Information Systems and the Internet: A Problem Solving Approach

Hugh Preston (Department of Information and Library Studies, University of Wales Aberystwyth)

Library Management

ISSN: 0143-5124

Article publication date: 1 June 1999

176

Keywords

Citation

Preston, H. (1999), "Information Systems and the Internet: A Problem Solving Approach", Library Management, Vol. 20 No. 4, pp. 87-88. https://doi.org/10.1108/lm.1999.20.4.87.4

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 1999, MCB UP Limited


This book, by the husband and wife team of Jane and Kenneth Laudon, is in its fourth edition, but is appearing with its current title for the first time. The Internet component is new and the authors have embraced the implications with zeal. They are notable authors in the field of information systems and their other works count among some of the best in this currently abundant publishing domain. Their efforts to distinguish this work from the enormous range of other introductory texts on information systems are very much apparent. Any reader who believes that the book can be read as a linear text is very much in for a surprise.

The book is aimed at non‐technical university students with little or no background in information systems. Its structure aims to help such readers gain a clear understanding of issues as well as technicalities through the “problem solving approach” of its title. The preface is a lengthy component since it aims to describe the approach through the various tools that the book uses to support the learning of its content. This includes a section on, “How this book works”, that must be read before the book can be fully used. Many of the tools are those that are familiar to readers of introductory texts published in the USA. Case studies, review questions, margin summaries and learning objectives are typical of these. However, these are only the more traditional tools used. Chapters are introduced with vignettes (mini case studies). Focus boxes on the themes of technology, organisations, people and problem solving are used to return the reader from the main text to the overall topics. Problem‐solving exercises conclude chapters and require group activity, highlighting the fact that the target audience for the book is students. Illustrated cases complement the individual case studies and a running case study follows the fortunes of one company′s real‐life experience with information systems. The text also encourages the reader to build up a digital student portfolio of the skills they acquire as they progress. Chapter summaries and lists of key terms add to the bewildering array of tools. For the instructor (university tutor), additional videos, software, manuals and a test bank of questions are included.

In addition to all these teaching tools incorporated within the hard copy of the book, there is a series of additional learner‐stoppers that require the reader to turn to the World Wide Web in order to proceed. The publishers have a Web site incorporating links to hundreds of other international sites that provide case studies and additional illustrated or tabulated information. A CD‐ROM accompanying the text offers a guided approach to these sites as well as lessons in using Web browsers.

The list of tools is daunting and raises a question in relation to the publication′s format. Should it be in hard copy form at all? It would be possible to buy the book with the impression that one was going to get the sort of comprehensive introduction to information systems that the authors are noted for. However, the learning tools occupy a substantial proportion of the text and offer a skewed perspective. Despite the introductory premise that, “information systems are more than computers, they are information technologies, organisations and people”, the technology predominates.

The text itself, when extracted from the tools, offers a good basic introduction to the subject but with the technology bias mentioned above. In some ways it can seem a little too basic with some statements seeming obvious, regardless of the reader′s background. However, the review questions encourage the reader to look at a variety of interpretations of the statements and therefore enhance their significance. Overall, I would tentatively welcome the book as a first year university text.

However, the reader must be prepared to commit the large majority of their study to this text and its accompanying technology. The use of the questions, case studies and variety of other tools, as well as accessing Web sites, makes it a substantial task to work through the book. The publishers of this text and other publishers in the field produce a large number of works that address the subject in a more traditional way and it would definitely be worth investigating these before buying.

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