The information systems in management faculty

 

1. Ответьте на вопросы.

1. Why did you choose the profession which deals with information technologies?

2. Are there any problems in this sphere in Russia? What are they? How could they be solved?

3. What particular field of information technologiesdo you want to work in?

 

Прочитайте и выучите.

possession – владение, обладание

entire – весь, полный

allow – позволять

share – доля, акция

currency – валюта

deficiency – нехватка, недостаток

hire – нанимать на работу

spreadsheet – крупноформатная таблица

applications – приложения, прикладные программы

allocated – размещенный

means – средства

storage – хранение

transportation – передача

maintenance – обслуживание

forecasting – прогнозирование

cryptographic – криптографический, шифровальный

Составьте 3 предложения с новыми словами.

Обратите внимание на произношение следующих слов.

Possession [pə' zə∫(ə)n];

success[s(ə)k' səs];

struggle ['strΛgl];

currency ['kΛr(ə)nsi];

allocated ['ǽləukeitid];

facility [fə ' siliti];

curriculum [kə' rikjuləm].

Прочитайте и переведите текст.

THE INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN MANAGEMENT FACULTY

(THE FACULTY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES)

 

Nowadays only the possession of the all information causes the success in competitive struggle in the local and global markets of services and goods, to work effectively in share and currency markets and to carry out economic policy. Therefore it is extremely important to have experts able to manage information flows.

The Information Systems in Management faculty was established in 2000 and has three qualifications: Computer Technologies in Business; Information Safety and Automated Systems of Management.

In Russia there is a strong deficiency of experts in the field of computer business technologies. Many companies hire either economists with knowledge of a computer in the context of a text editor and a spreadsheet, or engineer-programmers with knowledge of economics in the context of the popular Economics.

The students specializing in computer technologies in business study the work of economic applications in the allocated computer networks, the use of the Internet and networks in business and finances and use of modern means of programming of applications under Windows. The faculty trains experts combining strong theoretical knowledge in the field of economics, profound knowledge in computer facilities and the software and understanding of realities of the business world.

The students of the second qualification deal with automated systems of processing, storage and transportation of information with a certain level of confidentiality and methods and means of information safety maintenance of the automated systems.

The students specializing in automated systems of management deal with computer systems and networks; the automated systems of processing and management the information; the systems of the automated designing and the software of computer facilities and the automated systems.

The curricula of the faculty include discrete mathematics, the theory of decision-making, modeling of systems, information technologies, network technologies, bases of forecasting, cryptographic protocols.

The computer laboratories of the faculty are well equipped with modern computers connected into the local nets and having access to the Internet.

 

5. Составьте план прочитанного текста.

6. Соотнесите слова и соответствующие им понятия:

Curriculum	The putting to use
Facilities	A course of study offered in a school, college, institute etc.
Software	A large system of lines, tubes, wires, etc., that cross or meet one another
Application	Means to do things; that which can be used
Struggle	The magnetic tapes, programs, etc. That make a computer work
Network	A hard fight

 

7. Ответьте на вопросы.

1. Why is it extremely important to have experts able to manage information flows?

2. What specialities are there at The Information Management Systems faculty?

3. What is your qualification?

4. What specialized subjects do the students of your faculty study?

5. What is your favourite subject and why?

6. What is the main activity your computer helps you to do?

7. Do you have any other interests besides computers?

8. Прочитайте юмористическую историю о неполадках с компьютером и перескажите ее, выбрав одну из ролей (или составьте диалог):

1) the helpdesk employee;

2) the user;

3) the computer;

4) the shop assistant of the shop where the computer was bought;

5) the director of a customer care department.

 

This is a true story from a word processor program company's helpline, in the days before Windows. It was transcribed from a recording monitoring the customer care department, and the helpdesk employee was fired as a result.

"Computer assistance. May I help you?" – "Yes, well, I'm having trouble with your program."

"What sort of trouble?" – "Well, I was just typing along, and all of a sudden the words went away."

"Went away?" – "They disappeared."

"Hmm. So what does your screen look like now?" – "Nothing."

"Nothing?" – "It's blank. It won't accept anything when I type."

"Are you still in the program, or did you get out?" – "How do I tell?"

