Chapter 1

Information Age

1.1 Information Age and IT 3

1.2 Applications of IT 4

Chapter 1 Information Age

1.1 Information Age and IT

1.1.1 Nature of Computers 1.1.2 IT and Computers

1.1 Information Age and Information Technology

1.1.1 Nature of Computers (1)

1. Speed– High processing speed

But, may not be at full power all the times

2. Reliability– Low failure rate of electronic components

3. Accuracy– Always gives accurate results, unless

program bugs incorrect data input

1.1.1 Nature of Computers (2) 4. Storage capacity

– Different types of storage – can store huge amount of data

5. Communication ability– Data transmission between computers– Use of computers :

Communication between people

1.1 Information Age and Information Technology

1.1.2 IT and Computers Information Technology (IT)

– Create, store, exchange, and use information– Mainly computer technology

other technologies: communication, audio and video etc.

– Includes computers and other technologies Information

– Helps people in making decision Information Age

– Driven by information technology

1.1 Information Age and Information Technology

1.2 Applications of IT Clothing, Eating & Food, Housing,

Transportation

Finance & commerce, Education, Science, Health, Law Enforcement, Government and Robotics

Chapter 1 Information Age

1.2.1 Clothing Design Manufacturing Inventory System Sales Record

1.2 Applications of IT

Clothing- 1.2.1.1 Design

Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software – Complete most of the design process– Allow designers to modify their designs easily

Templates – eliminate the needs to start everything from

scratch

1.2.1 Clothing

Clothing- 1.2.1.2 Manufacturing

Design – Passed electronically to the manufacturing

department Schedule Production lines

– Evaluate the time for each section– based on

date of completion, quantity required and complexity of the design

– Ensure that all sections completed according to a pre-set sequence work load evenly distributed among the production

lines

– For the best overall efficiency

1.2.1 Clothing

Clothing- 1.2.1.3 Inventory System

Computer-based Inventory System – Records the details of each product

like the product name, type, location and quantity

Electronic Map – Shows the locations of all goods– Allows retrieval of goods quickly

1.2.1 Clothing

Clothing- 1.2.1.4 Sales records

Inventory system (similar to last page)

Sales records – data for each sale is recorded– Help Sales manager to

know the trend and make decision on future replenishment of goods

– The statistics help the store manager to determine the business strategy of the company

1.2.1 Clothing

1.2.2 Eating and food Monitoring and Control Supermarket Embedded Computer Food Ordering

1.2 Applications of IT

Eating and food-

1.2.2.1 Monitoring and controls

Agriculture– Providing information about

crop, cattle and farming

Food processing factory– Monitoring the production process – Controlling the quantity of the final

product

1.2.2 Eating and food

Eating and food-

1.2.2.2 Supermarket Inventory, Personnel, Sales, Customer Services etc. Point-Of-Sales (POS) terminal

– Bar code readers are installed to provide fast and reliable data input

– Stock-on-shelf records on central computer updated instantly verified by a staff who uses a handheld computer

Sales Information– Information about the popularity of goods – Arrange items for display on the shelves– Replenishment of goods

1.2.2 Eating and Food

Eating and food-

1.2.2.3 Embedded computer

Embedded computer– Microwave oven inside a kitchen– Using a pre-programmed fire setting

defrost frozen meat

1.2.2 Eating and food

Eating and food-

1.2.2.4 Food ordering Handheld computer (PDA)

– Waiter records your food order Radio Waves

– Transmits information to a central computer

Inside the kitchen– Food order appears on a display – The cook to follow.

1.2.2 Eating and food

1.2.3 Housing House Design Engineering Building Management Home Security

1.2 Applications of IT

Housing - 1.2.3.1 House design

Computer Aided Design (CAD) Software

3D model of the design – Viewed from different angles,– both inside and outside

Interactive animations – Allow clients to understand more about

the final design

1.2.3 Housing

Housing- 1.2.3.2 Engineering

In a construction site, engineers use computers to – Plan their projects &– Manage resources

1.2.3 Housing

Housing- 1.2.3.3 Building management Smart card technology

– Authenticate residents at the entrance of the buildings

– No need to remember password– Difficult to forge

Web site – Allows residents to reserve facilities

like tennis court or conference room.

1.2.3 Housing

Housing- 1.2.3.4 Home security

Web cams– Monitor their houses via the Internet.

Smart home technology – that provides greater security – more convenience.

1.2.3 Housing

1.2.4 Transportation Railway Control Traffic Information GPS Autotoll

1.2 Applications of IT

Transportation- 1.2.4.1 Controls

The central computer system– Controls the movements of all the trains

along the complex railway network. – Must be fully tested before put into use

because any bugs may lead to serious accidents.

1.2.4 Transportation

Transportation-

1.2.4.2 Traffic information

Airport – Monitors all the flying planes– Collects vast amount of data,

like aircraft positions, temperature and wind speed,

– Analyzed by the computer to give a reliable overall picture of the weather and air traffic conditions

– Results sent to all the airplanes

1.2.4 Transportation

Transportation- 1.2.4.3 GPS

GPS (Global Positioning System) – to keep bus company informed about

the positions of all the buses on the road

– Schedule bus services – Solve unexpected problems,

like traffic jam due to a road accident.

1.2.4 Transportation

Transportation-

1.2.4.4 Autotoll

Autotoll – At the gate, the chip is activated– The chip emits a radio wave, carrying

information, like the driver's account number.

