Transcript T175A Networked Living: exploring information

T175A
Networked Living: Exploring
Information & Communication
Technologies
By Dina Tbaishat
Course aims
T175 is a course divided into two distinct parts; part A
(which is the one you’ll be introduced to this semester)
and part B. The aims of this course are:
 Introducing the networked world we live in
 Understand the technologies that drive these networks
 Examining how these technologies are applied in
practice
 How Information and Communication Technologies
(ICTs) enable communication and information sharing
 Introducing the gradual development of ICTs
These lecture notes and the ones provided for the
following weeks are for T175A which includes Block 1,
Block 2 and parts 1-2 from Block 3.
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Week One
This lecture covers part 1 along with the
first study session of part 2, from the first
block of the text book for this module.
 This session should be able to let you
reflect on how ICT systems are involved
in your own lives
 It will also enable you to explore ICT
systems in a bit more detail
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What are ICTs ?
The technologies used in the conveying,
manipulation and storage of data by
electronic means.
 But what is data ? Can anyone tell me the
difference between data and information ?
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Data is the representation of information so
that it can be conveyed and manipulated or
stored, while information is the meaning that
people give to data in particular contexts.
Data  Information  knowledge  wisdom !
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Example of ICTs: landline telephone system,
mobile phone systems, broadcast radio and the
internet.
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ICTs impacts
There is a relationship between ICTs and
societies
 Major technological developments have been
taking place since the end of the 20th century
 ICTs started to affect many people and
organizations including government’s vision
 An interesting debate: technology affects
societies, how can societies affect technology ???
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ICT systems.. part of our life
ICT systems have become part of our life
and daily experiences
 Can you list different ways in which you
communicate using technology ?
 ICT systems and devices do not work in
isolation but need to be within a
communication system, linked to other
devices able to exchange data
 Following are aspects where ICTs have
impact on our daily lives:
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Finance: credit card use in shops, ATMs.
implications  enhanced security,
disappearance of some businesses and
creation of others.
 The internet, which lead to new ways of:
communication  security is a concern
Information sharing  content authority
and regulation
 Entertainment: TV, digital cameras, computer
gaming, etc…
 Public services: government services, passenger
information, learning online !
Exercise: think about ICTs that have changed your
life, do you like the change and impact they caused ?

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ICTs at home
The development of new technologies
caused problems in coordinating and
controlling
 Smart home is a possible solution
 The idea of smart home is to integrate
the control of these systems
 Look at the example in your book to
learn about interpreting surveys. Look at
the article for full information about the
smart home.
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Introducing ICT systems (1)
Taking a “systems” view of ICT systems can
help us understand them
 Systems are all around us, nervous system,
education system, registration system
 Think about systems around you, in your
house and outside the house
 Connectedness is a common factor between
all systems, where all components are
connected to perform a function
 Not necessarily connected physically,
components can be ideas or activities

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Introducing ICT systems (2)
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Representing a system in a system map is
one way of explaining and analyzing it in a
graphical form
The system boundary defines which
components are part of the system and
which are not
An important aspect of systems is that each
component can be considered as a
subsystem
A system map help us focus on the
particular systems and subsystems we are
interested in
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Introducing ICT systems (3)
Deciding where to place the system
boundary isn’t an easy task
 Exercise: Draw a system map for an
email communication system, which
includes the sender, the recipient, the
sender’s computer, the recipient’s
computer and the internet.
 You may draw system boundary in
different places at different times
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Communication systems
Humans communicate in everyday life, they
convey information to each other. List ways
of conveying a message to a friend, which of
them are considered ICT systems ?
 Communication systems can be represented
using block diagrams: sender, means of
conveying a message, and receiver
 Each block represents something in the real
world and labels tell you what these things
are
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Components of “means of
conveying a message”
Transmitter: receives a message from user 1,
manipulates it into data that can be sent into
the network. Can also store or retrieve data
related to the message.
 Network: which is the communication
channel that conveys data from the
transmitter to the receiver. It may also store,
retrieve and manipulate data.
 Receiver: receives data from the network
and manipulates it into a message to send to
user 2. It may also retrieve or store data.
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Communication links (1)
Physical: like cables, which provide path for
conveying data between two points.
 Wireless: such as radio links and infrared.
- radio links such as mobile phones,
Bluetooth and WiFi
- Infrared, for computers and printers,
and for the TV remote control
Communication links has capacity, the ability
of conveying data is measured by a quantity
known as “bandwidth”
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Communication links (2)
Data is conveyed in communication links as a
series of pulses, which is sent from one end
of a communication link to another.
 Pulses can be represented by bits (1s and
0s). Bits is the abbreviation of binary digit.
 Data rate or bit rate is the rate at which the
1s and 0s are conveyed.
 Every communication link has a maximum
data rate it can support, and this is the
bandwidth.
 Data rates and bandwidth are measured as a
number of bits per second (bps).
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Communication links (3)
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Having a prefix makes bits numbers
manageable, for example; you can use kilo
to represent 1000 bits, mega for a million
bits, and giga for a billion bits (that’s one
thousand million), so 56kbps means 56000
bits per second.
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Summary
You’ve been introduced to:
 networks in everyday life
 ICT systems, what they are
 ICT systems components, and types of
communication links
See you next week !
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