Basic Technology Literacy

Technology Literacy

Hardware, Software, and Peripherals
Hardware refers to physical, tangible technological devices. Hardware includes the computer itself and its core components, such as the power supply and the central processing unit (CPU) that carries out the basic instructions. Additional pieces of hardware that are connected to the main processor are called peripherals. Peripheral input devices, used to get information into the computer, include keyboards, mice, microphones, and tablets. Output devices, used to display or transfer information from the computer, include monitors, printers, and speakers. Another important kind of peripheral is a storage device, used to store data external to the computer itself. Storage devices include disk drives, CD drives, and USB flash drives.

In contrast to hardware, software exists not in tangible form, but as data in computer storage; it consists of the applications and operating systems that run on the computer. Among the many types of software are word processors such as Microsoft Word and WordPerfect; spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel and OpenOffice Calc; web browsers such as Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox; and computer games, from the solitaire games that often come pre-installed on computers to high-end action games with sophisticated 3-D graphics.

Operating Systems
An operating system is the set of software programs that handle the basic functions of the computer system such as file and memory management, interfacing with peripherals, and the execution of other applications. Typically, the operating system is set up to run automatically when the computer starts. The user can then use the functions of the operating system to launch other programs and to switch between applications and transfer data between them as necessary.

The most widely used operating system on personal computers today is Microsoft Windows, which comes pre-installed by many computer manufacturers. Microsoft Windows has gone through many versions, each with a similar basic look and feel but refinements in presentation and functionality; the latest version of Windows for personal computers is Windows 10, released in 2015. Apple computers use a different operating system, macOS, which has likewise gone through many iterations. After Microsoft Windows and macOS, the next most popular operating system is Linux, which unlike Microsoft Windows and macOS is free and open-source, meaning that the source code is freely available to anyone who wants it. Despite their differences, all of these operating systems have enough similarities that someone comfortable with one system generally can adapt to another.

Computer Memory
Memory refers to the part of the core computer hardware that is used to store data that is needed immediately, including executable programs. This is different from storage space on peripherals such as disk drives; this “external memory” is referred to as secondary storage, in contrast with primary storage or “main memory” within the computer itself. Secondary storage has a higher capacity than primary storage, but is much slower to access.

There are two main types of memory. Volatile memory, also known as RAM (an acronym for “Random Access Memory”), can be both read from and written to, but requires a constant flow of power; any data in volatile memory is lost when the computer is shut off. Non-volatile memory, also known as ROM (for “Read Only Memory”), retains information even without power, but cannot be easily written to; it is used to store the main start-up functionality of the operating system.

In general, the more RAM a computer has, the less data it has to store to temporary disk files (“virtual memory”), and the faster it will run. Having too many programs or documents open at once can use a lot of memory and slow down the computer.

Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting refers to systematically determining the cause of a problem with a piece of hardware or software and resolving the issue. When something isn’t working the way it should be, it’s generally a good idea to try the simplest solutions first; sometimes just restarting a program or rebooting the computer is enough to set things right. When it isn’t, other methods are necessary. Going through a process step by step and carefully noting the results at each step can pin down exactly where the problem is occurring, and help narrow down its cause. Most programs have documentation accessible through the Help menu, in text or PDF files in the program directory, or (now rarely) in paper booklets that come with the program; this documentation often includes troubleshooting tips.

If all this fails, help can often be found online. The website of the hardware or software manufacturer often has a troubleshooting guide or a list of common issues and their solutions. A web search, using terms as specific as possible (including the text of any error messages you receive), often turns up helpful information. If all else fails, most manufacturers have technical support departments you can contact for further aid.

Opening and Closing Files
To open a file means to read it from a hard drive or other storage medium; to close a file means to remove it from active memory. (Be sure to save the file first—a file that has not been saved is usually lost for good when it’s closed.) Although programs may implement this functionality different ways, there are two methods that have become standard and are used in most modern applications. First, a file can be saved through the menu at the top of the program. Usually “Open” and “Close” are under the “File” menu; select “File” from the main menu, and then “Open” or “Close” from the dropdown. If opening the file, you may be prompted for the name and location. Second, most programs implement keyboard shortcuts, or hotkeys—sequences of keypresses for common functions such as opening and closing files. To open a file, the usual shortcut is Ctrl-O in Windows (hold down the Ctrl key and then press O), or Command-O in macOS. To close a file, the shortcut is Ctrl-W in Windows, or Command-W in macOS.

