Introduction To Information Systems People Technology and Processes 3Rd Edition Wallace Test Bank Download PDF 2024

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Introduction to Information Systems, 3e (Wallace)
Chapter 8 Collaborating with Technology
1) When IMAP is used, incoming mail is maintained and organized on a server.

Answer: TRUE
AACSB: Information Technology
Chapter LO: 1: Describe the major collaborative technologies, and explain the features that each
one offers for communication and productivity.
Difficulty: Easy
2) IMAP is useful only for users who use a single device to access their mail.
Answer: FALSE
Difficulty: Easy
3) The vCard is a file format which is used to exchange business card information electronically.
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: Easy
4) Discussion forums are moderated for the purpose of nurturing discussions and blocking users
who violate the rules.
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: Easy
5) Instant messaging is an open system in which anyone can send messages to anyone else
regardless of which IM software they both are using.
Answer: FALSE
Difficulty: Easy
6) Text messages multiply the power of informal networks by allowing users to broadcast
information not yet available through traditional means.
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: Easy
1
Copyright © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc.
7) Group decision support systems were designed to get rid of anonymity.
Answer: FALSE
Difficulty: Easy
8) Lower-end interactive video chat systems create a greater sense of telepresence than higher-
end ones.
Answer: FALSE
Difficulty: Easy
9) A drawback of the centralized document library in a shared workspace is that it creates

confusion and duplication when team members send revised versions back and forth over email.
Answer: FALSE
Difficulty: Easy
10) Blogs help organizations market their products and create an intimate connection with
suppliers and customers.
Answer: TRUE
Chapter LO: 2: Identify and describe Web 2.0 technologies that facilitate collaboration.
Difficulty: Easy
11) A high volume of posting is an important characteristic of popular and influential blogs, but
it tends to create a lot of junk.
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: Easy
12) Wiki software requires users to know HTML in order to add or edit web pages.
Answer: FALSE
Difficulty: Easy
2
13) A microblog is an example of photo software with which large photos can be reduced in size
without blurring their resolution.
Answer: FALSE
Difficulty: Easy
14) The virtual world is a graphical, often 3D environment in which users can immerse
themselves, interacting with virtual objects and with one another using avatars.
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: Easy
15) The simple interfaces used in virtual worlds enable quick customer visits.
Answer: FALSE
Difficulty: Easy
16) The primary function of a context indicator is to display the exact geographical location of a
user to his or her contacts through the GPS navigation system.
Answer: FALSE
Chapter LO: 3: Explain how unified communications contribute to collaboration.
Difficulty: Easy
17) Media richness measures how well a communication medium can generate revenues.
Answer: FALSE
Chapter LO: 4: Describe features of online environments that can affect human behavior and
group dynamics, and identify strategies to make virtual teams more productive and successful.
Difficulty: Easy
18) Media richness is usually starkly lower online than during face-to-face.
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: Easy
19) Disinhibition is extremely high in relatively anonymous text-based online environments.

Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: Easy
3
20) The online world tends to flatten out hierarchies and equalize status.
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: Easy
21) Which of the following is true of SMTP?

A) It is a protocol for storing incoming mail.
B) It is used for handling outgoing mail.
C) It uses microformats to store metadata.
D) It is used for exchanging contact management data.
Answer: B
Difficulty: Easy
22) Which of the following is the function of an SMTP server?

A) It handles and sends outgoing email.
B) It translates metadata into microformats.
C) It manages address books and business cards.
D) It stores incoming mail received by users.
Answer: A
Difficulty: Easy
23) Which of the following mail protocols is commonly used to handle outgoing mail from
users?
A) simple mail transfer protocol
B) Internet message access protocol
C) post office protocol
D) quick mail queuing protocol
Answer: A
Difficulty: Easy
4
24) Which of the following is true of IMAP?
A) It is an outdated protocol for organizing outgoing mail.
B) It allows access to mail only from a single device, thus ensuring privacy.
C) It requires installation of client software and cannot work on web browsers.
D) It maintains mail on a server instead of on a single machine.
Answer: D
Difficulty: Easy
25) How does IMAP differ from SMTP?

A) IMAP handles incoming messages while SMTP handles outgoing messages.
B) IMAP handles outgoing messages while SMTP handles incoming messages.
C) IMAP handles both incoming and outgoing messages while SMTP manages contacts.
D) SMTP handles both incoming and outgoing messages while IMAP manages contacts.
Answer: A
Difficulty: Easy
26) Which of the following is an advantage of IMAP?

A) Mail can be accessed from a number of systems.
B) Mail can be accessed only from a single system, ensuring information safety.
C) Mail can be accessed only using installed client software and not from any browser.
D) Mail is not saved on the server, which ensures privacy.
Answer: A
Difficulty: Easy
27) An SMTP server is a server that handles outgoing email, where SMTP stands for ________.
A) short mail transfer protocol
B) simple mail transfer protocol
C) social media transfer protocol
D) short message transfer protocol
Answer: B
Difficulty: Easy
5
28) Which of the following is a web-based email service that was built from the ground up to
work within browsers rather than with client software installed on computers?
A) Scribd
B) Gmail
C) Lotus Notes
D) GroupWise
Answer: B
Difficulty: Easy
29) Which of the following is a file format used to exchange contact management data
electronically?
A) .ics
B) iCalendar
C) .exe
D) hCard
Answer: D
Difficulty: Easy
30) What is a vCard?

A) a file format used to exchange business card information electronically
B) a file format for purchasing products online through debit or credit cards
C) a software tool that encrypts sensitive business information
D) a file format that helps make online money transfers using debit or credit cards
Answer: A
Difficulty: Easy
31) Which of the following is true of a vCard?

A) It must be scanned and saved in a contact management system before use.
B) It requires the use of optical character recognition software for accessing business card
details.
C) It is used to exchange business card information electronically.
D) It relies on the XML family of standards to represent metadata.
Answer: C
Difficulty: Easy
6
32) The term ________ refers to a set of formats that rely on the XML family of standards to
represent metadata in HTML code.
A) hashtag
B) microformat
C) mashup
D) HTML format
Answer: B
Difficulty: Easy
33) Which of the following is true of microformats?

A) They can store all types of data, except metadata.
B) They cannot be emailed or exchanged over Bluetooth.
C) They can be exchanged over wired networks, but not wireless.
D) They rely on XML standards to represent metadata in HTML.
Answer: D
Difficulty: Easy
34) What is the function of microformats like the hCard?

A) the electronic exchange of business card information
B) the creation of multimedia files and cards
C) the storage and retrieval of incoming emails
D) the maintenance of a database of a user's web history and business card details
Answer: A
Difficulty: Easy
35) Microformats represent metadata in ________.

A) HTML
B) IMAP
C) SMTP
D) HTTP
Answer: A
Difficulty: Easy
7
36) The .ics extension indicates that a plain text file contains ________ code.
A) HTTP
B) SMTP
C) iCalendar
D) hashtag
Answer: C
Difficulty: Easy
37) Which of the following is true of iCalendars?

A) They analyze the success rate of events.
B) They flag events that stretch over months or years.
C) They create advertising tools for events.
D) They help budget and maintain the costs of large-scale events.
Answer: B
Difficulty: Easy
38) Which of the following is true of asynchronous discussion forums?

A) They help users to communicate via interactive video chat.
B) They do not allow users to post anonymously, thus enhancing safety for users.
C) They are never moderated, thus enabling users to post freely.
D) They allow users to post text messages and reply to others at any time.
Answer: D
Difficulty: Easy
39) Which of the following types of websites allows users to undertake many of the same
activities as bulletin boards?
A) discussion forums
B) iCalendars
C) blogs
D) instant messaging
Answer: A
Difficulty: Easy
8
40) Which of the following is an advantage of asynchronous discussion forums?
A) They are not moderated and hence allow users to speak freely.
B) They do not allow "lurkers" to participate in the activities of the forum.
C) They do not allow users to use pseudonyms and require real-world contact details.
D) They allow users to reply to topics at any time.
Answer: D
Difficulty: Easy
41) BTC, a consulting company with offices across the United States, began an employee
discussion forum on its website. A few employees began criticizing the company on the forum
and undermining its morale. BTC does not want to limit employee interaction, but at the same
time, it would like to limit what employees can write. Which of the following features of a
discussion forum will help them achieve this?
A) anonymity
B) telepresence
C) version control
D) moderators
Answer: D
AACSB: Information Technology; Analytical Thinking
Difficulty: Moderate
42) Athena Jolene, a human resources executive at Thomas Griffith, wants to collect ideas from
the company's employees for an upcoming company-wide event. The company has offices
spread across the country. Which of the following techniques will best help Athena receive
suggestions from employees, while also allowing employees to share their ideas with one
another?
A) instant messaging
B) discussion forum
C) texting
D) emailing
Answer: B
Difficulty: Hard
9
43) ________, also known as "chat," consists of real-time text-based interactions over a network.
A) Microblogging
B) Emailing
C) Instant messaging
D) Blogging
Answer: C
Difficulty: Easy
44) Which of the following is an example of a free IM software client?

