An organisation is perceived as a bundle of decisions, bundle of transactions or bundle of documents & data. System analysts use three types of design models that are like analytical "lenses" used to examine the area of concerns and determine the specifications that form the new information system. They are namely the data model, transaction cost model and the decision model. Depending on the design model chosen, certain factors such as details of data, path of document flow, decision processes, costs, bounded rationality, small numbers, task complexity, asset specificity and opportunism are major areas of concern during the analytical stage.
We assume that system designers themselves are boundedly rational because of their limited ability to process information. Thus, a specific model is needed to study the organisation so that system designers can highlight certain variables to whoever it targets at. The 3 models are referred to as the Data Model (DM), Transactional Cost Model (TCM) and Decision Making Model (DMM) which are defined with the help of the businesses using contemporary approaches. Information systems are made up of several fields, mainly the technical and behavorial. Under the technical approach, we have the management science, computer science and operations research. On the other hand, we have psychology, sociology and economics under the behavorial approach. Looking into these aspects will help companies come up with the most ideal model to follow while designing the systems. One must remember that,to start the design mandatory using all 3 models would be an impossible mission but there can be further extension to include other models.
The two websites chosen to be discussed are respectively Napster and Wikipedia.
Napster, the pioneer of digital music, offers the ultimate in interactive music experiences, creating better ways to discover, share, acquire and enjoy music – anytime, anywhere.Apparently, it falls under the e-commerce category,B2C, considered as a virtual storefront where people can buy music online without going to a brick & mortar. It is a browser-based service and has free accounts that allows users stream songs up to 3 times each for free. However, in order to download as many songs as you want, you have to pay a flat fee of US$9.95 per month as a subscriber.It uses the TCM and also in its subset, perhaps the DM to manage its music files, information etc. It targets at the younger generation who are internet yuppies. Those who hate the idea of spending more than $10 on a CD that only contains 1 or 2 songs that they like can use Napster to buy only the songs that they like. Plus, being a virtual store means that consumers can buy without having to go to the store. Owning the song is only a click away and it's just so convenient.
With an attractive interface and being user-friendly, Napster does attract more than just the youngsters. And, it is cheap & good, providing a wide genre of music all at one place. Using TCM, Napster manages its business in a systematic way. It also uses the DM to manage its music files. Its front page is kept neat where they show consumers the New Releases, Playlists, Staff Picks and most importantly, the Napster Top 10. Consumers are then able to identify the category they wanted to go into without having to think of the specific song title. But looking at the big picture, one would realise that its search engine doesn't allow users to search based on genres etc. It only allows search for artists, albums and tracks which could be difficult for a person who just wants to do a general search.As compared to its competitor, Yahoo! Music, which allows users to search from a slightly varied choices like Artists, Lyrics, Songs, Albums and Videos,Napster seems to be lacking in this area.
However, Napster keeps streaming tracks encoded at a low 32 Kbps and users need to endure advertisements. Also, a 30 second clip might not be enough for a customer to make a purchase decision. Users might prefer to listen to the entire song at least once. In this case, Napster has already lost out to brick and mortar stores like HMV which allows consumers to play selected albums on their provided players. Security is an issue here as these websites are often a target for hackers. Thus, it poses as a problem to its users as well as its own website.
Pictures are essential features of this website. More than often, consumers rely on their sense of sight to actually evoke a feeling. That could be the feeling of buying, recognition or even curiosity. Napster has not fully utilised its web interface to be more attractive in terms of its colour scheme, moving advertisements or pictures of albums or singers. Yahoo! Music on the other hand, has made its website more attractive by using colours that the young and hippie would associate with being cool and modern, and they are mainly black and grey. However, fashionable youths would also agree on the lime green, and purple they use because it represents vibrancy, fresh and youth. In comparison, Napster's website seems rather pale.
As shown below, Yahoo's main features tool bar is a much more elaborate one than Napster's. It further breaks down the categories into sub-categories which adds to the pleasure of surfing the web.
Also, a major flaw with this website is that it doesn't allows users other than US residents to subscribe to its services which limits itself to only that small targeted group, not worldwide.
The second website being looked at is the popular online dictionary, Wikipedia. This information broker (or a content provider) is primarily made up of the DM and is also a B2C approach. It has several payment schemes for its users to donate money or buy their merchandises. Most of their earnings come from either advertisements, donations or from its search engines. Plus, it seems to be under Google. They are namely the usual ones like Paypal, credit cards, direct deposit, check or money bookers.
Key characteristics of the website includes its multilingual feature in which one can change the language of the website to the desired language, free content encyclopedia, and allowing users to create articles to enhance knowledge held by wikipedia.
Navigation tool at the left side is easy to use and recognise. With key features of the website (ie the Main page, contents, Featured content, current events and even random article) listed there, users can easily find their way around. Like many other websites, Wikipedia has a Search engine for users to search for what they really want. They even have fields of studies like Arts, History, Biography etc, for easy search. Then, at the bottom of the page, there are even some helpful links like the 'Help Desk', 'Community Portal' and even 'Local embassy'. In addition, one can visit Wikipedia's sister projects like the Wikibooks that provide free textbooks or Wiktionary which is a dictionary and thesaurus.
