GCE Applied ICT Unit 1

Strand a -Online Services Topic 1: Communication

Learning Objectives

• Identify different forms of communication on the internet

• Describe the purpose, audience and uses of different internet communication methods

• Evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of different internet communication methods

Communication on the Internet

• Blogs• Email• Chat and instant messaging• Social networking• Online conferencing• Newsgroups / Bulletin boards

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Identify different forms of communication on the internet; Describe the purpose, audience and uses; Evaluate the benefits and drawbacks

Blogs

• Web logs, probably started around 1997• Specialised form of website created for

the purpose of keeping an online journal• Blog editor manages posts and comments

on posts

• You need to consider– Biased opinions– Negative aspects of “freedom of speech”

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Identify different forms of communication on the internet; Describe the purpose, audience and uses; Evaluate the benefits and drawbacks

Email

• Early online technology (1971)• Simple to use• Perhaps the most powerful technology used on the internet

today• Normally accessed via a client (e.g. Outlook Express) or via the

web (e.g. hotmail)

• You need to consider:– Spam– Viruses, worms and trojans– Spoofing and phishing

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Identify different forms of communication on the internet; Describe the purpose, audience and uses; Evaluate the benefits and drawbacks

Chat and instant messaging• Different methods for chat• Instant messaging is more private• Must be online at the same time

• You need to consider– New language!– The dangers – The different services available

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Identify different forms of communication on the internet; Describe the purpose, audience and uses; Evaluate the benefits and drawbacks

Social networking• Recent phenomenon• Different sites for different ages and purposes• Bebo, Facebook, MySpace

• You need to consider– Privacy issues

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Identify different forms of communication on the internet; Describe the purpose, audience and uses; Evaluate the benefits and drawbacks

Bulletin Boards

• Around since 1978

• Originally a replica of a physical noticeboard

• Now more versatile – allow downloading and uploading

• FAQs, software updates and advertisements

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Identify different forms of communication on the internet; Describe the purpose, audience and uses; Evaluate the benefits and drawbacks

Newsgroups

• Old part of the internet

• Collection of messages which are posted to a server by members, and then distributed to other servers

• Users need to subscribe

• Can be read with specialist programs but increasingly accessed with standard browser

• Primarily found on Usenet

• Google Groups offers access to a large range – note the format of the group names

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Identify different forms of communication on the internet; Describe the purpose, audience and uses; Evaluate the benefits and drawbacks

Conferences• Groups of people can set up meetings on the Internet• Possible:

– Text– Voice– Video– Combination of these

• Often needs specialist equipment such as web cam and special software to take part

• Online telephone conversations (e.g. Skype)

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Identify different forms of communication on the internet; Describe the purpose, audience and uses; Evaluate the benefits and drawbacks

Activity – group presentationsDescribe:

– Historical context– The target audience– The purpose and how well it meets these purposes (e.g. is it

fit for purpose?)– How does it work (opportunity to show some technical

understanding)– The benefits / scope– The drawbacks / limitations– Improvements– Non-Internet alternatives– Screenshots of 2 different providers of the services:

compare their adv and disadv.

WHAT TYPES OF INTERNET SOURCES WILL YOU USE TO RESEARCH THIS? TRY TO USE 6!

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Identify different forms of communication on the internet; Describe the purpose, audience and uses; Evaluate the benefits and drawbacks

What am I looking for?• A learning resource that everyone else in the

group will be able to use • Bullet points of the important information

NOT large chunks of copied and pasted text• Sources referenced in the presentation as well

as a bibliography at the end• You presenting it next lesson

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Identify different forms of communication on the internet; Describe the purpose, audience and uses; Evaluate the benefits and drawbacks