organisations
2. The basic application of systems concepts to business problems
3. A working knowledge of computer software packages
4. An understanding of the role information practitioners play in the business environment
5. A basic understanding of informatics concepts and how they apply to organisations.
6. A basic understanding of change in organisations due to the use of technology in business
Introduction
Welcome!
1004MGT Business Informatics is a general introduction to the field of Information Systems, Information Management and Knowledge Management. Each of these areas is a layer within current business practices. Information systems provide the basis for storing and retrieving information. Storing and retrieving information is central to all manner of activities, whether they be leisure or work related.
Consider your email inbox. How easy is it to re-find that important email you were sent last year? How do you organise important emails? Do you keep personal email separate from work or study email?
Your answers to these questions provides an early indication of the importance of information in your daily life.
This course is not simply about how businesses use information. The very foundation upon which it is built is how you use information! The more you consider the course material in terms of your own experience and translate that to what other people can and are doing, the greater will be your understanding of the key concepts of the course. There may also be a consequence of a higher grade.
Leadbeater (2000) states that
knowledge sharing and creation is at the heart of innovation in all fields... knowledge cannot be transferred; it can only be enacted, through a process of understanding, through which people interpret information and make judgements on the basis of it... Great tides of information wash over us every day. We do not need more information, we need more understanding. (p190)
This course is specifically designed to assist you to make sense of the changing pace of technological development, to navigate the 'great tides of information' and arrive at your destination with more understanding.
Reference:
Leadbetter, C., Living on thin air, London, Penguin, 2000.
Overview
So, what is this course about?
From the textbook: Informatics is a practical discipline and involves skills including:
•   information literacy
•   design
•   problem solving
•   discovery
•   communication
•   decision making
•   database querying
•   information management
This means there are a number of interrelated streams running through this course. There are the practical exercises based upon spreadsheets (whether you use MS Excel or some other spreadsheet matters very little). These practical exercises are designed to give you key skills in manipulating information and increase your level of information literacy. You could even think of a spreadsheet as a very simple information system based web page with heaps of information that you can decide how to present and what is important (think YouTube or Flickr – both have information systems running them). The skills you develop while working through the spreadsheet activities are a foundation upon which you can build information seeking and presentation patterns within this and all your other courses and your future careers.
The second stream running through the course is the concepts found within the text. These concepts provide for the development of greater insights into information and its presentation both on and off the World Wide Web particularly as it relates to the changing shape of business practices.
The third stream is the activities within the tutorials. These activities allow you to apply the concepts and skills you will be developing. They are important. They move you from a passive recipient of socially derived knowledge to an active knowledge worker. This is a key to being successful in the business world.
The final stream is the concrete examples that are provided in the lectures. These examples come from the experience of the lecturers presenting the information. In some ways, these examples are idiosyncratic, they come from many years of working with, manipulating, storing and retrieving information. There will be presentation file to help guide your reading. Assessment and exam preparation will ONLY be achieved by attending lectures and tutorials and by doing the readings.
In the study guide each week, there will be suggestions for your study - a summary of the important concepts and questions around which you need to develop an understanding. Consideration of these concepts and questions will provide you with the opportunity to engage with deeper thinking and with the potential for gaining a high distinction in the course. A HD will not be possible without consideration of these questions.
This study guide is complementary to your attendance at the lectures and tutorials, in addition to the set readings and summary questions and the practical activities from the text. The work in this study guide should be attempted after reading the chapters, and attending the lectures. Much of it is designed to be done in the tutorials and after, although some require preparation prior to the tutorials.