Creating a new file is similar: select “New” under the file menu, or use the shortcut Ctrl-N or Command-N.

Methods of Saving Files
To save a file means to store it to a hard drive or other storage medium so that it will not be lost when the computer is shut off and can be read back into memory in the future. A file can usually be saved through the File menu, or through the shortcut Ctrl-S on Windows, or Command-S in macOS. If the file has not been saved before, you will be prompted to choose a filename and save location; otherwise the program will usually use the same filename and location as before.

Most applications also have a “Save As” command, often also under the File menu and often accessible through the shortcut F12 on Windows or Shift-Command-S in macOS. This allows the user to save a copy of the file under a different name or in a different format; if you choose this command you will be prompted for a new filename and location even if the file has been previously saved.

A file set to Read Only cannot be modified or saved over, though it can be opened and saved under a different name. This status is generally set not in the application, but through the operating system.

Copying, Moving, and Renaming Files
Copying, moving, and renaming files are typically done not through an application but through the operating system. Graphical operating systems like Windows and macOS work similarly. To move a file, drag it into its new location—position the mouse cursor over it, click the mouse, and while holding down the mouse button move the cursor into the folder you want to move the file into, then release. Copying a file is similar, but hold down the Ctrl key while dragging it in Windows, or the Option key in macOS. Alternatively, you can select the files and press Ctrl-X or Command-X (for Cut) if you want to move them, or Ctrl-C or Command-C (for Copy) if you want to copy them, then navigate to the new directory and press Ctrl-V/Command-V (for Paste).

To rename a file, you can either select it and then click again on its name (leaving enough of a pause to not register a double-click), or right-click on it and select “Rename” from the pop-up menu. In either case, the filename will be highlighted, and you can type a new name. In macOS, you can also select the file and hit the Return key.

Finding Files and Applications
If you don’t remember where a file is, both Windows and macOS provide ways to locate it. In Explorer (the graphical interface for Windows where your files and folders are shown), there is a search box in the upper right. Typing text into a search box will locate files that contain that text; if you know the name of the file, you can type “name:” followed by the filename. In Finder (the macOS counterpart to Explorer), you can press Command-Space to open Spotlight, the macOS search utility. Type some text in the file, or if you want to search by filename, click the + button to add a search criterion, and select “Name” from the first popup menu that comes up.

To execute an application means to make it start; this is also referred to as running or launching the application. You can execute an application in Explorer or Finder by just double-clicking on it, or by right-clicking it and selecting “Open”. (These same methods also can be used to open documents using default applications.) You can also access many applications through the Start menu (Explorer) or the Go menu (Finder) accessible from an icon at the corner of the screen.

File Types and Extensions
A file extension is a sequence of characters at the end of the filename, following a period, that defines the type of file it is—for example, in the filename “notes.txt”, the file extension is “txt”. File extensions are not necessarily shown by default in the operating system; you can show them in Windows by clicking the “File name extensions” checkbox in the View menu in Explorer, or in macOS by clicking the “Show all filename extensions” checkbox in the Advanced tab in the Preferences menu in Finder.

Following are a few common file extensions:

·         avi, mov, mpg, mp4 – Video files (of various formats)

·         doc, docx – Microsoft Word file

·         gif, jpeg, jpg, png, tiff – Image files (of various formats)

·         htm, html – HTML file (a file describing a webpage and readable by a web browser)

·         mp3, ogg, wav – Sound files (of various formats)

·         pdf – PDF file (viewable in Adobe Acrobat)

·         ppt, pptx – Power Point file

·         rar, zip – A compressed file (files can be compressed to take up less space, but must be uncompressed to be used)

·         rtf – Rich Text format (readable by most word processors)

·         txt – Plain text files

·         xls, xlsx – Microsoft Excel file

Formatting in a Word Processor
To format a document means to change its layout and appearance, such as the size and color of the text and the width of the paragraphs. Word processors have many complex formatting features; those described here are only some of the most commonly used. The techniques described here work in Microsoft Word, the most widely used word processor, but most other word processors work similarly, though not identically.

