Here is my Deliverable Set A:

MCTE 620: Management Information Systems
Deliverable Set A [aka assign-6]
STUDENT NAME: Rich O’Connell
DATE: May 4, 2008
1. List the number of the Topic and the label for the Topic along with a preliminary UNIQUE title.
24. RSS and its use in management information systems.
RSS: Using old technology in a new way

TABLE OF CONTENTS (TOC)
Table of Contents
Statement of the Problem 2
Statement of the Problem 2
Outline 3
Background 3
Applications 3
Future Development 3
Conclusion 3
Reference List 3

3. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:
In today’s business marketplace companies are challenged on two fronts to provide accurate, timely, and relevant information. Customers want to be in control of their electronic media, but they don’t want to give out personal information because of fear of how it will be used (Blumberg & Evans, 2005). This is the challenge facing companies today, how to get information to people who want it but don’t want to tell you who they are. On the other hand a company has to keep information flowing to employees so that they are aware of what is happening in and with the company. Kelley Butler (2006) quoted John Nail in an article in which he stated “staying current on industry trends is an important part of the job for any benefits pro. I was not staying up-to-date on the industry and would be surprised by people asking, have you heard of ABC?” With the expansion of the internet and all of the information available at ones finger tips, how do you find what you are looking for and is it current? This is the challenge facing companies. A company that does not realize the importance of information management will fall behind and lose their competitive edge.
The researcher will examine a possible solution that has been around for awhile but is finding rebirth in the information age. RSS or Really Simple Syndication, Butler (2006) describes its use today as “a way that allows users to receive information in real time through Web feeds of complete online content including text, audio, and video – or summaries with links to the full version. It is an easy way for folks to get the information they want.”

4. OUTLINE
I. Background
A. Define RSS
1. Desktop applications required to use RSS
a. Reader or aggregator
b. Applications available
II. Applications
A. Customer or external applications
B. Employee or internal applications
III. Future Development
IV. Conclusion

5. REFERENCE LIST:

Blumberg, M., & Evans, H, (2005). RSS revolution. Pharmaceutical Executive, 25(8), 97-98

Butler, K. M. (2006, September 1). Benefits RSS feed delivers real-time info. Employee
Benefits News, p. 1

Deliverable Set A

For my R&D paper I decided to go with the topic: RSS and its use in Management Information Systems. I choose this because I have been seeing this RSS symbol on a lot of web pages and was not really sure what is was all about so I figured this would be a good topic for me to learn about.

I have started looking for articles and have already found that his will be a very interesting topic. There are about seven different definitions for RSS currently in use: some of them I found so far are Rich Site Summary, RDF Site Summary, and the original Really Simple Syndication.

I guess my first question for this assignment will be how to use this media delivery format in MIS? I think I will begin at Wikipedia to get some background on RSS then move on to applications.