Information technology research project Essay Example

Information technology research project Essay Information Technology, (IT ) is now a widely used tool in education, business and leisure. This project describes some of the facilities listed above which are used with varying degrees of success in education. As a tool of teaching, they have values which are discussed, but their widespread application in commerce and leisure makes having experience of them a requisite part of wider education. However, they can easily be construed as the way the learn, or as the only tool needed. With the exception of very mature and able people this is a fallacy, as one has to be very dedicated to learning and have developed considerable discipline to attain success by this method alone. Even the Open University which uses mainly distance and more recently online learning realises that periodic face to face meetings with tutors and other students is essential to get the best understanding out of any teaching program. It is interesting that the new ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence) which is likely to become the standard broader qualification for basic IT in the future, has been devised so it can be studied and tested by distance learning from CDROM. Time will tell how many people can do this right through with minimal tutor or lesson contact. Currently both class, and distance learning with tutor support are being tried by different local colleges. It seems likely to be attractive as a qualification for people who have perhaps have had training in some of the 7 component sections, but wish to round out their basic knowledge somewhat. Such people will have quite a lot of computer literacy from the modules they already know and it will be interesting to see how much additional support they really need. We will write a custom essay sample on Information technology research project specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Information technology research project specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Information technology research project specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer 1. CDROMS as a Learning Resource. One useful way of using a computer in education is using subject specialist CDROMS. These have been available for some time now, but vary in their quality of material and actual likely learning outcome. The usual idea is that the student should work through a program at their own speed learning and giving answers, usually to multiple choice questions. The program might be one long on-going one, but is more usually broken into sections of increasing complexity, which can be used in any order for the topic required. If the student tries to go too far into the work before understanding the earlier chapters properly, then they will find it too difficult. Most programs have tests at the end of each section to self-assess progress. The best ones also have optional tests at the beginning of each section to see if the student already knows the material in it and can therefore miss that section out. The material varies in quality. Some are very good, making students at least think before answering questions. However, this learning system suffers from one fundamental problem. It is fairly easy to skip through a section and then immediately do a test on it. This however does not really assess understanding very well. The temptation is to then go on and on without going back over any material. Hence short term memory of correct answers is tested, but long term memory and real understanding are not. The more effective solution is to instruct students at each session that they must retake all the assessment tests they covered the previous session and get high marks before going on further. The arrangement style of material is also potentially variable. Many early program were poor in this respect. They were often difficult to drive, so much time and effort was expended figuring out how to make the program run, rather than actually learning the material. The main resultant outcome was that people understood how to drive the program rather than the material it contained. Modern ones are more consistent in style to Windows conventions and hence do not require the same amount of learning to drive. A reference elsewhere1 indicates that a programs popularity is not necessarily indicative of good quality in CDROM programs. Some just do not get the material over well in a way that is remembered or understood. Unfortunately, some students will plough ahead regardless through such programs on the wishful assumption that if they cover it all, they must know it and would pass any assessment. So some other interaction with the tutor is essential for all but the most dedicated of learners if using this as a major learning tool. Remember, IT is just another learning tool, not a teacher substitute. I test drove two CDROMS. One about the internet was passable, but not very inspiring. The second one was a medical one which I saw only briefly. It seemed to have a lot of information, but I could not determine if it was a good program in a limited time. We were also shown an early poor one for comparison. Remember. IT is just another learning tool, not a teacher substitute. 2. Microsoft PowerPoint(r) This and similar presentation packages are designed to allow a range of display, text, graphs, images, etc to be incorporated into a slide show, which are presented from a PC. There are two popular ways they are used. One is using a special projector which takes the PC output and projects it onto a screen, which is suitable for a large audience. The other is to use a PC, often a laptop, where a small number of people sit round and discuss it. This is a popular system of presentation for people on the move like salesmen, or executives who travel round different sites, even abroad. The laptop package is small to carry and the presentation can be updated remotely from base if necessary for changes such as prices or data. It can still be plugged into a projection system. In a teaching environment, projection is occasionally used, but is mainly in large lecture theatres due to the relatively high cost. I use the package regularly myself for scientific training courses I teach. Each slide is made in a design mode where everything can be set or changed at will. One of the template design backgrounds can be used for the whole show, or a custom one be made, producing a coherence between the slides. Then there are a range of slide styles available for e.g. text only, text and graph, text and image, graph only, etc. As the package uses many of the tools of other MS applications, material is readily copied in from Word, Excel, etc., using the clipboard. The way material appears onto the screen can be set to a whole range of options. So text effects like each line being added by sliding in from one side, or fading in, or coming in letter by letter are available and can add interest. This displays only the information up to the point of the explanation by the lecturer without the distraction of later lines, previous lines dimmed if preferred. Animation strips can be inserted and sound added if desired. All these add impact, but can be distracting or annoying if done in excess. Moving video images or animated drawings can be added if required. The design mode is changed to slide show mode for projection so the full screen is used by the slide, with menu bars etc., used in design mode not taking part up of it. The video lead from the PC is usually plugged into the projector and a return lead to the usual monitor so that the user can see the small screen without facing away from the audience. At design time one can also show all the slides together in miniature as a display where they can be easily rearranged as required. The slides can be printed out in full page or several to a page if required so that a copy can be given to participants as a handout. Additionally, notes can be added to a half size printout of each slide and printed out, usually to act as prompts for the lecturer, but can be used for participants also if appropriate. During projection, a pen can be added so that the speaker can draw on the slide being projected to emphasise a point, this drawing being temporary and not stored in the file. Timing can be added, either to match the speakers requirement for automatic change for each slide at appropriate times, or at a specified regular time interval. It can also cycle the whole program indefinitely for such applications as public viewing at exhibitions. There is facility to send the presentation to someone who has not got the full PowerPoint package by a file which is self standing on another PC. This is useful, as many organisations do not purchase a full office package or may only have an alternative such as Lotus. Licence requirements are thus not violated. 