Desktop Tools: Help or Harm?
When you think of what your computer can do what comes
to mind first?
– Word processor
– Browser
– Email
I think of these because, without, question these are the
tools I use the most.
These are all software products/programs.
– Runs on the operating system.
– They are only as useful as the competence of the user
Desktop Tools: Help or Harm?
Word Processor
Wikipedia defines a word processor as: “A word
processor (more formally known as document
preparation system) is a computer application used for
the production (including composition, editing,
formatting, and possibly printing) of any sort of printable
material.”
Desktop Tools: Help or Harm?
Word Processor
How are they helpful?
– Spell checker
– Find out meaning (thesaurus) and other idea for
words we use while writing.
– Type quicker
– Edit documents easier
– Documents are more legible
Desktop Tools: Help or Harm?
Word Processor
• How could they possibly be harmful?
– Too much reliance on spell checker
– Software not always reliable, files can vanish in a
flash
– Microsoft’s helpful features are often UNhelpful.
– Ergonomic issues
– Cut and paste can be misused re; academic integrity
– We can no longer spell
Desktop Tools: Word Processor
Early word processors used tags or layout instructions
written within the document that were then interpreted by
running the program as formatting instructions.
These systems today are used for specialized writing such
as documents that require the inclusion of mathematical
formulas.
Today most word processors are WYSIWYG :
What You See Is What You Get
Desktop Tools: Help or Harm?
Word Processor
\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\title{\LaTeX}\date{}
\begin{document}
\maketitle
\LaTeX{} is a document preparation system for the \TeX{} typesetting
program. It offers programmable desktop publishing features and
extensive facilities for automating most aspects of typesetting and
desktop publishing, including numbering and cross-referencing, tables
and figures, page layout, bibliographies, and much more. \LaTeX{} was
originally written in 1984 by Leslie Lamport and has become the
dominant method for using \TeX; few people write in plain \TeX{}
anymore. The current version is
\LaTeXe.
\newline
\begin{eqnarray}
E &=& mc^2
\\
m &=& \frac{m_0}{\sqrt{1-\frac{v^2}{c^2}}}
\end{eqnarray}
\end{document}
Desktop Tools: Help or Harm?
Presentation Software
• Is this the next step “up” from word processing?
• A presentation program is software used to display
information, normally in the form of a slide show. It
typically includes three major functions: an editor that
allows text to be inserted and formatted, a method for
inserting and manipulating graphic images and a slideshow system to display the content.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presentation_program
• Take a slide projector, a tape recorder and the ability to
add text and you have presentation software.
• PowerPoint is NOT the only game in town. Adobe,
Macromedia, and Google all have presentation software.
Desktop Tools: Help or Harm?
Presentation Software
How is this helpful?
– Makes text and info readable
– Gives visual cues making the material easier to remember
– Make material easily available to students
Desktop Tools: Help or Harm?
Presentation Software
How could this possibly be harmful?
– Some of the animation tools are annoying
– Too much material goes by, presenters can read faster than we
can write.
– Can’t follow the material, too easy to be very complex
– Lighting can be too dim to easily stay awake no matter how
engaging the presenter
• Can be BORING
Desktop Tools: Help or Harm?
Spreadsheet
“A spreadsheet is a computer application that superseded
paper worksheets. It displays multiple cells that together
make up a grid consisting of rows and columns, each
cell containing either alphanumeric text or numeric
values. A spreadsheet cell may alternatively contain a
formula that defines how the contents of that cell is to be
calculated from the contents of any other cell (or
combination of cells) each time any cell is updated.
Spreadsheets are frequently used for financial
information because of their ability to re-calculate the
entire sheet automatically after a change to a single cell.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spreadsheet
Desktop Tools: Help or Harm?
Spreadsheet
How is this tool helpful?
•
•
•
•
•
Keeping track of a long list of “things” like inventory
Accounting
Good at keeping track of mathematics and formulas
Color coding
Can create all kinds of graphs
Desktop Tools: Help or Harm?
Spreadsheet
How could this tool be harmful?
• Numbers can lie
• The software needs to be accurate for it to be useful
• Can be the wrong product for doing non-mathematical
tables
Desktop Tools: Help or Harm?
Database or Data Base
• A computer database is an structured collection of records or data
that is stored in a computer system. A database relies upon software
to organize the storage of data. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database
• Electronic filing cabinet
• Often abbreviated DB. A collection of information organized in such
a way that a computer program can quickly select desired pieces of
data. http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/d/database.html
• Traditional databases are organized by fields, records and files. A
field is a single piece of information; a record is one complete set of
fields; and a file is a collection of records. For example, a telephone
book is analogous to a file. It contains a list of records, each of
which consists of three fields: name, address, and telephone
number. http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/d/database.html
Desktop Tools: Help or Harm?
Database
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/d/database.html
Desktop Tools: Help or Harm?
Database
Popular Database software include:
– MySQL – Open Source from SUN Microsystems
– ORACLE
– Access – Microsoft
Desktop Tools: Help or Harm?
Database
How are databases Helpful?
• Organizes information so that it is easy to access the
information you want.
• Can store lots and lots and lots and lots of data and
make it available for searching and sorting
Desktop Tools: Help or Harm?
Database
How can databases be Harmful?
• Can hold erroneous information
• If it crashes you lose it all
• Can be stolen
• Who has access to the information?
Desktop Tools: Help or Harm?
Database
An alternative concept in database design is known as
Hypertext. In a Hypertext database, any object, whether
it be a piece of text, a picture, or a film, can be linked to
any other object. Hypertext databases are particularly
useful for organizing large amounts of disparate
information, but they are not designed for numerical
analysis. http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/d/database.html
Now expand this database design to include all the
information in an encyclopedia that can be searched in
an incredible number of ways and you get
– World Book online
– Encarta – Microsoft product
Desktop Tools: Help or Harm?
Database
• Now expand this database design to include all
the information you can possibly imagine, all
searchable from your desktop.
• What you get is the Internet. The Internet is sort
of the most complex, searchable, confused,
disorganized, accessible data storage system
ever imagined.
Desktop Tools: Browser
• A web browser is a software application which enables
a user to display and interact with text, images, videos,
music and other information typically located on a Web
page at a website on the World Wide Web or a local area
network. Text and images on a Web page can contain
hyperlinks to other Web pages at the same or different
website.
• Browsers include:
–
–
–
–
–
Internet Explorer
Mozilla Firefox
Safari
Opera
And others
The Internet: Helpful or Harmful?
How is the Internet Helpful?
The Internet: Helpful or Harmful?
How can the Internet be harmful?