Information and Technology Systems

Question 1

What are some everyday items that rely on computers?

Answer 1

• Ovens
• Washing machines
• Tractors
• Motorcycles
• Medical items
• Lighting
• Watches
• Cars
• Hearing aids
• Aircraft
• Heating systems

Question 2

What are multifunctional devices and how do they form part of an IT system?

Answer 2

• Also known as AIOs
• Type of device that has multiple functions such as a mobile phone which can send texts and take pictures.

Question 3

What is a personal computer and how does it form part of an IT system?

Answer 3

-Personal computers (PCs) are those which are general purpose
-available in a range of sizes, levels of power and capacity, and which are affordable to many for personal use. T—–They operate as standalone computers and are very often lightweight and portable. (Personal computers includes laptops and netbooks as well as static tower PCs.

Question 4

what are servers and how do they work?

Answer 4

-Servers provide services for other computers on the network. The network could comprise a series of cables which connect the server to other computers, perhaps in a small office,
-they can also provide virtual connections via the internet.
-Your place of study will probably operate in the same way. All the computers are networked together using network infrastructure. A server then manages the logical access to the resources.

Question 5

what else can people use servers for?

Answer 5

-Servers are used not only to store data files centrally so that several people can access them, but also to store software centrally to relieve storage space on individual PCs.
-All the data is stored centrally which means that it can be backed up from one location.
- Servers also allow shared access to devices such as printers and scanners.
-They authenticate users and perform account management for users.

Question 6

What is a digital device?

Answer 6

-Piece of physical equipment that uses digital data, such as sending, receiving, storing or processing such as: Personal Computers. Servers. Mobile Devices.

Question 7

What 9 types of digital devices are there?

Answer 7

-Personal computers
-Mobile devices
-Servers
-Entertainment systems
-Navigation systems
-Multifunctional devices
-Digital cameras
-Data capture and collection systems
-Communication devices and systems

Question 8

what is an input device?

Answer 8

-Input devices are peripherals that are used to allow us to enter information into a computer system without receiving an output itself. This might be, for example, to control a character in a game, click on a shortcut icon on your desktop, or type data into a spreadsheet.

Question 9

what is an output device?

Answer 9

-Output devices are peripherals used to send data from a digital device to a user or another device. This could be so you can see the photo you’ve just taken on your digital camera, to print out a hard copy of the report you’ve just written, or to hear the voice of someone you’re having a VoIP conversation with.

Question 10

What is a mobile device?

Answer 10

-A computing device that is designed to be portable as it is compact, lightweight and capable of running for extended periods on battery power and is made with portability in mind to give people computer and internet access while on the go.

Question 11

How are PCs used in workplaces?

Answer 11

Word processing, desktop publishing, spreadsheets, database management systems, creative tasks (music, film editing)

Question 12

How are PCs used in personal lives?

Answer 12

Accessing the internet, surfing the web or email, and gaming which will most likely require an expensive graphics card.

Question 13

what are entertainment systems ?

Answer 13

-Entertainment systems are multifunctional, comprising sound and vision.
-They manage music and video files, which contain large amounts of data and can quickly reduce the available capacity of a PC or mobile device.
-Entertainment systems can be operated from a central server, known as a digital media server.
-Central servers for home use have recently become much more readily affordable and simple to use

Question 14

Advantages of entertainment systems?

Answer 14

-Good hard disk storage for storing TV or films, music and games.
-Built in internet connectivity capabilities such as WiFi.
-Access to streaming and online gaming services.

Question 15

what is the cloud?

Answer 15

-Cloud storage is where data is stored on remote servers and is accessed via the Internet. Services like OneDrive or Dropbox are common examples of this.

Question 16

what are the implications of cloud storage

Answer 16

-Consideration of disaster recovery policies
-Security of data
-Compatibility
-Maintenance
-Getting a service/software up and running quickly
-Performance considerations

Question 17

What are navigation systems?

Answer 17

A digital devices that uses GPS (Global Positioning System) to provide a real time map of our current location, allowing us to plan a route to be directed to a chosen destination

Question 18

What features do some navigation systems have?

Answer 18

Identifying traffic, roadworks and accidents that may delay your journey.
Provide an accurate destination time.

Question 19

Give 4 examples of a server.

Answer 19

Mail servers
Web servers
Print servers
File servers

Question 20

what is a file server?

Answer 20

File servers store your files, such as word-processing documents and spreadsheets, so that you can access them from any computer on the network. When you hear the term ‘cloud storage’, this is an example of where your files are being stored on a file server, so you can access them from any computer by logging into your cloud storage account.

Question 21

what is a web server?

Answer 21

Web servers are used to manage access to web pages. The web server stores the web page and associated files. When a client computer makes a request for a web page to the server (by entering the web page’s URL) the web server locates the correct files and then sends them back to the client.

Question 22

what is a mail server?

Answer 22

mail servers manage access to email. When you write an email and press send on your personal computer, it first goes to your outgoing mail server. This mail server will then send it across the network to the recipient’s mail server where it is stored in their mailbox. When the recipients log into their email client the mail server will forward the email to their computer.

Question 23

what is a print server?

Answer 23

print servers are used to share access to a printer. By using a print server you can send your files to print from any computer on the network. This means you don’t need to log into a specific computer to print or have a printer for every computer, which would be very expensive.

Question 24

what is SMTP and how does it work?

Answer 24

A SMTP server is a computer or an app that is responsible for sending emails. It functions following the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). An SMTP server receives emails from the email client. Then it passes them on to another SMTP email server and relays them to the incoming mail server.

Question 25

what is a blog?

Answer 25

A blog is a ‘weblog’. It is a regularly updated website normally written in an informal style. They’re often used by people to share news and commentary on topics of interest.

Question 26

what is a Vlog

Question 27

what is a microblog?

Answer 27

Microblogs are a type of blog designed for short text messages (known as microposts). Twitter is a very famous example of a microblog, Tumblr is another example.