To change the appearance of text, you can highlight the text and then use the buttons and dropdowns in the Font section of the Home menu to change the text’s size and font (typeface), bold or italicize the text, etc. You can also click the arrow in the corner of this section to bring out a Font menu. Some common keyboard shortcuts are Ctrl-I or Command-I to italicize text and Ctrl-B or Command-B to bold it.

The controls for changing the appearance of paragraphs, including indentation, line spacing, and use of numbered or bulleted lists, are in the Paragraph section of the Home menu; the Paragraph menu can be accessed by clicking the arrow in the corner of this section.

More advanced formatting features include the use of tables, columns, and styles.

Editing and Proofing Documents
To edit a document means to change its text and other content (as opposed to formatting, which is changing its layout and appearance). The techniques described here work in Microsoft Word, the most widely used word processor, but most other word processors work similarly, though not identically.

To insert text in a document, you can just position the cursor where you want it and start typing. You can delete text using the Delete and Backspace keys; you can delete a lot of text at once by selecting it first. To move or copy text to a different part of the document, you can select it and then hit Ctrl/Command-X (Cut, to move it) or Ctrl/Command-C (Copy, to copy it) and then position the cursor in the new location and hit Ctrl/Command-V (Paste). You can search for specific text in the document using “Find” under the Editing section of the Home menu (shortcut Ctrl/Command-F).

Most word processors come with automatic spelling and grammar check functionality; it’s very fallible and not as good as a skilled human proofreader, but better than nothing. To turn this on in Microsoft Word, you can click “Check Document” in the Proofing section of the Review menu.

Using Graphics in a Word Processor
Modern word processors allow the user to insert graphical elements into documents to include pictorial information or increase their visual appeal. The techniques described here work in Microsoft Word, the most widely used word processor, but most other word processors work similarly, though not identically.

To insert an image saved in an external file, go to the Insert menu and click Pictures in the Illustrations section. You will be prompted to select the file you want to insert. Once the image is in your document, you can click and drag it to move it to a different location, or select it and then move the control points at the corners and sides to change its size. Right-clicking on the image brings up a pop-up menu that allows you to change some characteristics of the image such as the border and the way the text wraps around it; these features can also be accessed through the Format menu.

Word also allows you to draw graphical elements directly in the word processor, though its functionality is limited compared to that of dedicated graphics programs. This feature can be accessed through the Shapes or SmartArt selections in the Insert menu.

Using Spreadsheets
A spreadsheet is an application that allows text and data to be stored in rows and columns that can be rearranged and used in calculations. The techniques described here work in Microsoft Excel, the most widely used spreadsheet application, but most other spreadsheet applications work similarly, though not identically.

To sort the data in a spreadsheet, first select the cells you wish to sort. (A cell in a spreadsheet is a single space in the grid, the intersection of a row and a column.) Data outside the selected cells will be left in its original position. Now, select Sort from the Data menu. A popup window will come up that will allow you to select the criteria you’re using for the sort. In the “Sort by” dropdown menu, select the column you want to sort by. If you have labels at the top of the data that should not be sorted, click the “My data has headers” checkbox. In the “Order” dropdown, you can choose whether you want the data to be sorted in ascending or descending order.

You can sort by more than one column; to add an additional column, click the “Add Level” button.

Using Formulas in a Spreadsheet
A formula in a spreadsheet is a cell entry that depends on a calculation. Formulas are what give spreadsheets their power and flexibility, and make them more than just static collections of data. The techniques described here work in Microsoft Excel, but most other spreadsheet applications work similarly, though not identically.

To enter a formula in a cell, click on the cell and type the formula, preceded by an equal sign. Most formulas have arguments, lists of values or references that the formula should use, which are enclosed in parentheses and separated by commas. Many arguments comprise ranges of cells, which can be entered by writing the first and last cell separated by a colon. For example, “=SUM(A1:A5)” sums the values of the cells from A1 to A5. Ranges can also be chosen by selecting the desired cells.

