Chapter 13 : The news about the problem of Copyright and Fair Use.

Reference : http://www.umuc.edu/library/libhow/copyright.cfm

Chapter 12 : Knowledge management system.

Portal logical architecture

HOW TO STRUCTURE ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS NEEDED TO SUPPORT AN ONLINE COMMUNITY

An exciting compelling content experience is about enabling your producers to be able to quickly add, remove and re-gig content, design, navigation, and to be able to do with it with the complete confidence that they are not going to break the portal.

Common features are

• Bespoke hand crafted applications that provide features such as “Pay My Bill” or a view on some data that is specific to your portal.
• Feeds from other sites, systems or legacy equipment
• Identity systems, sometimes called SSO
• Forums allowing visitors to contribute to the site .. and become members

The knowledge management system could as simple as an SVN instance or file share. It could also be as complex as a sharepoint installation.

What brings the whole site together and unlocks your producers creative ability is the CMS. Back in the late 90′s every company had its own CMS. Alot of them are still with us, quite a few have been productised. Whatever happens, dont make your own till you tried the free ones on the market.

As we saw with the environments success is all about the flow of contents and features. This is why it is essential that your knowledge systems are abstracted from your publication systems.

The collection, storage and efficient retrieval of your companies knowledge is very different when compared to presenting a shop front or community portal to the public. Just because you have similar technical requirements it does not mean that  both needs should be for filled by the same system.

Reference : http://www.simondelliott.com/blog/welcome/community-architecture/portal-logical-architecture/

Chapter 11 : Information system 

                An information system (IS) - or application landscape - is any combination of information technology and people's activities that support operations, management, and decision making. In a very broad sense, the term information system is frequently used to refer to the interaction between people, processes, data, and technology. In this sense, the term is used to refer not only to the information and communication technology (ICT) an organization uses, but also to the way in which people interact with this technology in support of business processes.

Some make a clear distinction between information systems, computer systems, and business processes. Information systems typically include an ICT component but are not purely concerned with ICT, focusing in instead on the end use of information technology. Information systems are also different from business processes. Information systems help to control the performance of business processes.

Alter argues for an information system as a special type of work system. A work system is a system in which humans and/or machines perform work using resources to produce specific products and/or services for customers. An information system is a work system whose activities are devoted to processing (capturing, transmitting, storing, retrieving, manipulating and displaying) information.

As such, information systems inter-relate with data systems on the one hand and activity systems on the other. An information system is a form ofcommunication system in which data represent and are processed as a form of social memory. An information system can also be considered a semi-formal language which supports human decision making and action.

Example of Information

                              

                          

              

                 Starbucks Corporation  is an international coffee company and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with more than 17,000 stores in 55 countries, including over 12,500 in the United States, over 1,200 in Canada and over 700 in the United Kingdom, 54 in Russia. 

Starbucks sells drip brewed coffee, espresso-based hot drinks, other hot and cold drinks, coffee beans, salads, hot and cold sandwiches and panini, pastries, snacks, and items such as mugs and tumblers. Through the Starbucks Entertainment division and Hear Music brand, the company also markets books, music, and film. Many of the company's products are seasonal or specific to the locality of the store. Starbucks-brand ice cream and coffee are also offered at grocery stores.

From Starbucks' founding in later forms in Seattle as a local coffee bean roaster and retailer, the company has expanded rapidly. In the 1990s, Starbucks was opening a new store every workday, a pace that continued into the 2000s. The first store outside the United States or Canada opened in the mid-1990s, and overseas stores now constitute almost one third of Starbucks' stores. The company planned to open a net of 900 new stores outside of the United States in 2009, but has announced 900 store closures in the United States since 2008.

  

Reference : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starbucks

                    http://www.starbucks.com/