A1 Digital devices, their functions and use GapFill

Our lives are becoming increasingly digital, and this transformation has been a relatively recent phenomenon. PCs really only started to move out of offices and into home in the mid-1990s, and fast Internet connections were only starting to become prevalent in the mid-2000s, when streaming services and social media sites began to develop.

You will have used technology in your school or college to a much greater extent than your parents will have. For example, most of your classrooms will be equipped with  independentinteractiveinternaliterative whiteboards, allowing your teachers to project and annotate presentations and show you  videoscinemasoundsfilm. You will be able to complete your homeworks online or with word processing  interfacewhiteboardssoftwarehardware, and use  paper encyclopaediathe InternetbooksCD ROM for research from anywhere – viewed instantly on a laptop, tablet or phone. You will also have access to  vitalvirtualverboseviola learning environments (VLEs) – including this package! Your teachers are able to upload files for you to view and download, set homeworks and complete online  shoppingtestsexamsholidays. If you later go off to University, you’ll also use one.

Some workplaces also use VLEs to deliver  paymenttrainingshoppingdismissal when starting new types of work and for ongoing professional development.

There is no doubt that you will use technology in your personal and  technologicalfriendshipmediasocial life. Many people have access to, or own a  graphics tabletprintersmartphoneserver, tablet, or laptop/desktop computer, which allows access to the web allowing access to important news and up to date information, online  shoppingtelesalesschoolingcinema, and catch-up TV, video and music / radio streaming. We chat to our friends through social media, chat software and  newspapersvideo streamingvideo callcatch-up television using a type of service called VOIP. An online world had definitely enriched our lives, but there are drawbacks.

Retailers now rely on technology to bring us products at a cheap price. Every item has a bar code, which is scanned using handheld scanners when the product arrives at the store’s stock room and at the checkout when it is first  deductedreturnedsoldcredited to the customer at the till. Computerised systems automatically order more product when it is running out, and managers can analyse the sales to find out what is and isn’t selling so that the store’s inventory can be tailored. Keeping the least amount of product on site decreases warehouse space, and ensures that  oldtransactionalhistoriccorrect products are always in stock – called just in time delivery. The tills generate useful transactional data.

Nowadays, there are very few companies that do not use IT to some degree, even small retailers will use electronic equipment to keep stock inventory and calculate payroll. Large offices will have complex IT  multifunctionsystemsstandaloneonline and even smaller sub-systems to help perform the tasks of each department, from back-office administration to the everyday workflow and communication of the majority of the staff. Smartphones,  laptopstelegraphslandline phonesdesktops and tablets have transformed the lives of corporate travellers and those on business trips, who are now able to access many of the companies’ services while on the road.