10.1 - Knowledge, Information and Data - Revision

• Data: recorded facts
• Information: Data with meaning
• Knowledge: set of rules which allow people to use information to make decisions

All ICT systems work on the basis of:

• Input
• Process
• Output

Sometimes there is another step which is called 'Feedback'. This steps enables the process to be modified/improved.

Data Capture

• Direct
• Indirect
• GIGO - Garbage In = Garbage Out

Data encoding:

• Makes data harder to understand (good/bad)
• Reduces the size of data (good for storage/input reasons)

Value judgements:

• A judgement based on your experience or information given
• Prejudice = a pre-judgement due to something (race, colour, creed = racism)

10.2 Value and Importance of Information - Revision

Information is useful. It can help to:

• reduce costs
• reduce losses
• help make good business decisions
• help develop new products

Information is considered good quality if:

• it is up to date
• accurate
• relevant for a particular use

An insurance company will ask for motoring convictions from the last 5 years. Any longer and it would be unfair to judge the person applying for the insurance. Your driving style would have changed over 5 years.

At the end of the day a bank processes a list of credit card transactions. It is no good if the credit card numbers are in any way inaccurate. The wrong person will get charged for the transaction.

The safety officer of a nuclear power station needs to know accurate and up-to-date core readings to monitor the danger of the station blowing up. He is not in the slightest bit interested in the shopping bill for the station canteen albeit an accurate and up-to-date list.

Information as a commodity

"James Bond looked down at the small microfilm. 'Was this worth the death of 006?' He knew the answer. The death of one man, for the whereabouts of Oosama Ben Lardin. Without it, thousands would die."

It is obvious now that good quality information can be valuable. But there is a trade off between the value of the information vs how much it costs to collect.

• Cost of getting the information vs The value of the information once collected

There are certain factors that determine the cost of information:

• How the data is collected?
• How the data is inputted?
• How often the data needs to be collected?
• How good are the data validation methods upon entry?
• How long does it take to process the data?
• How is the information reported?

Click HERE for some summary notes

Remember:

Any data collected about an identifiable person, by a Data Controller must be done so and used in accordance with the 8 Principles of the Data Protection Act.

10.8 Reducing Risks

Protecting against internal threats:

• Audit trails - provide evidence or wrong doing and enable retracing of errors
• Encryption - prevents access to unauthorised personnel
• Physical security - prevention
• Biometrics
• Access levels (full rights, read only, write only, update, delete, append, no access)

Protecting against external threats:

• Firewalls
• Access logs
• Virus checkers
• Physical secutiry

Legislation goes some way to disuade people trying to gain access to your information, but does not actually prevent this happening.

10.8 Internal and External Threats

Threats can be catagorised into:

• Internal (within an organisation)
• External (outside an organisation)

Internal threats include:

• Unprofessional, disgruntled employees
• Corrupted filesystems/hardware
• Network failiure

External threats include:

• Crackers/hackers
• Viruses

10.8 Important Points

Most 10.8 exam questions are written in two ways:

• Provide a definition of Computer Crime and Malpractice
• Provide weak points and ways to reduce weak points in an IT system

So it is important to learn the 2 definitions and the 2 lists on the previous post.

10.8 Information Systems, Malpractice and Crime

Computer crime is any crime that has been committed using a computer as the principle tool.

• fraud
• company espionage
• viruses
• malcious vandelism
• theft of information

Malpractice is behaviour that is legal but goes against a professional code of practice.

• British Computer Society or individual company codes of conduct
• leaving your computer terminal open and unattended
• poorly chosen password
• looking at inproper websites
• using computer system for personal use

Crime and Malpractice is on the way up because we use and rely on computers more and more.

• Amazon.co.uk - relies on the Internet, without it, there is no business.
• Terrorism - espionage
• ATM machines and on-line banking

Weak Points of IT systems:

• data being wrongly entered into a system
• access to data stored online
• access to data stored offline such as on floppy disk
• viruses
• data being transmitted using a network
• internal staff not following procedures

Weak point can be reduced by:

• physical security
• internal procedures and codes of conduct
• encrypting vital information
• user ID's and passwords
• access levels
• firewalls
• antivirus software
• biometric security
• vetting potential employees

10.6 Holiday homework - w/s 22/10/07

1. Produce a revision poster on A4 paper illustrating the advantages and drawbacks of on-line retail (p54 in text book)
2. Using the Wiki, produce a paper revision guide to the essential terminology to this unit.
3. Create an end of unit summary sheet for 10.6
4. Answer the following exam questions:

1) A local college has started running its courses online.

Describe:
a) 2 advantages to a learner of following an online course (4)
b) 1 drawback to a learner of following an online course (2)
c) 2 advantages to the course organisers at the college of providing a course online (4)


2) Many organisations have adopted email as a method of communication only to find that it can have disadvantages.

