Ch. 10 - Developing Business Systems

Last night, we learned about the Systems Development Cycle (SDLC). The SDLC is the most common approach to Systems Analysis and Design (SA & D) and has five phases.

• Phase I. Systems Investigation Stage: must answer two questions - (1) is this system desirable? (2) is it feasible to develop? Feasibility also has five different categories: operational, economic, technical, human factors and legal/political. If the system fulfills each category and both questions, it is possible to move on to:
• Phase II. Systems Analysis: an in-depth study of end user information needs and preferences that produces functional requirements that are used as the basis for the design of a new information system. This phase has three parts: organizational analysis, logical analysis and functional requirements analysis & determination.
• Phase III. Systems Design: modify the logical model until it represents a blueprint for what the new system will do. There are three major deliverables: user interface design, data design, and process design.
• Prototyping is the rapid development and testing of working models used in design phase.

We are going to learn about the last two phases next week. I did not find this section difficult to understand, although I think it will be easier to connect the dots once we finish learning about all of the phases.

Ch. 9 - Artificial Intelligence Technologies

We finished up Chapter 9 by learning about Artificial Intelligence, a field of science and technology that strives to develop computers and robots that can simulate the ability to think, hear, walk, talk and feel - to produce devices that exhibit behaviors that most people would call "intelligent." We learned about Turing's test and that it is estimated that by the year 2020-2030, computers will be able to pass Turing's test. The situation is as follows: a human judge engages in a natural language conversation with one human and one machine, each of which tries to appear human. All participants are placed in isolated locations. If the judge cannot reliably tell the machine from the human, the machine is said to have passed the test.

We also learned about cognitive science, a branch of AI, which focuses on researching how the human brain works and how humans think, learn, solve problems and make decisions. Another branch of AI is robots, which are mobile machines that possess computer intelligence but are computer controlled, with humanlike physical capabilties.

We watched a really interesting video about the capabilities of virtual reality, and how it is possible to create a three-dimensional world by relying on multisensory input and output devices. Technology today is really amazing but it's also scary to think about how fast we are advancing. I can only hope that technology doesn't turn against us in the next few decades.

Ch. 9 - Decision Support in Business

Tonight we learned about two main information systems - MIS (Management Information Systems) and DDS (Decision Support Systems). We learned about three different decision structures - Structured, Unstructured and Semistructured.

Decision Support Systems provide interactive information support to managers during the decision making process. Four types of analytical modeling using DSS include: (1) What-if Analysis, (2) Sensitivity Analysis, (3) Goal-Seeking, and (4) Optimization.

Alternatively, Management Information Systems produce information products that support many of the day-to-day decision-making needs of managers. Alternatives to MIS include: Periodic Scheduled Reports, Exception Reports, Demand Reports & Responses, and Push Reporting.

We also learned a little bit about dashboards, which was really familiar to me. As the Business Manager for The Panther Newspaper here at Chapman, I need to have access to our department budget. Chapman Financial Services uses a program called "Dashboard" (not a very original name) to allow users to track our revenue, expenses, deposits and withdrawals. I can also use the program to track our staff payroll. This program is extremely useful and I really appreciate the ability to have real-time access to our budget.

Exam #3 - Ch. 6 & 7

Tonight was our third exam. I spent more time studying for this one and I definitely found the subjects a lot easier to comprehend than our last exam. Chapter 6 about telecommunications networks was pretty technical and it took more time to understand, but Chapter 7 on Enterprise business systems and functional business systems was actually pretty interesting to learn about and it was more like common sense stuff..but maybe that's because I've already taken marketing, finance and accounting classes so a lot of the things we learned in that chapter was like review. Especially the information about CRM, SCM, Marketing, Accounting Info Systems and Financial Management Info Systems.

The actual exam itself was fine. One or two of the T/F and multiple choice questions were tricky, but the short answers were straightforward. Overall, I think it went okay and I hope I did well :)

Ch. 8 - E-Commerce Applications & Issues

Tonight, we learned about e-commerce trends and success factors, disintermediation and types of e-commerce marketplaces. Disintermediation means to get rid of the intermediaries, or to cut out the middle men. For example, say you buy a dress shirt from Macy's for $50. You can buy the exact same shirt directly from the manufacturer (online or otherwise), from the same brand, for a much cheaper price. Why? Because by purchasing directly from the manufacturer, you can cut several costs out of the supply chain including the costs charged by the distributor, warehouse, truck shipments and retailers (utilities, employee salaries). Disintermediation emphasizes direct sales over the Internet.

