Barriers to communication

Noisy environment - Having a noisy environment makes it hard for the listener to hear what the speaker is saying because of the background noise. To avoid this it is better to speak in an environment that is quiet so you can hear each other when you speak to each other. If moving to quiet environments are not possible, you can text or write down what you’re saying.

Deaf - Having to learn a whole new way of speaking to deaf people (sign language) is a barrier. Even though deaf people can lip read to some extent it is still very hard for them to communicate with you because they have to either write down what they are saying or use sign language. To help speaking to deaf people, lessons on sign language will help or you can give them something like a whiteboard to write on. You can also text to each other via mobile.

Accent - People with thick accents are hard to understand for some people who are not used to how they speak. For example i can't understand people from Liverpool. This usually depends on the person; some people might understand an accent and some might not. To avoid this speaker can talk slowly, pronounce well and also use Standard English. If you still don’t understand each other you can simply write down what you’re saying and give it to the person you’re speaking to. You can also use texts.

Language - Language is a big barrier because it’s a different language, it is very hard to make each other understand what you’re trying to say. Even though most people who don’t know much English might understand a bit, it might not be enough to communicate. If this barrier is very common (for example living in a foreign country that doesn’t speak English) it might be a good idea to take lessons on learning the language if you are living for a long period of time. If this is short time using something like Google translate to type into can be useful. If what you are trying to say is simple then hand gestures can help you communicate.

Slang - Speaking slang might confuse the listener if they don't know what you are talking about. Slang might also differ depending where you live. Not everyone understands slang so it is better to just speak Standard English so everyone can understand what you are speaking about.

Lacks of interest - If you are not interested in what people say and they speak for a while, you tend to ignore them after a while because you lose focus. As the listener to avoid conflict act like you are interested. It is important to keep contact to person you are communicating say is a colleague at your workplace. If you are the speaker and you realise your boring the other person, either change the subject or you can just not speak about it any further.

Blindness – Communicating with a blind person might be hard for example, trying to explain what something looks like is very hard to make a blind person understand for example trying to explain colour.

Distance - Trying to speak to someone who is far away results you to shout across to make the listener understand which can be unclear. To communicate you can either get closer to the person you are talking to or you can text or phone the person.

Cultural/religious differences – this can be a barrier because some cultures/religions do not allow male and female to speak to each other without the presence of another male family member/friend. This can be a barrier because you cannot speak freely because someone is constantly there listening in and you cannot talk about personal things easily. Sometimes there is no solution to this unless for example the female member or the culture/religion that has this barrier wants to speak to you. You can always call/text her but it is important to understand that it could ruin her relationship with her family/friends so keeping it private is probably a good idea.

Gender - This can be a barrier because most men and women are different on the way they communicate. Men tend to speak to people about his emphasise on power, status and independence whereas women tends to try to speak to someone to get close and intimate/have some connection. Women tend to say men do not listen, but men tend to say that women complain on a lot. Men boast more about their achievements or accomplishments (for example high score in games when you’re young, promotion at your workplace when you get older). So gender can be a barrier because they can behave in different ways, you avoid this barrier it is good to understand this and work around it and communicate how you feel/what you think.

Peripheral devices

Peripheral devices

Peripheral devices are all connected to the outside of the system box, examples of the system box are;

Mouse

Keyboard

ESATA

Printers

MIDI keyboard

Games controllers

Types of peripheral connections

USB

Firewire
Ethernet

VGA

HDMI

Audio jack

Microphone jack

IEEE

PS/2

Serial

Hardware considerations

Hardware considerations

1. Processor(CPU) - The CPU is compared to the brain in the human body. CPU stands for central processing unit. It is the most important hardware in the PC. The CPU is directly inserted in the Motherboard.

The speed of the processor is measured in GHz. The faster the processor, the quicker it can preform the tasks. The processor can also be overclocked (operate faster than the manufacturer had intended it to be). It increases in speed, power usage and also heat.

The number of cores also affects the speed. For example dual core means 2 processors in one so the tasks can be split into both cores. So you can run a program on core 0 and another program in core 1. They cannot slow each other down.

Typical components of the CPU are;
Arithmetic logic unit - Preforms arithmetic and logical operations
A control unit - Extracts instructions from memory and decodes and executes them.

Another feature a CPU has is a cache it is like RAM but can be accessed much quicker. It is directly accessible to the CPU. It looks ahead at most used data and copies it so when you need it can be used quicker because it is stored.




 2. RAM (Random access memory) - Used to store temporary instructions and data. It loses its data when the power is turned off. It can be compared to short term memory. Stores applications and information while your computer is turned on.

It is like a work space on a desk. The bigger (GB's) the more space you have to work with. The more RAM you have the more programs you can open without slowing the pc down.