A) Skype
B) Excel
C) WordPress
D) Linux
Answer: A
Difficulty: Easy
45) Which of the following is a difference between IM and email?

A) Unlike emailing, IM allows people to send messages to anyone regardless of the IM software
being used.
B) The switching costs for emails are much higher than those for IM.
C) Email providers allow more interoperability than IM providers.
D) Each email product uses different protocols, while all IM products operate using a single
protocol.
Answer: C
Difficulty: Easy
46) Which of the following is true of instant messaging?

A) It helps users add and edit interlinked web pages.
B) It allows people to use simple text editing tools to create knowledge databases.
C) It allows greater telepresence than discussion forums and video conferences.
D) It allows users to display their current status to their contacts.
Answer: D
Difficulty: Easy
10
47) What is the purpose of the "presence awareness" feature on instant messaging software?
A) It allows users to upload photos and videos that help them increase their online presence.
B) It allows users to display their current status to their contacts, colleagues, or buddy list.
C) It allows users to search for common friends by browsing their buddy lists.
D) It allows users to view the real-world contact details of everyone on their buddy lists.
Answer: B
Difficulty: Easy
48) The ________ feature introduced by instant messaging shows whether a person is logged in
and available to answer a question, pick up the phone, or stop by for a brief meeting.
A) presence awareness
B) telepresence
C) media richness
D) telecommute
Answer: A
49) Which of the following functions is performed by texting?

A) synchronous collaboration among users
B) telepresence between users
C) transfer of photos and videos
D) creation and maintenance of databases
Answer: C
Difficulty: Easy
50) What advantage does instant messaging have over phone and conference calls?
A) It is more informal and saves time by reducing social courtesies during interactions.
B) It offers users a greater sense of telepresence than phones or conference calls do.
C) It is more personal than phone calls and conference calls and offers greater media richness.
D) It is a collaborative technology that allows a number of people to participate at the same time.
Answer: A
11
51) The term "war room" refers to a(n) ________.
A) area in which members of a project work together, surrounded by tools to facilitate smooth
collaboration
B) room in which a company's management interacts with representatives of labor unions
C) online space in which brainstorming sessions between interdepartmental teams take place
D) online room in which new employees undertake orientation programs before getting on board
Answer: A
Difficulty: Easy
52) What is a group decision support system?

A) a collaborative technology that reaches out to large groups of customers and is used to market
products
B) a software that supports employee-customer interaction to help a firm collect feedback on
product performance
C) a collaborative technology that helps teams brainstorm and exchange views about a topic to
come to an agreement
D) a technology that allows the top management to interact with customers from various
segments of their markets
Answer: C
Difficulty: Easy
53) Which of the following is true of group decision support systems?

A) They allow users to collaborate with each other asynchronously, saving time and effort in
coordination.
B) They allow users to express independent viewpoints that may differ from those of others in a
group.
C) They do not support anonymity and require users to use their real names, to increase
accountability.
D) They give high-status individuals within a group a disproportionate influence on decisions.
Answer: B
12
54) Which of the following is a software tool that allows synchronous collaboration and allows
online meetings via the Internet?
A) microblogging
B) emailing
C) web conferencing
Answer: C
Difficulty: Easy
55) Which of the following is an example of a browser-based software tool that allows web
conferences and webinars?
A) Excel
B) Tumblr
C) WebEx
D) Wordweb
Answer: C
Difficulty: Easy
56) The impression created when remote participants in an interactive video meeting are almost
life-sized and images are vividly clear is known as ________.
A) virtual reality
B) telepresence
C) augmented reality
D) disinhibition
Answer: B
Difficulty: Easy
57) A ________ is an area on a server in which team members can post documents, maintain
membership lists, feature news and announcements, and collaborate on edits and updates.
A) shared workspace
B) command center
C) war room
D) tag cloud
Answer: A
Difficulty: Easy
13
58) Colin Mackay Inc., a software company with its head office in Amsterdam, has employees
across three continents. The company's project teams across different countries frequently
exchange documents over email, with multiple users making changes to a particular document.
As a result, there are often multiple copies of a particular document in existence. Which of the
following will allow the teams to share documents in such a way that they can keep track of the
changes made to a particular document and note the team members who make the changes?
A) blogging
B) shared workspace
C) instant messaging
D) cross-linking
Answer: B
59) Microsoft's Sharepoint includes features for ________, which ensures that older copies of
documents are maintained and no changes are lost.
A) mashup
B) cross-linking
C) version control
D) telepresence
Answer: C
Difficulty: Easy
60) Which of the following is an example of a blogging tool?

A) WebEx
B) Gmail
C) Wordpress
D) Groupon
Answer: C
Difficulty: Easy
14
61) A ________ allows users to maintain a website with ongoing commentary, images, and links
to other online resources in which posts are displayed in reverse chronological order so that the
most recent appears on top.
A) hashtag
B) blog
C) wiki
D) tumblr
Answer: B
Difficulty: Easy
62) Which of the following is true of a blog?

A) It allows synchronous discussions among participants.
B) It displays posts in a chronological order.
C) It can be accessed online as well as offline.
D) It encourages cross-linking.
Answer: D
Difficulty: Easy
63) ________ simplifies the task of creating one's own website to review products, discuss
hobbies, or express opinions about any subject.
A) Instant messaging
B) Emailing
C) Blogging
D) Web conferencing
Answer: C
Difficulty: Easy
64) For which of the following purposes can blogs be used?

A) sending electronic mail
B) communicating through interactive voice chatting
C) creating connections with customers
D) sending instant text messages
Answer: C
Difficulty: Easy
15
65) Which of the following is a technology that facilitates end-user contributions and allows
collaborative editing by allowing users to add and edit interlinked web pages?
A) wiki
B) hashtag
C) blog
Answer: A
Difficulty: Easy
66) ________ is a publicly accessible website that allows users to add and edit interlinked web
pages and make contributions from their own personal experience to update existing articles with
current information.
A) Ebay
B) Amazon
C) Wikipedia
D) Monster
Answer: C
Difficulty: Easy
67) Which of the following functions do wikis perform within an organization?

A) creating a substantial base of knowledge
B) creating interactive discussions between employees and clients
C) establishing communication between members of a team through instant text messaging
D) creating telepresence between employees working across the globe
Answer: A
Difficulty: Easy
68) Donald Garner Inc., a manufacturing company in California, recently recruited a large
number of employees for its new branch office in the city. The company wants to create
knowledge storehouses that employees can edit as needed, adding contributions from their own
personal experience or updating existing information. Which of the following can the company
use to create such a substantial base of knowledge for its new employees?
A) wiki
B) blog
C) hashtag
D) tumblr
Answer: A
Difficulty: Hard
16
69) Which of the following is the primary function of a wiki?
A) It allows users to join online groups in order to buy a particular item.
B) It allows users to add and edit interlinked web pages.
C) It allows users to communicate through instant messaging and electronic mail.
D) It allows users to interact synchronously and make decisions together.
Answer: B
Difficulty: Easy
70) Which of the following is a drawback of Wikipedia?

A) It has an open structure which allows scope for inaccuracy and bias.
B) It has a complicated navigation system that makes it difficult for users to operate.
C) It cannot be accessed without an ID and a password.
D) It features an overload of ads which takes focus away from credible content.
Answer: A
71) A profile in a social networking site consists of ________.

A) interactive video chatting and connection details
B) photos, hobbies, and other details
C) war rooms and virtual worlds
D) shared workspaces
Answer: B
72) Which of the following is a social networking site that allows users to post updates, adding
commentary, links, or images about current happenings?
A) Photoshop
B) Wikipedia
C) iTunes
D) Pinterest
Answer: D
17
73) For which of the following reasons are companies most likely to use social networking sites?
A) to encourage leisure activities like gaming at work
B) to encourage friendly interaction between employees while at work
C) to connect with customers and announce new products
D) to formulate marketing and organizational plans
Answer: C
74) Poise, a fashion apparel brand, intends to increase its online presence by creating online
communities with its customers as members. The customers can interact with each other as well
as the company. The generated information can then be used for developing future products.
Which of the following is the company most likely to make use of?
A) electronic mail system
B) instant messaging system
C) social networking system
D) video conferencing system
Answer: C
Difficulty: Hard
75) ________ are a form of web logging in which posts are quite short, containing a brief
sentence fragment and, at times, a link to another web resource or video.
A) Mashups
B) Microblogs
C) Instant messages
D) Hashtags
Answer: B
Difficulty: Easy
76) Which of the following is true of microblogging?