We also learned about five different types of e-commerce marketplaces:

• One to Many: sell-side marketplaces (one major supplier)
• Many to One: buy-side marketplaces (many suppliers)
• Some to Many: distribution marketplaces (unite major suppliers to attract more buyers)
• Many to Some: procurement marketplaces (unite major buyers to attract more suppliers)
• Many to Many: auction marketplaces (many buyers and sellers)

Ch. 8 - Electronic Commerce Fundamentals

On Tuesday, we learned about e-commerce, internet addressing and IP addresses. E-commerce includes the online processes of developing, marketing, selling, accepting payments, delivering and servicing. The heart of e-commerce is B2B (business to business) e-commerce. The nine process categories of e-commerce are:

• Access control and security
• Profiling and personalizing
• Search management
• Content
• Catalog management
• Workflow management
• Event notification
• Collaboration and trading
• Electronic payment process

We also learned about IPv4 versus IPv6. Currently, we are using IPv4, but it was kind of scary to learn that the number of available IP addresses using this system is expected to run out by the end of 2010 or beginning of 2011. IPv4 is limited to 4.3 billion different addresses. It's so hard to believe that we have almost reached this limit. It really makes you think about how far technology has come and how widespread the Internet is. IPv6 will have better security and will be able to host about 1 billion different IP addresses PER PERSON on Earth! I wonder how long it will take tor us to outgrow this system, hopefully not for awhile.

Ch. 7 - Functional Bus. Systems

On Thursday night, we learned about five functional business systems: (1) marketing, (2) manufacturing info systems, (3) human resource management, (4) accounting info systems, and (5) financial management systems.

While we were learning about manufacturing info systems, we also learned about CAM (computer-aided manufacturing). We watched a few videos of robots putting together parts to make a chair. Prof. Tuggle mentioned that these were examples of "stupid robots" because they could only work if the parts were laid out in the right place for the robot to grab and attach to the chair. They do not have a sense of what they're grabbing or what it's for, they just do what they are programmed to do. So this is the reason for a lot of human injury in the robotics manufacturing process - if a person is in the wrong place at the wrong time, the robot may end up grabbing the person and injuring him. I decided to look up the number of robot accidents that have occured in the last few years, and I found this information:

"Robot accidents specifically are not tracked by the reporting agencies; rather, they are lumped in with other industrial accidents. As a result, no specific statistics are available. The good news is that there are not many robot accidents--accidents where the injury is caused by direct involvement with the robot. The bad news is that any accident is often serious. I am only aware of one fatality in the last five years, although there were several incidents in the same period."

The other four topics were pretty much review to me, because I've taken a Marketing, Accounting Info Systems and Financial Management class in the last year. I am interested in learning more about HRM though, because I always thought that might be a career I might enjoy doing?

Ch. 7 - Cross-Functional Enterprise Bus. Systems

On Tuesday night, we learned a LOT about the seven main types of cross-functional systems. The three most important are:

• Customer Relationship Management (CRM): which is managing the full range of the customer relationship by having one point of contact. We learned about CRM in Principles of Marketing; it was actually one of the most important points we learned in that class because CRM helps with direct and targeted marketing campaigns. I'm actually finding quite a few similarities between Info Systems and Marketing, so it's pretty cool that now what I learn in classes is beginning to overlap because I already have a knowledge of certain systems before they are even explained in this class. Under CRM, there is also the potential for cross-selling and up-selling. This is kind of off-topic, but I am REALLY familiar with up-selling. I used to work at the movie theatre in the concession stand, and basically we were trained to always try to up-sell the customer (instead of buying a small drink, how about a medium for 50 cents more? It was pretty annoying. But it was pretty effective actually). Speaking of the movie theatre, we also had a loyalty program called the Regal Crown Club Card, which is also a separate cluster under CRM.
• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): which supports internal business processes and is the backbone of business processes. ERP systems, when they are successfully implemented, are very efficient, save money, and provide enterprise agility and decision support. However, they are also extremely risky and costly and failure can ruin a business.
• Supply Chain Management (SCM): which basically helps a company get the right products to the right place, at the right time, in the proper quantity at an acceptable cost. We also learned about SCM in Marketing because if this system is successfully implemented, it can help enhance relationships with customers, suppliers and distributors, which is extremely important in maintaining good business relationships.
• The other four types of cross-functional systems are: Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), Enterprise Application Integration (EAI), Transaction Processing Systems (TPS), and Enterprise Collaboration Systems (ECS).