Describe 3 disadvantages of the use of email, other than contracting virus, for business communication. (6)


3) A large clothing retailer has decided to set up an online store.

a) Explain 2 disadvantages to the retailer of using this method of selling as opposed to selling from a high street shop (4)
b) Explain 1 advantage to the customer of using the online store rather than a high street shop (2)
c) State 1 disadvantage to the customer of using the online store rather than a high street shop (1)
d) Describe 2 ways in which the retailer could make use of the Internet to publicise its new service. (4)

10.6 Interesting communication stories

1. Streaming TV - The future of the net?
2. Nambias communication solution
3. Connecting the home of the future
4. Next step for mobile media
5. On-line pirates
6. Beating congestion with mobiles
7. Telemedicine
8. Web 2 Oh

10.5 Teleworking

• Teleworking involves carrying out work away from the office and communicating with the employer through the use of computer and telecommunications equipment.

• Often teleworkers are based at home, but they can also work from telecentres, satellite offices or even on the move.

Benefits of teleworking (FAT DOG):

• (F) Flexible working - can fit family duties into the daily schedule
• (A) More Attention and concentration may occur due to not being in a noisy office
• (T) No Travel costs or time
• (D) Workers with Disabilities can have the same opportunities to work
• (O) Saves on expensive Office space, heat and light
• (G) Geographical limitations removed when looking for employees

Drawbacks of teleworking (SMITH):

• (S) Stress caused by difficulty in separating work with home life
• (M) Difficult to Monitor and control staff
• (I) Employees may feel Isolated
• (T) Reduced sense of Team loyalty and belonging leading to reduced motivation
• (H) Employees may find it harder to seek Help
  

10.6 Essential terminolgy

• The Internet
• The World Wide Web
• Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML)
• Internet Browser
• Domain name
• Domain Name Server (DNS)
• Router
• Internet Service Provider (ISP)
• Narrowband
• Broadband
• Search engine
• E-Commerce
• Video Conferencing
• Intranet
• Extranet
• Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
• Email

• How to view a webpage

10.6 The World Wide Web

The Internet was growing as more and more networks were being joined together. However it was only being used by the military and academics due to it's compliexity.

In 1990 an Englishman known as Dr Tim Berners-Lee developed a simple document formatting language called 'HTML' which enabled documents to be stored on the fledgling Internet and to link to other documents using 'Hyperlinks'. He also developed an application to read these documents called a 'Browser'.

Due to the simplicity and huge scope of these inventions there are billions of websites all around the World written by anybody with a connection to the Internet.

The linking of these websites to other websites means there is a web of links spanning the globe. This is known as the World Wide Web.

10.6 The Internet

The start of the network which is now known as The Internet was first developed in the 1950's by the US Defence.

It wanted to be able to link their missile bases around the US to be able to strike back at anybody that fired missiles at them. They wanted to remove any possibility of problems so built in 'redundancy'. They created a 'mesh network'.

Other countries around the World developed similar national networks and when IBM linked the US to the UK via a trans-Atlantic cable called FatPipe in the early 1980's, the International Network was born - the Internet.

10.6 The Role of Communication Systems

If you wanted to send the entire Encyclopedia Britanica to your Aunty in Australia, you wouldn't send it by SMS (text message). You probably wouldn't email it either. These communications systems are useful for specific reasons but are limited.

In this particular instance you would probably blow it onto a DVD and send it by snail mail.

The choice of communication system is dependent upon several things:

• (S) The required speed of delivery
• (A) Availibility of technology
  
• (S) The size of message
• (S) Security of transmission
• (E) Ease of use of technology
• (C) The cost of sending

When deciding upon what communication device is best for a particular scenerio, think about these 6 areas.

Important links:

• BBC Click on-line archive
• TeachICT Comms links

10.4 Capabilities and Limitations - Overview

10.5 The social impact of ICT

ICT has impacted in many different areas of our society. The main areas we are going to explore are:

• Manufacturing
• Commerce
• Banking
• Medicine
• The home
• Education

10.4 Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT)

Electronic funds transfer, often abbreviated EFT, is a system for moving money from one account to another without the use of checks. This banking system transfers funds through computers and other electronic equipment. EFT includes five main types of facilities and systems:

• automated teller machines (ATMs),
• telephone-banking systems,
• computer-banking systems,
• automated clearinghouses, and
• point-of-sale terminals.

10.5 Social impact of ICT

Finance has completely changed due to the Internet and ICT is being developed for the developing world.

10.4 Limitations of ICT

Although computers have made out lives easier and more efficient, there can be limitations in their powers:

• hardware limitations - speed of components
• software limitations - poorly written or incompatible software
• communication limitations - comms bottleneck - shared broadband?
• inappropriate design - poorly designed
• poor data control and mechanisms - GIGO, humans

There are lots of cases of computers gone mad here.

10.4 Capabilities of ICT

Computers have become endemic in our modern life. They are everywhere from shopping to medicine. But why is this so?

• They can be fast
• Search large datasets quickly
• Store vast amounts of data
• They will perform tasks accurately
• Don't mind performing repetitive tasks
• Can be automatic
• Can combine data to create information
• Link to other computer systems - is the Internet useful?

Supermarkets have changed enormously over the years due to the application of computerisation. Computers have made supermarkets more effective at finding out shopping habits and customer profiles (this helps marketing, helps decide what to sell, store layout etc.) and more cost efficient which should result in lower prices.

How could the application of computerised systems help this scenerio?

