Week Four: Clear, but a little bit muddy!

So this week was a sort of a difficult one. It could have something do do with the fact that I was kind of rushing through the material since it was a busy week, and maybe it just hasn't all sank in yet. Looking through the material its fairly simple to understand; there is a multitude of software available for a plethora of uses. There are softwares available for businesses, for personal use, for communicating, and for multimedia purposes. 

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/different-types-of-application-software.html < This website helped to simplify what the text book was saying a little bit. It talks about what software actually is and describes what some of the different types of application software are. This website both helped in clarifying what the book was saying, as well as clearing up some of the information. What I learned about software that I think would be the most important concept, is that it helps to make things easier, as well as that it's used for a variety of things, and therefore, inescapable. 

Most professions will come into contact with software along the way. Businesses use it for presentations, and for creating spreadsheets. Engineers use it to plan out new designs or products. Manufacturers use it for the assembly line in the production of goods. Even video game designers use it to create their graphics. People also use software for personal reasons. Such as typing up documents, taking notes, editing videos and photo shopping pictures. Although there are more advanced softwares offered for editing photos and videos at a professional level, there are also softwares for personal use.           

Week Three: Clear

Internet or World Wide Web?!
I say or because yes, there is a difference! This week in ISM3004, one of the many things I learned and found totally fascinating is that the internet and the World Wide Web aren't the same thing. Actually the World Wide Web, also known as the Web is a service that the internet provides. "While the Internet was developed in the late 1960s, the World Wide Web emerged in the early 1990s." (Discovering Computers 2010, 80) This definitely will change the way I address certain things, for example, when I want to research how to bake a cake, I will say I'm going to search the Web, instead of the Internet. This may not seem important, but really it is when taking into consideration the fact that some things a person doesn't have to use the Web for, but only the internet; things such as e-mail, or instant messaging. 
 I also learned that the Web contains about a trillion web pages, and that those web pages can generally be divided into groups such as educational, online social network, entertainment, and informational, just to name a few. Each web page contains links that take you to either other web pages within that same site, or to web pages that are by another author that may deal with the same issue. But in order to get to a web page in the first place, unless a user already knows the web page, the most helpful tools that the web offers are search engines! Some of the most common search engines available include Google.com, Yahoo.com, Altavista.com and msn.com, just to name few. Web pages contain links, articles, pictures and sometimes interactive activities for its users. For more information on using web pages, I used this site to learn: http://www.howstuffworks.com/web-page.htm.

 

Not only do people use the Web for researching things or for entertainment, but also for buying goods! Sites such as ebay.com or amazon.com offer a variety of goods that people can purchase online and have shipped to them the next day or in a few weeks. In the textbook, the authors discuss three types of commerce that occur electronically, or as it is know, e-commerce. The three kinds of commerce are Business-to-consumer (B2C), where a business is selling to a customer; Consumer-to-consumer (C2C), where a consumer is selling to another consumer; and Business-to-business (B2B), where a business is selling to another business. Online shopping, as e-commerce is otherwise known to many, is becoming more and more popular in today's society because it's more convenient in the way that people don't have to leave their house and go to the store to buy something, but rather it can just be shipped to their house. Another advantage of online shopping is being able to pre-order certain items, as well as being able to buy items that maybe be sold out in stores. An example of online shopping's growing popularity is looking at online sales before the holiday time, especially in the north. In northern states people would rather not drive in the snow, so it's easier to just order something online. But even people who live in southern states will find shopping online easier instead of waiting in long lines around the holiday time. 
Both the Internet and the World Wide Web are important in the business world as well because it allows businesses not only to interact and communicate with other businesses, but with their customers as well. Offering their products online lets business open their client base to a much larger population rather than just having two or three stores scattered throughout the country.  

IPhone Vs. Blackberry...

So this morning I woke up to my radio, since it is my alarm, and the radio djs were having people call in and express their opinions about which one is better: the IPhone, or the Blackberry. I think the conversation came about because one of the announcers was deciding on which phone to get. I thought this was an interesting topic to blog about since cell phones are such a large part of today's society. Side note:Actually when I went to the Sprint store when I was fixing my phone (the sales lady forgot to add internet to my phone even though it was on the plan), and there was a couple talking to one of the salesmen there. They were asking him why it was important to get a phone, and that they were a luxury, yet they were becoming more expensive as far as upkeep and initial purchase than landlines. The salesman (who seemed like he was trying his hardest to keep calm), told the couple that about 95% of people today have cell phones (I don't know where he got that statistic, nor how true it is, but I'm guessing he was fairly close), and that a cell phone is actually a necessity since people are always out and about, and not many people are always home to answer their landlines. Although I didn't hear the rest of the conversation (I was dealing with my own phone issues), I'm guessing the couple wasn't convinced because they left shortly after. I think that what the salesman was saying was true though, because I for example, don't have a land line. I'm in college, and therefore find it unnecessary to order a phone service and pay for it when anyone who needs to call me can just call my cellphone. Even when I go home to visit my parents, I rarely pick up the phone unless my parents are expecting a call because if it's anyone important they have mine or my parent's cellphone numbers. 

