Turn Off Creepy Facebook Nearby Friends

Okay ... Facebook will, by default, share your location with nearby friends unless you turn off the feature.

What's nearby friends? Glad you asked. It is where Facebook is using the geolocation info from your phone to report where you are and if any of your pals are nearby. 

Intrusive? Maybe! If you want to turn it off, here's what you do: 

1. Sign into your Facebook app on your phone. 

2. Go to More and select Nearby Friends.

3. Now, once there, go up to the gear on the right hand side: 

4. And then turn off Nearby Friends:

Aw you're such a party pooper.

Anyway, if you ever wanted to turn it back on, you could. Just reverse the steps and flip the switch. You'd be the life of the party all over again. 

Remember: it's not that Facebook's evil, they just think you want to be the most public person possible. You're able to control this capability on your own. That's a company thinking about privacy as an option :)

R

What is an Information System?

Are You Watching What You Really Need?

The other day, I got to talking about what data was. I explained that data was a discrete fact that, by itself, had no specific relevance. We can't contrive meaning out of things like "red", "287.83", or "Ron" unless we know how they're being used ... that they have context.

Information is data in context. It's the lens by which that we perceive data and attempt to make sense of it. If I told you that, in this case, Ron was interested in purchasing a red suitcase for $287.83, then the data is put in context and makes sense, and subconsciously, our minds are already making judgments and decisions surrounding the information that it's been fed:

• Is "red" really a good color for a suitcase? Your mind is already buzzing with long-held perceptions, images, and opinions concerning red suitcases.
  
  
• Is $287.83 really too expensive, given your judgment and past history purchasing suitcases?
  
  
• Is there a reason why Ron wants to travel?

Watch What the Mind Does!

The mind is an interesting thing. See the last one there? My mind wanted to jump to the next logical conclusion - it made this assumption that Ron would be travelling based off of known variables. Ahh assumptions! But did I make the right assumption?

Think About Your Small Business Information System

Should we look at this example as a lesson for understanding your small businesses' information system, I think we should make three points:

1. Facts. Are the facts (datum) recorded in your company's information system accurate? This goes back to my last conversation with you. If the data is bad, the information we'll get from it is bad, and the decisions we'll end up making will be wrong. If the data's bad, why is it bad? That's going to need to be fixed before anything else.
   
   
2. Information. Is the information derived from the information system relevant to your job, or, the job of your employees? Example: if this was a suitcase retailer, it'd be relevant - we see who bought what and for what price. Instead, if you're in the business of, say, carpet cleaning, how does this information help you? Is the information you're getting from your information system relevant to the decisions that need to be made? If it ain't relevant to you or your employees, what's the point? What's the value in being handed irrelevant information? 
   
   
3. Assumption. Finally, how did the information system work to dispel assumption? In this case, there were few data points and my mind was able to wander (as minds do!) and make a broad assumption about what I was seeing. That assumption - that Ron was travelling - may be entirely wrong! And you guys know what happens when people ... assume ... in your business, right? The next thing to look at: how is the information system providing relevant, factual, accurate information, that dispels assumption, and leads the user to the correct decision/answer every time? If the information system provides information that's left up to interpretation (or assumption), we'd see increased guesswork in outcomes, leading to more errors, more malfunctions, more loss.

If we were talking, I'd want to look at the reports being spit out by your information system. How do the contents of this report benefit its user? I'd ask, "What do we absolutely need to know to do THIS job?", and then look at how the information system is providing the right information to the right person at the right time make the best decision, and in a way that dispels assumption, because the more assumptions that'll be made will contribute to higher error rates and loss down the road.

Hey ... There's More?

Wow! Cool, okay, today we've covered some great information theory 101! All of this content is related to my discussion on information management strategy for the small business.

Next time we'll talk about automated versus manual information systems, and, the impacts of errors and omissions. Talk to you then.

R

What is Data?

Datum is a single fact. A simple number, a specific date, a single amount, a zero in the right place, or a one somewhere else. Datum is the singular form of data or a collection of facts.

Data is inherently chaotic. It's disorganized, jumbled, sometimes measurable and sometimes just a feeling. It's everywhere! In and of itself, data has no meaning and is practically useless.

And no, I'm not talking about him.

Here's an example.  Let's say you're a purchasing manager and you need to know what you've paid for a commodity over the last three years. A single hand-scribbled figure is delivered to you by your lead buyer:

$3.87

Okay, you'd have no idea what this means. There's no other context than the amount itself. Is it an average? Is it the last purchase price? What was the quality, quantity, or unit of measure? When was the date surrounding this transaction? As information, this is meaningless. You need more data! You need more facts to provide context and to potentially understand its meaning. 

So by itself, data has no relevance, but in IT, we're very, very obsessed with data. It's found at the very bottom of things - a foundation that is the basis of everything we do in IT. We backup data. We recover data. We analyze data. We mine data. We walk data. Our strategy for managing an Information System begins at understanding how every datum gets recorded!

Seeing its importance yet?

Take into consideration the following four pieces of data:

$3.87  $3.56   $3.78  $3.63

Only one of these is accurate. Only one of this is the right, true piece of data. Which one is it? How can you tell? Which one is the real piece of data? Which is true? Which is false?

• And if we kept the bad data and used it as a basis of reporting, wouldn't the reports be suspect? Like, the reports would be bad? Generating erroneous information?
   
• And wouldn't the decisions our employees - relying off of the reports - make be bad? Wrong? Inaccurate?
   
• Wouldn't inaccurate information - fed to our internal decision-makers - impact the expectations of our shareholders and private investors?
   
• Then won't our bad decisions lead to internal losses, missed opportunity, or disappointed customers? Who then relate their frustrations to friends and family through word-of-mouth, damaging your brand, ruining your reputation? 

GIGO, right? Garbage In, Garbage Out?

Understanding the role Information Systems plays in your business begins with thoroughly studying the first and last datum stored. Managing the information system means stepping back, all the way back through your assumptions, to see how data is being accurately captured, recorded, preserved, and maintained. Do you know this? Where your data comes from? How it's accuracy is guaranteed?

Next: What is Information?

R