Chapter 13

INFORMATION-GATHERING TOOLS

click to edit

Information can be gathered using the following tools:

● Electronically: internet

● Printed media

● Surveys and questionnaires

tips for asking questions

Tips for asking questions:

● Always start an open question with “how” or with questions beginning with “w”:

“what”, “where”, “when”, “which” or “who”.

● Try to avoid “why” questions, because human nature leads people to make up a

rational reason even when they don’t have one. If you want to get more information,

rather say “please tell me more about that”.

● Do not start with “was” or forms of the verbs “to be” and “to do”

chapter 7

EVALUATE WEBSITE

Not all websites are created equal and many may contain misleading, or even false,

information. Much as you evaluate the quality of the information you receive, you must also

evaluate the quality of the websites you visit and use.

No matter how many users LANs serve, they
are all designed to share resources such as internet connections, printers or server connections

EVALUTE INFORMATION

Authority: This is based on who created the information. If the video you are watching

was not created by someone with knowledge in the field, then the information they are

giving you might not be the best out there. Always do research on the people who give

you information. Authority also indicates that the information is accurate.

● Accuracy: Look for how complete the information is and compare the information

from one source against the information from a few others. If the facts match, you can

be fairly sure that the information is accurate. Make sure that there is something

backing up the facts you receive. Check the source of those facts as well.

● Currency: Check how current the information is. More up-to-date information tends to

be more accurate. A technology blog from 2010 will be less relevant, and therefore

less accurate, to your research than one from 2017. Information from the last ten years

ADVANTAGES OF LAN

A wireless local area network (WLAN) is the same as a LAN but it
has the ability to connect wireless devices such as smartphones, laptops and tablets to the LAN.

Files and other data can be shared faster if they remain on the network and do not
need to be uploaded to the internet or emailed.

A local area network (LAN) is a small network of computers covering a small area, such as an
office building or school.

Networks can be centrally controlled, making it easier to make changes, monitor users,
update software, troubleshoot hardware and software issues and maintain resources.

LOCAL AREA NETWORK

Closed-ended questions have a limited set of possible answers, such as “yes”, “no” or “A”,
while open-ended questions need more complex answers.

click to edit

click to edit

click to edit

DEFINING THE TASK

click to edit

To understand what is expected of you, you must do the following:

  1. Read the instructions. Does the task call for a report? How will you gather the information?
  1. Rewrite the question in your own words. Get to the core of the question. Rewriting helps

you understand exactly what you need to do so that you do not waste time looking for

the wrong data. It also helps you decide what type of data you need and how to gather it.

  1. Identify the key terms. Look for verbs or subject-specific terms in the task (verbs like

“report back” give guidelines on how you should present information)

Software (and licenses), files and hardware can be shared easily with the devices
connected to the network

Intranet vs internet

Spreadsheets are documents that have numbered rows and lettered columns that structure data.

click to edit

An intranet is a private, web-based network that is only available to an organisation’s staff.

DISADVANTAGES OF LAN

There is a risk of privacy and data violations. Network administrators may have
access to all the files created by each user

If a network is not secured properly, one infected computer can infect the entire network.

Examples of spreadsheet software include Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice Calc and iWork Numbers

UNIT 13.4 Spreadsheets and databases in data handling

The initial setup costs for creating a network can be high, especially in a school or
office environment

BASIC COMPONENTS OF A NETWORK

● Workstation and servers

● NIC

● Network devices

Communication media

Spreadsheets can also be used as a modelling tool, that you can use them to predict trends.

Database can do exactly what a spreadsheet can but with more data since spreadsheets are limited in the amount data they can hold. Databases are also usually kept on a server so they can use the bigger processing power of the server.

Databases can also better analyse and connect data than spreadsheets, which makes it easier for users to search for and extract the information from the data

Unit 13.5 Processing data TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES

Manipulating data is the process of sorting, arranging or moving the data without changing it. To manipulate data you need to know: The features of the programs you are using and how to use them; Make sure the data is in the correct format for what you need to do; and The tools you can use include sorting, formulae and functions and queries.

EXTRACTING APPROPRIATE INFORMATION


Within spreadsheets and databases, there are various tools and commands you can use to extract information, for example, for a big data set, you can use VLOOKUP in Excel.

Unit 13.6 Analysing data and information

ADDIND DATA QUESTIONS


Once you have verified your data, you can begin to apply the data questions such as;


  1. How many?
  2. What is most popular?
  3. What is least common?
  4. How many more than?
  5. What is the average?

TRENDS AND PATTERNS


The final step in data analysis is to look for trends and patterns.


Trends are the general tendecy of data to move in one direction over time


Another type of trend is downward trend. This happens when the data points move down.

click to edit

click to edit

click to edit

BASIC
NETWORK
SECURITY*

click to edit

Passwords are the most basic form of network security. Passwords, at their core, are a

secret string of letters, numbers and symbols created by users or generated by a computer

to limit or restrict access to a system

Usernames are a unique identifier given to any person who uses a secure computer network.

A user with administrative rights can
access all the files and folders on a computer and can make changes that will affect all users.

The internet is a massive network of networks with millions of computers
connected to each other across the globe.