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Written Discussion Board Assignments (continued)

Summaries and Analyses

In order to keep discussions lively please post your drafts of your summaries and analyses to the discussion board no later than the start of Week 9

Background (aka "why we are tormenting you thusly" :-D): A great way to curry favor with managers is to make them look good. Managers often have little time to stay current on developments in technology, particularly longer articles or thought-provoking lectures. Knowledge, though, is power, and it's important for everyone - and particularly essential for those in decision-making positions - to know the latest discussions, discoveries, and dilemmas that are out there. A great skill to hone is the ability to distill a longer item to its essence by summarizing and analyzing its content and points for another. Pretend your manager needs to have a surprise power lunch with her or his manager and doesn't have time to get current on the latest developments in data in information technology, particularly business intelligence, data mining, and data analytics. You ride to the rescue, bearing two one-page (250 words) documents, summarizing both an academic/scholarly item (since you have access to a University library even as an alumni ;-) and a more popular (yet still edited and vetted) item you found on the Internet.

It's okay to reference classic items, as long as you can point out in your analysis why the item is still relevant or has historical value.

Note: if you are taking CIS 628 as part of your Cybersecurity program we'd like to encourage you to focus on the cybersecurity aspects of data when looking for items to summarize and analyze.

tl;dr TL;DR

Part of being an effective sharer is being able to quickly capture the attention of the target of your sharing, whether that's an individual manager, a small group of colleagues, or the public (such as on Twitter or LinkedIn). "TL;DR" stands for "Too long; didn't read", and while it started as a slam on wordy comments on the Internet, it now also means a short but informative summary - a spoiler, if you will, of your longer message. A comparable military version might be "Bottom Line Up Front". So, in addition to your summary and analysis, as detailed below, you will need to provide a TL;DR to your post that encapsulates the essence of what the item is trying to say (and, trust us, that's rarely the title of the item ;-). We'll start with a guideline of 140 characters (which is what Twitter allows), but if that is too limiting, you can use more characters - still, keep it short. Consider it a challenge to be that brief. You will still be providing the traditional summary and analysis; this is an add-on.

Academic Item

Choose one academic/scholarly article or presentation, related to the data aspects of information technology, particularly business intelligence, data mining, and data analytics, from any relevant academic journal, the Gartner site, or the Teradata site. The journals for the ethics classes would work (Ethics and Information Technology or Computers in Human Behavior.) The journals are available free of charge via the university online library. You can get assistance on how to use the online library by visiting the Student Services tab in the main Blackboard window. We strongly recommend you go through the BUILD IT modules if you are new to the Bellevue library: http://lib.bellevue.edu/buildit/index.html.

If you aren't sure what an academic/scholarly article looks like, try one of these (the presence of an abstract is usually a sign of a scholarly paper):

If you need some suggestions for Gartner articles, try these:

TED Talks given by an academic/scholarly person (e.g. Avi Rubin, "All your devices can be hacked", http://www.ted.com/talks/avi_rubin_all_your_devices_can_be_hacked - you can search the ted.com site for "professor" and get results)

. The Pew Research Center Internet, Science & Tech organization (http://www.pewinternet.org/) counts as academic for the purposes of this assignment.

Note: if you are having trouble gaining access to library resources there are pdf copies of various journal articles here - ACM and IEEE journal articles, as well as Gartner papers, count as academic for the purposes of this assignment: https://app.box.com/s/6y09j7i8lmzqewf36qj5

Compose and submit to the Weeks 8 and 9 Discussion Forum - "Summary and Analysis: Academic" thread a structured post (a structured post has an overall introduction, an overall conclusion, and a developed body that flows well - generally at least a few paragraphs - at least 250 words, not including the question text itself), using your own words. Please include, as well:

  1. An APA/MLA/Chicago/etc. reference for the item - basically, let your professor and your classmates know how to find it if we want to read/watch it.
  2. TL;DR
  3. Why you chose this item.
  4. A brief summary of the main points that the author made in the item.
  5. An analysis of the item. Points to address (all 7 of them): 1) Did the author have a clear purpose for the item? What makes you believe so? 2) Was this purpose accomplished? How? 3) Did the author present compelling evidence to support main points? 4) Does the item have gaps? What sort? 5) Did the author present the information in a way that readers would find appealing? In what way? 6) Is the world a better place for this item being written/given? How? 7) How does this item relate to the real world, either business-wise, or personally? If it doesn't, state why.

You don't have to write in a boring and stilted academic style in your summary and analysis - it's all right (and encouraged!) to write in an engaging style! It's recommended that you do make a clear distinction between the summary and analysis sections of the paper, if only to remember to address all 7 points of the analysis assignment.

Non-Academic Item

Choose one item, related to the data aspects of information technology, particularly business intelligence, data mining, and data analytics, from any worthy (see page 3 for the definition of worthy) edited/QAed online source, such as MIT Technology Review, Wired, Ars Technica, TechDirt, Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor Passcode, CNET, CIO, Information Week (that is not an exhaustive list), a TED Talk (http://www.ted.com/ - you can also find TED Talks on YouTube) by anyone (e.g. Eli Pariser's "Beware online 'filter bubbles', http://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles), or some of the films from the library's extensive film collections, Films on Demand, Alexander Street, and Kanopy. Look for their Computer Science & IT collections. An example is "Enteprise Automation: What You Need to Know", https://bellevue-kanopystreaming-com.ezproxy.bellevue.edu/video/enterprise-automation-what-you-need-know

Compose and submit to the Weeks 8 and 9 Discussion Forum - "Summary and Analysis: Non-Academic" thread a structured post (a structured post has an overall introduction, an overall conclusion, and a developed body that flows well - generally at least a few paragraphs - at least 250 words, not including the question text itself), using your own words. Please include, as well:

  1. An APA/MLA/Chicago, etc. reference for the item - basically, let your professor and your classmates know how to find it if we want to read/watch it.
  2. TL;DR
  3. Why you chose this item.
  4. A brief summary of the main points that the author made in the item.
  5. An analysis of the item. Points to address (all 7 of them): 1) Did the author have a clear purpose for the item? What makes you believe so? 2) Was this purpose accomplished? How? 3) Did the author present compelling evidence to support main points? 4) Does the item have gaps? What sort? 5) Did the author present the information in a way that readers would find appealing? In what way? 6) Is the world a better place for this item being written/given? How? 7) How does this item relate to the real world, either business-wise, or personally? If it doesn't, state why.

Again, you don't have to write in a boring and stilted academic style in your summary and analysis - it's all right (and encouraged!) to write in an engaging style! 

It's recommended that you do make a clear distinction between the summary and analysis sections of the paper, if only to remember to address all 7 points of the analysis assignment.


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