Ch. 6 - Telecommunications Network Alternatives

Last Thursday, we learned about telecommunications networks and alternatives. A telecommunications network is any arrangement where a sender transmits a message to a receiver over a channel consisting of some sort of medium. There are five different types of communications networks: WAN, P2P, Client/Server, LAN and VPN. It was really interesting to learn more about Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Networks, because I know these types of networks are extremely popular in file-sharing and music-sharing, especially. For example, Napster used P2P file-sharing software with central server architecture. Their software connected each user's PC to a central server that contained a directory of all the other users in the network. When one user requested a file, the server would search the directory for any other users who had that file and were online. The advantages of central server P2P networks is that they can better protect the integrity and security of the content and users of the network; however, the directory is slower and can be overwhelmed by too many users or technical problems.

We also learned about three different types of telecommunications media: twisted-pair wire, coaxial cable, and fiber-optic cable. Twisted-pair wire is cheap and robust, but extremely slow. Coaxial cable is faster and has greater bandwith, but also has a thick coating that makes it difficult to move or manipulate. The winner is fiber-optic cable, which is very fast and does not lose or corrupt data; however, it is expensive and prone to damage.

We learned a lot more information about wireless technologies, telecommunications processors and software, network architecture and protocols, and bandwith and switching alternatives. I won't go into detail about these in this post, but this section definitely had a lot more information to learn than the last section. But I am finding this chapter easier to understand than the last unit, although it is still challenging because it's very technical.

Ch. 6 - The Networked Enterprise

Last Tuesday, we begn learning about telecommunications and networks. Our first case was pretty interesting, as it focused on the availability of Wi-Fi in coffee shops such as Starbucks and fast food places such as McDonalds. Starbucks in particular is offering time-limited free Wi-Fi to customers who have a Starbucks card. Personally, I don't think this is enough of an incentive for customers to purchase a Starbucks card, because if I wanted free Wi-Fi, I would just go to the library or another place offering the Internet connection, like McDonalds. But then again, I don't hang out in coffee shops too often. Over the last few years, Wi-Fi has become so plentiful that it is almost taken for granted. It kind of makes me sad to think that most, if not all, of the cybercafes have probably been shut down because there is no need for them anymore, but I guess technology is just advancing and it's inevitable that some businesses will be lost in the process.

We also learned about the difference between Internet, intranets and extranets. The Internet is the world-wide network of computers accessible to anyone who knows their IP address. An Intranet is a network that is not available to the world outside of the intranet. For example, I work at the Registrar's Office at the Law School across campus, and I guess an example of an Intranet would be our Outlook e-mail accounts and the shared drive with all our document templates that can only be accessed when we are logged into the Chapman University network. An Extranet is an Intranet that is partially accessible to authorized outside users. Network links can use Internet technologies to connect the intranet of one business to the intranets of another. I guess an example of an extranet would be when one company, such as Wal-Mart, gives its large suppliers access to their data network in order to allow the supplier to re-stock and deliver inventory to Wal-Mart automatically, rather than having Wal-Mart order new inventory on its own.

Exam #2 - Ch. 3, 4 & 5

Last night, we had our second midterm exam. I spent more time studying for this exam than the last one, but I still found it more difficult than the first exam. While I was studying, I realized that this unit was more difficult than last unit because we learned a lot of technical terms about hardware and software. On the exam, the questions were basic, but I struggled to remember a lot of what I studied because I realized I hadn't completely "understood" what I studied, unlike in the first exam. Instead, I focused on memorizing definitions, so when the time came to write down what I remembered, it wasn't as easy. Still, I think it went alright. I wish I had studied RAID farms more, as well as grid computing. There were also a few T/F questions that I wasn't sure of.

Last week, we also had our fist Access Demo. I have already used Access in ACTG 439, but it was really nice to go through the program slowly and review what I learned. I also learned some new things, like how fields can be Indexed or Required, and how to alter some of the properties of each field. I already worked on the homework assignment, and I found it easy and quick. I am looking forward to our next Access Demo tomorrow night!

