tag:open.umn.edu,2005:/opentextbooks/subjects/computer-science-information-systems?page=13Open Textbook Library - Computer Science Textbooks2018-09-07T17:21:41Zhttps://open.umn.edu/assets/common/favicon/favicon-1594c2156c95ca22b1a0d803d547e5892bb0e351f682be842d64927ecda092e7.icohttps://open.umn.edu/assets/library/otl_logo-f9161d5c999f5852b38260727d49b4e7d7142fc707ec9596a5256a778f957ffc.png672018-09-07T17:21:41Z2024-01-22T18:49:52ZEssentials of Geographic Information Systems<img alt="Read more about Essentials of Geographic Information Systems" title="Essentials of Geographic Information Systems cover image" class="cover " width="300" height="391" data-controller="common--cover" data-placeholder="/assets/common/placeholder-0e0607cbc50663ddb9e8fd188058bcd2630c730ef6ee322801278607b7d5af8e.png" src="/rails/active_storage/blobs/redirect/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6NTMsInB1ciI6ImJsb2JfaWQifX0=--36d3c5a0d7763888fab84825121485a6169c2678/9781453321966.png" />Essentials of Geographic Information Systems integrates key concepts behind the technology with practical concerns and real-world applications. Recognizing that many potential GIS users are nonspecialists or may only need a few maps, this book is designed to be accessible, pragmatic, and concise. Essentials of Geographic Information Systems also illustrates how GIS is used to ask questions, inform choices, and guide policy. From the melting of the polar ice caps to privacy issues associated with mapping, this book provides a gentle, yet substantive, introduction to the use and application of digital maps, mapping, and GIS. In today's world, learning involves knowing how and where to search for information. In some respects, knowing where to look for answers and information is arguably just as important as the knowledge itself. Because Essentials of Geographic Information Systems is concise, focused, and directed, readers are encouraged to search for supplementary information and to follow up on specific topics of interest on their own when necessary. Essentials of Geographic Information Systems provides the foundations for learning GIS, but readers are encouraged to construct their own individual frameworks of GIS knowledge. The benefits of this approach are two-fold. First, it promotes active learning through research. Second, it facilitates flexible and selective learning—that is, what is learned is a function of individual needs and interest. Since GIS and related geospatial and navigation technology change so rapidly, a flexible and dynamic text is necessary in order to stay current and relevant. Though essential concepts in GIS tend to remain constant, the situations, applications, and examples of GIS are fluid and dynamic. Though this book is intended for use in introductory GIS courses, Essentials of Geographic Information Systems will also appeal to the large number of certificate, professional, extension, and online programs in GIS that are available today. In addition to providing readers with the tools necessary to carry out spatial analyses, Essentials of Geographic Information Systems outlines valuable cartographic guidelines for maximizing the visual impact of your maps. The book also describes effective GIS project management solutions that commonly arise in the modern workplace.432018-09-07T17:21:40Z2024-01-22T14:52:16ZThink Python: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist - 2e<img alt="Read more about Think Python: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist - 2e" title="Think Python: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist - 2e cover image" class="cover " width="500" height="650" data-controller="common--cover" data-placeholder="/assets/common/placeholder-0e0607cbc50663ddb9e8fd188058bcd2630c730ef6ee322801278607b7d5af8e.png" src="/rails/active_storage/blobs/redirect/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6MzQsInB1ciI6ImJsb2JfaWQifX0=--18824d2afd2485e56cb1f44a3bcba6c49ab9d7a7/9781491939369.png" />Think Python is a concise introduction to software design using the Python programming language. Intended for people with no programming experience, this book starts with the most basic concepts and gradually adds new material. Some of the ideas students find most challenging, like recursion and object-oriented programming, are divided into a sequence of smaller steps and introduced over the course of several chapters. This textbook has been used in classes at Bard College, Olin College of Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, University of Maine, University of Northern Colorado.462018-09-07T17:21:40Z2024-01-22T18:49:50ZBusiness Information Systems: Design an App for That<img alt="Read more about Business Information Systems: Design an App for That" title="Business Information Systems: Design an App for That cover image" class="cover " width="300" height="391" data-controller="common--cover" data-placeholder="/assets/common/placeholder-0e0607cbc50663ddb9e8fd188058bcd2630c730ef6ee322801278607b7d5af8e.png" src="/rails/active_storage/blobs/redirect/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6MzcsInB1ciI6ImJsb2JfaWQifX0=--aba6a0e856a1517433a682d186bad082eb68dd79/9781453311578.png" />We set out to design an introductory course governed by four themes: Give students a good idea of what a career in MIS looks like by doing MIS. Enhance the professionalism of deliverables by teaching design and usability concepts. Promote creativity by assigning projects that demand it. Teach students about cloud computing by having them do cloud computing. Students in an introductory Management Information Systems (MIS) course often ask what a career in MIS looks like. Lacking a clear vision, they make their own assumptions. Often they assume the career involves programming with little human interaction. That MIS is a technical field could not be further from the truth. MIS job descriptions typically require candidates to be able to collaborate, communicate, analyze needs and gather requirements. They also list the need for excellent written and communication skills. In other words, MIS workers are constantly interacting with other people both inside and outside the organization. They are coming up with creative solutions to business problems. This course is designed to help students get a feel for what a career in MIS would be like. Our students report that they learn more about information systems from their internships than from their IS courses. Consequently, we designed a course that looks very much like an internship—an introduction to the field followed by a substantial project. Chapter 1 begins by introducing the information systems landscape. Here we discuss all the usual suspects: the information systems triangle, the systems development life cycle, transaction systems (ERP, SCM, CRM), collaboration systems, and business intelligence systems. Other aspects of the landscape such as usability, outsourcing, database concepts and so forth are introduced