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Lecture 18: Reflect and Research Intro to IT COSC1078 Introduction to Information Technology Lecture 18 Reflect and Research James Harland [email protected]
Lecture 18: Reflect and Research Intro to IT
COSC1078 Introduction to Information Technology
Lecture 18
Reflect and ResearchJames Harland
Lecture 18: Reflect and Research Intro to IT
Introduction
James Harland• Email: [email protected]• URL: www.cs.rmit.edu.au/~jah• Phone: 9925 2045• Office: 14.10.1 • Consultation: Mon 4.30-5.30, • Thu 11.30-12.30What colour is my office
door? Carpet? Chair?
Lecture 18: Reflect and Research Intro to IT
Introduction to IT1 Introduction 2 Images3 Audio4 Video WebLearnTest 1 5 Binary Representation Assignment 16 Data Storage7 Machine Processing8 Operating Systems WebLearn Test 29 Processes Assignment 210 Internet11 Internet Security WebLearn Test 312 Future of IT Assignment 3, Peer and Self Assessment
Lecture 16: Processes Intro to IT
Overview Questions?
Assignment 2
Assignment 3
Reflect and Research
Questions?
Lecture 18: Reflect and Research Intro to IT
Reflection Questions
1. What are the boundaries of IT? Under what circumstances would you say that a given issue is not about IT? How would you write down one sentence that describes your understanding ofwhat IT is?
2. How could you ever trust a photograph, given that these can be easily edited nowadays? Should photographs be banned as evidence in a court? Or is there a certification process that could ensure no tampering has taken place?
Lecture 18: Reflect and Research Intro to IT
Reflection Questions
3. “It used to be that photographs were put into old boxes and never organised into photo albums. Now photographs are put onto hard discs and never organised into slideshows. Nothing has changed, only the technology we use to waste our time and resources."
Do you agree with this statement? How might there be a technological solution to this problem? (Hint: what is your screensaver?).
Lecture 18: Reflect and Research Intro to IT
Reflection Questions
4. It was once common to purchase CDs and other physical storage media to obtain recorded music. What are the advantages and disadvantages of purely electronic distribution? How might the disadvantages be overcome?
5. The comic book hero `The Phantom' is sometimes referred to as “moving faster that the eye can see". Isn't this exactly what computers do now to display videos?
Lecture 18: Reflect and Research Intro to IT
Reflection Questions
6. It has been said that computers could run more efficiently if they were based on hexadecimal numbers, rather than binary ones. Why would this be? What would be necessary to make this idea work?7. Compression is only possible when there is redundant information stored. Why does this happen?8. Why is computer programming considered very error prone? Is all that detail strictly necessary?
Lecture 18: Reflect and Research Intro to IT
Reflection Questions9. Why isn't there just one operating system? Why
aren't there dozens of them? How come there are really only three?
10. Sometimes users want to do things that aren't good for them. How far should an operating system go to try to protect a user from themselves?
11. “The Internet has been the most fundamental change during my lifetime and for hundreds of years." -- Rupert Murdoch. Do you agree or disagree with this statement?
Lecture 18: Reflect and Research Intro to IT
Reflection Questions12. Information technology is constantly evolving,
and it is likely that some of the things that you have learnt will be obsolete by the time that you graduate. How will you be able to recognise these? Can you identify some likely possibilities now?
Lecture 18: Reflect and Research Intro to IT
Research
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Why do we need Intelligent Systems?New York Stock Exchange 33% of shares (by volume) traded by machines40% of shares (by value) traded by machinesNeeds fast response time
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Why do we need Intelligent Systems?
“The Robots are coming! The Robots are coming!”
Mars RoverHome systems – vacuum, lawn mower, gutter cleaner
Military systems --- mine clearance, sensing, weapons control, autonomous vehicles, …
Sensor networks Exoskeletons and artificial limbsRescue robotsFish, birds, dogs, insects, …
Robots
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What is Intelligence?
talk “Hello! How are you today. Could I please have a coffee?”hear Interpret “er… so.. um… as I was saying, what? No! Coffee please!”read Interpret “Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.”think “Low on fuel, it’s getting dark, no clue where I am … Hmmmm….”act Pick things up, move them, walk, build things, …see Distinguish moving objects from static ones, colours, textures, … adapt This isn’t working, so let’s try something else … paint Make judgements about what is pleasing and what is not
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Quantum ComputingHow do we make computers faster?Use quantum mechanics!Use qubits rather than bits
Superposition means that we can ‘store’ all 2n values of n bits at once!
This can be used to perform search in parallel ‘for free’
Type Bit QubitValues 0,1 0,1,both
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Information SecurityHow do we keep information secure?
Lecture 16: Processes Intro to IT
Conclusion
Work on Assignment 2 (and 3?)
Web Quizzes and Web Test 3
Finish reading book!
