The first thing that comes to my mind when my counselor told me I had to register to take BMIS 235 for my Fall semester of my sophomore year as one of the prerequisites to the business school was, “what the heck is this class?” Now let’s be honest, the number of students who actually know what BMIS is or even stands for before they decide that it’s finally time to order their textbook before schools starts is fairly slim. As I was searching for what section of BMIS 235 fit my schedule, I soon figured out that BMIS actually stood for Business Management Information Systems. I of course still did not know what the class was about, except for the fact that it was going to take place in a computer lab. Once I registered for the class and ordered my textbooks, the first thought that went through my mind when I saw that we not only needed an MIS textbook, but also needed an HTML5 textbook was quite startling. I immediately thought to myself that I was not a computer engineer or scientist, but that it would be really cool to learn how to code HTML. I was worried that the class was going to be predominantly MIS based instead of HTML based, but this was not the fact. We had a perfect balance between the two, which has lead me to have a well-rounded outlook and vast knowledge on both subject matters.
As the first couple of weeks in class progressed I became really interested in the material. If you’re interested in learning about the way that business utilize, manipulate, and organize all of their information and how to create your own website (yes that’s right, you can actually learn to create something that looks like something you see on web sites every day), then you will love this class! I found that my love for this class really grew when I started learning about different aspects of information systems that applied directly to my lifestyle. How crazy was this that I was actually learning something out of a textbook about my life?! It was awesome, but it also caused me to reflect a lot on the different things I learned that were so closely related to my life.
Most all of you probably have a smartphone I am guessing (most likely whatever the latest and greatest version of the iPhone is now), and you probably all have a laptop you use. Now in addition to both of these hardware devices, you probably have multiple applications and social media applications that you check multiple times every day. You might even text during class, bring your laptop to class and browse different websites, go online shopping, chat with your friends on Facebook, etc. I am not saying that this is okay, but I wanted to bring to your attention something I learned that you probably never thought we touched on in the class.
How many of you think that you are completely safe whenever you are on your phone texting, checking your e-mail on one of your devices, or stalking someone on Facebook? I am guessing probably many of you. Well you would not have believed how shocked I was when I learned that this is not necessarily the case. What I learned specifically in this one chapter of my MIS textbook is knowledge I will forever carry on with me. There is not a day that has gone by since I have read this chapter that I have not thought about how my daily life applies to these concepts. Shouldn’t we all have the right on our own individual, hardware devices to have privacy? Of course! But this is not the reality, and I became aware of this when I read about packet sniffers (I know what you must be thinking and no packet sniffers are not people that go around sniffing packets hoping to smell roses). Packet sniffers are programs that are able to capture network traffic that is unsecured and work on wireless networks, such as your very own phone or computer wireless network. What really caught me off guard was that anyone can download a packet sniffer, even your own friends, classmates, teachers, and the list goes on and on. I do not do anything bad on any of my devices but after learning about packet sniffers, I have felt slightly uncomfortable whenever I go on my phone or computer while on a wireless network. All of a sudden a million questions ran through my mind: Is nothing I do on my private device really private? Who is watching me? Is someone trying to snoop on my conversation with my friend? Why would someone want to see what I was doing? Is there something that I am doing that someone else wants to know and can’t simply ask me? The questions are endless!
I have learned that I cannot obsess over every single thing I decide to do on my phone or computer, otherwise I would go crazy. If anything I have learned that if it is something very private, then I should wait and do whatever it is that I want to do when I am on my own, secure server. It was not until after I read about packet sniffers that I realized that there is no escaping the inevitable question of privacy, even when you are on a secured server. If I decide all of a sudden that I want to log onto my Facebook account while at work and on a secured server, then my employer has access to whatever things I am browsing on my personal account. The idea of privacy to me has become more and more of an imaginary one due to the new information that I have learned in my BMIS class.
Having knowledge of this information in particular makes me think twice every time I am tempted to browse the Internet during a class or text a friend about some gossip she had asked me about. Also, it makes me realize that this ‘problem’ of people’s privacy being potentially exposed is not one that is going to go away anytime soon, especially with the increase of advancements in technology in this century. This is something that applies to all of us, and it is something that our generation is going to have to deal with. Privacy, especially in the business world, is crucial to keep important documents safe from harm from outside users. My main takeaway from learning about packet sniffers in the context of a business is that employers should trust their employees on their network and not have to monitor their every move. If I knew that someone was watching my every move on my devices I would feel so violated. It is important to instill trust within a business in order to ensure that people stick to their tasks and don’t feel threatened by packet sniffers.
Looking back at my classroom experience in BMIS 235, I believe that I am taking away a lot of knowledge with it. This is not a class where you simply attend the class for a semester and then flush your brain of anything and everything you learned. This class is very applicable to not only our daily lives like I said earlier, but it is also applicable to our future lives in the business world. Without management information systems businesses would not be able to do anything. The information that businesses did have would have been essentially worthless without having the proper information systems to produce their information. Information systems are vital in all aspects of life, but they are especially a crucial component in the business world. If I could only take on small piece of knowledge or wisdom away from this entire semester it would be this: the way in which we communicate in our world to produce or deliver our desired information is so important. I have been able to observe both sides of business and how they function because of this class, and I can now confidently say that I have a greater understanding of how business work.