Ch. 5 - Database Management Foundations

Tonight, we learned about file organization and file management. We learned that flat files should be avoided at all costs - these are files that are independent of other files with their own unique data file structure. For example, a customer record in marketing versus a customer record in billing may have the same information, but under different record names.

I know firsthand how frustrating this can be. A few months ago, I was working on compiling a list of a few hundred names of students, and matching these up with their ID numbers for my job at the Registrar's Office. It sounds simple enough, except I had two different spreadsheets - one with field names Last Name, First Name, and ID number, and another spreadsheet with only the field Full Name (first name then last name). My supervisor needed me to copy and paste the ID numbers from the first spreadsheet to the correct Full Name on the second spreadsheet. There were hundreds of names here, and I really didn't want to look up each name and ID number and copy and paste a hundred times, so I thought about using Access to form some relationship tables with these spreadsheets and see if it could create a compiled list for me. I'm pretty sure this can be done, but I couldn't make it work..the relationships didn't match up or something, so I did have to end up copying and pasting each ID number.

I hope that when we start learning Access next week, maybe I can learn a way to make this work, if it's possible!

Please see post below for my blog on Tuesday night's class.

Ch. 4 - System Software

On Tuesday night, we learned about operating systems - the most frequently used type of system software. The operating system has five basic functions: (1) user interface, (2) resource management, (3) task management, (4) file management, and (5) utilities, performance monitors and security monitors. Personally, I highly prefer using Windows because it is so familiar and easy to use. I haven't used Unix or Linux before, and I actually have a Mac laptop, which I installed Windows on because I found the Mac software kind of difficult to use.

We also talked about OSS (open source software), which basically makes software available to programmers to remove bugs, add new features and streamline operations. Professor Tuggle emphasized the fact that OSS has millions of programmers who produce improvements, not for the money, but out of their needs.

I'm not sure if i'm interpreting OSS correctly, but are the various applications that users create for Facebook and the iPod/iPhone examples of OSS? I know on Facebook, pretty much anyone can create a program or application that other users can download and add to their page - stuff like Top Friends, My Courses, Music Players, Bumper Stickers, Games, etc. And whenever I click to add one of these applications, I always am first re-directed to an EULA (end-user license agreement) that says Facebook is not liable for the program or content because it is created by an outside creator or something to that effect...

Ch. 4 - Application Software

Tonight, we learned about SaaS (Software-As-A-Service), which is the way in which companies lease its software. For example, Chapman contracts with Gmail to provide an e-mail service for students - this e-mail is a SaaS. However, Chapman's website software is owned by Chapman and cannot be modified or changed by anyone besides Chapman because the website is mission critical - Chapman needs the website to be properly functioning in order to provide information to prospective and current students, staff and faculty.

Software is defined as, "the detailed instructions to control behavior of computer and its peripherals." A program is the set of instructions to the computer, and it has three critical features: (1) must be in primary storage, (2) instructions must be processed one at a time, and (3) only understands binary code.

There are two different types of software: Application Software, which is the stuff that we (as end users) use, and System Software, which controls the computer and its resources and is primarily used by IT specialists. It was interesting to learn the technical names for the different types of softwares, such as Custom vs. COTS, Software Suites vs. Integrated Packages, and Groupware vs. Cloud Computing. I'm really enjoying learning this unit and I didn't find today's lecture difficult to understand at all, but I'm guessing Section II will be more challenging.

Please see post below for my blog on Ch. 3 from our Tuesday night class.

Ch. 3 - Computer Peripherals

On Tuesday, we learned about computer peripherals, which is a generic name for all input, output, and secondary storage devices that are part of the computer system but are not part of the CPU. Some common input devices include the keyboard, mouse, touchpad and touchscreen. We learned about the Graphical User Interface (GUI) versus the Command Line Interface. I am extremely grateful that someone created WIMP because I think I would have gone crazy trying to remember the exact names of all my files and subfolders under CLI. I wonder how long it took to create WIMP and how technologically immersed the team must have been to be able to come up with something like that. I wouldn't even know where to start.

