In an information society, knowledge workers focus their energies on providing myriad information services. The knowledge worker's job function revolves around the use, manipulation, and dissemination of information. Learning about computers is an adventure that will last a lifetime because Information technology (IT), the integration of computing technology and Information processing, Is changing dally.
The computer revolution Is transforming the way we communicate, do business, and learn.This technological revolution is having a profound impact on the business community and on our private and professional lives. For example, increasingly, we communicate with our colleagues at work through electronic mail (e-mail) or with our friends through instant messaging (IM) and chat rooms. Sometimes you may get unsolicited e-mail, called spam. In this century we can anticipate traveling an Information superhighway, a network of high-speed data communications links, that eventually will connect virtually every facet of our society.Today, millions of people have a personal computer (PC).
This widespread availability has resulted in an explosion of applications for computers. At home, people may connect to the Internet, a worldwide network of computers. Home appliances may also include microprocessors. Through the sass, users related their information needs to computer professionals who would then work with the computer system to generate the necessary Information. Today. Users work directly with their PC's to obtain the information they need.
Information technology competency (IT competency) is emerging as a universal goal in our information society. IT-competent people know how to purchase, set up, and operate a computer system, and how to make It work for them. The IT-competent person Is also aware of the computer's Impact on society and Is conversant the language of technology. Software refers collectively to a set of machine-readable Instructions, called programs, that cause the computer to perform desired functions.
Computers and computer equipment, which accept input and provide output, are called hardware.The fact that many people routinely use computers but are not IT-competent Is Inferred to as the "computer proficiency dealt divide. We now live in a global village in which computers and people are linked within companies and between countries. Most existing computers are part of a computer network that shares resources and information. The Internet links almost a billion users in a global network.
The Net can be accessed by people in organizations with established links to the Internet and by Individuals with PC's, often via Internet communication with remote computers via a telephone-line link.Commercial information services, such as America Online (AOL), offer a wide range of information arrives, including up-to-the-minute news and weather, electronic shopping, e-mail, and much more. When the user terminates this online link, the user goes offline. Internet users can download text or a digitized version of a song directly to their PC, then read it or play it through their PC. MPH players can store and play digital music recorded in MPH format.
Information is uploaded from a local computer to a remote computer. The World Wide Web, or the Web, is an Internet application that lets us view Internet Web pages.Another application, newsgroups, provides electronic bulletin boards. Generally, Internationalization can be placed into these categories: personal communications, browsing and searching for information, downloading and file sharing, streaming media, online transactions, and entertainment.
digital assistant (PDA), connected organizer, personal communicator, mobile business center, and Web phone are Just some of the names for handheld computers. A handheld can have a variety of physical shapes and sizes, referred to as its form factor. Pen-based computers which may or may not have small boards, make use of an electronic pen, call stylus, to do such tasks as selecting options, entering data (via handwritten characters), and drawing.Keying can also be accomplished via an onscreen keyboard.
Speech-recognition software, which allows the user to enter spoken words into the system, is being integrated into high-end handheld computer'. Handheld computers support a variety of personal information management (PIMP) systems, including appointment scheduling and to-do lists. You may also be using handheld to read a good electronic-book (e-book) via the computer's text-to-speech software. The thin client computer is designed to function only when it is linked to a server computer.
The workstation's speed and input/output devices set it apart from a PC. A typical workstation will have a high-resolution monitor and a variety of specialized point-and-draw devices. A common use of workstations is for engineering design. In client/server computing, processing is distributed throughout the network. The client computer requests processing or some other type of service from the server computer.
Both client and server computers perform processing. The proxy server computer sits between the client ND server, intercepting client requests to improve overall system performance.The client computer runs front-end applications software, and the server computer runs the back-end applications software. Server computers are usually associated with enterprise systems; that is, computer-based systems that service entities throughout the company.
Typically, users communicate with one or more server computers through a PC, a workstation, a thin client, or a terminal.