Listed below are a few common formulas:

·         AVERAGE – Takes the average of the arguments

·         COUNT – Counts cells in the range that have a nonzero numerical value

·         COUNTA – Counts cells in the range that are not blank

·         COUNTIF – Counts cells in the range that meet some condition

·         IF – Yields different results depending on some criterion

·         PRODUCT – Multiplies the arguments

·         SUM – Sums the arguments

Displaying Information
It’s often useful to display the information in a spreadsheet in a chart or graph. Most spreadsheet programs can produce various kinds of charts, including bar graphs, line graphs, histograms, pie charts, and more. The techniques described here work in Microsoft Excel, but most other spreadsheet applications work similarly, though not identically.

To create a chart, first select the data that you want to include. Go to the Insert menu, and select the desired type of chart from the Charts section. A chart will automatically be created that includes the desired data. This chart will use default settings, and may not look exactly how you want it to, but it can be changed and customized. Many options for customizing the chart are available in the Design and Format menus; individual parts of the chart can also be altered by right-clicking on the element in question and making a selection from the pop-up menu that comes up, or by clicking on the element and editing it or making a selection on the pane that comes up on the right.

Internet Terminology
The listed words have the following definitions:

·         Browser – A program used to access the internet

·         Cloud – A location, or collection of locations, where files are stored online but made accessible to local computers

·         Cookie – A piece of information stored on a local computer to allow a website to “remember” information about the user (such as whether the user is logged in)

·         Domain – A specific “region” on the internet, defining a particular site or group of sites, such as “fatskills.com”. Domain names always end with a top-level domain, some of the most common of which are “.com”, “.gov”, “.edu”, and “.org”

·         Download – To copy a file from the internet to a local computer

·         Forum – Also known as a message board, a place online where users can post comments and read the posts by other users

·         FTP – An acronym for “File Transfer Protocol”, a procedure for uploading and downloading files

·         Home page – The “front page” or “landing page” of a website, the first page that most users see when they visit it

·         IP address – A code corresponding to a particular “location” on the internet. An IP address consists of four numbers separated by periods, such as 64.233.191.0.

·         Registrar – A company that keeps track of domains and their ownership

·         Search engine – A website designed to allow users to search the web for other sites. The most popular search engine is Google; others include Bing and Yahoo Search.

·         Upload – To copy a file from a local computer to the internet

·         Username – The nickname by which a user is identified on a particular website

·         URL – The “address” of a webpage or online resource, such as “https://www.fatskills.com/index.htm”. A URL begins with a domain name.

·         Webhost, or just host – The company that owns and administers the physical computer where the data on a website is stored

·         Website, or just site – A linked collection of webpages under the same domain

·         Wiki – A collaborative site like Wikipedia that allows users to create and edit pages and link them to each other using special markup codes

Components of Programming
Source code is the human-readable language in which a computer program is written. Many programs are then translated into object code, machine-readable code much less accessible to humans; this process is known as compiling the code, and the programs that perform the process are called compilers. In other cases, the source code is not compiled, but is executed directly, or interpreted, by a program called an interpreter.

Even if you never do any programming yourself, it’s useful to recognize the names and uses of some programming languages. Some common compiled languages are:

·         C – A “low-level” language (that is, one that is fairly close in format to the ultimate machine code) on which many more modern languages are based

·         C++ – An offshoot of C with features to make it more user-friendly and efficient

·         Java – A language often used for web applications, though now waning in popularity

Some common interpreted languages are:

·         JavaScript – A language used on many web pages to provide interactivity

·         PHP – A language often used as the “back end” of websites; most modern websites that do any sort of database manipulation or user account control are written in PHP

·         Python – A relatively new but increasingly popular general-purpose language

Password Security
The purpose of a password is to secure an account so that people other than the user cannot illegitimately access it. As such, it’s important that the password be one that is difficult to guess, or to find by any procedural technique. The most common—and therefore worst—passwords include “123456”, “Password”, “qwerty”, and “111111”. While these are particularly poor choices, that doesn’t mean that passwords not on this list are secure.