Two most common types of RAM
Static is faster because it does not need to be refreshed and its cycle time is shorter because it does not need to pause.
Dynamic is cheaper and slower and used more often in PC's. It refreshes several thousands times per second.

There is DDR, DDR2 and DDR3 RAM. Around 2000 DDR was introduced. It replaced SD-RAM which was twice as slow as DDR. DDR was better than SD-RAM also because it used less energy. As technology progressed DDR2 was introduced around 2003. Just like the DDR it has become twice as fast as the DDR and also again uses less energy than the previous, the same with DDR3. RAM improved throughout the years to be faster and more efficient with power.



3. Motherboard - The motherboard is the foundation of the computer. Many of the important components in the PC is connected to it. For example it allows the RAM,CPU and graphics card function and communicate well together.

Compatability is important in choosing a motherboard or the components will not work. Choosing which CPU is important to choosing your motherboard. If you buy an Intel CPU it cannot work on an AMD compatible motherboard.






4. Hard drive disk (HDD) - Where everything is stored/saved. It saves all data even when turned off. Most important thing on picking a HDD is the size. More space the better. Some HDD are faster than other. Typical laptop drives today spin at either 5400 RPM (Revolutions per Minute) or 7200RPM.

Also there are Solid state drives (SSD). These drives are faster than HDD because it has no spinning parts like in a HDD. It stores everything in microchips and relies on the embedded processor similar to the CPU it is like a brain for the SSD. SSD's are alot more expensive and does not have the size that HDD can bring. SSD's are 30% quicker at opening files, less power consumption and produces little/no heat. SSD's are also safe from the affects of magnetism. It does not erase data like it does on a HDD.

There are two types of ports on a HDD, one is called the IDE which is slower than the other type called SATA (Serial advanced technology attachment). IDE is older was created 1986 and is slower than the newer port SATA. IDE has data transfers at the rate of up to 133Mb/sec, while SATA has data transfers at the rate of 150Mb/sec to 6Gbits/sec. SATA cables are smaller than IDE which is useful because it will look less messy, easier to organise and airflow is better because the cables don't block as much space than an IDE cable would do.

5. Graphics card - Using the monitor there are millions of pixels. The graphics card has to know what to do with each individual pixel. The GPU (graphics processing unit) works with the software sends information about the image to the graphics card. The graphics card then chooses how to show this image with the pixels on the screen. It sends this information to the monitor usually by VGA or HDMI.
The GPU is very similar to the CPU but it performs the complex mathematical and geometric calculations crucial for graphics rendering. Similar to the CPU it creates a lot of heat and is usually under a heat sink or fan. Newer graphics cards tend to have a fan built within it like the picture above. To disperse the heat away and keeps the graphics card cool. The cooler it is the better it preforms like the CPU. Companies like ATI and Nvidea have features like;

Full scene anti aliasing which smooths the edges of 3-D objects

The graphics card has its own RAM. It stores data for the graphics processor so it can be sent to your screen. The bigger the resolution the higher the detail the more memory required.

Anisotropic filtering  which makes images look crisper

The graphics card has its own RAM. It stores data for the graphics processor so it can be sent to your screen. The bigger the resolution the higher the detail the more memory required.
                                                                                                      





6. Power supply

The power supply changes the current of the socket from AC (alternating current) to DC (direct current). Without changing the AC to DC your components inside your PC would melt/burn. It is also important that you have the right power supply because if you have hardware that require a lot of watts, you need a power supply that gives enough energy for your components.










 7. BIOS

The BIOS is the first thing that opens when you start a computer. It first checks if all the hardware is in place, this is called Power On Self Test (POST). Once it checks everything is running well and nothing is missing it follows the first step which most of the time is opening the operating system from the hard drive. You can change this by going  into the BIOS setting and you can boot things up from things like a USB stick. You have a boot order of which you can run first, second and third. If the first one isn't working/missing it bots things up from the second. for example the hard drive doesn't work so the 2nd boot order is the DVD/CD drive. You can boot up the DVD/CD for example a windows 7 CD.
You can also change how some of your hardware works in the BIOS you can do things like overclocking which speeds up your components higher than the manufacturer intended it to be. It therefore increases in speed, power usage and heat. It is very important that you have good cooling in your PC because there is a risk of frying/burning your hardware.

 

8. System box

The system box holds all the PC components together. It is useful for three things. Protection, safety and air flow. The system box has to be strong and durable because the hardware can be easily broken. Also the system box has to cover the everything because if you touch the hardware there is a chance you can damage it with static electricity. It has to be cover also because it isn't safe for hardware to be exposed when its running because you could get an electric shock. It is also important that the system box is made of a material that isn't conductive to avoid getting electrocuted. Airflow is very important when picking a system box. Without good airflow the heat has nowhere to escape or no new cool air can enter the box which will result in burning/melting parts.