A) Entries in microblogging sites must always be on business topics.
B) Microblogging is rarely used by advertisers to promote their products.
C) Users can reply to others' posts but cannot repeat them.
D) Users can post links to web resources or videos.
Answer: D
18
77) Which of the following is true of microblogging?
A) Entries in a microblogging site appear in chronological order.
B) All posts on a similar topic include a keyword prefixed by a @, which is called a mashup.
C) Entries in a microblogging site have no space constraints.
D) Users themselves have added their own conventions to make microblogging more useful.
Answer: D
78) ________ is the microblogging website with the largest number of users in the world.
A) Tumblr
B) Twitter
C) Flickr
D) Blogger
Answer: B
Difficulty: Easy
79) A ________ is a microblogging tool in which posts on a similar topic are indicated by a
keyword prefixed by a certain special character on microblogging websites.
A) mashup
B) tag cloud
C) hashtag
D) wiki
Answer: C
Difficulty: Easy
80) On microblogging sites, a hashtag is used to indicate that ________.

A) a set of posts are on a similar topic
B) users are away from their systems
C) a post links away from the site
D) a user posts objectionable content
Answer: A
Difficulty: Easy
19
81) ________ describes what people experience when some of their sensory input is not from the
real world, but from a computer-generated one.
A) Telepresence
B) Disinhibition
C) Presence awareness
D) Virtual reality
Answer: D
Difficulty: Easy
82) A graphical, often 3D environment in which users can immerse themselves, interacting with
virtual objects and one another using avatars is known as a(n) ________.
A) virtual world
B) intranet
C) virtualization engine
D) walled garden
Answer: A
Difficulty: Easy
83) ________ integrates multiple applications and interactive channels into a single interface,
accessible from many different devices.
A) Unified communications
B) Integrated marketing communication
C) Virtual reality
D) Augmented reality
Answer: A
Difficulty: Easy
84) Which of the following is a function of unified communications?

A) enabling a company to communicate with all its customers at the same time
B) collecting and storing data from multiple users and building a database
C) integrating multiple applications and communications channels into a single interface
D) maintaining a record of individual changes made on shared documents through version
control
Answer: C
Difficulty: Easy
20
85) Jennifer, a client services manager in an advertising agency, is on vacation. Her smartphone
lets her clients and subordinates know that she is available for hands-free cell-phone
conversations at certain times of a day, and at other times communicates that she is available for
IM or videoconferencing, depending on her activities at the vacation spot. Which of the
following technologies is Jennifer's system using?
A) integrated marketing communications
B) unified communications
C) enterprise resource planning
D) customer relationship management
Answer: B
Difficulty: Hard
86) What function does a context indicator perform?

A) It indicates the changes that should be implemented in simulated business-context inputs.
B) It provides quick access to email, secure instant messaging, and voice and video calling.
C) It indicates the availability of data pertaining to certain contexts on a website.
D) It displays whether an individual is available for communication at a certain time or not.
Answer: D
Difficulty: Easy
87) Which of the following pairs perform similar functions in the online world?
A) virtual reality and hashtags
B) vCards and HTML
C) microblogging and hCards
D) presence awareness and context indicators
Answer: D
Difficulty: Easy
88) Which of the following performs functions similar to the presence awareness feature found
in IM software?
A) a hashtag
B) a mashup
C) a context indicator
D) augmented reality
Answer: C
Difficulty: Hard
21
89) A ________ provides quick access to context indicators, email, secure instant messaging,
voice and video calling, conference calling, corporate RSS feeds, and more.
A) universal dashboard
B) group decision support system
C) hashtag
D) wiki
Answer: A
Difficulty: Easy
90) Which of the following is a characteristic of a universal dashboard?

A) It aggregates content from multiple internal and external sources on customizable web pages.
B) It integrates multiple pages onto one single screen by resizing them.
C) It provides a gateway to related sites through an index of links.
D) It provides quick access to instant messaging and voice and video calling.
Answer: D
Difficulty: Easy
91) Sarah Jones is a communications assistant at Sustainable Living Inc., a nonprofit

organization in Las Vegas. Which of the following can give her quick access to emails, video
calling, and corporate RSS feeds that help her be in constant touch with the campaigners for the
organization?
A) virtual world
B) universal dashboard
C) enterprise resource planning system
D) social media information system
Answer: B
Difficulty: Hard
92) When compared to a face-to-face setting, an online environment offers ________.

A) greater anonymity
B) a well-defined audience
C) no context indicators
D) greater media richness
Answer: A
Difficulty: Easy
22
93) Which of the following is a characteristic of online communications?
A) fewer nonverbal cues to clarify meaning
B) a more well-defined audience than in-person interactions
C) less anonymity than in-person interactions
D) greater media richness than in-person interactions
Answer: A
Difficulty: Easy
94) ________ measures how well a communication medium can reproduce all the nuances and
subtleties of the message it transmits.
A) Virtual reality
B) Presence awareness
C) Telepresence
D) Media richness
Answer: D
Difficulty: Easy
95) Which of the following is true of media richness?

A) It is much higher online than during face-to-face interactions.
B) It is higher in text-based online interactions than in voice or video interactions.
C) It focuses on the richness and quality of message content, leaving out nonverbal cues.
D) It measures how well a communication medium reproduces the nuances and subtleties of a
message.
Answer: D
Difficulty: Easy
96) Which of the following collaborative technologies has the greatest amount of media richness
as well as interactivity?
A) face-to-face conversations
B) shared workspaces
C) social networking
D) text messaging
Answer: A
Difficulty: Easy
23
97) Which of the following is true of the psychological characteristics of online environments?
A) The larger the physical distance between people, the fewer risks they take with their words.
B) Anonymity can lead to problems because people feel less accountable for their actions.
C) An advantage of online interactions is the existence of a well-defined audience group.
D) As collaborative technologies add new capabilities, people find it easy to handle controls.
Answer: B
Difficulty: Easy
98) Which of the following is true of group dynamics in virtual teams?

A) The online world creates a sense of hierarchy and inequality in status.
B) Norms regarding the sharing of workload are difficult to enforce online.
C) Disinhibition refers to a situation where people express themselves less bluntly while online.
D) One important aspect of disinhibition is the avoidance of self-disclosure.
Answer: B
99) Arthur, a salesperson in a leading apparel store, is very courteous and friendly with
customers who visit the store. However, while interacting with customers through emails, he
tends to be rather blunt and aggressive, which has led to a couple of complaints being lodged
against him. Which of the following does the scenario illustrate?
A) virtual reality
B) telepresence
C) augmented reality
D) disinhibition
Answer: D
Difficulty: Easy
100) An initial face-to-face meeting between the members of a virtual team through interactive
video can ________ among the team members.
A) enhance trust
B) reduce trust
C) have no effect on the level of trust
D) enhance anxiety and tension
Answer: A
Difficulty: Easy
24
101) How do the iCalendar capabilities benefit users?
Answer: Adding calendars and appointment scheduling capabilities to email clients allows users
to receive alerts for upcoming events, synch with a smartphone, or flag recurring events that
stretch out over months or years. Like contacts, calendar events can be transmitted and
exchanged using standardized file formats. The iCalendar format is widely used to transmit
calendar data. The .ics extension indicates that the plain text file contains iCalendar code so the
programs can recognize it. The calendar's collaborative features eliminate much frustration for
event managers. Consider, for example, the struggle to schedule a team meeting, even with the
help of email. Asking people for the times and dates they have available can be fruitless and
time-consuming, with many false starts and delayed responses. But if everyone is sharing
calendars, "free" time for all is easier to identify. Personal preferences, cultural factors, and
corporate norms all affect the use of calendaring software and how much it adds to overall
productivity.
102) How do online discussion forums function?

Answer: Discussion forums evolved from the earlier bulletin board as an online site in which
people could post text messages, reply to others at any time, and discuss a topic of interest.
Forums may be moderated, with someone nurturing the discussion, deleting unacceptable posts,
and blocking users who violate the rules. The forum rules may allow people to post under a
pseudonym, so members feel more anonymous and less identifiable during discussions. Posters
and "lurkers" are both part of the forum community. Some people contribute the majority of
posts while others just read them. Employee discussion forums can be unpredictable. Most are
used productively, but occasional posts can tip in a negative direction.
103) What are the advantages of using instant messaging in a workplace?