We also learned about computer storage fundamentals, such as the difference between the bit (smallest element of data) and the byte (group of eight bits). Prof. Tuggle gave a few examples of the differences in representation between EBCDIC and ASCII, which was pretty mind-boggling. I think I will have to spend more time trying to understand that. We also spent a lot of time talking about storage options, such as magnetic tape, floppy disks, semiconductor memory, and solid state devices. Tonight we are going to start learning about software, and so far I am actually finding these discussions pretty interesting because I like learning about computers and finding out how they operate.

Exam #1 - Intro, Ch. 1 & Ch. 2

On Thursday, we had our first mid-term exam for MGSC 300. I spent quite a few hours studying for the exam and making sure I understood all the powerpoint notes and case studies, and skimming through the textbook to elaborate more on details I wasn't sure about. I thought the exam was pretty easy because the questions were pretty basic and easy to understand. There were one or two T/F questions and multiple choice questions that I wasn't completely sure about because a few of the answers seemed right, and I spent a lot of time trying to decide between them. There was one multiple choice question that asked what the serious problem with a competitive advantage was, and I couldn't decide between the choices. (I later found the discussion about competitive advantage in our textbook, and saw the answer was All of the Above - which I got wrong). The short answer questions were very simple, so I wish I had remembered more details and examples to put into my answer instead of just the definition.

Professor Tuggle already posted our grades on Blackboard, and I saw I got a 96%, so I'm happy with my grade. I think for the next exam, I will spend more time making sure I really understand all of the concepts because I know this unit will be a lot more technical and difficult to just memorize definitions without understanding. Also, I will spend more time reading through the book in case we get a few questions where the answers are actually IN the book - so hopefully I will get them right next time.

Please see post below for my blog on Ch. 3 from our Tuesday night class.

Ch. 3 - Computer Hardware

Last Tuesday, we started learning about computer hardware. As I learned from Ch. 1, computer hardware is one of the six elements of an information system (the other five elements are: people, software, communications/networking, data resources, and policies & procedures).

A computer is a system with input in the form of keyboards, mice, and scanners, processing in the form of a CPU (Central Processing Unit), output in the form of video display units and printers, storage in the form of primary (RAM and ROM) and secondary storage units, and control. CPU's consist of a control unit and an arithmetic logic unit (ALU). The control unit controls and coordinates the computer's components and moves data in and out of storage. It also instructs the ALU which command to execute and sends output to the printer or screen. On the other hand, the ALU performs arithmetic and logical operations on data - it adds, subtracts, multiplies, and compares. It was interesting to learn about the functions of CPU's, because I've always heard about them in technological conversations, but I never really understood what they did.

We also learned about microcomputer systems, such as personal computers, laptops, workstations and network services, and terminals such as dumb and intelligent terminals.

Overall, this chapter does seem more difficult to understand just because it is so technical and explains complex systems in more detail. But I think it will be useful for me to learn because I've always been kind of ignorant about the technicalities of how computers and other hardware systems work, and now I will at least have a basic understanding of what people are talking about when they mention CPU's, ALU's, ROM, RAM and terminals.

Ch. 2 - Competing with Information Technology

Last Thursday, we learned about five competitive strategies companies should use to become successful.

• Cost Leadership: become low-cost producers, help suppliers and customers reduce costs, and increase costs to competitors.
• Differentiation Strategy: develop ways to differentiate a firm's product from its competitors.
• Innovation Strategy: find new ways of doing business (unique products/services or unique markets).
• Growth Strategy: expand into global markets and diversify into new products or services.
• Alliance Strategy: establish alliances with customers, suppliers, competitors and consultants.

Successful organizatons use one, some or all of these strategies, while unsuccessful organizations tend to aim for a middle of the road approach. For example, businesses such as Wal-Mart, Target and Saks 5th Avenue are successful because they focus on producing quality fashion at low prices, or providing high-quality fashion at higher prices. Businesses such as Sears and JC Penny are less successful because they are stuck in the middle - they provide clothes that are not as fashionable as Saks 5th Avenue but not as cheap as Wal-Mart or Target.

I thought it was interesting how similar these competitive strategies were to some of the marketing strategies we learned about in Principles of Marketing. Similar to the Differentiation Strategy, marketing strategy is the marketing logic by which the business unit hopes to create customer value and achieve profitable customer relationships. The company decides which customers to serve (through segmentation and targeting) and how (through differentiation and positioning). Differentiation is actually differentiating the market offering to create superior customer value.

The innovation strategy also relates to the marketing concept of New-product Development - the development of original products, product improvements, product modifications, and new brands through the firm’s own product-development efforts.

