[AISWorld] Ver. 1.2 of Free Web / Low-cost Print IS Text Now Available

[John Gallaugher]

Version 1.2 of “Information Systems: A Manager’s Guide to Harnessing Technology” is out.  The project remains free over the web with low cost print & audio options.  You can read the text online & see other media options at:
http://bit.ly/ISbookV1-2

Each summer I hope to release a new version that will refresh key statistics, examples, and bring case material up to date. Additional chapters and cases are also planned.  The current table of contents is listed below:

•	Chapter 1: Setting the Stage: Technology and the Modern Enterprise 
•	Chapter 2: Strategy and Technology: Concepts and Frameworks for Understanding What Separates Winners from Losers 
•	Chapter 3: Zara: Fast Fashion from Savvy Systems 
•	Chapter 4: Netflix in Two Acts: The Making of an E-commerce Giant and the Uncertain Future of Atoms to Bits 
•	Chapter 5: Moore’s Law: Fast, Cheap Computing and What It Means for the Manager 
•	Chapter 6: Understanding Network Effects 
•	Chapter 7: Social Media, Peer Production, and Web 2.0 
•	Chapter 8: Facebook: Building a Business from the Social Graph 
•	Chapter 9: Understanding Software: A Primer for Managers 
•	Chapter 10: Software in Flux: Partly Cloudy and Sometimes Free 
•	Chapter 11: The Data Asset: Databases, Business Intelligence, and Competitive Advantage 
•	Chapter 12: A Manager’s Guide to the Internet and Telecommunications 
•	Chapter 13: Information Security: Barbarians at the Gateway (and Just About Everywhere Else) 
•	Chapter 14: Google in Three Parts: Search, Online Advertising, and Beyond 

The text is meant to introduce key concepts, frameworks, and principles in business and technology, and many will find the material appropriate for core undergrad and grad courses, as well as strategy-focused electives.  Written in a style that reflects the business press rather than a reference textbook, the book leverages a combination of chapters, short examples, and extended integrated cases, with heavy emphasis on firms that students should find interesting and relevant.  

Also feel free to leverage any of the content on my personal website (link below).  There you’ll find a news digest / blog  (“The Week in Geek”) where I often post examples related to concepts in the book.  There’s also ‘Free Courseware’ section that includes links to slides, reading lists, assignments and podcasts that I use in my own course. And there is a Ning community for IS Faculty for sharing blog posts relevant to teaching at the intersection of business and technology.  There are a lot of lurkers, currently, but your contributions are welcome! Hopefully this will grow into a useful resource, as well.

Sincerest thanks to those who have helped make the project a success. We’ve had over 125 adopting institutions in the first year, with content in use in six of the institutions listed in the U.S. News Top Ten Undergrad IS Programs. I greatly appreciate your kind words & encouragement, and I hope that you and your students continue to find the material useful.

Best regards,
John
--
John Gallaugher, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Information Systems
Carroll School of Management - Boston College
http://www.gallaugher.com  - http://twitter.com/gallaugher
Textbook: http://bit.ly/ISbookV1-2 - Phone: 617-552-2519