•Introduction / computer overview (hardware / software)

•Health and safety / ergonomics / moral issues / environmental issues: green computing

1st week

http://www.learningwithmaria.com/computing

“Getting to know each other”.

1. How comfortable are you using computers?

a) Not comfortableb) Comfortablec) Very comfortable

“Getting to know each other”.

2. How long have you been using computers?

3. What do you use your computer for?

a) Social Networkingb) Gamingc) Studyingd) Multimediae) Nerding

“Getting to know each other”.

4. How many hours a week do you use the computer?

5. What is your preferred operating system?

a) Microsoft Windowsb) Mac OS Xc) Linux or another free Unix distributiond) Other

“Getting to know the computer”.

Computer Systems are machines used to generate, store, organise, process, share and transmit information digitally.

They are made up of many different parts: hardware, software, processors, memory etc.

Feedback

InputProcessin

g

Storage

Output

“Getting to know its parts”.

Hardware is any physical part of the computer that you can touch, see and pick up. Examples of hardware include the monitor, keyboard, mouse, drives, storage, printer, scanner, speakers, microphone, webcam, joystick...

We classify the hardware into internal or peripheral depending on its location.Software are the applications and programming instructions needed to make the computer hardware do useful work.

“Getting to know the software”.

We classify the software into system software (it provides a platform from which to run the application software) and application software (they are the programs that you use on a daily basis). Some examples of system software are:

-Operating system (eg: Windows 7)-Utilities (eg: Control Panel)-User interface (eg: Log in screen)

Hardware

System Software

Application

User

“Knowing the dangers” (see handout also)

What dangers come with computer usage?

Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI)

Stress

Eyestrain

ELF radiation (Extremely low frequency radiation)

Dependency

“Ergonomics”

Ergonomics is a word formed by two Greek particles: “ergo” and “nomos”, which mean - activity and norms or natural laws.

A literal translation would be rules that regulate human activity.

Ergonomics, therefore, is the science of designing safe and comfortable machines for people’s usage. This includes furniture design and the design of peripherals that you need to use, such as mice and keyboards.

“How to be comfortable at your Computer Workstation”

“Complying with health and safety legislation”

Health and Safety regulations provide legal guidelines for what constitutes a safe working environment.

All organisations are legally required to comply with the requirements of such legislation. Failure to do so can lead to prosecution and/or legal action by employees who suffer from injuries or illnesses as a result of factors within their working environment.

Normally large organisations have a Health Safety Officer who is responsible for monitoring working conditions.

“The ergonomic office should pay attention to the following factors: ”

Environmental factors: air quality, temperature or noise

levels.

Light: poor-quality or direct sunlight on the screen can

lead to eyestrain.

Hardware , software: if they don’t perform as they

should, it causes stress.

Monitors: suitable height (neck should be straight),

brightness settings...

Eye tests: employers should subsidise them.

Timed breaks: in order to avoid stress and repetitive

strain injury (RSI).

Keyboard and mouse: should be positioned slightly below

elbow level.

Chair and posture: incorrect posture can lead to severe

back problems.

“The other side of computing ”

Piracy

Plagiarism

Snooping

Web Addiction

Censorship

Web Medicine

“Green computing”

“The average desktop PC wastes over half of the power delivered to it”.

“ICT industry accounts for about 2 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions”.

Computing could be more environmentally friendly. Take a look at the “green computing” link and the one below to learn more.

Climate Savers Computing Initiative (set up in 2007)

“Measures for greener computing”

Lower power hardware

Virtualization

Cloud computing

Energy efficient coding

Improved repair, re-use, recycling and disposal

Less pollutant manufacture

“Computing and Sustainability”

There are three ways in which computer applications can help:

- Increasing business efficiency by enabling economies to scale in cleaner ways and by reducing the wastage of natural resources.

-Enabling dematerialization (to replace physical items with purely digital equivalents).

- Enabling travel reduction.

“Conclusion”

In this first module we have seen:

What a computer is, how they operate, what do we use them for and its main division between hardware and software.

Health and Safety issues related to computers and the science that deals with them, ergonomics.

Moral and environmental issues.

REMEMBER: You must hand in the moral issues doc before week 37