Chapter Three

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
1. The computer system
• Hardware: Computing, Storing and communicating
• Programs: In Charge of the Hardware
• People: The Most Important Element
• Procedures: The Way It Goes
2. Communication Technologies
 THE COMPUTER SYSTEM
1. COMPUTER HARDWARE
• Hardware is the physical parts of a computer system
• In other words, the parts of the computer you can touch
 THE COMPUTER SYSTEM
1. COMPUTER HARDWARE
• Computer Peripherals
• is the generic name given to all input, output, and secondary
storage devices that are part of a computer system but are not
part of the CPU.
• depend on direct connections or telecommunications links to
the central processing unit of a computer system.
• are online devices
• they are separate from, but can be electronically connected
to and controlled by, a CPU.
 Major types of peripherals and media
• Input technologies
• Key boards
• Pointing devices
• Speech recognition system
• Optical scanning
• Digital cameras
• Smart cards
• Output technologies
• Video output
• Printed output
• Storage Devices
Input Technologies
• An input device is a piece of hardware that allows the user to put
data into a computer system
Input Technologies cont’d
• provide a more natural user interface for computer users.
• Enables data entry and commands directly and easily into a computer
system through
• pointing devices like electronic mice and
• touch pads and with technologies like optical scanning, handwriting
recognition, and voice recognition
• Keyboards are still the most widely used devices for entering data
and text into computer systems.
 Cont’d

• pointing Devices are better alternatives for

• issuing commands,
• making choices, and
• responding to prompts displayed on your video screen.
• Pointing Devices
• work with operating system’s graphical user interface (GUI)
• GUI presents you with icons, menus, windows, buttons, and bars for
your selection.
• The electronic mouse
• the most popular pointing device used to move the cursor on the
screen,
• used to issue commands and make icon and menu selections
Cont’d
• Other pointing devices
• The trackball
• is a stationary device related to the mouse
• pointing stick
• (also called a track point) is a small button-like device, sometimes likened to the eraser
head of a pencil
• touch pad
• is a small rectangular touch-sensitive surface usually placed below the keyboard.
 Cont’d

• Touch screens
• are devices that allow you to use a computer by touching the surface of its video
display screen.
• Pen-based computing technologies
• used in many handheld computers and personal digital assistants.

• Tablet PCs and PDAs

• contain fast processors and software that recognizes and digitizes handwriting,
hand printing, and hand drawing.
• They have a pressure-sensitive layer, similar to that of a touch screen, under their
slate-like liquid crystal display (LCD) screen.
 Speech Recognition Systems
• gaining popularity in the corporate world among no typists, people
with disabilities
• is most frequently used for dictation, screen navigation, and Web
browsing.
• Is the future of data entry
• the easiest method for word processing, application navigation, and
conversational computing
• discrete speech recognition
• where you had to pause between each spoken word.
• New continuous speech recognition software
• recognizes continuous, conversationally paced speech
 Cont’d
• Speech input has now become technologically and economically
feasible for a variety of applications.
• Speech recognition systems digitize, analyze, and classify your speech
and its sound patterns.
• The software compares
• your speech patterns to a database of sound patterns in its vocabulary and
passes recognized words to your application software.
• Requires training the computer to recognize your voice and its unique sound
patterns to achieve a high degree of accuracy.
• Training such systems involves repeating a variety of words and phrases in a training
session, as well as using the system extensively.
 Optical Scanning
• Optical scanning devices
• read text or graphics and convert them into digital input for your
computer.
• enables the direct entry of data from source documents into a
computer system
• Enables getting documents into computer with a minimum of time
and hassle, transforming just about anything on paper.
• Scanners can be a big help in getting loads of paper off your desk and
into your PC.
Cont’d
• optical character recognition (OCR)
• can read the characters and codes on merchandise tags,
product labels, credit card receipts, utility bills, insurance
premiums, airline tickets, and other documents.
• are used to automatically sort mail, score tests, and
process a wide variety of forms in business and
government.
• Magnetic stripe technology
• is a familiar form of data entry that helps computers read
credit cards.
 Cont’d
• Smart cards
• embed a microprocessor chip and several kilobytes of
memory into debit, credit, and other cards are popular in
Europe and becoming available in Ethiopia also.
• Digital cameras
• enable you to shoot, store, and download still photos or
full-motion video with audio into your PC.
• Enables using image-editing software to edit and enhance
the digitized images.
• Today’s typical mobile phone includes digital camera
capabilities as well.
 Magnetic ink character recognition (MICR)

• The computer systems of the banking industry can magnetically read

checks and deposit slips using magnetic ink character recognition
(MICR) technology.
• Computers can thus sort and post checks to the proper checking
accounts.
• The identification numbers of the bank and the customer’s account are
preprinted on the bottom of the checks with an iron oxide–based ink.
 2. Output Technologies

• An output device is a piece of hardware that allows the

user to receive data from a computer system
 Output Technologies cont’d

• Computers provide information in a variety of forms.

• common forms of output:
• Video displays
• voice Response systems output are increasingly found along with
video displays in business applications.
• printed documents.
 Cont’d
Video Output
• Many desktop computers still rely on video
monitors that use a cathode ray tube (CRT)
technology.

•The biggest use of Liquid Crystal Displays(LCDs) has

been to provide a visual display capability for
portable microcomputers and PDAs.