Dictionary words, even relatively obscure words, make very poor passwords; it’s trivial to write a login script that tries every word in the dictionary. Adding a few numbers on the end, or changing one or two letters into similar symbols, is of little help, since it’s not hard to procedurally account for these variations—“g!raffe12” isn’t much better a password than just “giraffe”. The most secure passwords combine letters, numbers, and symbols in ways that bear no obvious relation to dictionary words, names, or other easily guessable sequences.

It’s also a good practice to use different passwords for different sites, so someone who discovers one password won’t be able to get into all your accounts. Programs called password managers can help you keep track of multiple passwords securely.

Information Ownership and Licensure
Many people have the misconception that anything freely available online must be freely available to copy and reuse, that because something is posted online it must be in the public domain. That isn’t the case; copyrights apply to online material just the same as they do to printed matter. Just as the fact that you can freely borrow a book from the library doesn’t mean it’s legal to duplicate it and sell copies, you can’t necessarily legally reuse and resell any text or images you find online either.

Some online resources are released under licenses that allow other people to reuse their content, under certain conditions. For example, Wikipedia’s content is released under a “Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike” license, which means that anyone is free to copy and redistribute it, provided that credit is given to Wikipedia, and that any modified versions are released under the same license. Other sites, however, do not necessarily have such licensing, and may not permit any reuse or republication of their content. If there’s any doubt about the copyright status of a particular image or piece of text, you can contact the site owner and ask for permission to use it.

Viruses, Malware, and Phishing
A virus is an unwanted computer program that produces copies of itself and damages other files. Malware is a more general term that includes not only viruses, but also other kinds of undesirable software, such as adware that shows unwanted advertisements. Malware is a common hazard of the internet, but there are ways to minimize the danger.

One important precaution is to have an antivirus program installed, and run frequent virus scans. Windows comes with an antivirus program, but there are others commercially available. Even if you’re using an anti-virus program, however, there are certain high-risk activities that should be avoided. Don’t open unfamiliar files you receive by e-mail, or execute applications downloaded from sites you don’t know to be trustworthy.

Phishing refers to tricking users into revealing account and password information. For instance, you could receive an e-mail warning about an issue with a bank account, and be prompted to enter your banking information on a linked page—but the page isn’t really associated with the bank at all. Check URLs carefully before entering sensitive information, and if there’s any doubt contact the company directly to make sure that such a message is legitimate.

Internet Privacy
Internet privacy refers to the protection of personal information on the internet, including not only sensitive financial information but also demographic information and more. In the modern internet, many websites are constantly collecting data about their users, which they may not only use for their own purposes but also sell to advertisers who can use the information to better target their ads. The search engine Google, for example, keeps records of users’ searches, and uses those records to infer the users’ interests and other characteristics.

There are ways to minimize this data collection—using a feature called private browsing, disabling cookies in the browser—but they also limit the functionality of websites, and many users, if they’re aware that their information is being collected, accept that as the cost of browsing the web and don’t worry much about it. The extent to which you want to prevent the collection of your personal data is up to you.

However, even if you’re not bothered by corporations collecting your data, having too much personal information readily available to the public may be another matter. It’s rarely a good idea, for instance, to have your home address on the internet where anyone can see it.

Navigating the Internet
Along with e-mail, the web is one of the primary ways by which users interact with the internet. The most widely used browser is Google Chrome; other popular browsers include Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer (which comes preinstalled on Windows systems), and Safari (which comes preinstalled on macOS systems). Though they have their differences, all these browsers have the same basic functionality.

One important feature of the browser is the address bar—a space in the top center where you can type in the URL of a webpage to go to directly. Once you’re at a specific webpage, you can click on certain text or images called links on that site to go to other connected pages. Text links usually look different from the surrounding text—by default they are blue and underlined, but individual sites can display them differently.