Answer: Instant messaging in a workplace can be useful when quick answers are needed. An IM
is much faster than a phone call or conference call. It is especially useful for short questions, as it
requires none of the social courtesies or dedicated attention that phone calls demand. People can
also multitask during IM exchanges. It is a common collaborative tool for people in the same
building, who may keep the IM client active all day long to receive brief text messages from co-
workers in the next cubicle or around the world. IM software has introduced a critically
important collaborative feature called presence awareness, which allows users to display their
current status to their contacts, colleagues, or buddy list. The software shows whether a person is
logged in. Arguably, this feature is the killer app of IM, since it shows whether the person is
available to answer a question, pick up the phone, or stop by for a brief meeting.
25
104) What is presence awareness? How does it aid collaboration within an organization?
Answer: Presence awareness is a feature introduced by the IM software which allows users to
display their current status to their contacts, colleagues, or buddy list. The software shows
whether a person is logged in, and he can elaborate and let others know if he is available to
answer a question, pick up the phone, or to stop by for a brief meeting. Presence awareness
indicators add an important human element to online collaboration, and they are a key reason
people adopt the tool within organizations.
105) What are the advantages of text messaging in emergency situations?

Answer: Texting can help assist in emergency situations and disaster recovery since people
carry their phones wherever they go. They can be used when official communications on
television or radio are sparse and unreliable. Text messages also multiply the power of informal
networks by allowing users to broadcast information not yet available through traditional means.
The features of texting make it extremely valuable for real-time micro-coordination, letting
people know where and when activities are to be held.
106) What are the processes involved in group decision support systems?
Answer: The group decision support system software allows each member to type his or her
contributions anonymously as the group moves through the stages of identifying the problem to
be solved, brainstorming possible solutions, rating the alternatives, and coming to some
consensus about the best course of action. As the contributions, comments, and votes unfold,
they appear on the screen with no names attached.
26
107) Discuss web conferencing and the features offered by browser-based conferencing
software.
Answer: Web conferencing is a synchronous collaboration technology which supports online
meetings, sometimes called "webinars," via the Internet. Browser-based conferencing software,
such as WebEx or Go To Meeting, include features such as real-time video support, support for
PowerPoint or other slide presentations, interactive whiteboards, text-based chat, polling
software, web-based clients for both desktop computers and mobile phones, desktop application
sharing, in which the meeting participants or audience can see whatever application the host is
running on the desktop, archiving recordings so participants who missed the event can play it
back, and registration systems for fee-based enrollments.
108) What are shared workspaces? How do they enhance teamwork?

Answer: A shared workspace is an area on a server in which team members can post documents,
maintain membership lists, feature news and announcements, and collaborate on edits and
updates. The core of a shared workspace is the document library, where members can store
important information assets and keep track of all the edits. Some software for shared
workspaces, such as Microsoft's Sharepoint, includes features for version control to ensure that
older copies are maintained and no changes are lost. This centralized document library goes a
long way toward eliminating the confusion and duplication that arise when team members are
constantly sending revised versions back and forth over email.
109) What are blogs and how can they benefit organizations?
Answer: A blog, short for "web log," is used to facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing.
A blogger maintains a website composed mainly of ongoing commentary, images, and links to
other online resources. The posts are displayed in reverse chronological order so that the most
recent appears on top. Blogging software, such as the free versions available through Wordpress
and Blogger, simplifies the task of creating your own website to express opinions, review
products, discuss hobbies, or just rant. Readers can add their own comments to the blogger's
posts, joining in the asynchronous discussion. For organizations, blogs are a popular means of
building knowledge bases. They are also used for marketing and communications, to create a
more intimate connection with customers and suppliers.
27
110) What are wikis? What functions do they perform?
Answer: A significant Web 2.0 technology that facilitates end-user contributions and
collaborative editing is the wiki, a website that allows users to add and edit interlinked web
pages. Wiki software usually offers simple text editing tools so users need not know HTML. It
keeps track of versions and lets users view the history of changes to each page, along with
discussions about the page's content. Users navigate within a wiki by doing a keyword search or
by clicking on the many embedded links to related wiki pages. Wikis have also emerged as
extremely valuable tools within organizations, especially to centralize documents and create
knowledge storehouses that employees can edit as needed. The wiki makes it easy for people in
any unit or any level of an organization to make contributions from their own personal
experience or to update existing articles with current information. Such wikis can become a
substantial base of knowledge for an organization, useful for training new employees and
organizing all the how-to guides.
111) Which is the best-known publicly accessible wiki? How does it function?
Answer: The online encyclopedia called Wikipedia is the best-known publicly accessible wiki.
With millions of articles contributed by volunteers around the world, the nonprofit Wikipedia is
the most popular general-purpose reference work on the net. People can update any of the
existing articles with current information. Critics point to problems with accuracy and bias,
exacerbated by the site's open structure that allows anyone promoting an agenda to edit articles.
Corporations and government agencies are known to quietly edit entries about themselves to put
out the best spin wherever possible. Occasionally, the site blocks people from changing an
article, especially when it deals with controversial current events.
112) What are the different purposes for which companies can use social networking sites?
Answer: For companies, social networking sites offer a means to support knowledge sharing in
the company and to reach people who may be interested in their products or services. Network
interconnections help messages leap from one network of friends to the next. Companies also use
ads which can be tailored to reach precise target groups based on their members' profiles.
Beyond advertising, organizations create their own profiles as a means to connect with their
customers, recruit new employees, announce new products, and generally promote their brands.
28
113) What is microblogging?
Answer: Microblogging is a form of blogging in which the posts are quite short. Posts in
microblogs contain a brief sentence fragment and perhaps a link to another web resource or
video. The posts appear in reverse chronological order. Topics in a microblog range widely, from
simple updates about what the poster is currently doing to informative links to resources about
current events, companies, services, and more. Users in a microblog can "follow" other users,
whose posts constantly appear on followers' computer screens or mobile devices. Microblog
users can also add their own conventions to make blogging more useful.
114) How does microblogging contribute to social networking?

Answer: Microblogging is a form of blogging in which the posts are quite short, containing a
brief sentence fragment and perhaps a link to another web resource or video. As in a blog, the
entries appear in reverse chronological order. The topics range widely, from simple updates
about what the poster is currently doing to informative links to resources about current events,
hobbies, companies, services, and more. The social media aspect exists because users are able to
"follow" other users, whose posts constantly appear on followers' computer screens or mobile
devices. Followers can reply to posts or repeat them for the benefit of their own followers. As
simple as it sounds, the real-time updates enrich online group dynamics with a level of
connectedness that many consider a significant leap for social media, especially since they
extend the advantages of text messaging to interconnected social networks.
115) How do advertisers make use of Twitter?

