Activity 20 – Ergonomics

Healthy Computing

Do’s and Don’ts when making adjustments for:

Keyboard:

1. If you don’t currently use an adjustable keyboard/mouse tray, consider attaching one to your surface.
2. Make sure the height of your keyboard allows you to keep an “open angle” with your arms.
3. If your keyboard is lower than the desk surface, tilt the back edge of the keyboard slightly down (known as “negative keyboard tilt”).
4. If you use a keyboard tray, make sure there’s enough room for your mouse.
5. If you have a broad chest, consider a “split” keyboard.
6. Don’t use wrist rests or armrests while typing-only while resting

 

Chair:

1. Adjust the Chair Height: At a level your legs and feet feel comfortable and knees are at an open angle.
2. Sit Back in the Chair
3. Adjust the Recline: Set this at a comfortable position. It’s generally better to be slightly reclined, as this helps relieve tension from your lower back.
4. Adjust the Seat Pan: Comfortable position. The seat pan should extend about an inch on both sides of your legs, and should not apply pressure to the back of your knees.
5. Adjust the Armrest: Adjust the height, width, and position of your armrests to one most comfortable for how you work.  
6. Clear Obstacles

 

Monitor:

1. Center Your Monitor
2. Sit Arms’ Length Away
3. Position the top of your screen level with your eyes.
4. Tilt your monitor slightly upward.
5. Balance the brightness of your monitor and its surrondings.
6. Adjust your font size and color.
7. Reduce glare.  

Phone:

1. Positioning Your Phone: To position your phone reach each arm out to the side of your body and move them from this position until the hands meet at the centre of your body in front of you. Your phone, along with everything else you use frequently, should be within this zone.
2. Use a phone with the right set of features: for example a cordless phone
3. Learn proper phone position: hold your phone in a proper position against your ear: head straight and shoulders relaxed
4. Consider using a headset
5. Consider using a speakerphone

 

Documents:

1. Don’t put the documents flat on your desk or work surface while working with them.
2. Use a copyholder, or place the documents as close as possible to the computer screen – at about the same distance and level as your monitor.
3. Make sure you have enough light to see your documents clearly.

 

Desk:

Keep desk at a comfortable height for all tasks it is used for

Keep frequently used things in the normal reach zone

Place everything on the desk in your working zone

 

Mouse:

1. Place your mouse close to your keyboard and within easy reach
2. Consider a mouse tray to help keep your mouse near your keyboard.
3. Adjust your mouse/trackball’s software controls.
4. Consider using a different input device to reduce repetitive arm motions.
5. Make sure you’re using the right size pointing device.
6. Use your elbow-not your wrist-to move the mouse
7. Limit the amount you use your tracking device
8. Use keyboard shortcuts
9. If you surf the web or edit long documents, consider a mouse with a scroll wheel
10. Don’t click too hard!
11. Make sure you’re holding your mouse correctly 

Lighting:

1. The ambient lighting you use should be low or glare free.
2. The task lighting you choose can be used to provide supplemental light for paper documents.
3. Your light level should be appropriate for your tasks.
4. Use blinds or drapes to control the light from windows

 

<Insert photo of class mate working at their computer in the correct ergonomic positioning>

(I was told not to worry about the Photo)

Activity 23 – Hypermedia

For activity 23 I had to read a document  titled Hypermedia and answer the following questions:

1. Define the term Hypermedia.

Hypermedia is a feature of hypertext enabling the user to link to audio and video files, as well as other blocks of text, within the same or other web pages

 

1. What are Web 2.0 technologies?

Web 2.0 is a term invented to indicate a new generation of websites that focus on interactivity with the user.

 

1. List and briefly describe three Web 2.0 technologies.

Blogging: Users create and maintain a web log, or personal diary, sorted by date with the last post on top. Go to www.blogspot.com and take the quick tour to see what it is all about.

Personal home pages: Although it has long been possible for a person to make their own web page using Hypertext mark-up language (HTML) or a website design program, sites such as Facebook make it very easy to create personal home pages for the average user. These sites also offer social networking features that allow the creation of friendship groups, and the ability to message other users of the site. www.facebook.com

Photograph sharing: Flicker is much the same as Facebook, but with a focus on the sharing of photographs. Social networking is again a prominent feature of the site. www.flickr.com To see where photo sharing may go visit labs.live.com click on the projects tab and read the notes on photosynth – Microsoft labs experiment in hyperlinking a vast database of photographs, or go to www.ted.com and search for ‘jaw dropping photosynth’ on the site, and follow the top link to see a video presentation of photosynth capabilities.

