INFO101 Week 2 – Building Blocks of My Digital Life (Comprehensive Notes)

Recap of Week 1 – Foundations

  • Introduced Information Systems (IS) as a SOCIAL SCIENCE.
    • Focus on interconnected people, technologies, processes, and data.
    • Stressed that studying IS ≠ merely studying computers; instead, it is about analysing socio-technical systems.
  • Identified classic organisational IS categories:
    • Transaction Processing Systems (TPS)
    • Decision Support Systems (DSS)
    • … (ellipsis in slides implies other layers such as MIS, ESS, etc.)
  • Began exploring digital footprints:
    • Active (intentional) vs Passive (unintentional) traces

Examples of TPS & DSS in Traditional Contexts

  • TPS illustrations:
    • Barcode scanners
    • Payroll systems
    • Inventory management systems
  • DSS illustrations:
    • “What-if” simulators, logistics planners, analytics & forecasting suites
    • Reporting systems (Finance, HR, Production)
    • Dashboards, KPIs, market/competitor analysis tools

Information Systems for INDIVIDUALS

(Shifts organisational lens → personal everyday lens)

  • Individual-level TPS (active use unless noted otherwise):
    • Online shopping carts & payment gateways (credit-card, PayPal, AfterPay)
    • EFTPOS terminals & mobile wallets
    • Snapper (public-transport smartcard)
    • Streaming platforms (Netflix, Spotify, Disney+) when pressing play
    • Social media posting (Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn)
    • Anything else? (open-ended prompt in lecture)
  • Individual-level DSS:
    • Trip planners (Google Maps, Metlink, Citymapper)
    • Budgeting apps (PocketSmith, You Need a Budget)
    • Health & fitness trackers (Fitbit, Strava, Apple Health)
    • Price comparison tools (PriceSpy, Google Shopping)
    • Anything else?

Active vs Passive Digital Footprint – Detailed Distinction

  • ACTIVE
    • Information intentionally shared online
    • User retains perceived control (posts, profile data, emails)
    • Examples: status updates, uploaded photos, blog comments
  • PASSIVE
    • Data unknowingly generated/collected in background
    • Largely outside direct user control
    • Examples: browsing history, device type, IP address, GPS pings, cookies
  • Significance / ethical angle:
    • Passive traces contribute to algorithmic profiling, targeted advertising, credit scoring, surveillance capitalism.
    • Raises privacy, consent, data-ownership debates.

Defining “Your Digital Life”

  • Comprised of …
    • all information systems you engage with,
    • HOW you engage (behavioural patterns),
    • habits & routines formed,
    • digital footprint (active + passive) generated as by-product.

INFO101 Course Road-Map (Weeks 1-12)

  • Week 1–2: Building blocks of digital life
  • Week 3: Underpinning technologies
  • Week 4: Organising digital life
  • Week 5–6: Evaluating digital habits (ethics, impact)
  • Week 7: Digital footprint deep dive
  • Week 8: Consequences of digital behaviour
  • Week 9–10: Becoming the architect of one’s digital life
  • Week 11–12: (Content TBA / typically revision + assessment)

Administrative People & Support

  • Lecturer: Rebecca Mines (Rebecca.mines@vuw.ac.nz)
  • Class Reps:
    • Aditya Adip – adipadit@myvuw.ac.nz
    • Abhinav Menon – menonabhi@myvuw.ac.nz
    • Shamila Azeem – azeemsham@myvuw.ac.nz

Workshop Schedule & Assessment (Formative + Low-stakes)

  • Week 2: Intro to IS & AI use/safety (no submission)
  • Week 3: Info Management + Assignment draft – (2.5%)(2.5\%)
  • Week 4: Info Management follow-up (no submission)
  • Week 5: Data Project 1 – Excel cleaning/organisation – (2.5%)(2.5\%)
  • Week 6: Data Project 2 – Descriptive stats + visualisations – (2.5%)(2.5\%)
  • Week 7: Data Project 3 – Narratives & infographics – (2.5%)(2.5\%)
  • Week 8: Assignment help
  • Week 10: Workshop 7 activity – (2.5%)(2.5\%)
  • Week 11–12: Assignment help / final prep

IS Across Levels: Individuals → Organisations → Society (Degree Pathway Map)

  • INFO101 (current) = Me and my Digital Life (individual lens)
  • Higher courses (INFO102, 103, 2xx, 3xx) branch into app dev, databases, digital strategy, analysis, UX, platforms, ethics.
  • Positions INFO as bridging technology with broader societal responsibilities.

“A Day in Your Digital Life” – In-Class Activity

  1. Partner interviews (15 min): Nine guided questions covering:
    • First device on wake-up → bedtime digital routines
    • Notification habits, commute tools, study/work aids, social connections, focus apps, downtime entertainment
  2. Swap roles & exchange notes.
  3. Reflective prompts:
    • Identify each system: TPS? DSS? others?
    • Active vs Passive engagements
    • Habitual vs deliberate active uses

Prompt Engineering – Crafting Inputs for AI

  • Definition: Designing clear, strategic instructions so Large Language Models (LLMs) yield relevant outputs.
  • Key ideas:
    • Specificity improves accuracy.
    • Understanding model behaviour (temperature, context length) guides wording.
    • Practical skill for creators, analysts, and everyday users.

Visualising Digital Life via LLMs

  • Students asked to generate images with prompts like:
    • “Draw my digital life. I start my day with [alarm app], then I […], I end my day by […]”.
  • Two sample outputs displayed (Instagram → bus → audiobook → MS Word; phone alarm/GPS → social media → Student ID access → recipe search → Netflix).
  • Illustrates:
    • AI can transform textual routines into visuals.
    • Highlights breadth of systems touched daily.

Consolidated Conceptual Summary (Slide 18)

  • Everyday IS = intersection of People + Technology + Data + Processes.
  • Ubiquity: IS operate constantly, often invisibly (e.g., Wi-Fi handshakes, ID card access control).
  • Active vs Passive Use continuum.
    • Recognising invisible processes fosters digital literacy and critical consumption.
  • Ethical/Practical Implications:
    • Awareness of passive tracking aids privacy management.
    • Understanding algorithmic recommendations mitigates echo-chamber effects.
    • Strategic digital habits can enhance productivity and wellbeing (digital wellbeing suggestions, do-not-disturb settings).

To-Do / Housekeeping

  1. Workshops begin this week – attend the correct session.
  2. Final window to volunteer as Class Rep.
  3. Prepare to meet Yvonne (guest lecturer / tutor) in Week 3.

Questions & Reflection Prompts for Students

  • Where in your routine could passive data collection pose risks?
  • How might you redesign one habit to shift from passive consumption to deliberate engagement?
  • Which DSS could help optimise your study-life balance and why?