Answer: Of all microblogging sites, Twitter has the largest number of users, and its vocabulary
terms "tweet" and "re-tweet" are widely used to describe the basic elements of this collaborative
technology. As simple as it sounds, the real-time updates enrich online group dynamics with a
level of connectedness that many consider a significant leap for social media, especially since
they extend the advantages of text messaging to interconnected social networks. Advertisers
promote products on Twitter by relying on the social networks. For example,
SponsoredTweets.com is a marketplace that brings together people with large followings and
advertisers who want them to tweet something nice about their products. Companies also use
Twitter in creative ways to build stronger ties to customers. For example, Old Spice and Taco
Bell engaged and amused their followers by poking fun at one another.
29
116) Explain the concept of "virtual reality."
Answer: The virtual world is a graphical, often 3D environment in which users can immerse
themselves, interacting with virtual objects and with one another using avatars. These simulated
environments create virtual reality, a term that describes what people experience when some of
their sensory input is not from the real world, but from a computer-generated one. Advanced
virtual reality systems enhance the illusion of physical immersion in a virtual world even further
by adding other technologies. Stereoscopic goggles, for instance, can present aspects of the
virtual world that match the user's actual body posture, movements, or head turns. Specially
wired gloves can reproduce the sensations of actually touching and manipulating virtual objects.
117) What are some of the disadvantages of virtual worlds? How promising does the future of
virtual worlds look?
Answer: Virtual worlds have not caught on as expected for business, partly because the software
can be buggy and the interfaces too complicated for a quick customer visit. These worlds have
also been mainly used as social venues, so some inhabitants don't welcome commercial activity.
Businesses can be hesitant to invest in any case, because most virtual-world products and the
servers that host them are privately owned by software vendors, so if they go out of business, the
digital properties vanish, wasting the effort that went into building them. Despite rocky starts,
virtual worlds hold much promise for collaboration. Business users who want to hold meetings
are attracted to them as a way to simulate a live conference with speakers, breakout rooms, and
small-group sessions. Beyond 3D business meetings, virtual worlds can recreate any
environment for humans to explore, from a tiny blood cell to the vast emptiness of space. For
engineers, the ability to collaborate on the design of component parts, regardless of how small or
large, offers exciting possibilities. The opportunities for educators to simulate live classrooms are
equally intriguing.
118) What are some of the common themes that affect the online behavior of Internet users?
Answer: Some of the common themes that affect the online behavior of Internet users include:
(1) unfamiliar tools that are used to interact online over which users stumble in their efforts to
make interactions productive, for example, the QWERTY keyboard (2) media richness that
measures how well a communication medium can reproduce all the nuances and subtleties of the
message it transmits (3) physical distance and lack of physical presence, considering how online
interactions typically take place between people who are geographically separate, not just from
one another, but from other people as well (4) anonymity, which can considerably change the
behavior of people (5) the audience, which is blurry and undefined in the online world
30
119) What is media richness?
Answer: Media richness measures how well a communication medium can reproduce all the
nuances and subtleties of the message it transmits. Media richness is usually starkly lower online
than face-to-face. Many communications are text only, leaving out facial expression, eye contact,
voice pitch and tempo, gestures, body posture, and hand gestures. Although words carry
meaning, most of what people communicate is actually nonverbal.
120) How are group dynamics in virtual teams different from those in real-world teams?
Answer: In the online world, group members cannot perceive nonverbal cues, and hence, group
norms can be difficult to establish. Online environments also lead to disinhibition, in which
people express themselves more bluntly, abruptly, or aggressively than they would in face-to-
face settings. Their messages lack the verbal softeners and nonverbal nuances that smooth
interactions and make consensus easier to reach. Heightened self-disclosure also appears more
often in online interactions. The online world tends to flatten out hierarchies and equalize status,
partly because many of the cues used to establish status are less apparent. In addition to all this,
trust is not easy for virtual teams to create.
31
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CHAPTER XIV
T HERE had been a complete change in the officials of the oasis