Ch. 1 - The Components of Information Systems

Tonight we learned about systems and cybernetic systems. The technical definition of a system is: a set of interrelated components with a clearly defined boundary, working together to achieve a common set of objectives by accepting inputs and producing outputs in an organized transformation process. A cybernetic system is a bit more advanced because it has five elements: input, processing, and output (similar to a system), but it also has elements of feedback and control.

Professor Tuggle used the example of how a palm tree is a system. A palm tree has three components: the root, trunk, and leaves, and these components work together to keep the tree alive and allow the tree to reproduce. The palm tree accepts inputs in the form of nutrients, water, and sunlight, and produces outputs in the form of sap. This example was really interesting to me, because when I think of a "system," I just naturally think of something technological or a database information system, for example. I never realized how things like palm trees are systems as well.

I started thinking about this example of how a palm tree is a system, and I decided to try to figure out another example of a system that I wouldn't have thought of before tonight. I was wondering if something like a lightbulb could also be considered a system. A lightbulb is made up of three components: the tungsten filament, glass, and screw cap, and these components work together to produce light. The lightbulb accepts inputs in the form of energy, electrons and electrical currents to produce outputs in the form of light!

Ch. 1 - Foundations of Info Systems in Business

Yesterday we touched on a lot of the topics that we will be covering for the entire semester. We also had our first day of technology reports, which, like Professor Tuggle said, were actually one of the most interesting parts of the class. The tech reports were really informative and I was surprised that I was able to understand some of the more complicated reports.

One of the main topics in Ch. 1 that stood out to me was the mention of career opportunities in Information Systems. Professor Tuggle emphasized the fact that employment opportunities in IT are very strong, with new jobs emerging daily because of frequent shortages of IT personnel. Because the technology landscape is constantly changing and evolving, there is always a need for business professionals well-educated in management information systems. Although the economic downturn has affected the IT job sector, and although rising labor costs have caused many jobs to be outsourced to areas such as India and the Middle East, the long-term job outlook for IT careers is still very positive and exciting.

One of our powerpoint slides listed several dozen career opportunities in IS - including Project Manager, which caught my eye because my dad actually works as a Sr. Project Manager for a company that is one of the world's leading providers of management, engineering and construction services. My dad has worked in this same career for 30 years, and I realized that I never really understood what his job actually entails. So, I decided to take this opportunity to ask him about his job description. He told me that his main duty is to manage projects to implement, upgrade and add functionality to various information systems. The project manager is responsible for gathering requirements, documenting and estimating costs, developing schedules, identifying resources, and executing projects according to the schedule. The project manager has to be ready to execute changes in order to meet changing needs or unplanned issues. The whole purpose of doing these projects is to help the company become more efficient, profitable, and competitive. His job sounds interesting, but not really something I think I would want to pursue myself!

History of the Internet & Information Age

Yesterday was the first day of MGSC 300. I think this will be an interesting class, although it might be a bit repetitive since I just finished ACTG 439 (Accounting Info Systems) over Interterm. I'm glad that I already have experience with using MS Access and Excel so hopefully the projects and cases we do in class won't be that difficult for me. I'm a little bit worried about the technology reports and the fact that I have to be prepared to present everyday, but I guess I'll just have to try my best.

We started talking about the history of the Internet and the Information Age. I have never really researched the Internet, even though I use it for several hours everyday. Prof. Tuggle talked about Packet Switching Networks - he used an example that when you send an e-mail from one place to another, your message is split up into tiny packets and sent separately on the Internet. The packets are put together and the e-mail is received; although packets may travel different paths. This was extremely interesting to me. E-mail is used so widely and frequently these days that no one really considers how their message is actually transmitted. I know that I take for granted how much work goes into creating an e-mail network. Technology has improved so much over the last few decades that this complicated process can be completed in just a few seconds.

Prof. Tuggle also talked about the birth of the Internet in 1969. One interesting fact that I picked up was that the first Internet connected only to a four-node network based within UCLA, Stanford Research Institute, UCSB and the University of Utah. Almost 30 years later, in 1996, there were over 6.5 million nodes and 100,000 websites! I still remember the days of dial-up connections and the early days of high-speed Internet, back when I was in elementary school! Today, the Internet is everywhere and people can connect to the Internet instantaneously through WiFi.