B) Write down a short summary based on the results of the discussion. Unit 9. Storing and Managing Economic Information

Unit 9. Storing and Managing Economic Information

Lead-in

Exercise 1. Starting up:

1. How did people use to store information a thousand/a century ago? How did information storage and transfer methods develop in the course of time?

2. How do you manage to keep necessary information in order?

3. Why do you think people nowadays have to deal with rapidly increasing amount of information?

Vocabulary and Reading

Exercise 2. You are going to read the report on the problem of report on storing and managing economic information. Match English phrases with their Russian equivalents:

1. to restrict the flow of data	обрабатывать данные
2. Big Brotherishness	ухватиться за возможность
3. suspicious claims	ограничивать поток данных
4. law-enforcement agencies	подозрительные заявки
5. to identify fraudulent purchase	контролировать каждую покупку
6. to monitor every purchase	выявлять мошеннические покупки
7. to grasp the opportunity	правоохранительные органы
8. data deluge	разведывательная служба
9. an intelligence agency	несанкционированный доступ
10. privacy breech / privacy infringement	адаптировать предложение товара в соответствии с конкретными предпочтениями покупателей
11. to crunch data	диктатура
12. to pose risk	наплыв информации
13. to tailor promotions to particular customers’ preferences	представлять угрозу
14. foul play	непреднамеренно
15. unwittingly	грязная игра

Exercise 3. Read the first part of the report on storing and managing economic information and decide if the following statements are true (T) or false (F):

1. The quantity of information in the world is soaring.

2. The data deluge is already starting to transform business, government, science and everyday life.

3. Credit-card companies monitor every purchase and can identify fraudulent ones with a high degree of accuracy.

4. Stolen credit cards are more likely to be used to buy wine.

5. Retailers fail in data mining.

6. Online advertising is already far more accurately targeted than the offline sort.

7. Business intelligence is one of the slowest-growing parts of the software industry.

Eighteen months ago, Li & Fung, a firm that manages supply chains for retailers, saw 100 gigabytes of information flow through its network each day. Now the amount has in­creased tenfold.

Everywhere you look, the quantity of information in the world is soaring. According to one estimate, mankind created 150 exabytes (billion gigabytes) of data in 2005. This year, it will create 1,200 exabytes. Merely keeping up with this flood, and storing the bits that might be useful, is difficult enough. Analysing it, to spot patterns and extract useful information, is harder still. Even so, the data deluge is already starting to transform business, government, science and everyday life (see our spe­cial report in this issue). It has great potential for good – as long as consumers, companies and governments make the right choices about when to restrict the flow of data, and when to encourage it.

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