3. Digital Cameras These are becoming increasing popular as accessories for computers as a way of putting a picture of a person, scene or an item into a document. Some are relatively cheap with limited resolution, whilst others offer higher resolution and storage of many pictures before downloading (e.g. 90). The download process takes only a short time, but one must remember that they are bitmaps which are very memory intensive. They can be imported into a package such as Paint and re-saved as JPEG images which are a lot smaller. Some low cost cameras are designed to sit on top of the PC monitor and are usually used to take live photos of the operator or other items which can be brought into range. These are the cheapest because they use the PCs own memory for picture storage. There are also some models which take a floppy disk as their method of storage, and as one can change the disk when full, the memory capacity is unlimited. Most better cameras have a miniature screen at the back which acts as a viewfinder, and on which stored images may be reviewed for confirmation and deletion allowed if unsatisfactory. Software packages are available to take the digital images and edit them in various ways. Some are designed for amusement such as added photo heads to comic bodies, etc. Others have more serious applications to either cut out, transpose parts onto other pictures. Unwanted items can be edited out. Almost anything is possible with a quality package. The old adage that The camera never lies is no longer true! Pictures taken and/or edited with these packages, along with images scanned into picture software can be printed on a colour printer, usually an inkjet. There is special photographic paper available for these which gets close to a photograph in quality if a good digital camera and photo quality printer are used. There are also methods of capturing film form a conventional camcorder onto a PC so that stills can be extracted and used in the same way. All pictures are memory hungry so a large hard disk is required if a lot of use is to be made of this feature. 4. Videoconferencing When two IT users wish to interact, they no longer need to get together. Conferencing could be to a nearby building or more likely a remote location anywhere in the world. It can work with a standard telephone line, but a more expensive but faster ISDN line is better. Using this, each partner has a camera and either a PC or a large TV type monitor screen. Groups can sit at each location so that a meeting of several groups at different places can take place. A chairman in one would usually control who was the speaker at any time to avoid conflicts. The cameras can be made to pan onto each speaker or to any item being discussed. This is very cost effective for meetings where several people would have to travel, or where one would otherwise travel but try to represent several people. All can take part, no travel is necessary and the cost is just a telephone call for the duration of the meeting. For international business, increasingly common, this time saving is considerable and makes i nter-site co-operation simple and enhances profitability. Schools, colleges and higher education find uses for this system. It is particularly good where a specialist speaker is delivering a talk, so people can watch it without travelling to the venue. It also aids such demonstrations as surgery, where a crowd cannot get into see close up what is happening, but the surgeon can work normally with little hindrance from just one camera, whilst people can see the operation close up as though they were present. Conversation can take place during or afterwards with a little organisation of the logistics. Many other instances can be devised to get close in or to teach from afar. Schools and colleges often try to introduce their pupils to videoconferencing, but these often turn out to be rather gimmicky events. The supposed advantage of speaking to a different group in another school is of dubious value to learning in most cases. If the organisation was to link up with say a school or college abroad, to speak in each others language with a genuine accent, that might be more useful. We have some way to go with this yet, I think to achieve anything really useful, meanwhile, it is an expensive play toy. Some examples of shots taken with a digital camera during a videoconferencing demonstration session are appended. 5. Speech Recognition Several software packages are available which when used with a sound card and microphone allow spoken words to be converted automatically into text. The text can then be pasted into a Word or similar document after corrections. However as everyone has different speech characteristics, the program cannot just recognise everyone automatically straight away. It is necessary for each user to train the software to recognise their individual voice. This is done by reading in a number of standard texts and correcting any errors. Slowly the package improves its accuracy of recognition. Additionally, once serious use is made and used correctly, it should continue this improvement process for that person. The better packages allow several users to each have their own voice recognition set to be stored and be available on demand. Text has to be dictated fairly slowly, pausing between. words more than one would in normal speech. Some claims2 suggest this is as slow as 5 words per minute, but observation suggests that 20 30 is possible once practised and trained well. Things like punctuation and capital letters are also dictated. The environment must be reasonably quiet or the software will also try to interpret extraneous sounds. Bear in mind that one has to read carefully through the text afterwards to check for errors in conversion which slows down the overall process. Running a spell check is inappropriate as a substitute, as the program may generate true words, but may not be the ones intended. Has this applications in education? Some pundits suggest that in 5 or 10 years time, the software will be so sophisticated that it will be able to work faster than a reasonable typist the truth is more likely that we shall have to wait and see. One has also to bear in mind that it might be fine to enter the reading of a written text, but usually things are also being composed whilst entering at a keyboard. So the likely strings of words punctuated with ums and ahs and no change that to will not work in such dictation. As current text recognition of scanned images (OCR) is well advanced, this seems to be the way straight written text will be entered. It would be a special skill that people would need to acquire to be able to dictate a new document directly in well composed speech. Certainly in view of the general dumbing down of standards of English, many people currently in the workplace would be unable to do this effectively and the keyboard will probably still be the major input device for most applications. 1 See project IT in education etc. Task 9. 2 Rick Maybury. Boot Up Projects. Daily Telegraph Publications

