Policing the Internet

The topic of whether the Internet should be policed sparks heated debates amongst many users. They are however many pros and cons to this argument.

Pros – Inappropriate content can be removed from the Internet by censoring adult websites.

Cons – It is very difficult to police the whole Internet society as it is very big and it also affects the freedom of speech argument.

My personal opinion on the matter would be that in a perfect world you would be able to police the Internet but it is not realistically possible.

The Internet and the Law

Copyright, Designs and Patents Act – Ensures that websites cannot use other people’s work without their authorisation.

Computer Misuse Act – Ensures that computers are not used in a malicious manner to harm other people or organisations.

Data Protection Act – Ensures that the data that is held about the data subject is not misused by the data user.

Advanced Spreadsheet Functions

• Today – Shows today’s date.

• Now – Shows the date and time.

• Or – A boolean function, either true or false.

• If – Checks if a condition is true or false.
  
• Count – Counts how many times a value is found in a list of cells.
  
• CountIf – Counts how many cells in a list that contain specific characters.

Spreadsheet

What-if Analysis

A process of changing the values in cells to see how those changes affect the outcome of formulas on the worksheet.

Goal Seeking

A process of entering what output you want and getting the input you require to get to it.

Look-up tables

Look-up tables can be used to extract information. VLook-ups & HLook-ups

So you know Word Processing? What about Desk Top Publishing?

Desktop Publishing software is very handy tool that is widely used in the newspaper/magazine industry to create the pages. It is also used to create posters whereas Word Processing software is more focused on generating letters and documents.

Frames – can contain text or graphics. You can link two frames together to continue the flow of the text. 

Guides – are used to help organise pictures and align text etc.

Kerning – is the adjustment of spaces between pairs of letters to make them more visually appealing.

Leading – refers to the vertical white space that separates the lines of text.

Style Sheets – allows user to maintain consistency throughout the pages.

Widow/Orphan – Text that is at the start or the end of a paragraph that are on different columns.

5 Advanced Features of a Word Processor

Watermark – is something you can display behind text.
Comment – Can be used to elaborate on a point or add comments.
Index/Tables – Used to automatically generate contents page, etc.
Merge – Combines two documents together.
Macro – Records actions and can be used for repetitive tasks.

Entering Information

You can enter information into an information system in many ways:

QR CODES / BAR CODES

KEYBOARD

SCANNER

….

Upgrading

We must consider TIME, COST, RISK, ADAPTABILITY AND SUPPORT when contemplating an upgrade.

TIME – to train and implement new upgrades

COST – is it cost effective?

RSIK – is it worth the gamble? Calculated risk?

ADAPTABILITY – flexibility and future proofing

SUPPORT – whether it can support the size of the organisation

 

Software Strategy

They are four main areas we have to consider:

1.UPGRADING

2.EVALUATION OF SOFTWARE

3.TRAINING

4.USER SUPPORT

Evaluation of Software

FUNCTIONALITY – does it do what you require?

USABILITY – is it user friendly?

EFFIECIENCY – how well it perform using available resources?

COST – is it cost effective?

RELIABILITY – will it work properly all the time?

SUPPORT – good after sales service?

DATA MIGRATION – will it be abe to handle other data types?

NEYMAR

Training

ON-THE-JOB TRAINING

IN-HOUSE TRAINING (INTERNAL TRAINING)

EXTERNAL TRAINING

Factors Affecting an OS (Organisational System)

SPEED – Computers are more efficient than humans

ACCURACY – Computer do not make any errors

VOLUME –Computers can process large amounts of data quickly

EFFICIENCY – Computer can be used excessively whrereas employees require breaks and sleep

Validation

Validation is the process of ensuring that data entered into a database meets a certain rule or rules. There are different types of validation checks which can be performed on a database:

Presence check – does the field have to have a value entered?

Restricted choice check – the value entered has to be of a certain value (e.g. Mr / Mrs / Miss / Ms)

Range check – the value entered has to fall within a certain range (e.g. 0-100)

Normalisation

Normalisation is the process of dividing a flat table into smaller tables to remove data anomalies. In other words, normalisation removes the deletion, insertion and update anomalies from a database table.

An example of this is :

UNF – (transaction_number

             borrower_name

             telephone

             email

             date_borrowed

             date_due

                                         title

                                         director

                                         duration)

1NF – Transaction 

            (transaction_number

             borrower_name

             telephone

             email

             date_borrowed

             date_due)

Movie (title

              director

              duration

              transaction_number*)

2NF – Transaction

            (transaction_number

             borrower_name

             telephone

             email

             date_borrowed

             date_due)

Movie (title*

               transaction number*)

Film    (title

               director

               duration)

3NF – Transaction

              (transaction_number

                borrower_id*

                date_borrowed

                date_due)

Borrower

                (borrower_id

                  borrower_name

                   telephone

                   email)

Movie     (title*

                   transaction_number*)

Film        (title

                    director

                     duration)

KEY:

Italics = Primary Key

 * = Foreign Key