Lecture Summary:
- Information can be managed in several ways; texts, documents, images, WebPages, bookmarks, presentations, assignments, citations and references.
- Information can be of two types of formats - atom-based or bit-based.
- Each format type has its PROS and CONS.
- Goods and Services in todays world is changing - more atoms is changing to bits.
- It is always useful to leanr the different file extensions and what purpose they serve.
- Have folders named or create metadata about your files.
- Use the search function on your Operating System and
- Always try to make a habit of using Search Engines - e.g. google etc.
In the tutorial this week, we learnt how to create Favourites that can save time looking for website previously browsed on the world wide web.
There are a few steps involved in creating a favouriet for a website. These steps are :
- visit a website
- at the top of the tool bar, click on the FAVOURITES BUTTON which is the forth option from left. Below is a screen that illustrates where to click.
www.ImageShack.us" />After having clicked on the favorites icon, the following small screen will come up asking you where you want to put the website and name it. We want to put it in a new folder therefore we have to click on the small screen on the right side button "NEW FOLDER".
http://www.imageshack.us/" />Click on the "NEW FOLDER" button on the small screen on the right side of the frame.
The next screen that will come up will ask you to name your new folder and where you would like to save your favourite to.
http://www.imageshack.us/" />And, this is how you create a favorite for a website and create it in a new folder with a name.
In addition to the above task, we also had to read a famous article by Negroponte titled "Being Digital" and write a short review of 250 words from the information in his article.
The article itself comes from the URL provided below:
http://archives.obs-us.com/obs/english/books/nn/ch01c01.htm
www.ImageShack.us" />In his article, Negroponte talks about the two types of information formats - Bits and Atoms. Even though today we are no doubt living in the age of information, yet a lot of information even today gets to us in the form of Atoms, such as Books, Papers, reports etc. Our economy might be changing everyday more towards becoming information economy, but despite that, we still write our business accounts in Atoms format - for example balance sheets.
One thing to be noted is that information in atoms format may not be worth a lot, however the bit information formats are almost priceless. A perfect example of this is explained in the article when Negroponte gives his example of the laptop.
Also the other point to be noted from the article is that, it is not easy to change atoms to bits. In a perfect example, Negroponte says that "Beam me up Scotty is a wonderful dream, but not likely to come true for several centuries" (Negroponte, 1995.)
From the above quote, we can understand that core businesses will not change and also the products will not transform from atoms to bits. The point to note from this is that it takes time to change information formats.
Therefore, from Negroponte's archive, we can certainly understand that information formats have their own purposes in their own places. Both can be argued upon to see which one is more suitable in today's world, however, both have pros and cons.
Below are some of the pro's and con's of both:
PROS of Atoms:
- They exist in space - they can be seen.
- Easily found - we can tell where they are.
- Easily concealed - we can hide it .
- Difficult to edit or manipulate .
- Difficult to copy.
CONS of Atoms:- Bulky - E.g. Encyclopedia Britannica.
- Costly - Resource Implications.
- Difficult to Edit.
- Difficult to distribute.
- Inflexible - not interchangeable.
PROS of Bits:
- Very flexible - easily moved between formats.
- Very cheap - Resource implications much less.
- Easy to edit.
- Easy to mass produce and broadcast.
CONS of Bits:
- Privacy - easy to copy.
- Authenticiy - easy to fake, alter and edit information.
- Unsolicited broadcast - SPAMs.
Readings:
This weeks reading discusses on information management. The reading this week comes from the resource below:
Information Management & Electronic Environments - Dr Jim Mullaney
www.ImageShack.us" />This article talks about information management and how information can be organised using favourites and bookmarks for example. An example for favourites in my personal case can be, creating folders for each of the units I am enrolled in, and therefore each file from each unit can be stored for quick access into its own unit folder.
Copying & Pasting:
There is a general rule of thumb known as 'atoms vs bits' which states that whenever information remains as "bits" it is quite easy and inexpensive to change or manipulate around with. However, whenever information is converted to "atoms" there is usually a cost in time and resources. An example of this is the Bank. Most banks today have online facilities on their website, this has become "bits" now from originally "atoms". This means that its more convinient for the customers to quickly log onto the internet and check their balances and any information regarding banking. However, before "bits" was there, customers would have had to personally go to the bank to do all that. This proves the rule of thumb in the regard that there is usually a cost in time and resources when "bits" is converted to "atoms".
This was the main reading this week.
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