Anyways! Back on track :) So on the radio people were calling in, saying whether they liked the Blackberry, or the IPhone; and of all the conversations I heard, the people had one or the other, so at least they were talking from experience. Personally, I've never owned an IPhone, but I do know people that have one, so I have used it and played with it. I also have an iTouch, so minus the calling and the texting, it's not too far off. I do however own the Blackberry Curve (as pictured above), which I bought in December of 2009. [I got the orange one so that I could get a blue cover for it. Go Gators! (:] So, I really haven't had my Blackberry for that long, only for about a month; but I already absolutely adore it! 
Okay, here is where I'm going to give my opinion about the two phones. Although, as I've mentioned, I don't really have much experience with the IPhone, I'll recount some pros and cons that I have faced. So, pros: all the applications that can be used on the phone, as well as the music playing feature. I also love the threaded message system. Cons: it's touch screen! this means that it can easily drop calls if you're not careful with the way you're holding the phone, or the way you place it. Also the buttons when texting. They're small and if you're not careful you may end up hitting multiple letters, or one that you don't want. Moving on, the Blackberry Curve! Mine is the 8330 from Sprint, so that is what I'm basing my opinion on. This is my first blackberry, and I'll admit I was hesitant about getting one. Of course, I've heard that they're "the best," but I've also heard that once you get one, no other phone is good enough, therefore giving birth to the so called "crackberry." So you can see my dilemma, Sprint doesn't necessarily have a large variety of phones, and I'm a constant text-er, so I needed a phone that could keep up with me and wouldn't die (which is the reason that I had to give up my old phone). I originally wanted the Palm Pre; I had been researching that phone since before it had came out, so when it was finally time to get my new phone, I was all for it! But as I asked several sales people about the battery life (hello, I have to be able to text and call like 24/7!), the reviews weren't that great. They said that the battery ran out fairly fast, especially since it was first generation, so that was kind of a let down, my next choice: the blackberry. So at that time, the orange was the newest color that they had, so after an hour or so of thought and comparison and constant questions, I decided to go with the blackberry. Okay back on track! So, pros: the full keyboard, the applications, the easy access to your email, facebook, and twitter, also, most importantly for me: the battery life! Which (knock on wood) I've had no problems with so far. Cons: I guess it is a little bit challenging to use, even now I get confused with certain things, and I will admit that the buttons can be annoying sometimes (maybe because I'm still used to my old phone's keyboard?). 
Okay, so basically that's it. This has turned into something longer than I would have expected to write. And if you've read this far I applaud and thank you for being patient with my ramblings. 
Also, if you're reading this, which do you like better? :)

Week Two: Clear

I found this week to be a little bit more confusing then last week's lesson, probably due to the immense amount of information that was kind of thrown at me, or so it seemed. From learning about the basics of a computer, to all the dates about different computer discoveries and inventions, it all just started to jumble itself into one. Fortunately, the material itself wasn't that difficult to understand when looked at piece by piece. 
Reading in the text book and watching the lecture about the basic functions and uses of a computer was easy enough to understand since I've been using a computer for more than half of my life. Combining the knowledge that I have of how a computer works, and the different parts of the computer, it all started to make sense. Learning briefly about the different ways to store data and information, such as on USB flash drives or hard disks was very helpful, especially in today's society where computers are a large part of how a business functions. More and more companies are becoming more computer-based because of the easy access as well as the availability in a multitude of places. Therefore learning a little about data, the processing cycle and storage of data will be useful knowledge for the future, when files and records will be documented on the computer instead of on paper. 
Along with learning some basic information about the computers that we know and love today, I also learned about the history of the computer. It was very interesting to learn that even though people consider the start of the computer to be when the first actual machine came out, it in fact started as far back as 1642! Who knew that the simple adding machine that Pascal invented would eventually lead to what I'm currently typing on! It really is fascinating when thinking back to the large, bulky machines, that at the time they were created were such amazing, high-tech machines would now be considered slow to the current technology that is available to our society. I found a website that also gave the history of the computers and includes so very cool pictures, although not all the information is exactly the same:
http://www.computersciencelab.com/ComputerHistory/History.htm 

Week One: Clear

This week I learned about information search, netiquette, and copyright. After reading the posts about each subject, I thought about how each of them not only interacted with each other, but how they affected the business world. The information was all clear, and fairly easy to understand. This is what I learned.

Information search is important if a company is doing research on maybe a piece of technology, or about another company that they're interested in working with. Although information search is often portrayed as a fairly simple task, the work that goes along with it can be extensive as well as very intricate. This is because of the need to make sure that the information being read is from a legitimate site, such as government sites (.gov), or educational sites (.edu). Part of finding out if the site is legitimate, includes looking if the website has been recently updated, especially if the information being researched needs to be current. Another important part of the website, which overlaps with another learned concept, is the copyright.

Copyright is especially important in the business world because of all the publications, works, and material items that exist in today's society. In order to keep an idea that has been developed by a person, from being recreated over and over again, a copyright must be placed on it. Once a copyright has been placed on items such as books, plays, or movies, it can not be recreated, or distributed without the consent of the original author. This concept is vital when a business is creating presentations either for the general public, or for the company's use, because of the severe consequences that will be dealt if an item is used illegally. Such consequences include being sued for large amounts of money.

  Even though copyright is of huge importance in the business world, and information search is a necessary skill, netiquette has to be one of the most essential things in not only the business world, but for the Internet in general. Since text is usually difficult to interpret for a reader, the font, font size, and emoticons (i.e. smiley faces :-) ) being used are substantial in getting the message across.

Although I used to think that using ALL CAPITAL LETTERS was used in substitute for using bold, or italic text when it was not available to put emphasis into certain phrases, it is actually considered rude. Using all capital letters not only makes the message more difficult to read, it also makes the reader feel like the sender is screaming at them.

  All the information from the websites that were given through the course page made it easy to understand each of the concepts. In addition, I found this very helpful and to the point website about netiquette:
http://www.learnthenet.com/english/html/09NETIQT.HTM

On the web page, there is also a short YouTube video that was easy to understand and gave great examples.

testing this out :)