Information Skepticism question

1. Information Savvy Analysis. (40 Points)

Utilizing your new “Information Skepticism” skills, provide some critical analysis of the informational content of the following from an article reporting on Covid-19 cases.

On Sunday, October 4, 2020, CNN reported that only three US states showed a decline in new Covid-19 cases compared to last week as the five-day average of new daily cases rose to a level not seen since mid-August.

As of Saturday night [Oct. 3], new cases were down in Texas, Missouri and South Carolina, while 21 states reported a rise in cases and a little more than half held steady compared with the week before. From September 29 to October 3, there were an average of 46,500 cases per day — the most cases in a five-day period since August 14-18 according to Johns Hopkins University.

The climbing coronavirus count comes as the President joined the more than 7.3 million people who have tested positive for Covid-19 in the US, a sobering reminder of the virus’ reach as health experts urge continued vigilance during the fall and winter months.

Referencing lesson content primarily from the chapter excerpt “First Principles” and “Factfulness,” discuss and provide critical analysis of the content of this report. (Rubric)

• Identify the pertinent facts from the article. (10 points)
• Discuss if and how you think the content of the article is intending to influence readers. (10 points)
• Discuss if and how the content of the article may be giving a skewed view of the circumstances. (10 points)
• Describe what, if any, additional facts or information should be provided to give a more objective view of the circumstances. (10 points)

2. Unit 2 Problem Analysis. (30 Points)

You are a section manager in the product supply department of a midsized manufacturing firm. The department manager has called a meeting of all section managers to outline his plan to contract with a cloud service provider to provide sales forecasting and inventory management software and services. The goal is to reduce the number of out-of-stock occurrences while maintaining a minimum level of finished product inventory. The cloud service provider requires detailed order, shipment, and promotion data for the past three years in addition to ongoing current data. Members of the product supply department will be able to access the software to develop sales forecasts and make better manufacturing and inventory decisions.

Prompts. (Rubric)

• Discuss arguments for and against the plan. (10 points)
• Describe the possible motivations for your manager to recommend the plan. (5 point)
• Identify potential issues that could arise from this proposed project. (5 points)
• The department manager has just completed his discussion and is asking for comments and questions. Describe what you should say. (10 points)

3. Unit 5 Problem Analysis (30 Points)

You are the database administrator for the customer database of a medium-sized manufacturing firm. The database runs on an Oracle database management system installed on a server owned and managed by your firm’s small IT organization. Recently you have been receiving a number of complaints from users of the database about extremely slow response time to their queries and report requests. Management has asked you to prepare a set of proposed solutions.

Prompts (Rubric)

• Describe what advantages might be gained from moving to a database as a service environment. (10 points)
• Discuss any possible disadvantages to this approach you can think of. (5 points)
• Propose any additional questions you think need to be answered before deciding if the database as a service approach is right for your firm. (5 points)
• Discuss how such a move might affect you and your role in the organization. (10 points