Information Systems and ISO

¶ … Collaborative Research

Many see collaboration as an investment strategy. While some may see collaboration as a scary area to approach in research, in actuality, collaboration involves more than simply sharing techniques or data. Numerous researchers in fact, regard collaboration as an important step in research. However, many researchers do not know how to collaborate. By increasing the amount of benefits one receives from collaboration, it then takes center stage as an important aspect of research.

Collaborative research yields higher levels of creativity and helps one network with people they may work with in the future. Overall, when one takes on the endeavor of collaborating in regards to research, there is less work. This is because there are more people helping in gathering information and compiling/analyzing data. Less work means more time spent on providing quality information and research to the project.

Another thing to note is criticism. Any work done with collaborators will offer critiques and new insights that a person researching on their own would never have gained. When several different perspectives brainstorm and edit each other's work, there is a higher chance for quality work to come from such efforts. There is also a wider array of approaches that in turn offer efficient learning. In addition, there is less risk and a higher chance of coming across an unexpected finding, yielding potentially more investment opportunities since investors look for those that can give them innovative approaches and previously undiscovered findings.

Course Project

IS issues

IS or Information Systems has been around for a couple of decades. While issues have been researched and published in the past, the new digital age has brought about a host of other problems that any information systems management has to deal with on a frequent basis. The first common and current issue is SEO or Search Engine Optimization. SEO is the process of increasing the quantity of visitors to a select web site via ranking high in online search results. The higher up in the search results, the easier it is for users to find that select website. Another issue in information systems is Spam. At least one third of all internet traffic is spam or spam related (Savoie, 2012, p. 130). Spam includes junk mail, ad-ware, pop up traffic and so forth. Spam is a common issue and is hard to deal with on an ongoing basis, especially when security issues come from opening spam emails and links.

Another important issue facing information systems is data ownership. This refers to responsibility for information and possession of information that might or might not have value. The control of data includes the ability to create, package, modify, access, sell, derive benefit from, or remove data, as well as the right to assign access privileges at any given time. This is a very hard issue to tackle, especially when new users want access to information quickly and affordably. One great example of this are peer-reviewed articles. Many times a person must pay an annual subscription fee to a website in order to gain access to such information.

IS Best Practices

Information Systems has best practices in place thanks to ISO or International Organization for Standardization. "The ISO 27000 family of standards helps organizations keep information assets secure. Using this family of standards will help your organization manage the security of assets such as financial information, intellectual property, employee details or information entrusted to you by third parties" (Iso.org, 2013). These best practices offer assistance in several ways that help an organization continue to manage their information systems effectively. Best practices for information systems include compliance, business continuity management, information systems acquisition, development and maintenance, access control, human resources security, security policy, asset management, physical and environmental security and so forth. These objectives outlined offer general guidance for the frequently accepted goals of any information security and information systems management.

Personal Growth in Information Systems

While things have been difficult to get used to, especially the handling of data, it has been an eye-opening experience. Things have become much more meaningful to me within the context of information systems. For example, securing data is an important aspect of data management. So much of information systems relies on the effective and proper handling of data. Many of the problems that plague websites is the possibility of hacker attacks and someone stealing sensitive data.