•These LCD displays need significantly less electric

current and provide a thin, flat display.
 Cont’d
Printed Output
• rely on an inkjet or laser printer to produce permanent (hard-
copy) output in high-quality printed form.
• is still a common form of business communications and is
frequently required for legal documentation.
• printed reports and correspondence documents such as
• sales invoices, payroll checks, bank statements, and printed versions of graphic
displays.
 Cont’d
• Inkjet printers
• spray ink onto a page, have become the most popular, low-cost printers for
microcomputer systems.
• produce several pages per minute of high-quality output, and can print both
black-and-white and high-quality color graphics.
• Laser printers
• use an electrostatic process similar to a photocopying machine to produce many
pages per minute of high-quality black-and-white output.
Computer Storage Fundamentals
• This allows a user to install programs and save their files on a
computer
• The device retains this information when the power is switched off,
this means it is a permanent storage
• There are three categories of storage devices.
Computer Storage Fundamentals
Cont’d

There are three categories of storage devices

Magnetic Optical Solid State

Works by magnetising and

Works by altering parts of a disc that Uses flash memory and has no
demagnetising the surface of a
can or cannot reflect a laser beam. moving parts.
spinning disk.

Example: Hard Drive Example: CD/DVD/Blu-Ray Example: USB Stick/SD Card

Direct and Sequential Access
• They mean that an element of data or instructions (such as a byte or
word) can be directly stored and retrieved by selecting and using any
of the locations on the storage media.
• They also mean that each storage position (1) has a unique address
and (2) can be individually accessed in approximately the same length
of time without having to search through other storage positions.
• Primary storage media such as semiconductor memory chips are called direct
access memory or random-access memory (RAM).
• Magnetic disk devices are frequently called direct access storage devices
(DASDs).
• Media such as magnetic tape cartridges are known as sequential access
devices.
Examples

Below are examples of each type of device

Input Devices Output Devices Storage Devices

 COMPUTER SOFTWARE

 Software is the general term for various kinds of

programs used to operate and manipulate computers
and their peripheral devices.
 TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND NETWORKS

• Network
 An interconnected or interrelated chain, group, or
system.
a chain of hotels, the road system, and the names in a
person’s address book or PDA, the railroad system, the
members of a church, club, or organization .
Telecommunications
is the exchange of information in any form (voice, data, text,
images, audio, and video) over networks.
Business value of telecommunications networks
 Telecommunications Network Alternatives
• Generally, a communications network is any arrangement in which a
sender transmits a message to a Receiver over a channel consisting of
some type of medium.
• Five basic categories of components of Telecommunications network
 Cont’d
1. Terminals
• Any input/output device that uses telecommunications
networks to transmit or receive data is a terminal, including
telephones and the various computer terminals.
2. Telecommunications processors
• which support data transmission and reception between
terminals and computers.
• These devices, such as modems, switches, and routers,
perform a variety of control and support functions in a
telecommunications network.
 Cont’d
3. Telecommunications channels
• over which data are transmitted and received. Telecommunications
channels may use combinations of media,
 such as copper wires, coaxial cables, or fiber-optic cables,
or use wireless systems like microwave, communications
satellite, radio and systems to interconnect the other
components of a telecommunications network.
 Cont’d

4. Telecommunications control software

consists of programs that control
telecommunications activities and manage the
functions of telecommunications networks.
5. Computers of all sizes and types are
interconnected by telecommunications networks
so that they can carry out their information
processing assignments.
 Types of Telecommunications Networks

1. Wide Area Networks: Telecommunications networks covering

a large geographic area are called wide area networks
(WANs) .
• Networks that cover a large city or metropolitan area
(metropolitan area networks) can also be included in this
category.
• WANs are used by many multinational companies to transmit
and receive information among their employees, customers,
suppliers, and other organizations across cities, regions,
countries, and the world. 
 Cont’d
2. Metropolitan Area Networks:
• When a wide area network optimized a specific
geographical area, it is referred to as a metropolitan area
network (MAN).
• Such networks can range from several blocks of buildings to
entire cities.
• depend on communications channels of moderate-to-high data
rates.
• will often provide means for internetworking of local area
networks.
 Cont’d
3. Local area networks (LANs)
• connect computers and other information processing devices
within a limited physical area, such as an office, classroom,
building, manufacturing plant, or other worksite.
• LANs have become commonplace in many organizations for
providing telecommunications network capabilities that link
end users in offices, departments, and other workgroups.
• Network server,
• which contains a network operating system program that
controls telecommunications and the use and sharing of
network resources.
• Many organizations use virtual private networks (VPNs)
to establish secure intranets and extranets.
• A virtual private network is a secure network that uses the
Internet as its main backbone network but relies on network
firewalls, encryption, and other security features of its Internet
and intranet connections and those of participating
organizations.
• 
Popular uses of internet
Most companies are building e-business and e-commerce
Web sites to achieve six major business values:
• Generate new revenue from online sales.
• Reduce transaction costs through online sales and customer support.
• Attract new customers via Web marketing and advertising and online
sales.
• Increase the loyalty of existing customers via improved Web customer
service and support.
• Develop new Web-based markets and distribution channels for
existing products.
• Develop new information-based products accessible on the Web.
The Role of Intranets
• Communication and collaboration
• Web publishing
• Business operation and management
Independent Study

Complete the following work:

Complete the worksheet on

PLANNER

input, output and storage

devices.
 . Application Exercise
 

• Students’ life at Bahir Dar University

A student at Bahir Dar University was given an assignment to be
submitted in one week the instructor has demanded that both hard
copy and soft copy of the assignment should be submitted. To meet
this mission the student entered to a student computer lab and
write the assignment at on word processing program. Then after,
the student made all kinds of formatting and spelling and grammar
cheek as per the specification of the instructor. After the student is
sure that the assignment has meet the instructor specification he
saved it on the hard disk of the computer and get one print out to
be submitted to the teacher. The student also saved the assignment
in his flash memory for a future purpose.
• A. Identify the People, hardware, software, and data resources and
information products of this information system