A-level ICT expectations

Read around the subject

• ICT is a subject that is continually changing. It is therefore necessary for you to read around the subject and take notes of any examples that could be used when answering questions on the topics you are studying.
• BBC Click is an excellent weekly technology programme that you can watch at any time and that will provide insight into the ever changing world of ICT.

Consolidate class notes

• A-levels are different to anything you have experienced to date, in that we assume that after each lesson you go through your class notes and add to them by reading your workbook or research on-line or in the library or even reading magazines and newspapers.

Past papers practice

• Looking through past exam papers and practicing answering the questions is the most effective way of passing A-level exams. The same questions come up each year albeit worded slightly differently. By learning how to answer these questions you are giving yourself free marks!

Maintain your folder

• Whilst studying each topic your ICT folder should be kept up-to-date with the following 4 sections:

1. Class notes
2. Consolidated class notes (class notes + additional reading)
   
3. Past paper practices (with model answers)
4. When you complete a topic, summarise your notes further into a single, high level diagram (in a style of your choice) which can then be put on top of your notes to give you something to revise from. Maybe consider turning lists into acronyms or create a mind map.
   

• This means you will need to purchase a note pad (preferably A4) and section dividers (about £2 from Staples)

ICT1 - Useful Information

Useful Dates:

• ICT1 exam = 14/01/2008 (PM)
• ICT2 exam = 16/05/2008 (AM)
• ICT3 hand-in = ????

Useful Resources:

• Fat Max
• My diary including homework dates and details
• The Wiki we will use to store definitions and lists etc. (phs-ict-as.wikidot.com)
  

ICT1 - Overview

10.1 – Knowledge, Information and Data

• Understand the distinction between knowledge, information and data.
• Information has context and its meaning is determined by the context.
• Understand the nature of data: recorded facts, events or transactions.
• Understand the different ways in which data can arise: (direct capture or as a by-product of another operation).
• Describe the effect of the quality of the data source on the information produced.
• Understand the need to encode information as data.
• Understand the problems associated with the coding of value judgements.

10.2 – Value and Importance of Information

• Understand that information is a commodity and as such can have a monetary value, the level of which depends on its accuracy, its potential use and its particular intended use.
• Describe the overheads involved in ensuring that information is up-to-date.

10.3 – Control of Information

• Describe the legal rights and obligations on holders of personal data to permit access.
• Understand that the sale of entitlement to access to data may mean paying for a more convenient form of access, the right of which already exists.
• Understand that files on individuals and on organisations that are non-disclosable have commercial value.

10.4 – Capabilities and Limitations of Information and Communication Technology

• Understand that ICT systems offer fast repetitive processing, vast storage capability, the facility to search and combine data in many different ways which would otherwise be impossible. This can provide quality information.
• Understand that the response speed of technology within ICT systems facilitates the use of feedback, e.g. maintenance of optimum stock levels, electronic fund/money management systems.
• Understand that there are limitations in the use of ICT systems and in the information they produce. Factors could include hardware, software and communications limitations in addition to inappropriate data models and data control mechanisms.

10.5 – The Social Impact of Information and Communication Technology

• Explain the benefits and drawbacks of the use of ICT in manufacturing, industry, commerce, medicine, the home and education and teleworking.

10.6 – Role of Communication Systems

• Explain the use of global communications between single or multiple sources and recipients, including public networks e.g. Internet.
• Describe the hardware, software and services required to access the Internet.
• Describe the facilities offered and the relative merits of: telephone, fax, e-mail, teleconferencing, viewdata, teletext, remote databases and other relevant communication systems.
• Explain the use of the Internet for a range of activities including communication, information searching and information publication.
• Candidates should be aware of the recent developments in the area of communication systems.

10.7 – Information and the Professional

• Recall the personal qualities and general characteristics necessary for a person working effectively within the ICT industry and as part of an ICT team.

10.8 – Information Systems, Malpractice and Crime

• Explain the consequences of malpractice and crime on information systems.
• Describe the possible weak points within an information technology systems.
• Describe the measures that can be taken to protect information technology systems against internal and external threats.
• Describe the particular issues surrounding access to, and the use of the Internet; censorship, security, ethics.

10.9 – The Legal Framework

• This section applies to current British legislation and its relationship to the Council of Europe Convention directives

10.9 – The Legal Framework – Software and data misuse

• Describe the anti-hacking provisions of the Computer Misuse Act.
• Describe the principles of software copyright and licensing agreements.

10.9 – The Legal Framework – Data protection legislation

• Recall the nature, purpose and provisions of the current data protection legislation of the Public Register.
• Recall the type of data covered and various exemptions from the legislation.
• Describe the definitions of processing and consent to process.
• Explain how the requirements of the legislation impact on data collection and use.
• Describe the obligations of data users under the legislation.
• Recall the rights of individuals under the legislation.
• Recall the role of the Registrar in encouraging good practice, acting as Ombudsman and enforcing legislation.

10.9 - The Legal Framework – Health and Safety

• Describe the provisions of the current health and safety legislation in relation to the use of information systems.
• Recognise that health and safety guidelines cover the design and introduction of new software