Two other important navigation features are the back button and the refresh button, both in the upper left of the browser. The back button (keyboard shortcut Alt-Backspace in Windows, Command-[ in macOS) returns to the previous page. The refresh button (Ctrl-R or F5 in Windows, Command-R in macOS) reloads the current page, useful for pages that may change over time.

Bookmarks
Bookmarks are a feature of most web browsers that allow the user to store the URLs of frequently visited pages to avoid the need to remember the URL or type it in each time the user wants to visit the page. Various browsers may implement bookmarks in slightly different ways, but in Google Chrome you can bookmark a page by opening the browser menu (by clicking on the three dots image_021_069.png in the upper right) and selecting Bookmarks, then Bookmark this page, or you can use the shortcut Ctrl-D in Windows, Command-D in macOS. You can also bookmark a page by clicking the star at the right end of the address bar.

To open a bookmarked page, you can click on it in the Bookmarks bar under the address bar. If the Bookmarks bar isn’t showing, you can show it by opening the browser menu and selecting Bookmarks, then Show bookmarks bar. You can also access your bookmarks by opening the browser menu and selecting Bookmarks, then Bookmarks Manager.

If you no longer want a page bookmarked, you can delete a bookmark through the Bookmarks manager, or by navigating to the page, clicking on the star in the address bar, and selecting “Remove”.

Using Tabs
Tabs are a feature of most web browsers that allow the user to have more than one webpage open at once, and to navigate quickly between open pages. The “tabs” are small trapezoidal or rectangular projections above the currently visible page that each includes the title of the page the tab corresponds to (if there’s room—the more pages you have open the smaller the tabs are). It’s also common, however, to refer to the other pages themselves as “tabs”. The instructions here work for Google Chrome; tabs may be implemented slightly differently in other browsers.

To navigate to a different open page, just click on the corresponding tab. You can also go to the next tab using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-PgDn on a PC or Command-Option-Right Arrow on a macOS, or the previous tab with Ctrl-PgUp/Command-Option-Left Arrow.

You can open a new tab by selecting “New tab” from the browser menu, or using the shortcut Ctrl-T/Command-T. You can also open a linked page in a new tab by holding down Ctrl/Command when clicking on the link. To close an open page, click the X in the corresponding tab, or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-W/Command-W.

Using a Search Engine
The simplest way to look for information on the internet is by using a search engine—a website such as Google or Bing designed to allow users to search the web. Type the text you want to search for into the text field and click the search button, and the search engine will list pages including your text.

Be as specific as possible; if you want information on jaguars, the animal, you can include “animal” or “cat” in your search to exclude pages about the car model. In many engines, you can also include “-car” to exclude pages about cars; the minus sign means to return pages not including the term in question. You can search for an entire phrase by enclosing it in quotation marks.

Once you’ve found one webpage or website relevant to the information you’re trying to find, you can often from there find more relevant pages by following appropriate links. There are also reference websites that include information on large numbers of topics; Wikipedia is the best known. These sites can be useful jumping-off points, but should not be relied on as sole sources of information.

Reliable Sources and the Internet
The internet is full of information, but not all of it is true. It’s important to know how to evaluate information you found online and judge its reliability.

The fact that a claim is repeated on a lot of websites does not mean that it’s reliable, since sites often copy from each other, especially from reference sites like Wikipedia. Since anyone can edit Wikipedia, errors and misinformation can creep in; these errors may be corrected on Wikipedia itself, but often not before they’ve spread around the web.

One important factor is the trustworthiness of the source. Information from an academic site or that of a major, respected agency or organization is more likely to be true than information from a social media site or a random blog.

If in doubt, it’s also useful to check the sources—does the page state where its information came from? If it cites actual published books and papers, that may give more confidence in its reliability—though if you still have doubt, it may be useful to check those sources yourself; writers can cite sources that don’t support their claims, either to be willfully deceitful or because they misunderstood the sources themselves.

Presentation Software
Presentation software is software used to present information in meetings and classes in business, organizational, and academic settings. The most popular presentation application is Microsoft PowerPoint; others include Google Slides (freely available online), Prezi, and Keynote (available for the Mac).