throughout chapter in Chapter 2 where they fit in naturally with the flow of the project. Chapter 2 is the substantial project which runs over a number of chapters. Over the course of the semester, students plan, build, and develop a proposal for an iPhone application. They develop a very realistic mockup. They also build a website to help market and support the app. Students are engaged because the project is fun and feels real. However, they are simultaneously learning business concepts and MIS skills. Prior to the existence of this course, we were only able to give such an interesting project at the senior level. Now, even as freshmen, students have a real experience of MIS in operation. A by product of creating an engaging course is increased enrollment in the MIS major. Even students who have never heard of MIS become excited about the major and either switch majors or add it as a double major or minor. Many other books have students study tools and then do a case. By contrast, most of this book is a case. Much like the real world, we introduce tools when needed, and only to the extent needed, to get at each part of the case.352018-09-07T17:21:39Z2024-03-25T13:00:34ZProgramming Languages: Application and Interpretation - Version Second Edition<img alt="Read more about Programming Languages: Application and Interpretation - Version Second Edition" title="textbook cover placeholder image" class="cover fallback " width="247" height="326" data-controller="common--cover" data-placeholder="/assets/common/placeholder-0e0607cbc50663ddb9e8fd188058bcd2630c730ef6ee322801278607b7d5af8e.png" src="/assets/common/placeholder-0e0607cbc50663ddb9e8fd188058bcd2630c730ef6ee322801278607b7d5af8e.png" />Unlike some other textbooks, this one does not follow a top-down narrative. Rather it has the flow of a conversation, with backtracking. We will often build up programs incrementally, just as a pair of programmers would. We will include mistakes, not because I don't know the answer, but because this is the best way for you to learn. Including mistakes makes it impossible for you to read passively: you must instead engage with the material, because you can never be sure of the veracity of what you're reading. At the end, you'll always get to the right answer. However, this non-linear path is more frustrating in the short term (you will often be tempted to say, “Just tell me the answer, already!”), and it makes the book a poor reference guide (you can't open up to a random page and be sure what it says is correct). However, that feeling of frustration is the sensation of learning. I don't know of a way around it. At various points you will encounter this: ExerciseThis is an exercise. Do try it. This is a traditional textbook exercise. It's something you need to do on your own. If you're using this book as part of a course, this may very well have been assigned as homework. In contrast, you will also find exercise-like questions that look like this: Do Now!There's an activity here! Do you see it? When you get to one of these, stop. Read, think, and formulate an answer before you proceed. You must do this because this is actually an exercise, but the answer is already in the book—most often in the text immediately following (i.e., in the part you're reading right now)—or is something you can determine for yourself by running a program. If you just read on, you'll see the answer without having thought about it (or not see it at all, if the instructions are to run a program), so you will get to neither (a) test your knowledge, nor (b) improve your intuitions. In other words, these are additional, explicit attempts to encourage active learning. Ultimately, however, I can only encourage it; it's up to you to practice it. The main programming language used in this book is Racket. Like with all operating systems, however, Racket actually supports a host of programming languages, so you must tell Racket which language you're programming in. This textbook has been used in classes at: Brown University, Cal Poly, Columbus State University, Northeastern University, NYU, Reed College, UC-San Diego, UC-Santa Cruz, University of Rhode Island, University of Utah, Westmont College, Williams College, Worcester Polytechnic Institute.162018-09-07T17:21:38Z2024-02-26T14:02:51ZInformation Systems: A Manager's Guide to Harnessing Technology<img alt="Read more about Information Systems: A Manager's Guide to Harnessing Technology" title="Information Systems: A Manager's Guide to Harnessing Technology cover image" class="cover " width="683" height="1024" data-controller="common--cover" data-placeholder="/assets/common/placeholder-0e0607cbc50663ddb9e8fd188058bcd2630c730ef6ee322801278607b7d5af8e.png" src="/rails/active_storage/blobs/redirect/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6MTk2NCwicHVyIjoiYmxvYl9pZCJ9fQ==--209b4d603d2242425068556bf7c12ef562b93407/Information-Systems-683x1024.jpg" />Information Systems: A Manager's Guide to Harnessing Technology is intended for use in undergraduate and/or graduate courses in Management Information Systems and Information Technology. The teaching approach in Information Systems: A Manager's Guide to Harnessing Technology can change this. The text offers a proven approach that has garnered student praise, increased IS enrollment, and engaged students to think deeper and more practically about the space where business and technology meet. Every topic is related to specific business examples, so students gain an immediate appreciation of its importance. Rather than lead with technical topics, the book starts with strategic thinking, focusing on big-picture issues that have confounded experts but will engage students. And while chapters introduce concepts, cases on approachable, exciting firms across industries further challenge students to apply what they've learned, asking questions like: Why was Netflix able to repel Blockbuster and WalMart? How did Harrah's Casino's become twice as profitable as comparably-sized Caesar's, enabling the former to acquire the latter? How does Spain's fashion giant Zara, a firm that shuns the sort of offshore manufacturing used by every other popular clothing chain, offer cheap fashions that fly off the shelves, all while achieving growth rates and profit margins that put Gap to shame? Why do technology markets often evolve into winner-take-all or winner take-most scenarios? And how can managers compete when these dynamics are present? Why is Google more profitable than Disney? How much is Facebook really worth? The teaching approach in this text encourages students to think deeper and more practically about the space where business and technology meet. Every topic is related to specific business examples, so students gain an immediate appreciation of its importance. Rather than starting with technical topics, the book starts with strategic thinking, focusing on big-picture issues that interest students.
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