Activity 21 – Copyright

For activity 21 I had to scan read the following articles in order to answer the questions below:

• An introduction to copyright
• Fair Dealing
• Public Domain (Wikipedia) & Public Domain (Monash University)
• Open Source
• Creative Commons

Questions:

1. What is the purpose of Australian copyright laws?

Copyright law creates incentives for people to invest their time, talent and other resources in creating new material – particularly cultural and educational material – which benefits society.

2. What is the name of the main copyright law in Australia?

Copyright Act 1968

3. List 10 items that copyright law protects in Australia.

1. Textual material (“literary works”) such as journal articles, novels, screenplays, poems, song lyrics and reports;
2. Computer programs (a sub-category of “literary works”);
3. Compilations (another sub-category of “literary works”) such as anthologies, directories and databases – the selection and arrangement of material may be protected separately from the individual items contained in the compilation;
4. Artistic works such as paintings, drawings, cartoons, sculpture, craft work, architectural plans, buildings, photographs, maps and plans;
5. Dramatic works such as choreography, screenplays, plays and mime pieces;
6. Musical works: that is, the music itself, separately from any lyrics or recording;
7. Cinematograph films: the visual images and sounds in a film, video or DVD are protected separately from any copyright in works recorded on the film or video, such as scripts and music;
8. Sound recordings: the particular recording itself is protected by copyright, in addition to, for example, the music or story that is recorded;
9. Broadcasts: TV and radio broadcasters have a copyright in their broadcasts, which is separate from the copyright in the films, music and other material which they broadcast; and
10. Published editions: publishers have copyright in their typographical arrangements, which is separate from the copyright in works reproduced in the edition (such as poems or illustrations or music).

4. List 3 items that are not protected by copyright.

1. Ideas, concepts, styles, techniques and information
2. Names, titles and slogans
3. People

5. What is the meaning of “public domain”?

Public domain means open to the public for use. Things in the public domain either have an expired copyright or are royalty free. Not everything accessible to the public is necessarily public domain.

 

6. How long does copyright last?

Copyright generally lasts for the life of the creator plus 70 years and where duration depends on year of publication, it lasts until 70 years after it is first published.

7. Is there any restriction on the use of material once copyright has expired?

Once copyright has expired the material is in the public domain.

8. If you wanted to use an image that is displayed on a website, for example the Perth Zoo, on a website you were creating, what would you have to do to comply with copyright?

You would have to first ask permission from the website to use it’s images and then on your website site where the images come from

9. What is creative commons?

Creative Commons is a non-profit organization devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright licenses known as Creative Commons licenses. These licenses allow creators to easily communicate which rights they reserve, and which rights they waive for the benefit of other creators.

10. In relation to software, what is open source?

Open source is a development methodology, which offers practical accessibility to a product’s source (goods and knowledge). Open source software projects are built and maintained by network of volunteer programmers. Prime examples of open source products are the Apache HTTP Server, the internet address system Internet Protocol, and the internet browser Mozilla Firefox. Yet, one of the most successful programs is the Linux operating system, an open source Unix-like operating system.

Activity 23 – Systems Specifications

 

In Activity 23 I had to read a document titled Systems Specifications and answer the following questions.

What is the purpose of an operating system? 

To control the hardware and software within a computer.

List three common operating systems.

1. Microsoft®
2. Windows®
3. Mac® OS

Describe the purpose of the Central Processing Unit.

If a computer was a car, the Central Processing Unit (CPU) is the engine. The speed and performance of the CPU affects the overall performance of a computer and often the type of software that it can run. It fetches data, decodes data (changing the fetched data into information), executing data and stores information. 

List the four steps carried out by the CPU in processing data.

1. fetching data
2. decoding data (changing the fetched data into information),
3. executing data
4. stores information. 

 What is RAM and why is it important?

 

RAM or Random Access Memory is the best known form of computer memory. It is considered ‘random access’ because the processor can communicate with it directly. RAM memory is very important because it is where instructions are stored by the processor.

List and briefly describe three secondary storage devices.

1. Hard Drive: The Hard Drive is the main storage device for a computer. The size of the drive determines how much data, such as programs and documents can be stored on the computer system. The size of the drive is measured in Bytes
2. Compact Disk Drive (CD ROM): Reads and stores information on a CD ROM disk which has a storage capacity of varying amounts depending on the CD ROM disk
3. Digital Versatile Disk Drive (DVD ROM): Similar to CD ROM except it has a much larger storage capacity, about seven times as much space as a CD ROM disk.

 

 

Activity 23 -Digital Convergence

For Activity 23 I had to read a document titled Digital Convergance and answer the following questions.

What is Digital Convergence?