When one searches for eg, data model, he/she can expect to retrieve a concise definition of the words/phrase and in addition, there are sub-definitions that come from it. Data Model theory and data model instance are explained and some other recommended readings are provided too, at one's convenience.
Colour scheme is kept at a simple grey, blue and yellow shades because there are too many information in words to be read from the website and the last thing Wikipedia wants is to make the website too messy and frustrating to read. However, it must be noted that the youth these days are more attracted to colours. Boring colours may be boring for the young to read.
However, the site allows anyone to edit the information which means it could be subjected to vandalism, plagarism or false information to be posted.This poses as a potential security threat.
The two websites chosen to be discussed are respectively Napster and Wikipedia.
Napster, the pioneer of digital music, offers the ultimate in interactive music experiences, creating better ways to discover, share, acquire and enjoy music – anytime, anywhere.Apparently, it falls under the e-commerce category,B2C, considered as a virtual storefront where people can buy music online without going to a brick & mortar. It is a browser-based service and has free accounts that allows users stream songs up to 3 times each for free. However, in order to download as many songs as you want, you have to pay a flat fee of US$9.95 per month as a subscriber.It uses the TCM and also in its subset, perhaps the DM to manage its music files, information etc. It targets at the younger generation who are internet yuppies. Those who hate the idea of spending more than $10 on a CD that only contains 1 or 2 songs that they like can use Napster to buy only the songs that they like. Plus, being a virtual store means that consumers can buy without having to go to the store. Owning the song is only a click away and it's just so convenient.
With an attractive interface and being user-friendly, Napster does attract more than just the youngsters. And, it is cheap & good, providing a wide genre of music all at one place. Using TCM, Napster manages its business in a systematic way. It also uses the DM to manage its music files. Its front page is kept neat where they show consumers the New Releases, Playlists, Staff Picks and most importantly, the Napster Top 10. Consumers are then able to identify the category they wanted to go into without having to think of the specific song title. But looking at the big picture, one would realise that its search engine doesn't allow users to search based on genres etc. It only allows search for artists, albums and tracks which could be difficult for a person who just wants to do a general search.As compared to its competitor, Yahoo! Music, which allows users to search from a slightly varied choices like Artists, Lyrics, Songs, Albums and Videos,Napster seems to be lacking in this area.
However, Napster keeps streaming tracks encoded at a low 32 Kbps and users need to endure advertisements. Also, a 30 second clip might not be enough for a customer to make a purchase decision. Users might prefer to listen to the entire song at least once. In this case, Napster has already lost out to brick and mortar stores like HMV which allows consumers to play selected albums on their provided players. Security is an issue here as these websites are often a target for hackers. Thus, it poses as a problem to its users as well as its own website.
Pictures are essential features of this website. More than often, consumers rely on their sense of sight to actually evoke a feeling. That could be the feeling of buying, recognition or even curiosity. Napster has not fully utilised its web interface to be more attractive in terms of its colour scheme, moving advertisements or pictures of albums or singers. Yahoo! Music on the other hand, has made its website more attractive by using colours that the young and hippie would associate with being cool and modern, and they are mainly black and grey. However, fashionable youths would also agree on the lime green, and purple they use because it represents vibrancy, fresh and youth. In comparison, Napster's website seems rather pale.
As shown below, Yahoo's main features tool bar is a much more elaborate one than Napster's. It further breaks down the categories into sub-categories which adds to the pleasure of surfing the web.
Also, a major flaw with this website is that it doesn't allows users other than US residents to subscribe to its services which limits itself to only that small targeted group, not worldwide.
The second website being looked at is the popular online dictionary, Wikipedia. This information broker (or a content provider) is primarily made up of the DM and is also a B2C approach. It has several payment schemes for its users to donate money or buy their merchandises. Most of their earnings come from either advertisements, donations or from its search engines. Plus, it seems to be under Google. They are namely the usual ones like Paypal, credit cards, direct deposit, check or money bookers.
Key characteristics of the website includes its multilingual feature in which one can change the language of the website to the desired language, free content encyclopedia, and allowing users to create articles to enhance knowledge held by wikipedia.
Navigation tool at the left side is easy to use and recognise. With key features of the website (ie the Main page, contents, Featured content, current events and even random article) listed there, users can easily find their way around. Like many other websites, Wikipedia has a Search engine for users to search for what they really want. They even have fields of studies like Arts, History, Biography etc, for easy search. Then, at the bottom of the page, there are even some helpful links like the 'Help Desk', 'Community Portal' and even 'Local embassy'. In addition, one can visit Wikipedia's sister projects like the Wikibooks that provide free textbooks or Wiktionary which is a dictionary and thesaurus.
When one searches for eg, data model, he/she can expect to retrieve a concise definition of the words/phrase and in addition, there are sub-definitions that come from it. Data Model theory and data model instance are explained and some other recommended readings are provided too, at one's convenience.
Colour scheme is kept at a simple grey, blue and yellow shades because there are too many information in words to be read from the website and the last thing Wikipedia wants is to make the website too messy and frustrating to read. However, it must be noted that the youth these days are more attracted to colours. Boring colours may be boring for the young to read.
However, the site allows anyone to edit the information which means it could be subjected to vandalism, plagarism or false information to be posted.This poses as a potential security threat.
On the overall, both sites still have room for improvement in order to attract more people and consumers of a different group.
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