Topic 3 - Role of Communication Systems
It would be impossible to conduct modern business without the use of communication technology. Telecommunications are nothing new; from the first use of signal fires, people have communicated over a long distance for many centuries. The use of electrical communication became widespread in the 19th Century, causing a major revolution in business practices.
The Internet originally connected military and research computers in the US. Now it is not a single network, but many thousands of networks that have grown like Topsy.
The World Wide Web originated from the computers set up at a vast Particle Physics laboratory called CERN, located near Geneva. The experiments were too vast, complex and expensive to be borne by a single university, so the resources were shared. The language of the net, hypertext mark-up language (HTML) was developed by a British computer expert, Timothy Berners-Lee, for this purpose. The World Wide Web is a collection of pages stored on computers, joined by hyperlinks. You can click on these and they will take you to other web pages. Each page has a unique address called a URL (uniform resource locator).
Nowadays the two terms are interchangeable. We surf the net, or browse the web.
Question 1 What was the difference between the Internet and the World Wide Web? ANSWER
The Internet can be used for:
On-line information services enable subscribers to access information on news, weather, share prices, etc.
Bulletin Boards are used by groups of people sharing a common interest, e.g. Open University students. Less pleasant groups such as terrorists and football hooligans also communicate this way.
Accessing information - many of the images and articles are from the internet.
Downloading software - you can buy software and download it from sites. Freeware is downloaded software that costs nothing. You can also get updates to upgrade the programs you are running. These are called plug-ins. Patches are corrections that can be downloaded to address certain shortcomings in existing software.
Making purchases - you can get almost any product on the Internet.
There will be more on the structure of the Internet in Module 2.
The Internet has many advantages to individuals and organisations that use it. There are also disadvantages as well. These can be listed (not in any particular order of priority, Nor an exhaustive list)
Advantages
For
an individual:
Rapid access to information;
Can search for exactly the information needed, even if you are not sure how to describe it.
Purchases can be made over the internet.
A user has a whole library of resources to hand, many of which you may not have thought of before.
Educational sites can explain difficult concepts.
Easy to download material including software.
You can listen to live music over the internet.
For a customer
Visits to a site are possible at any time
You can hear snatches of the music if you are buying a CD. There are pictures of other items.
You can shop without fighting your way through the merry Christmas crowds.
For
a company
Rapid communication between a company and its customers.
A website can be updated regularly.
Huge savings on overheads, no warehouse space, heating, etc.
Lots of lines can be marketed without having to display them.
Companies work on a ‘just in time’ delivery system from their suppliers, so don’t get lumbered with goods they cannot sell.
Good market research tool.
Some companies reckon that 6 % of visitors to a web site make a purchase, compared to 1 % from a mail shot. Of these 40 % return to make further purchases.
Disadvantages
For an individual:
Malicious programs can pass via the Internet. The W32 SoBig virus was one such that affected computers running Windows XP and 2000. It did not affect Windows 98.
Pornographic, paedophilic and other disgusting websites.
Terrorist and criminal chatrooms.
Obsession with surfing.
For a customer
Purchases can only be paid for; they have to be delivered by courier. This may take time.
Customers cannot handle goods to see if they are right for their needs.
Fraudulent trading in which customer pay for goods never received.
Credit card fraud.
For a company
Security from hackers can be a problem.
Piracy of music and software.
Cyber terrorism and blackmail.
Information overload
Industrial espionage by rivals is easier.
There are different standards in data protection in different countries.
People set up web sites with a company’s name, and sell it to them for an extortionate price.
Question 2 Write down two advantages and two disadvantages of a company using the internet, giving an explanation for each one. ANSWER
Many business are using the Internet for many of their functions such as marketing and trading. The Internet is available 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. Even the smallest business cannot afford to be without it.
To access the Internet you need:
A computer with a modem which converts digital signals to analogue for transmission over a telephone line.
An Internet Service Provider (ISP), for which you will pay a monthly subscription. Some offer free access, but if you need support, and most people do at some stage, you have to ring a premium rate telephone number, which can cost £1 a minute, and you may be left hanging on the line listening to inane music. There is no such thing as a free lunch!
A small site may take about 5 Megabytes on the ISP’s server. This space would be free, although more space would require an extra subscription. Large complex sites might cost as much as £500 a month, but the savings over office space can be immense. The website builder needs to register the domain name, which is the name of the site (e.g. www.antonine-education.co.uk). This site that you are using has a capacity of 400 MB and costs £5 a month.
Intranets
Intranets are networks of computers within companies or universities to share documents, databases and applications internally.
Generally the computers are connected together as a local area network which means that the computers are in the same building or campus. Sometimes the company may have branch offices, in which case the Intranet may have to be passed over a wide area network i.e. the Internet.
Intranets are particularly useful to organisations because they allow:
sharing of programs;
rapid access to data and information kept at a central place;
central updating of information to ensure that it is of high quality;
passage of memos via e-mail;
sharing of common resources such as printers;
documents to be easily transferred form user to user;
Intranets have disadvantages over stand-alone computers:
Installation can be disruptive;
Networks need constant maintenance;
Failures of the network can cripple the company.
Viruses can spread rapidly;
Communication by e-mail can reduce face-to-face interaction.
Electronic
Mail
E-mails allow us to send letters and files to another computer. There are many advantages:
Messages cost the price of a local phone call.
The same message can be sent to several people at the same time.
It can reach the recipient in a few seconds.
Files can be easily sent automatically at a certain time.
Graphics and text can be sent as an attachment.
E-mails can be sent to a fax machine that acts as a printer.
There are some disadvantages:
Viruses often spread by e-mail;
It is hard to stop unsolicited e-mail, often called Spam;
Replying to Spam can reveal your e-mail address to many other spammers. Ironically this is disguised as a link marked "Please do not contact me again".
Information overload is possible.
E-mail programs are not always easy to use.
It is reckoned that the bulk of the spam originates from just twelve individuals from the United States. In Europe (including UK) it is illegal to send out spam; in the USA it is not illegal, despite the clogging up and waste of time it causes.
Question 3 Companies have recently become sufficiently worried about the excessive use of e-mails that they have declared every Friday an e-mail free day. Suggest three reasons that they have taken this action.
Explain what the following features of an e-mail interface do.
How many definitions do you remember? Try the Matching Exercise.
Now go on to Telephony