"Can you see the C: prompt on the screen?" – "What's the sea-prompt?"
"Never mind, can you move your cursor around the screen?" – "There isn't any cursor. I told you, it won't accept anything I type."

"Does your monitor have a power indicator?" – "What's a monitor?"

"It's the thing with the screen on it that looks like a TV. Does it have a little light on it that tells you when it's on?" – "I don't know."

"Well, then look on the back of the monitor and find where the power cord goes into it. Can you see that?" – "Yes, I think so."

"Great. Follow the cord to the plug, and tell me if it's plugged into the wall." – "... Yes, it is."

"When you were behind the monitor, did you notice that there were two cables plugged into the back of it, not just one?" – "No."

"Well, there are. I need you to look back there again and find the other cable." – "... OK, here it is."

"Follow it for me, and tell me if it's plugged securely into the back of your computer." – "I can't reach."

"Uh, huh. Well, can you see if it is" – "No."

"Even if you maybe put your knee on something and lean way over?" – "Oh, it's not because I don't have the right angle – it's because it's dark."

"Dark?" – "Yes – the office light is off, and the only light I have is coming in from the window."

"Well, turn on the office light then." – "I can't."

"No, why not?" – "Because there's a power failure."

"A power... A power failure? Aha, OK, we've got it licked now. Do you still have the boxes and manuals and packing stuff your computer came in?" – "Well, yes, I keep them in the closet."

"Good. Go get them. Unplug your system and pack it up just like it was when you got it. Then take it back to the store where you bought it." – "Really? Is it that bad?"

"Yes, I'm afraid it is." – "What do I tell them?"

"Tell them you're too smart to own a computer."

 

Прочитайте и переведите текст.

THE INTERNET

The Internet is a global computer network which embraced millions of users all over the world. Began in the United States in 1969 as a mil­itary experiment it was designed to survive a nuclear war. Information sent over the Internet takes the shortest path available from one com­puter to another. Because of this, any two computers on the Internet will be able to stay in touch with each other as long as there is a single route between them. This technology is called packet swithing. Owing to this technology, if some computers on the network are knocked out (by a nuclear explosion, for example), information will just route around them. One such packet-swithing network which has already survived a war is the Iraqi computer network which was not knocked out during the Gulf War.

Most of the Internet host computers (more than 50 %) are in the United States, while the rest are located in more than 100 other coun­tries). Although the number of host computers can be counted fairly accurate, nobody knows exactly now many people use the Internet, there are millions worldwide, and their number is growing by thou­sands each month.

The most popular Internet service is e-mail. Most of the people, who have access to the Internet, use the network only for sending messages. However, other popular services are available on the Internet: reading USENET News, using the World-Wide Web, telnet, FTP, and Gopher.

In many developing countries the Internet may provide business­men with a reliable alternative to the expensive and unreliable telecom­munications systems of these countries. Commercial users can com­municate cheaply over the Internet with the rest of the world. When they send e-mail messages, they only have to pay for phone calls to their local service providers, not for calls across their countries or around the world. But who actually pays for sending e-mail messages over the Internet long distances, around the world?

The answer is very simple: users pay their service provider monthly or hourly fee. Part of this fee goes towards its costs to connect to a larger service provider, and part of the fee received by the larger provider goes to cover its cost of running a worldwide network of wires and wireless stations.

But saving money is only the first step if people see that hey can make money from the Internet.Commercial useof this network will drasticallyincrease. For example, some western architecture companies and garment centers already transmit their basic designs and concepts over the Internet into China, where they arc reworked and refined by skilled – but inexpensive – Chinese computer-aided-design specialists.

However, some problems remain. The most important is security. When you send an e-mail message to somebody, this message can travel through many different networks and computers. The data is constantly being directed towards its destination by special comput­ers called routers. However, because of this, it is possible to get into any of the computers along the route, intercept and even change the data being sent over the Internet.

In spite of the fact that there are many good encoding programs available, nearly all the information being sent over the Internet is transmitted without any form of encod­ing, i.e. "in the clear". But when it becomes necessary to send impor­tant information over the network, these encoding programs may be useful. Some American banks and companies even conduct transac­tions over the Internet. However, there are still both commercial and technical problems which will take time to be resolved.