chapter 1

• An information system is a combination of people, procedures, software, hardware, data, and the Internet.
• Some students may think of a system as pertaining to just the hardware.
• A personal computer is part of an information system as well as people.
• Almost all of today’s computer systems add an additional part, communication/the Internet.
• To be a competent end user, one must understand the essentials of IT.
• IT stands for information technology.
• All of these parts will be discussed in the following slides, beginning with the most essential part: people.
• People or End Users are the most important part of an information system but are often overlooked.
• Our lives are touched everyday by computers, often the contact is direct and obvious, such as creating documents using a word processing program or when connecting to the Internet.
• Organizations rely on quality and flexibility to stay competitive.
• Changing Times is a fast paced era and rapid change.
• Wireless technology changes the way we communicate.
• Internet Web allows you to browse the Web, communicate with others, locate Information, etc.
• Cloud computing involves using computing resources from the cloud to complete tasks instead of relying solely on your PC.
• The Internet is the largest network and the World Wide Web (WWW) provides a multimedia interface to resources on the Internet.
• Security, Privacy & Ethics need to be careful of the negative potential effects.
• Cloud computing can be used to create and store your work, such as documents, spreadsheets, databases, and presentations.
• The Internet of Things (IoT) is the continuing development of the Internet.
• Worksheet files are created by electronic spreadsheets to analyze things like budgets and to predict sales.
• Powerful Software allows you to create professional looking documents, analyze massive amounts of data, create dynamic multimedia pages, and more.
• Connectivity is the capability of your personal computer to share information with other computers.
• The Wireless Revolution and cloud computing promise the potential to dramatically affect the entire computer industry and how you interact with computers.
• A network is central to the concept of connectivity and is a communication system connecting two or more computers.
• Wireless /mobile communication and cloud computing have been the two most dramatic changes in connectivity over the past 5 years.
• Database files are typically created by database management programs and contain highly structured and organized files.
• Powerful Hardware is more powerful & robust, with new technologies such as wireless networks & their impact on connectivity, equipment can be dynamic vs essential features of devices remain unchanged.
• Presentation Files are created by presentation graphics programs to save presentation materials.
• Tablet (key term) such as iPad are smaller, lighter and less powerful than laptops and use a virtual keyboard.
• Input/Output (key term) refers to devices that translate data and programs from a form humans understand to a form computers can process, and devices that translate the processed information from the computer into a form that humans can understand.
• Secondary Storage (key term) holds data and programs even after the electrical power has been turned off, examples of secondary storage include USB drives, hard drives and optical drives.
• Communication devices allow personal computers to communicate with another as near as the next office or as far away as the other side of the world.
• Desktop (key term) is small enough to fit on top of a desk yet too big to carry around.
• Laptop (key term) or notebook computers are portable, lightweight and can fit into most briefcases.
• Data is raw, unprocessed facts, that can be stored electronically in files, processed data becomes information.
• Hard disks are typically used to store programs and data files, they use rigid metallic platters and read/write heads for writing and reading data.
• Smartphones (key term) are the most common handheld.
• Document files are created by word processors to save documents such as memos, term papers, and letters.
• Microprocessor (key term) controls and manipulates data to produce information and Memory (key term) is a holding area for data, instructions, and information.
• System Unit (key term) is the container that houses most of the electronic components that make up a computer system.
• Communication (key term) involves one computer communicating with another computer or other computer systems using communication devices such as a modem.