ICT Unit 2: L.O.1 Flashcards
Who is an Information Holder?
The entities that collect, store, and process information.
What is the difference between ‘Data’ and ‘Information’?
Data–> Raw, unorganised facts and figures.
Information–> Data which has been processed, organised, and structured so it has a meaningful (useful) context
What are all the Information Holders?
1) Individual Citizens:
Hold information about:
-Themselves + other people and organisations they know
2) Businesses:
-Financial + employee information
-Customer information (e.g. username and password)
-Commercial information (e.g. Stock levels in a warehouse)
3) Educational Institutes: (e.g. schools/colleges/universities):
-Staff/students
-Information on what they are teaching.
4) Governments: (The departments that run the country):
-Hold information on citizens + other governments.
5) Charities: (an organisation that helps those in need):
-collect information on donors/staff/donees
6) Healthcare services: (e.g. doctors/surgeries/pharmacies/hospitals):
-keep information on patients (e.g. prescriptions)
7) Community Organisations: (Often charities that work specifically in local areas):
-e.g. religious organisations/youth clubs/sports clubs)
Why do rural areas have poor network coverage?
–>Rural areas have intermittent (inconsistent) network coverage
–>Because better infrastructure is usually prioritised in urban areas.
What causes ‘Signal Blackspots’?
-Blackspots can occur in buildings due to obstruction and interference.
-Many wireless signals are in close proximity and interfere with each other.
What is ‘The Digital Global Divide’?
The gap between people who do and don’t have access to technology. (in some developing countries majority of citizens don’t have access to the internet)
What are the different types of ‘Storage Media’?
1) Paper:
(+)
-No need for electricity/ internet
-Confidential information can be easily locked away
(-)
-Can be hard to make backups
-Hard to convert or reuse
2) Optical Storage
(e.g. CDs/DVDs/ and Blu-ray) (each new generation could store more information.)
–>They use different reflections of light to read data and use a laser to read data.
(information is held on a disc but you need a disk drive to access it)
(+)
-Reliable
-Portable (easy to pack and carry)
(-)
-have a smaller capacity per unit than alternatives
-Slower read/write speeds compared to alternatives
-Need a disc drive to use
3) Magnetic
(e.g. HDDs, cassettes, and swipe cards)
–>Data is written by changing magnetism on the disk/tape and read by detecting this
(+)
-Available with large capacities
-Cheap to buy
-usually reliable (but failures do occur)
(-)
-Generally not durable (disks can break easily)
-Slower read/write times compared to SSDs
4) SSD (Solid State Storage)
–>Has no moving parts (Electronic circuits are used to store the data)
(examples include SSDs and flash memory devices such as USB memory sticks and memory cards e.g. SD cards)
(+)
-Generally reliable
-Can be very durable
-Can be portable
-Generally faster read/write times
(-)
-Higher cost per GB
-Have a limited number of writes (sometimes)–> leading to reliability problems long term
What is ‘Storage’?
storage is a way to keep information long-term.
(Storage medium–> 1 method of storing)
(Storage media–> multiple methods of storing)
What are the different types of devices that can be used for storage access?
1) Handheld devices:
–>Can be operated using only one hand
–>Can be used in a range of scenarios e.g. sitting/standing/walking
–>Often have a small touch screen and a long battery life
(+)
-Small and light (easy to carry around)
-Don’t need to be plugged in (portable)
-Quiet (due to no fan)
(-)
-Battery life can be short
-Less powerful than larger devices
-Easy to lose and have stolen
2) Portable Devices
(+)
-Can be moved around (portable)
-Portable storage devices can be used between computers
-Can often be upgraded (e.g. adding more RAM)
(-)
-Battery life can be short
-Less powerful than larger devices
-Easy to have stolen
-As portable devices are easy to remove, they are vulnerable to corruption if not ejected properly
3) Fixed Devices:
–>Designed to stay and be used in one place
(+)
-Often powerful
-Can usually be upgraded easily
-Can cool itself down (using fans)
(-)
-Need a constant power source (as they have no battery)
-Large and hard to transport
-Often require peripherals (e.g. monitor/keyboard/mouse)
4) Shared Devices:
–> Designed to be accessed by multiple users often at the same time (e.g. to provide services like cloud storage)
(+)
-Often most powerful devices (e.g. servers used in data centres)
-Can be accessed by many users at once
-Often available 24/7
(-)
-Need a network connection to use them
-Expensive and difficult to set up
-Require significant power AND cooling
What is the Internet?
A network of interconnected networks which is worldwide
–>The internet is public, with open access (meaning anyone can request viewing a web resource)
(Devices connected to the internet must run the Internet Control Protocol) (TCP/IP)
What can internet connections be characterised by?
1) Latency–>How long it takes to get a message
2) Range–>How far away you can be to still use the network reliably
3) Strength->How consistent the network is (linked to range)
4) Bandwidth–>How much data can be transferred across the network
5) Contention–>How many devices can use the network (and how well it can deal with these)
(Some are uncontended i.e. one user)
What is different about 5G compared to 3G/4G?
-5G has lower latency and higher bandwidth compared to the previous generations
-And much lower range
What is the ‘WWW’?
The World Wide Web is a collection of resources which are connected through hyperlinks.
–>The internet is most commonly used to access WWW resources (e.g. web pages)
What are the different types of ‘WWW’ networks?
1) Intranet–> An internal, private network.
–>An organisation may host an internal website on an intranet so that only employees can access it
2) Extranet–> An internal, private network that partly allows access to those outside of it (e.g. a internal website may provide access to a page via the internet)
What the ‘Individual’ advantages and disadvantages of the internet?
(+)
-Increased speed of personal communication
-Easy access to information (free resources)
-24/7 access to services (e.g. shopping/browsing/banking)
-Social interaction with others (e.g. social media/video games)
(-)
-Potential for identity theft
-Cost of connection and services (monthly fees/router installation etc.)
-Source of distraction (e.g. staff neglecting work)
-Cyberbullying/trolling
-Spreading of misinformation