When technologies become; smaller, cheaper, and more powerful it is possible to combine them into a single piece of portable equipment. This combining is know as convergence.

The combining of two or more technmologies to form one divice.

For example: Cameraphones: converging of a mobile phone and a camera.

Three dvantages of digital products over thier analog counterparts:

1. Quicker and cost less to produce
2. Better quality and does not degrade
3. Easily transported and portable

Activity 17 – Symbolism

 Symbolism

DANGER	CAMPING
HOT	ANIMAL CROSSING

Activity 17 – Printers

In Activity 17 I had to read a document titled Printer Types. I then had to answer the following questions.

1. write a brief statement about the advantages and disadvantages of both inkjet and laser printers

Advantages of inkjet printers:

• Able to produce colour output
• Three-colour cartrage
• Non-impact method

Advantages of laser printers:

• Produce much better quality black text documents than inkjets
• Tend to be designed more for the long haul
• More pages at a lower cost

Disadvantages of inkjet printers:

• Cost prohibitive

   

• Does not handle office environment very well

   

 

 

Disadvantages of laser printers:

• Makes ozone

2. Suggest which printer type would be most suitable for printing digital images at home and justify your answer.

The best printer for printing digital images at home would be Dye-sublimation printers. These printers give photo-lab-quality pictures at home.

Activity 9 – MySpere Logo

The brief for activity 9 reads: You have been contracted to create a logo for a new social networking site called MySphere. Develop a logo for MyShpere. Your design should use colours and styles of current Web 2.0 design.

Below is my MySphere logo. I created 2 designs. The first was only words with the world inside the letters and the second was this logo:

I used Photoshop CS3 to create the logo. To carry out the colours needed for Web 2.0 I had to select the Web Colours Only tick box in the colour picker.

 

Digital Video – Activity 18

1. List three analog video formats.

Pal (Phase Alternating Line): The dominate television standard in Australia. It delivers televsion signals at 25 fames per second.

NTSC (National Television Standards Committee): Sets the video standards in the United States of America. Delivers television signals at nearly 30 frames per second.

SECAM (Sequential Colour with Memory): Similar to PAl but uses a different method for combining colours. Mainly used in France

2. What advantages does digital video have over analog video?

The advantage of digital video is that it will not degrade over time or with use.

3. What is a disadvantage of digital video?

The disadvantage of digital video is that it is very data hungry in that it uses a large amount of processing power. Digital video files are very large and often require dedicated storage devices.

4. List and briefly describe three common digital video file formats.

 
Three common digital video file formats:

1. AVI – Audio Video Interleaved. This is a multimedia format used to store audio and video and is used on Windows® OS computers.

2. MOV – The file format generated by QuickTime® software. Originally only available for playback on Macintosh® OS, its qualities for multimedia and the web has meant that it is now widely supported across both platforms.

3. WMA – Windows Media Audio (Technologies) is the umbrella name for the products, product components and services from Microsoft® that can create, deliver, and play streaming files.  

5. List three ways of reducing the file size of digital video.

 Three ways of reducing the size of digital video: 

1. Compressing the video data.

2. Reducing the dimensions of each frame.

3. Reducing the frame rate.

6. What is a codec?

Codec is an acronym for COmpression / DEcompression. A codec is a specialised computer program that compresses or reduces the number of bytes consumed by large files

Common Codec’s include: MPEG, MJPEG, DivX, DV, Sorenson and Cinepac

Photo editing – creating a composite image – Activity 14

In Activity 14 I had to create a composite image using Photo A and Photo B from bellow.

Photo A:

Photo B:

Composite Image:

To create this composite image I moved the student from Photo A to photo B using Adobe Photoshop CS3. I used the Magnetic Lasso Tool to outline the student and then pushed Ctrl+C on the keyboard. I then changed to Photo B and pushed Ctrl+V. After this I lined the layer of the student up with the student on the background layer. I then added a few small details such as lighter colouring to the arm from the flash. Below is a list of tools I used:

• move tool
• brush tool
• lasso tool
• magnetic lasso tool
• cone stamp tool
• smudge tool
• blur tool
• sharpen tool
• eraser tool

The arm of the teacher was being dificult and required changes by erasing part of the arm and using his arm from Photo A. I only just noticed that the bottom part of the certificate (which is part of Photo B) is a different shade to the top part of the certificate (which is part of Photo A). I had already used a white paint brush tool with the opasity turned down to change this colour but I must have had the opasity too low.

After about 1 hours work I finished the image. I achieved what was specified in the brief. Other than a slight discolouration in the certificate at the bottom that I ran out of time to fix it is hard to tell that the image is manipulated. The brief required a picture where both the student and teacher are smiling and my composite image provides this picture.