– Central computer Locates the driver's record based the deposit is deducted appropriate information shown to driver through

– traffic lights

1.2.4 Transportation

1.2.5 Finance and Commerce

Banking E-commerce

1.2 Applications of IT

Finance and Commerce- 1.2.5.1 Banking

Bank– Pioneer in computerization among other

commercial activities– All financial transactions are handled

and recorded by computers– E.g. Easy Pay System (EPS)– ATM (automatic teller machine)

terminals to withdraw or transfer money

– Online banking allows you view account balance, transfer money and financial transactions, like online investment

1.2.5 Finance and Commerce

Finance and Commerce-

1.2.5.2 E-commerce E-commerce -Electronic money e.g. Octopus card

– getting more and more popular

– Online storefront always opens

– Cybermall provides one-stop-

shop services

1.2.5 Finance and Commerce

• Point-of-sale (POS)

system

1.2.6 Communications E-mail Internet Services

1.2 Applications of IT

Communications-

1.2.6.1 e-mail e-mail

– Communication tool of many people– E-mail message quickly reach the other

side of the world– easily reply, forward or attach with

other documents

– handheld computer incorporated with Mobile phone technology,

Sending and receiving e-mail everywhere

1.2.6 Communications

Communications-

1.2.6.2 Internet Services Broadband access

– Standard access to the Internet Entertainment

1.computer games» 2.television and movie production Telephony and videoconferencing

– Internet-based– Part of many people's daily life activities.

1.2.6 Communications

1.2.7 Education IT in education

– used in schools – to assist teaching and learning – Many classrooms are connected to the Internet

Providing a huge source of supplementary materials

– Multimedia learning/Interactive assessing tools More interesting learning experiences to students

– E-learning enables self-paced learning

1.2 Applications of IT

• Computer Assisted

Learning (CAL)

programs assist

students to learn

different subjects and

display content in

multimedia format.

• Teachers can make use of IT to present

concepts or demonstrate experiments through

computer graphics, simulation and animation.

» School Administration• Large amounts of data are stored in

computerised systems for processing.

1.2.8 Science Scientific Research Weather Forecasting

1.2 Applications of IT

Science-

1.2.8.1 Research Research

– High-speed capabilities of computers– Simulate events– Prove hypotheses in a cost-effective

manner.

1.2.8 Science

Science-

1.2.8.2Weather forecasting

Weather forecasting – Need the processing power of

supercomputers– Observatories in the world are linked

to form a network to share and exchange climatic data

– Data are analyzed by the computers to simulate the weather conditions to predict more accurately in coming few days

1.2.8 Science

1.2.9 Health and Medicine Medical Diagnosis Remote Instruction

1.2 Applications of IT

Health and Medicine-

1.2.9.1 Medical diagnosis

Monitoring patients – Intensive care in hospitals

Computer-Axial Tomography (CAT) – Assist in diagnosis– Giving 3D pictures of the organs inside a

body

1.2.9 Health&Medicine

Health and Medicine-

1.2.9.2 Remote instruction Remote instruction

– Use of videoconferencing– Allows experienced doctors instruct other

doctors remotely Virtual reality

– Train medical students in surgical skills

1.2.9 Health&Medicine

1.2.10 Law enforcement Fingerprint Matching DNA Modelling

1.2 Applications of IT

Law enforcement-

1.2.10.1 Fingerprint matching Fingerprint matching

– Storage of fingerprints– Matching with thousands of fingerprint

records from the fingerprint database Analyze the patterns Confirm matching automatically

1.2.10 Law Enforcement

Law enforcement-

1.2.10.2 DNA modelling DNA modelling

– Computer modelling of DNA – Match the DNA from criminal's body with

traces such as blood, left at the crime scene

1.2.10 Law Enforcement

1.2.11 Government Examination Public Awareness of IT ESD Scheme

1.2 Applications of IT

Government- 1.2.11.1 Examinations

Examinations– Hong Kong Examinations and

Assessment Authority (HKEAA) is using

– OMR (Optical Mark Reader) readers

– to mark MC questions

1.2.11 Government

Government- 1.2.11.2 Public awareness of IT

Public awareness of IT– strengthening the IT awareness of the

public– building information infrastructure – developing e-commerce environment

1.2.11 Government

Government- 1.2.11.3 ESD scheme

Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) – ESD scheme won the Stockholm

Challenge Award in 2001– Aim to deliver government services to

the public via the Internet– Without leaving home, HK residents

can reserve books in a public library pay government bills make appointment apply licenses etc

1.2.11 Government

Electronic public services

1.2.12 Robots Dangerous Jobs Various Sizes

1.2 Applications of IT

Robots-

1.2.12.1 Dangerous jobs Computer-controlled Robots take

over many jobs which are – too unpleasant, or– too dangerous for human, – such as

opening packages which are believed to contain bombs

monitoring the conditions near a volcano.

1.2.12 Robots

Robots-

1.2.12.2 Various size Large robots

– working in factories, – e.g. car manufacturing.

Medium sized robots – play their roles as electronic pets

Tiny sized robots – great potential use in

medical diagnosis or medical treatment

1.2.12 Robots

Homework Compare the use of IT and the

conventional method The advantage of using IT in office List the IT services provides Hong

Kong banks Give examples how IT are use in

industrial

project Time expected: 1 week Description Suppose you are the owner of a stationery

shop. Now, you want to introduce IT into your business. You need to prepare a report for the plan, which includes the following:

description of IT applications introduced. reasons for choosing the IT applications.