Transcript here - Learning with Maria

1st week
•Introduction / computer overview
(hardware / software)
•Health and safety / ergonomics / moral issues / environmental
issues: green computing
http://www.learningwithmaria.com/computing
“Getting to know each other”.
1. How comfortable are you using computers?
a) Not comfortable
b) Comfortable
c) Very comfortable
“Getting to know each other”.
2. How long have you been using computers?
3. What do you use your computer for?
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
Social Networking
Gaming
Studying
Multimedia
Nerding
“Getting to know each other”.
4. How many hours a week do you use the computer?
5. What is your preferred operating system?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Microsoft Windows
Mac OS X
Linux or another free Unix distribution
Other
“Getting to know the computer”.
Computer Systems are machines used to generate, store,
organise, process, share and transmit information digitally.
Feedback
Input
Processing
Output
Storage
They are made up of many different parts: hardware, software,
processors, memory etc.
“Getting to know its parts”.
Hardware is any physical part of the computer that you can
touch, see and pick up. Examples of hardware include the
monitor, keyboard, mouse, drives, storage, printer, scanner,
speakers, microphone, webcam, joystick...
We classify the hardware into internal or peripheral depending
on its location.
Software are the applications and programming instructions
needed to make the computer hardware do useful work.
“Getting to know the software”.
We classify the software into system software (it provides a
platform from which to run the application software) and
application software (they are the programs that you use on a
daily basis).
User
Some examples of system software are:
-Operating system (eg: Windows 7)
-Utilities (eg: Control Panel)
-User interface (eg: Log in screen)
Application
System
Software
Hardware
“Knowing the dangers” (see handout also)
What dangers come with computer usage?
Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI)
Stress
Eyestrain
ELF radiation (Extremely low frequency radiation)
Dependency
“Ergonomics”
Ergonomics is a word formed by two Greek particles: “ergo” and
“nomos”, which mean - activity and norms or natural laws.
A literal translation would be rules that regulate human activity.
Ergonomics, therefore, is the science of designing safe and
comfortable machines for people’s usage. This includes furniture
design and the design of peripherals that you need to use, such
as mice and keyboards.
“How to be comfortable at your Computer Workstation”
“Complying with health and safety legislation”
Health and Safety regulations provide legal guidelines for what
constitutes a safe working environment.
All organisations are legally required to comply with the
requirements of such legislation. Failure to do so can lead to
prosecution and/or legal action by employees who suffer from
injuries or illnesses as a result of factors within their working
environment.
Normally large organisations have a Health Safety Officer who
is responsible for monitoring working conditions.
“The ergonomic office should pay attention to the following factors: ”
Environmental factors: air quality, temperature or noise levels.
Light: poor-quality or direct sunlight on the screen can lead to eyestrain.
Hardware , software: if they don’t perform as they should, it causes stress.
Monitors: suitable height (neck should be straight), brightness settings...
Eye tests: employers should subsidise them.
Timed breaks: in order to avoid stress and repetitive strain injury (RSI).
Keyboard and mouse: should be positioned slightly below elbow level.
Chair and posture: incorrect posture can lead to severe back problems.
“The other side of computing ”
Piracy
Web Addiction
Plagiarism
Censorship
Snooping
Web Medicine
“Green computing”
“The average desktop PC wastes over half of the power
delivered to it”.
“ICT industry accounts for about 2 per cent of global carbon
dioxide emissions”.
Computing could be more environmentally friendly. Take a look
at the “green computing” link and the one below to learn more.
Climate Savers Computing Initiative (set up in 2007)
“Measures for greener computing”
Lower power hardware
Virtualization
Cloud computing
Energy efficient coding
Improved repair, re-use, recycling and disposal
Less pollutant manufacture
“Computing and Sustainability”
There are three ways in which computer applications can help:
- Increasing business efficiency by enabling economies to scale
in cleaner ways and by reducing the wastage of natural
resources.
-Enabling dematerialization (to replace physical items with
purely digital equivalents).
- Enabling travel reduction.
“Conclusion”
In this first module we have seen:
What a computer is, how they operate, what do we use them for
and its main division between hardware and software.
Health and Safety issues related to computers and the science
that deals with them, ergonomics.
Moral and environmental issues.
REMEMBER:You must hand in the moral issues doc before week 37