The Technology of Information Systems-Another Challenge for Engineering Education

The proper functioning of the world in which we live is becoming more and more dependent on information and how we use it. With methodologies and machines that are becoming available to information systems technology, we are, indeed, entering the Age of Information-an age of promise in business, in government, and in the military that can have as profound an effect on the world as the harnessing of the atom, the development of electric power, or the Industrial Revolution of the Nineteenth Century. The purpose of this paper is to delineate the broad technology of information systems in order to provide a basis for estimating the impact of this technology on future engineering education. Suggestions for modifying under-graduate engineering curriculums are made in order that future engineering graduates will be prepared to contribute to the continuing development of the technology and to utilize the technology in performing other engineering work. This paper discusses such topics as: What is an Information System?; Functions of a Generic Information System; Men in Information Systems; Machines in Information Systems; Methods in Information Systems; How Information Systems Are Created; Major Problems Facing Information Systems Technology; and The Challenge for Engineering Education.