since we had last been there. The new doctor—Wissa by name
—came round to call the day after my arrival. He was a Copt.
He belonged to a rich family, owning large landed estates in the
neighbourhood of Assiut.
He spoke English almost perfectly, for like so many Egyptians he
was a born linguist. He was, I believe, almost equally at home with
French and German. His people being very well-to-do had given him
an excellent education, part of which he had received in England and
other European countries.
Like all the Egyptians who have been educated in Europe, he was
an interesting mixture of East and West—and a very curious
compound it was. He talked most learnedly on the subject of
medicine, and appeared to have especially studied such local
diseases as “dengue” and “bilharsia.” Whenever I allowed him to do
so, he gave me most racy accounts of his life as a medical student in
Europe.
But he was an ardent treasure seeker, and his favourite topic of
conversation was occultism and magic, in all of which he had the
native Egyptian’s profound belief. He, the Senussi sheykh, Ahmed el
Mawhub, and the ’omda of Rashida, had formed a sort of partnership
to search for treasure, agreeing to divide equally between them
anything that they found.
He told me a good deal about the Mawhub family of the Senussi
zawia at Qasr Dakhl. He said they were entirely neglecting their
religious work in order to make money, and had then only got five
pupils left in the zawia at Qasr Dakhl, where formerly they had had
great numbers. Old Sheykh Mohammed el Mawhub, who was well
over seventy, had just started, he said, for Kufara with one servant
and three men, who had been sent from that oasis to fetch him.
Wissa professed to have collected information from some
unknown source of treasure that was hidden in many places in or
near the oasis. One place in which he said it was to be found was in
a stone temple eighteen hours’ journey to the west of the village of
Gedida. I afterwards met a native who said he had ridden out and
found this place, so probably it exists—the temple, not the treasure.
He was clearly badly bitten with the treasure-seeking mania.
He was, of course, the possessor of a “book of treasure.” In the
triangle between Mut, Masara and Ezbet Sheykh Mufta there is, he
said, an old brick building on a white stone foundation covered by a
dome, known as the Der el Arais—I saw this place afterwards. In it,
under the dome, the book said, is a staircase with seven flights of
steps, at the bottom of which is a passage seven cubits long. At the
end of the passage is a monk—painted, Wissa thought, on the wall.
The book said that there is an iron ring let into the floor near his feet,
and that by pulling the ring a door would be caused to appear—this
Wissa concluded to be a trap-door. Below is a flight of steps, which
the book said must be descended without fear. At the bottom of the
stair is a small chamber in which a king is buried.
The king has a gold ring with a stone in it on his finger. This is a
magic ring, and if it is immersed in water, which is then given to a
sick person, he will at once be cured, no matter what the nature of
his malady may be. In the chamber there is also a clock that goes for
ever, and in addition a sagia (wheel for raising water) that contains
the secret of Zerzura.
After I had got to know him better, he one day suggested that “as I
was looking for Zerzura,” we should join together to search for the
Der el Arais. He offered to let me keep the wonderful clock and
sagia, and any treasure we might find, if I would only let him have
the ring. With the help of that magic ring he felt certain that he would
become the greatest doctor in the world—yet this was a man who
had taken a diploma at the Qasr el ’Aini Hospital, spent a year at St.
Thomas’s, six months at the Rotunda, and another six studying
medicine between Paris and Geneva—and he wanted to cure his
patients with a magic ring!
On leaving Dakhla, as he was an unusually capable native doctor,
he was appointed to Luxor. Here he got into trouble. His sister
contracted plague, and Wissa, without notifying the authorities, as he
should have done, took her into his house, where he seems to have
neglected the most elementary sanitary precautions. The last I heard
of him he was, perhaps naturally, again in disgrace, and was on his
way to take up an appointment at Sollum, where delinquents of his
kind are sent when there is no room for them in the oases.
All this just shows what inestimable benefits an unusually
intelligent native will reap from a highly expensive European
education!
I had several times noticed in Mut a man dressed like a Tripolitan
Arab in a long woollen blanket, but had never been able to get a
good look at him, as he always avoided meeting me. On one
occasion, when he saw me approaching, he even turned back and
slunk round a corner to get out of my way.
Meeting Wissa one day, I asked him if he knew this Maghrabi
Arab. He replied that he was not really an Arab at all, but a native of
Smint, in Dakhla, and that he was a local magician he had often
spoken to me about, who only wore the Tripolitan dress for effect, as
the Western Arabs are noted as being the best sorcerers.
This man was a member of the Senussi—or as it was usually
expressed “he followed the Sheykh.” I found that he was staying with
Shekyh Senussi, the Clerk in Mut, and by a curious coincidence
Qway also happened to be living in the same house.
I gathered that Qway was in the position of an honoured guest, for
nearly every time I saw him he dilated upon Sheykh Senussi’s
kindness to him. At times he became almost sentimental on the
subject, declaring that he was like a brother to him. The reason for
Qway’s affection evidently being that his camel, of which he was so
proud, was being fed on the fat of the land and that he apparently
was getting unlimited tea. This rapprochement between Qway and
the Senussi, added to the rather secretive manner in which it was
going on, made me suspect that this lavish hospitality had some
ulterior object, though it was difficult to see what they were planning.
There were signs, too, that the Senussi were endeavouring to get
round my other men, for when I went one morning to look at the
camels, I saw an unpleasant-looking, pock-marked Arab skulking
about in the yard to which Abd er Rahman had moved them to
protect them from the wind—or the afrit. He kept dodging about
behind the beasts and making for the entrance to the yard, evidently
trying to avoid being seen. When I called him up and spoke to him,
he told me he had come from “the north,” and tried to give the
impression that he had recently left Assiut.
But on questioning Abd er Rahman about him afterwards I found
that he was one of Sheykh Ahmed’s men, who had come down from
his ezba in charge of two camels on some mysterious errand, the
nature of which was not quite clear. Abd er Rahman, when I told him
that he looked a disreputable scoundrel, was loud in his praise.
I managed to elicit one useful piece of information from him, as he
told me that, owing to most of the camels belonging to the Senussi
having gone with old Mawhub, on his journey to Kufara, they only
had three left in the oasis. This was rather welcome news, as I was
afraid that they might go out and tamper with the depots I was
intending to make in the desert.
CHAPTER XV
A S soon as the camels had been got into good condition I sent
Qway, Abd er Rahman and Ibrahim off with the caravan loaded
with grain, which the two Sudanese were to deposit at Jebel el
Bayed, the hill we had reached at the end of our last journey the
season before.
Ibrahim had not been with me at all the previous season and, as
Abd er Rahman had never even been within sight of the hill, as I had
sent him back to Mut to bring out more water on the journey on
which I reached it, I arranged that Qway should ride with them as far
as the edge of the plateau, where he was to give Abd er Rahman
directions to take him to Jebel el Bayed. Here, however, he was to
leave the caravan and to ride west along the tableland and come
back and report what he had seen.
Abd er Rahman, following the directions given him by Qway,
easily found Jebel el Bayed, and left the grain to form the depot in
the neighbourhood. Qway himself rejoined the caravan on their way
back just before reaching Mut, so they all returned together.
Qway, of course, had done practically nothing. It was difficult to
see the best way of dealing with him. I could, of course, have
discharged him, but drastic remedies are seldom the best, and to
have done so would only have had the effect of playing straight into
the hands of the Senussi, as he was a magnificent guide and they
would have at once gained him as a wholehearted recruit. As he
unfortunately knew the whole of my plans, the better scheme
seemed to be to keep him with me and to tie him up in such a way
that he could do no harm. In the circumstances I thought it best to
send Sheykh Suleyman a letter, asking him to let me have Abdulla
and the best hagin he could find. This, at any rate, would ensure my
having a guide if Qway went wrong; and I hoped by stirring up a little
friction between him and Abdulla to make the latter keep an eye
upon his actions.
Soon after the return of the caravan the mamur left and I went
round to see him off. On the way I looked into the enclosure where
the camels were housed, and again caught Sheykh Ahmed’s pock-
marked camel-man hobnobbing with my men, and saw that he was
stabling his two camels in the neighbouring yard.
On reaching the mamur’s house I found him in a great state of
excitement. The post hagan, with whom he was going to travel, had
omitted, or forgotten, to bring any camels for his baggage. The
mamur was in a terrible state about this, saying that he might have to
send in to the Nile Valley for beasts before he could leave, and that
he was due there himself in six days.
This was an opportunity too good to be lost. I told him there were
two unusually fine camels in the yard next to my caravan, and
suggested that as a Government official going back to the Nile on
duty, he had the power to commandeer them and their drivers, and
suggested that he should do so. No petty native official can resist the
temptation to commandeer anything he has a right to in his district—
it is a relic of the old corrupt Turkish rule. The mamur jumped at the
idea and departed shortly after with a very sulky camel driver and
two of the finest camels owned by the Senussi. It was with great
relief that I saw the last of that pock-marked brute and his beasts, for
their departure left the Senussi with only one camel until in about a
month’s time, when old Mawhub was due to return from Kufara. I
went back to my rooms feeling I had done a good morning’s work,
and effectually prevented the Senussi from getting at the depot I was
making near Jebel el Bayed.
Abdulla, whom I had asked Sheykh Suleyman to send, did not
turn up on the day I had expected; but a day or two afterwards Nimr,
Sheykh Suleyman’s brother, arrived in Mut on some business and
came round to see me. Gorgeously arrayed with a revolver and
silver-mounted sword, he looked a typical bedawi—he certainly
behaved as one. He drank about a gallon of tea, ate half a pound of
Turkish Delight and the best part of a cake that Dahab had made,
and topped up, when I handed him a cigarette box for him to take
one, by taking a handful. He then left, declaring that he was very
mabsut (pleased) with me and promising to send Abdulla along as
soon as he could, and to see that he had a good hagin. As he went
downstairs he turned round, looking much amused, and asked how I
was getting on with Qway!
While dressing one morning I heard Qway below greeting some
old friend of his in the most cordial and affectionate manner; then I
heard him bring him upstairs and, looking through the window, saw
that Abdulla had arrived at last. Qway tapped at the door and, hardly
waiting for me to answer, entered, beaming with satisfaction and
apparently highly delighted at the new arrival—he was an admirable
actor.
Abdulla looked taller and more “feathery” than ever. With a native-
made straw hat on the back of his head and his slender waist tightly
girthed up with a leather strap, he looked almost girlish in his
slimness. But there was nothing very feminine about Abdulla—he
was wiry to the last degree.
He carried an excellent double-barrelled hammer, ejector gun,
broken in the small of the stock it is true, but with the fracture bound
round and round with tin plates and strongly lashed with wire. His
saddlery was irreproachable and hung round with the usual
earthenware jars and leather bags for his food supply.
His hagin was a powerful old male and looked up to any amount
of hard work. I told him to get up on his camel and show me his
paces. Abdulla swung one of his legs, which looked about four feet
long, over the cantle of his saddle and seated himself at once
straight in the seat. He kicked his camel in the ribs and at once got
him into a trot. The pace at which he made that beast move was
something of a revelation and augured well for his capacity as a
scout. He was certainly a very fine rider.
But when I made him take off the saddle I found, as is so often the
case with bedawin camels, the beast had a sore back. There was a
raw, festering place under the saddle on either side of the spine.
As Abdulla had a hard job before him, I had to see his camel put
right before he started, so we went off to a new doctor, who had
come to take Wissa’s place, to buy some iodoform and cotton-wool,
and proceeded to doctor the hagin. But it was clear that it would take
some days to heal.
It made, however, no difference as it turned out. For the caravan
was unable to start as four ardebs[3] of barley that I had ordered
from Belat, never turned up. The barley question was becoming a
serious one; but by dint of sending the men round Mut from house to
house I managed to buy in small quantities, of a few pounds at a
time, an amount that when put together came to about three ardebs,
with which I had for the moment to be content.
The sores on Abdulla’s hagin having sufficiently healed, I packed
the whole caravan off again into the desert. Abd er Rahman and
Ibrahim as before were to carry stores out to the depot at Jebel el
Bayed. Abdulla’s work was to go on ahead of the caravan, following
directions to be given him by Abd er Rahman, as I was afraid Qway
might mislead him, till he reached Jebel el Bayed. There he was to
climb to the top of the hill, whence he could see the one I had
sighted in the distance the season before. This lay in practically the
same line from Mut as Jebel el Bayed itself. Having in this way got
its bearing, he was to go on to the farther hill, which he was also to
climb and make a note of anything that was to be seen from the
summit. He was then—provided the country ahead of him was not
inhabited—to go on again as far as he could along the same bearing
before returning to Dakhla.
I asked Abdulla how far out he thought he would be able to get. In
a matter-of-fact tone he said he thought he could go four, or perhaps
four and a half, days’ journey beyond Jebel el Bayed before he
turned back. As he would be alone in a strange desert, I doubted
somewhat if he would even reach Jebel el Bayed. But I did not know
Abdulla then.
There really was nothing much for Qway to do, but, as I thought it
better to send him off into the desert to keep him out of mischief, I
told him to ride west again along the plateau.
Qway was rather subdued. Abdulla’s arrival had considerably
upset him, in spite of his efforts to disguise the fact. He objected
strongly to his going on ahead of the caravan to scout, but I declined
to alter the arrangement. So to keep Abdulla in his place, Qway, with
the usual high-handed manner of the Arabs, when dealing with
Sudanese, collared a water tin of his for his own use. On hearing of
this I went round to the camel-yard and gave Abdulla back his tin,
and pitched into Qway before all the men. Having thus sown a little
discord in the caravan, I told them they had to start in the morning.
I went round again later in the day and found all the Sudanese
having their heads shaved by the village barber and being cupped
on the back of their necks, preparatory for their journey. The cupping
they declared kept the blood from their heads and made them
strong!
This operation was performed by the barber, who made three or
four cuts at the base of the skull on either side of the spine, to which
he applied the wide end of a hollow cow’s horn, pressed this into the
flesh and then sucked hard at a small hole in the point of the horn,
afterwards spitting out the blood he had thus extracted. It seemed an
insanitary method.
The Sudanese were all extremely dark. Abd er Rahman and
Ibrahim even having black, or rather dark brown, patches on their
gums. Their tongues and the palms of their hands, however, showed
pink. Abdulla was even darker. He came up to my room the evening
after his cupping and declared that he was ill. There was nothing
whatever the matter with him, except that he wanted pills and eye-
drops because they were to be had for nothing. But I made a
pretence of examining him, took his temperature, felt his pulse, and
then told him to show me his tongue.
The result of my modest request was rather staggering. He shot
out about six inches of black leather, and I saw that not only his
tongue was almost black, but also his gums and the palms of his
hands as well. He was the most pronounced case of human
melanism I ever saw.
Sofut.
Sand erosion producing sharp blades of rock very damaging to the soft feet of a
camel. (p. 87).
The Descent into Dakhla Oasis.