While they have differences, most of these applications have some standard features. For the most part, they work by allowing the user to create separate “slides”; for the full presentation, the slides are shown in sequence. Individual slides may be given animation and interactivity. Most applications include pre-made templates so that users don’t have to design the layout and graphics of the slides themselves, though advanced users can customize the layouts.

Creating a presentation is a matter of adding and editing slides. In PowerPoint, a new slide is added by clicking “New Slide” in the Home menu and selecting the type of slide you want, or by right-clicking in the pane on the left showing the slides and selecting “New Slide”. The text on a slide can be edited by clicking in the text field you want to edit and typing. Images and charts can be added using the Insert menu. Slides can also be deleted and rearranged.

Presentation Hardware
You can give a presentation to a small group of people using just your computer, or even your phone, but for a large group it’s impractical to have them all crowd around your screen. It’s useful to have a way to project the presentation onto a wall or large screen so that everyone can see it.

Formerly, presentations were done using overhead projectors or slide projectors that could project printed slides or transparencies. Now, presentations are usually done on the computer, so the computer must be connected to some presentation hardware that can project the information from the computer screen to a larger display. There are digital projectors that can do this, descendants of the old-fashioned overhead projector that work with computer displays instead of printed transparencies. These often come with remote controls so that the presenter doesn’t have to stay by the computer to give the presentation. Computers can also be connected directly to large televisions or other displays. One increasingly popular piece of presentation hardware, especially in academic settings, is the interactive digital whiteboard, or smartboard. Smartboards work much like other digital displays, but have additional functionality to allow the user to draw on the screen.

Email
It’s possible to receive and send e-mail either directly in the web browser (the URL depending on your e-mail provider), or using an external e-mail application such as Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird. In either case, by default, the webpage or application presents you with a list of recent messages in descending chronological order, usually showing the name of the sender, the subject, and the beginning of the message. You can click on the message to read the whole thing. You can see older messages by clicking on an arrow button. You can also search for specific messages; most e-mail sites and applications provide means of searching for message text or searching by date, sender, or other criteria.

To send a message, you can click on a button for that purpose (in Gmail it’s an oval button in the top left that says “Compose”); most mail applications also have a menu option for that purpose. Type the e-mail address of the person you want to send it to (you can include multiple recipients), the subject, and the message text. You can also reply to an open message by clicking a Reply button or using a menu option.

Blogging
A blog, short for “web log”, is a website where one or more people post short essays about their activities, current events, or other subjects. On the front page of the blog, the most recent posts are usually shown in descending chronological order; older posts are typically accessible through an archive or through links in a sidebar. Many blogs allow readers to post comments on blog entries. The people who maintain a blog and write the posts are called bloggers.

Many blogs are just chronicles of the life of the blogger, and may be of little interest to anyone outside the blogger’s family and acquaintances. Other blogs are meant purely for entertainment, created to bring in views and get the bloggers money from advertisements. There are some blogs, however, that cover technical and scientific subjects and that are written by working and knowledgeable professionals and academics; these blogs can be good and reliable resources, and include much useful information.

While it’s possible for a programmer to create a blog site from scratch, software and websites exist that allow people to create blogs with little or no technical skill. Some of the most popular blogging platforms include WordPress, Blogger, and Tumblr.

Tools for Collaboration
A collaboration application is an application designed to allow multiple users to work together on documents or other tasks, while not having to be physically near each other. Collaboration software collectively is sometimes called groupware. The implementation details vary widely by application, but there are certain features that define collaboration applications. Collaboration software allows multiple users to remotely edit the same documents, either incorporating all their edits in real-time or maintaining different versions that include each users’ edits. Users are often able to comment on each other’s edits, and roll back to previous versions of documents. Collaboration applications also typically include messaging systems that allow users to communicate with each other. They may also include management tools to allow users to better organize their shared documents and make plans for their collaboration.

Some popular collaboration applications include Slack, Asana, and Microsoft SharePoint. There are many other software packages and applications that facilitate collaboration and have many of the same features as collaboration software but are not necessarily formally considered groupware. This is true of the Google online productivity applications (Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides), and of wiki software like MediaWiki, the framework behind Wikipedia and other similar sites.