An Open Life By Joseph Campbell Essays - Joseph Campbell, Lecturers

An Open Life By Joseph Campbell Essays - Joseph Campbell, Lecturers An Open Life By Joseph Campbell In the novel, An Open Life, by Joseph Campbell, I agree that life is like a novel and that disasters result in structuring a great aspect of your life. If you really think about what Mr. Campbell is saying, he is right. Looking back at my life with all the ups and downs I have experienced, made me who I am now, which is a great thing. I had an experience with a boyfriend which caused me to get a great job to make as much money as my Mother. A reading that makes me agree with Mr. Campbell quote, was when I read my Mothers journal that she kept from the start of my birth until I was ten. An observation that I got to see was from the movie Dont be a Menace to Society While Drinking your Juice in the Hood. In this movie, Ashtray becomes a man by observing on how his friends are. I agree with Joseph Campbell, that life is like a novel. An experience I had with the opposite sex made me who I am now. One evening my boyfriend and I agreed that we would go out with some friends, and go our separate ways. When he left, I called my friend to see if she wanted to do something. We ended up going to the movies. During the movie I noticed that my friend wanted to tell me something but backed off for a while. When she could not hold it any longer, she told me to look back. When I did, I saw my now ex-boyfriend making out with a girl. I was devastated when I had seen that, I even ended up quitting college for this. I was thinking about this all day and forgot to realize that I had a math exam the next day. So what I did was that I quit college. My Mom was very upset that I had quit for such a reason. It was impossible living with my Mom when this had happened. She did not like the fact that I quit school and did not even have a job to take advantage of. But a couple of weeks later, opportunity came ringing on the phone. My aunt called and told me that she was looking for an assistant. I went the next day for an interview and got hired on the spot. Till this day I am working at Century 21 Su Casa, a real estate company, making almost as much money as my mother. Sometimes I think that if this would have never happened, where would I be or what would I be doing? If this disaster would have never happened to me, then my life would be different than how it is now. Reading my Mothers journal makes me agree with Mr. Campbell. She had kept this journal from my birth until I was ten years old. According to my Mom thought now for me was the right age to learn where I came from and the disasters my Mom had to go through. In this journal she states that when I was younger my mother left my father because of his drinking problem. When this happened she had to claim welfare for about one year. During this year my mom could have just decided to stay on welfare for the rest of her life, but she got smart, went to college and got a degree in Business. If my mom would have not gotten smart during this period we would have probably still been on welfare, but thanks to mom she gave us a better life. She now has more than enough money to support us both. Nothing could be better, we have our own house, and each a car. This proves that problems whether big or small structure a great aspect of your life. By observing the movie, Dont be a Menace to Society While Drinking your Juice in the Hood, we see that Ashtray by observing on how his friends made him to become a better person. What I observed from this movie was that Ashtrays friends were playing with women and not take responsibility

