Information Technology a Home Network

Information Technology

A home network is a local area network or LAN that is set up at home. A network is the interconnection of hardware and devices for sharing data and information electronically. A home network can be used among family members for simple mobile computing, entertainment and recreation, and more usefully, for doing simultaneous computing work that have varying degrees of complexity. Five components that would be connected to a network would be the personal computer or laptop; paraphernalia, gadgets and other mobile devices that can be connected with the computer or laptop; a wired or wireless modem that allows for Internet access for multiple users; a router to enable multiple access to the Internet service; and when necessary, a server to efficiently address data transmission and storage requirements of the home network. One of the security issues that would highly likely occur in a home network has to do with its wireless Internet service. WiFi services tend to be unstable and unreliable especially in specific kinds of weather, in addition to the challenge of ensuring that the service is exclusive only to the home network and will not be hacked or accessed by users outside of the home network. In terms of exclusive access to the wireless Internet service, the best option would be to include passcodes/passwords in all access points to the Internet service and even the home network's hardware and other connected devices.

2. People's personal and online privacy can be threatened and how the threat can be mitigated through the following: (a) Swiping of magnetic cards such as credit cards and personal IDs. Devices were used to "copy" or replicate information swiped electromagnetically, making the individual susceptible to identity theft. This can be mitigated by ensuring that credit cards are used in credible stores or establishments, in addition to remaining vigilant about business/purchase transactions made everyday; (b) Accessing social networking sites and providing personal information to gain access to specific games and/or applications. User privacy is at stake whenever personal information is freely given just to gain access to games and applications. As with credit card use, lessen the frequency of usage of online games and applications or be more discriminating with the kind of applications and games subscribed to, to limit the probability of being victimized by insecure and high security risk web sites and pages; and (c) Online scammers and fraudsters who have the computer programming skills and technology to hack and use personal information of online users through their email accounts. Users are thus encouraged to use difficult passwords so that the 'detection rate' would be lower when hackers and/or scammers try to access personal information through these e-mail accounts.

3. The five basic computer operations are: input, output, storage, processing, and controlling. Input is the encoding or entering of data and devices into the computer, to be processed or converted to computing units within. Examples of input operations are typing into a keyboard and clicking on a button or field using a mouse for data/information selection. Output is the conversion of processed data or information into formats preferred or acceptable to the user. Examples are printing of a document or performance of a device or gadget connected to the computer electronically. Storage is when data that are encoded and will be transmitted or converted to acceptable formats are temporarily (or in some cases, permanently) stored. Examples are saving files in the computer's memory or storage of music and videos in an external device such as an external drive or an iPod. Processing is the computer operation that accomplishes the conversion and computing of data into formats understandable, acceptable, and/or preferred by the user. Processing examples are conversion of encoded or typed words to printable format or running of computer programs such as the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Lastly, controlling ensures that all other four operations of the computer are efficiently working together, while at the same time, ensuring also that each operation does not interfere with the other operations. Examples of control measures in the computer are warnings or prompts that pop up whenever an operation is detected to overlap with another operation and the System Task Manager to monitor the activities and determine the speed and efficiency of processing within the computer.

4. Ergonomics is the science wherein technical fields such as engineering and industrial design are used to develop ideas, devices, and solutions that are suitable to the working conditions of the user. In the field of information technology and computer-mediated jobs, ergonomics is critical because it ensures that the users achieve a certain level of comfort physically that would make computing or computer-related work more manageable and ultimately, more efficient. Recognizing the importance of ergonomics is important for both home and office work, since the primary objective is to increase efficiency in working through ergonomically-designed devices and workplace environment conducive to computer users.

5. Computer-based information systems are intangible structures that are composed of collected, processed, and stored data that came from different sources and transmitted through different hardware and software. Three kinds of information systems are geographic information systems or GIS, data warehousing, and enterprise systems. GIS is the conversion and visualization of physical topographical data, converted into electronic (visual) format for surveillance of a specific geographic area. Data warehouses are massive structures of collected data used for general data analysis, coming from different sources and converted from and to different formats. Enterprise systems are integrated systems developed within businesses and companies, which include not only data collection, but also data analysis from the most basic to the most complex level.