This cliff was several hundred feet in height, but the sand drifted against it and made
the descent easy. (p. 36).
A Made Road.
Made roads are practically unknown in the desert. This one was notched out of the
side of the slope and led to the site of an unknown oasis, where treasure was said to
be hidden. (p. 205).
CHAPTER XVI
T HE caravan, with Abd er Rahman and Ibrahim, returned, dead

beat, but safe. No less than four of the tanks they had taken out
filled with water had leaked and had had to be brought back. They
had had to race home by day and night marches all the way. But
they had got in all right—we had extraordinary luck in this way.
As Abdulla did not come in till two days later, I began to fear that
something had happened to him. He arrived with his camel in an
awful state. The sores on his back, which appeared to have healed
when he started, had broken out again and were very much worse
than when he first reached Mut.
His camel had gone so badly, he said, that he had not been able
to do half as much as he would have done if his mount had been in
good condition, and he was very vexed about it indeed. He had
followed Abd er Rahman’s directions and had found Jebel el Bayed
without difficulty. He had climbed to the top and seen the second hill
beyond. He had then gone on towards it—his camel going very badly
indeed—for a day and a half over easy desert, after which he had
crossed a belt of dunes that took about an hour to negotiate. Then
after another half-day he managed to reach the second hill and had
climbed to the top of it. To the south and south-west lay open desert
with no dunes, falling towards the west, dotted with hills and
stretching away as far as he could see. To the north he had been
able to see the cliff on the south of the plateau—the pass down
which we had descended into the “Valley of the Mist” being distinctly
visible, though it must have been a good hundred and twenty miles
away. After this he said he could do no more with such a wretched
camel, so he had been obliged to return. He was very apologetic
indeed for having done so little.
It never seemed to occur to this simple Sudani that he had made
a most remarkable journey. Acting only on directions given him by
Abd er Rahman, he had gone off entirely alone, into an absolutely
waterless and barren desert, with which he was totally unacquainted,
with a very sore-backed camel and riding only on a baggage saddle
—his riding saddle had got broken before the start—but he had
covered in thirteen days a distance, as the crow flies, of nearly four
hundred miles, and more remarkable still had apologised for not
having been able to do more! He got some bakhshish that surprised
him—and greatly disgusted Qway who got none.
The fact that Abdulla saw the pass into the “Valley of the Mist”
from the top of the hill he reached—Jebel Abdulla as the men called
it—shows that the hill was of considerable height, for it, Jebel el
Bayed and the pass, lay in practically a straight line, and the desert
there was very level. The summit of the pass was about 1700 feet
high—the cliff itself being about 250 feet. But it could not be seen
from the top of Jebel el Bayed, which was 2150 feet, owing to a low
intervening rise in the ground. A simple diagram will show that, as it
was visible over this ridge from the top of Jebel Abdulla, the latter
must have been at least 2700 feet high.
Qway, of course, though excellently mounted, had done
practically nothing. There could be little doubt that he and the
Senussi were hand in glove. He was always asking leave to go to
places like Hindaw, Smint and Qalamun, where I knew the Senussi
had zawias, and the Sheykh el Afrit at Smint and Sheykh Senussi,
the poet in Mut, were his two intimate friends, and both of them
members of the Senussia.
The Senussi had always been a nuisance to travellers wanting to
go into their country. It was, however, difficult to see what they could
do. They would not, I thought, dare to do anything openly in the
oasis and, by getting rid of two out of their three camels I had rather
tied them up for the time being, so far as the desert was concerned.
So I went on with my preparations for our final journey with a fairly
easy mind, making the fatal mistake of underestimating my
opponents.
First I engaged the local tinsmith to patch up six tanks that had
developed leaks. Then I sent Ibrahim round the town to see if he
could not find some more weapons. He returned with a neat little
battle axe, a spear and a six-foot gas-pipe gun with a flint-lock. All of
which I bought as curiosities.
We then went out and tried the gun. It shot, it is true, a few feet to
one side; but little trifles like that are nothing to a bedawi. The
general opinion of the men was that it was a very good gun indeed.
Abdulla said he had been in the camel corps and understood guns,
and undertook to put it right. He shut one eye and looked along the
barrel, then he rested the muzzle on the ground and stamped about
half-way down the barrel to bend it. He repeated this process several
times, then handed the gun back to Ibrahim, saying that he thought
he had got it straight.
I got up a shooting match between the three Sudanese to test it.
The target was a tin of bad meat at eighty yards, and Ibrahim with
the flint-lock gun, with his second shot, hit the tin and won the ten
piastres that I offered as a prize, beating Abd er Rahman and
Abdulla armed with Martini’s.
Then I set to work to buy some more barley for our journey and
difficulties at once arose. I sent Abd er Rahman and Abdulla with
some camels to Belat, but the ’omda told them he had sold the
whole of his grain; though they learnt in the oasis that he had not
been able to sell any and still had huge stores of it left.
Abd er Rahman began dropping ponderous hints about Qway, the
Senussi, “arrangements” and “intrigue”; but, as usual, declined to be
more definite. Qway, when I told him of the difficulty of procuring
grain, was sympathetic, but piously resigned. It was the will of Allah.
Certainly the ’omda of Belat had none left—he knew this as a fact. It
would be quite impossible, he said, to carry out my fifteen days’
journey with such a small quantity of grain and he thought the only
thing for me to do was to abandon the idea of it altogether.
I told him I had no intention of giving the journey up in any
circumstances. The only other plan he could think of was to buy the
grain from the Senussi at Qasr Dakhl. They had plenty—excellent
barley. I mentioned this to Dahab, who was extremely scornful,
declaring that they would not sell me any, or if they did, that it would
be poisoned, for he said it was well known that the Mawhubs
thoroughly understood medicine.
The new mamur arrived in due course. The previous one, ’Omar
Wahaby, had endeavoured to ayb me by not calling till I threatened
him. The new one went one better—he sent for me—and had to be
badly snubbed in consequence.
The natives of Egypt attach great importance to this kind of thing,
and I was glad to see that my treatment of the mamur caused a
great improvement in the attitude of the inhabitants of Mut towards
me, which had been anything but friendly before.
The mamur himself must have been considerably impressed. He
called and enquired about my men, and asked if I had any
complaints to make against them. I told him Qway was working very
badly and had got very lazy; so he said he thought, before I started,
that he had better speak to them privately. I knew I should hear from
my men what happened, so thinking it might have a good effect upon
Qway, I sent them round in the afternoon to the merkaz.
They returned looking very serious—Abd er Rahman in particular
seemed almost awed. I asked him what the mamur had said. He told
me he had taken down all their names and addresses, and then had
told them they must work their best for me, because, though he did
not quite know exactly who I was, I was clearly a very important
person indeed—all of which shows how very easily a fellah is
impressed by a little side!—il faut se faire valoir in dealing with a
native.
The mamur afterwards gave me his opinion of my men. His views
on Dahab were worth repeating. He told me he had questioned him
and come to the conclusion that he was honest, very honest—“In
fact,” he said, “he is almost stupid!”
The barley boycott began to assume rather alarming proportions.
The men could hear of no grain anywhere in the oasis, except at
Belat, Tenida and the Mawhubs, and it really looked as though I
should have to abandon my journey.
I could, of course, have tried to get some grain from Kharga, but it
would have taken over a week to fetch. It was doubtful, too, whether
I could have got as much as I wanted without going to the Nile Valley
for it, and that would have wasted a fortnight at least. I was at my
wits’ end to know what to do.
The Deus ex machina arrived in the form of the police officer—a
rather unusual shape for it to take in the oases. He came round one
afternoon to call. I was getting very bored with his conversation,
when he aroused my interest by saying he was sending some men
to get barley for the Government from the Senussi at Qasr Dakhl.
From the way in which he was always talking about money and
abusing the “avaricious” ’omdas, I felt pretty sure that he lost no
chance of turning an honest piastre; so finding that the price he was
going to pay was only seventy piastres the ardeb, I told him that I
was paying hundred and twenty, and that, if he bought an extra four
ardebs, I would take them off him at that price—and I omitted to
make any suggestion as to what should be done with the balance of
the purchase money.
As trading in Government stores is a criminal offence, I felt fairly
sure that he would not tell the Senussi for what purpose that extra
four ardebs was being bought.
The result of this transaction was that, in spite of the barley
boycott that the Senussi had engineered against me, I was
eventually able to start off again to explore the desert, whose secrets
they were so jealously guarding, with my camels literally staggering
under the weight of some really magnificent grain, bought, if they
had only known it, from the Senussi themselves!
The plan for the journey was as follows: we were to leave Dakhla
with every camel in the caravan, including the hagins, loaded to their
maximum carrying capacity with water-tanks and grain. At the end of
every day’s march a small depot was to be left, consisting of a pair of
the small tanks I had had made for the journey, and sufficient barley
for the camels and food for the men for a day’s supply. The reduction
in the weight of the baggage entailed by the making of these depots,
added to that of the water and grain consumed by the caravan on
the journey, I calculated would leave two camels free by the time that
we reached the five bushes.
Qway and Abdulla, who were to accompany the caravan up to this
point, were then to go on ahead of the caravan with their hagins
loaded with only enough water and grain to take them out to the
main depot at Jebel el Bayed. Here they were to renew their
supplies, go on for another day together and then separate. Qway
was to follow Abdulla’s tracks out to the second hill—Jebel Abdulla
as the men called it—that the Sudani had reached alone on his
scouting journey, and was to go on as much farther as he felt was
safe in the same direction, after which he was to retrace his steps
until he met the caravan coming out along the same route, bringing
out water and supplies for his relief. Abdulla’s instructions were to go
due south when he parted from Qway for two or, if possible, three
days. Then he was to strike off west till he cut Qway’s track, which
we should be following, and return upon it till he met the caravan,
which would then go on along the line of the old road we had found
to complete our fifteen days’ journey, and, if possible, push on till we
had got right across the desert into the French Sudan.
I was not expecting great results from Qway’s journey, but he
knew too much about our plans and was too useful a man in the
desert to make it advisable to leave him behind us in Dakhla, where
the Senussi might have made great use of him. Abdulla was well
armed, an experienced desert fighter, and, in spite of his “feathery”
appearance, was a man with whom it would not be safe to trifle. As
there was a considerable amount of friction between him and Qway,
owing to the Arab’s overbearing attitude towards the Sudanese in
general, I had little fear of their combining.
Abdulla, too, had special instructions to keep an eye on Qway,
and, as there was not much love lost between them, I felt sure he
would do so. While Abdulla was with him on the journey out to the
depot, and for a day beyond, Qway, I felt, would be powerless; while
if, after parting from him, he turned back to Jebel el Bayed to try and
get at the depot, he would have us on top of him, as we should get
there before him. When once the caravan had reached the depot we
should pick up all the water and grain it contained and take it along
with us following his tracks.
I had made him dependent on the caravan, by only giving him
about five days’ water for his own use, and none at all for his camel.
So long as he adhered to his programme he was quite safe, as we
could water his camel as soon as he rejoined us. But if he tried to
follow some plan of his own, he would at once run short of water and
find himself in trouble.
I felt that the precautions I had taken would effectually prevent
any attempt at foul play on his part. My whole scheme had been
thought out very carefully, and had provided, I thought, for every
possible contingency, but “the best laid plans o’ mice and men gang
aft agley”—especially when dealing with a Senussi guide.
CHAPTER XVII
A T the start everything went well. Qway, it is true, though he did