Defining the Big D - Emphasis

Defining the Big D Defining the Big D Kill the fatted calf: it seems we do now have a definition of the word Depression. (See Whats in a word?, below.) According to the Economist, its: a slide in peak-to-trough of real GDP of 10% or a decline lasting more than three years. Im glad we sorted that out. So were not in one yet, even if the latest estimate is for 4 per cent negative growth in GDP. Now, if we could just start talking ourselves out of whatever it is we are in

B2B Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

B2B Marketing - Essay Example Product realization entails the preliminary research towards initiation of products that are to be marketed as well as the actual development and testing of those products over their effectiveness in meeting customer demand. In the framework of new product realization the entire process comprises a number of steps that constitute the procedure efficient in terms of matching the ‘new product’ to be launched with the market demand. However, as Storey and Easingwood (1999) indicate, new product development should be consistent with the market trends and with the firm’s capabilities and resources. In that extend, firms should be highly focusing on designing those characteristics and attaching those features to their new products/ services that are meaningful and ‘desirable’ for both customers and the firms themselves. Adopting a market driven strategy with regards to new product realization is vital in that it eventually allows management to identify and explore the critical stakeholders’ requirements or needs and gradually embed these in the product/service specifications prior to launching a new product/service (Herrmann et al., 2000). Strategic new product realizations offer comparative advantages to organizations mostly due to the fact that they are credited for increasing competence, adding value to the firms’ offerings and eventually strengthen the competitive opposition in the overall market environments (Storey and Easingwood, 1999). However, product realization strategy needs to be market – oriented in order to provide the fundamental basis for successful results. According to Chakravarty (2001) the development of new products is essential only if these new products incorporate and embed the customer requirements, customer needs and generally pertain to addressing customer demand. The author further expands this view by arguing that market driven product realization strategy reflects the strategic fit of the new

Case Study Response Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Case Study Response - Coursework Example oduct consumes a lot of funds in advertisements and it might not be a wise decision for the company that has been witnessing a constant decline in the total sales of its products. Against this background, it would be wise for Patterson to lobby for expanding the drug market using the existing brand that is known to the targeted customers. This is commonly referred to as standardization where an attempt is made to develop the market using the same brand. Effort will be made to attract new customers for the brand while putting measures that are designed to cut costs (Kotler & Armstrong, 2010). The main advantage of this strategy is that the revenue collected by the organization will increase as a result of economies of scales created by lowering production costs. The brand will be standardised such that it can appeal to the interests of many customers and this helps to increase the sales. Compared to launching a new brand, it can be seen that the strategy recommended above has many

Lord Capulet in William Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet :: Papers

Lord Capulet in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Lord Capulet is a character in the play "Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare which we have been reading together in class. This piece is a study on this character. The story is of a young boy and girl who find love in each other but due to a sequence of events their lives are prematurely ended. Lord Capulet is the head of the Capulets and is well respected by the rest of his house. He is also Lady Capulets wife and Juliet's father. He is important in this story, as he is able to make decisions, which will affect the lives of many other people, not only in his own house but also in his bitter rivals house, The Montague's. Throughout the whole play there are scenes that revolve solely around him and Juliet, this makes him one of the most powerful people in the play and one of the main characters. The first time we see Capulet is in the brawl at the market, it is between the Capulets and Montagues. He immediately asks for his sword, "give me my long sword, ho!" as he sees Montague but his wife restrains him. You can tell by both his actions and his first words that he is not in a good mood and is spoiling for a fight also he acts like a middle aged man of around 40 years. We find out later in the play that he has a temper and his mood varies quickly from happy to anger or visa-versa. We next see Capulet in scene two where he is talking to Count Paris, an eligible young man who wishes to marry Juliet. He tells Paris that Juliet is too young, she's still only thirteen and he should wait until she is two years older, then he can marry her, "My child is yet a stranger in the world; she hath not seen the change of fourteen years". If not he should 'woo' Juliet and if she is happy, they shall talk again.

