Before you can process data you need to get the data into the computer. There are various devices for this purpose. Input devices are examples of hardware e.g. scanners and microphones. Some input devices like a keyboard or touch screen are manual but others, such as sensors, are automatic. A keyboard in some form is a common input device since most data that needs to be entered are letters, symbols and numbers. Anyone who has used a desktop computer will also be familiar with the mouse. Early mice for computers looked very different to how they do today. They were not designed with... Show more Before you can process data you need to get the data into the computer. There are various devices for this purpose. Input devices are examples of hardware e.g. scanners and microphones. Some input devices like a keyboard or touch screen are manual but others, such as sensors, are automatic. A keyboard in some form is a common input device since most data that needs to be entered are letters, symbols and numbers. Anyone who has used a desktop computer will also be familiar with the mouse. Early mice for computers looked very different to how they do today. They were not designed with ergonomics (ease and comfort of use) in mind. The mouse only really became common in the mid 1980s and may become out of date, replaced by touchscreens. The development of the mouse made using a computer easier, instead of needing to use a joystick or keys on the keyboard, just moving the mouse around and clicking had the same effect. Drawing images on a computer has been made a lot easier with the development of a graphics pad (tablet). This uses a stylus which is just like an artist using a pen, pencil or brush on paper. In the world of ICT, inputting data to a computer is a crucial starting point and there are many ways to go about it. If you want to input an image, a digital camera would be regarded as being the input device. This needs connecting to the computer and the image files can then be transferred manually to the computer. Voice recognition has been around for many years and as the the software gets better, it is being used more and more. The input device for voice activated commands or for dictating to word processing software needs to detect sound waves - a microphone! The above examples are all manual input devices - there are a number of automatic devices too. One way of automating input is to present it in the form of magnetised ink or on a strip of magnetic tape. Some early computers required reels of magnetic tape or small magnetic discs to hold and transfer information. The technology is still used on plastic cards. All that you need to do is to place the magnetised strip (or magnetised ink characters) next to the appropriate reader and it is automatically entered into the computer. Show less
Before you can process data you need to get the data into the computer. There are various devices for this purpose. Input devices are examples of hardware e.g. scanners and microphones. Some input devices like a keyboard or touch screen are manual but others, such as sensors, are automatic. A keyboard in some form is a common input device since most data that needs to be entered are letters, symbols and numbers. Anyone who has used a desktop computer will also be familiar with the mouse.
Early mice for computers looked very different to how they do today. They were not designed with ergonomics (ease and comfort of use) in mind. The mouse only really became common in the mid 1980s and may become out of date, replaced by touchscreens. The development of the mouse made using a computer easier, instead of needing to use a joystick or keys on the keyboard, just moving the mouse around and clicking had the same effect. Drawing images on a computer has been made a lot easier with the development of a graphics pad (tablet). This uses a stylus which is just like an artist using a pen, pencil or brush on paper.
In the world of ICT, inputting data to a computer is a crucial starting point and there are many ways to go about it. If you want to input an image, a digital camera would be regarded as being the input device. This needs connecting to the computer and the image files can then be transferred manually to the computer. Voice recognition has been around for many years and as the the software gets better, it is being used more and more. The input device for voice activated commands or for dictating to word processing software needs to detect sound waves - a microphone!
The above examples are all manual input devices - there are a number of automatic devices too. One way of automating input is to present it in the form of magnetised ink or on a strip of magnetic tape. Some early computers required reels of magnetic tape or small magnetic discs to hold and transfer information. The technology is still used on plastic cards. All that you need to do is to place the magnetised strip (or magnetised ink characters) next to the appropriate reader and it is automatically entered into the computer.
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