his best to disguise the fact, was evidently greatly put out by my
having been able to produce so much barley. But the rest of the men
were in excellent spirits. Ibrahim, in particular, with the flint-lock gun
slung over his back, was as pleased with himself as any boy would
be when carrying his first gun. The camels, in spite of their heavy
loads, went so well that on the evening of the second day we
reached the bushes.
I found that a well which, without finding a trace of water, I had
dug the year before to a depth of thirty feet had silted up to more
than half its depth with sand. Here we cut what firewood we wanted,
and on the following morning Abdulla and Qway left the caravan and
went on ahead towards Jebel el Bayed.
I walked with them for a short distance as they left, to give them
final instructions. I told them that we should closely follow their
tracks. Having some experience of Qway’s sauntering ways when
scouting by himself, I told him that he must make his camel put her
best leg forward, and that if he did I would give him a big bakhshish
at the end of the journey.
He at once lost his temper. The camel was his, he said, and he
was not going to override her, and he should go at whatever pace he
choose. He was not working for me at all, but he was working for
Allah. My obvious retort, that in that case there was no necessity for
me to pay his wages, did not mend matters in the least, and he went
off in a towering rage. The Senussi teach their followers that every
moment of a man’s life should be devoted to the service of his
Creator; consequently, though he may be working for an earthly
master, he must first consider his duty towards Allah, as having the
first claim upon his services—a Jesuitical argument that obviously
puts great power into the hands of the Senussi sheykhs, who claim
to be the interpreters of the will of Allah.
Abd er Rahman, who had been watching this little scene from a
distance, looked very perturbed when I got back to the caravan.
Qway, he said, was feeling marbut (tied) and that was very bad,
because he was very cunning, and he prophesied that we should
have a very difficult journey.
The Arabs are naturally a most undisciplined race, who kick at
once at any kind of restraint. They are apt to get quite highfalutin on
the subject of their independence, and will tell you that they want to
be like the gazelle, at liberty to wander wherever they like, and to be
as free as the wind that blows across their desert wastes, and all that
kind of thing, and it makes them rather kittle cattle to handle.
Abd er Rahman was right; things began to go wrong almost at
once. The first two days after leaving Mut had been cool, but a
simum sprang up after we left the bushes and the day became
stiflingly hot. Towards midday the internal pressure, caused by the
expansion of the water and air in one of the tanks, restarted a leak
that had been mended, and the water began to trickle out of the
hole. We unloaded the camel and turned the tank round, so that the
leak was uppermost and the dripping stopped. But soon a leak
started in another of the mended tanks, and by the evening the water
in most of those I had with me was oozing out from at least one
point, and several of them leaked from two or more places.
When a tank had only sprung one leak, we were able to stop the
wastage by hanging it with the crack uppermost; but when more than
one was present, this was seldom possible. One of the tanks leaked
so badly that we took it in turns to hold a tin underneath it, and, in
that way, managed to save a considerable amount of water that we
poured into a gurba.
On arriving in camp, I took the leaks in hand and stopped them
with sealing-wax. This loss of water was a serious matter. Every
morning I measured out the day’s allowance for each man by means
of a small tin; in face of the leakage from the tanks, I thought it
advisable to cut down the allowance considerably.

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Introduction to Information Systems

People Technology and Processes 3rd

1) When IMAP is used, incoming mail is maintained and organized on a server.

9) A drawback of the centralized document library in a shared workspace is that it creates

19) Disinhibition is extremely high in relatively anonymous text-based online environments.

21) Which of the following is true of SMTP?

22) Which of the following is the function of an SMTP server?

25) How does IMAP differ from SMTP?

26) Which of the following is an advantage of IMAP?

30) What is a vCard?

31) Which of the following is true of a vCard?

33) Which of the following is true of microformats?

34) What is the function of microformats like the hCard?

35) Microformats represent metadata in ________.

37) Which of the following is true of iCalendars?

38) Which of the following is true of asynchronous discussion forums?

44) Which of the following is an example of a free IM software client?

45) Which of the following is a difference between IM and email?

46) Which of the following is true of instant messaging?

49) Which of the following functions is performed by texting?

52) What is a group decision support system?

53) Which of the following is true of group decision support systems?

60) Which of the following is an example of a blogging tool?

62) Which of the following is true of a blog?

64) For which of the following purposes can blogs be used?

67) Which of the following functions do wikis perform within an organization?

70) Which of the following is a drawback of Wikipedia?

71) A profile in a social networking site consists of ________.

76) Which of the following is true of microblogging?

80) On microblogging sites, a hashtag is used to indicate that ________.

84) Which of the following is a function of unified communications?

86) What function does a context indicator perform?

90) Which of the following is a characteristic of a universal dashboard?

91) Sarah Jones is a communications assistant at Sustainable Living Inc., a nonprofit

92) When compared to a face-to-face setting, an online environment offers ________.

95) Which of the following is true of media richness?

98) Which of the following is true of group dynamics in virtual teams?

102) How do online discussion forums function?

103) What are the advantages of using instant messaging in a workplace?

105) What are the advantages of text messaging in emergency situations?

108) What are shared workspaces? How do they enhance teamwork?

114) How does microblogging contribute to social networking?

115) How do advertisers make use of Twitter?

T HERE had been a complete change in the officials of the oasis

The Descent into Dakhla Oasis.

T HE caravan, with Abd er Rahman and Ibrahim, returned, dead

A T the start everything went well. Qway, it is true, though he did

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