Battle of Salamis

The Battle of Salamis (Naumachia tes Salaminos) was fought between an Alliance of Greek city-states and the Persian Empire in September 480 B. C. , in the straits between the mainland and Salamis, an island in the Saronic Gulf near Athens. It marked the high-point of the second Persian invasion of Greece which had begun in 480 B. C. To block the Persian advance, a small force of Greeks blocked the pass of Thermopylae, while an Athenian-dominated Allied navy engaged the Persian fleet in the nearby straits of Artemisium. In the resulting Battle of Thermopylae, the rearguard of the Greek force was annihilated, whilst in the Battle of Artemisium the Greeks had heavy losses and retreated after the loss at Thermopylae. This allowed the Persians to conquer Boeotia and Attica. The Allies prepared to defend the Isthmus of Corinth whilst the fleet was withdrawn to nearby Salamis Island. Although heavily outnumbered, the Greek Allies were persuaded by the Athenian general Themistocles to bring the Persian fleet to battle again, in the hope that a victory would prevent naval operations against the Peloponessus. The Persian king Xerxes was also anxious for a decisive battle. As a result of subterfuge on the part of Themistocles, the Persian navy sailed into the Straits of Salamis and tried to block both entrances. In the cramped conditions of the Straits the great Persian numbers were an active hindrance, as ships struggled to maneuver and became disorganized. Seizing the opportunity, the Greek fleet formed in line and scored a decisive victory, sinking or capturing at least 300 Persian ships. As a result Xerxes retreated to Asia with much of his army, leaving Mardonius to complete the conquest of Greece. However, the following year, the remainder of the Persian army was decisively beaten at the Battle of Plataea and the Persian navy at the Battle of Mycale. Afterwards the Persian made no more attempts to conquer the Greek mainland. These battles of Salamis and Plataea thus mark a turning point in the course of the Greco-Persian wars as a whole; from then onward, the Greek poleis would take the offensive. A number of historians believe that a Persian victory would have hamstrung the development of Ancient Greece, and by extension western civilization, and this has led them to claim that Salamis is one of the most significant battles in human history. 2] The main source for the Greco-Persian Wars is the Greek historian Herodotus. Herodotus, who has been called the ‘Father of History',[3] was born in 484 BC in Halicarnassus, Asia Minor (then under Persian overlordship). He wrote his ‘Enquiries' around 440–430 BC, trying to trace the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars, which would still have been relatively recent history (the wars finally ending in 450 BC). 4] Herodotus's approach was entirely novel, and at least in Western society, he does seem to have invented ‘history' as we know it. [4] As Holland has it: â€Å"For the first time, a chronicler set himself to trace the origins of a conflict not to a past so remote so as to be utterly fabulous, nor to the whims and wishes of some god, nor to a people's claim to manifest destiny, but rather explanations he could verify personally. â€Å"[4] Some subsequent ancient historians, despite following in his footsteps, criticised Herodotus, starting with Thucydides. 5][6] Nevertheless, Thucydides chose to begin his history where Herodotus left off (at the Siege of Sestos), and therefore evidently felt that Herodotus's history was accurate enough not to need re-writing or correcting. [6] Plutarch criticised Herodotus in his essay â€Å"On The Malignity of Herodotus†, describing Herodotus as â€Å"Philobarbaros† (barbarian-lover), for not being pro-Greek enough, which suggests that Herodotus might actually have done a reasonable job of being even-handed. 7] A negative view of Herodotus was passed on to Renaissance Europe, though he remained well read. [8] However, since the 19th century his reputation has been dramatically rehabilitated by archaeological finds which have repeatedly confirmed his version of events. [9] The prevailing modern view is that Herodotus generally did a remarkable job in his Historia, but that some of his specific details (particularly troop numbers and dates) should be viewed with skepticism. [9] Nevertheless, there are still some historians who believe Herodotus made up much of his story. 10] The Sicilian historian Diodorus Siculus, writing in the 1st century BC in his Bibliotheca Historica, also provides an account of the Greco-Persian wars, partially derived from the earlier Greek historian Ephorus. This account is fairly consistent with Herodotus's. [11] The Greco-Persian wars are also described in less detail by a number of other ancient historians including Plutarch, Ctesias of Cnidus, and are alluded by other authors, such as the playwright Aeschylus. Archaeological evidence, such as the Serpent Column, also supports some of Herodotus's specific claims. [12]