Fluency with Information Technology Katherine Deibel INFO100 and CSE100 Katherine Deibel Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology1

 If you do the work, you can expect the following grades (from winter 2012)  Average: 3.44  Median:3.60  St. Dev.: Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology2

 Computers are provided but feel free to bring your own laptop  Most of the software used in this course is free and available for PCs and Macs Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology3

 Introduction to several computing services available here at UW  Setting up your account for this class Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology4

 Lab 1 is due on Monday by 10pm  Turn in is the submission of the WebQ quiz  In general  Labs assigned on Monday/Tuesday are due by 10pm on Thursday  Labs assigned on Wednesday/Thursday are due by 10pm on Monday Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology5

 You can turn in most work up to two days late  20% penalty for being 1-day late  50% penalty for being 2-days late  Applies to projects and labs  Does not apply to GoPosts and other assignments unless otherwise stated Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology6

Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology7

 When you activate your web storage, you might not see the disk usage listed right away  Why? Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology8

 Consider a wastebasket  We hire a person to check on it and empty it when it is full  How often do we have that person check its status? Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology9

 Option 1: The employee stands by the basket constantly watching it  Option 2: The employee periodically checks the basket Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology10 How often should they check? When should they check?

 How many wastebaskets are there? Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology11

 UW hosts 1000s of web accounts  Each account’s usage changes infrequently  Monitoring the usage constantly would be a waste of resources Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology12 This is an example of what it means to be operationally attuned.

 Think about how devices operate  Observe what they tell us—feedback  Progress bars, spinning cursors, etc.  So, if you think you’re waiting for the computer but there is no feedback, it’s waiting for you One of the most effective habits new users can adopt is to be operationally attuned Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology13

 Icons tell us a lot about software functionality  What do you think click on these icons would do? Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology14

 Things can go wrong  You may need to seek out help  To do so requires knowing the right terminology Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology15

 Learning le mot juste, the right word for something, aids us in two ways:  Helps learning... our brains anchor concepts to words & phrases  Helps us get help... asking “tech support” for help requires us to describe the problem precisely mot juste /MO zoost/ (Fr.) most appropriate word, expression Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology16

 I’ve had a few CRT monitors go bad  One started only showing red  One started only showing yellow  What do you think happened?  Turn to your neighbors and hypothesize some explanations? Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology17

 I’ve had a few CRT monitors go bad  One started only showing red  One started only showing yellow  What happened:  The green/blue components died  The blue component died Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology18

 We learned this as kids  Primary colors: Red Yellow Blue  Secondary colors: Orange Purple Green  That’s for mixing pigments, not light  Primary colors: Red Green Blue  Secondary colors: Cyan Magenta Yellow Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology19

Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology20

 Sound familiar? Think printing.  Color printers are CMYK printers  They use four types of ink  Cyan  Magenta  Yellow  blacK (actually Key) Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology21

 Technically, CMYK printing is mixing pigments, not light  Cyan + Magenta = Blue  Magenta + Yellow = Red  Cyan + Yellow = Green  C + M + Y = Black(ish) Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology22

 Where can you find IT definitions?  Glossary in the back of the book  Google query: define  Online flash cards  Wikipedia Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology23

 Hardware refers to physical devices  Software refers to programs  The main difference is:  Hardware cannot be changed  Software can be modified  The same hardware (computer) runs different software (applications) Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology24

 Separating the two is tricky  A mouse is actually both  Hardware: the mouse itself  Software: the mouse drivers Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology25

 Hardware & software make up a computer  How the computer performs also needs to be described  Memory  Speed  Storage space  And you need to compare different performance levels! Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology26

 How fast to run a mile?  First four minute mile was in 1954: Roger Bannister (3:59.40)  Current record was set in 1999: Hakim El Guerrouj (3:43.13)  Their speeds:  Bannister’s rate = mph  El Guerrouj’s rate = mph  45 years to get 7% faster! Still holds the record today! Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology27

 How fast can you run a mile?  Healthy people in their twenties run a mile in 7:30 (≈8 mph)  El Guerrouj is twice as fast as us  He is about a factor-of-2 faster than normal people A factor-of-2 is a good rule for human strength Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology28

 How fast do computers run?  Univac I ran 100,000 adds/sec in 1954  ASCI Red ran 2.1×10 11 adds in 1999 ▪ A factor-of-21 Million improvement ▪ This was a teraflop machine. We have since built petaflop machines (1000x faster) Can we comprehend such speeds or factors of improvement? Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology29

 A factor of improvement is different than a percent improvement …  factor = new_rate/old_rate  percent = 100 x (new_rate-old_rate)/old_rate  Expressing an improvement by its factor is easier, especially for large changes  El Guerrouj’s 7% improvement over Bannister is a 1.07 factor of improvement Indy 500:1911 Harroun74.59 mph 2002 Castroneves166.5 mph Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology30

 One reason to notice the factors of improvement is to recognize scale  The time for the mile run has improved  Maximum adds per second has improved  But the difference in scale is dramatic  A factor-of-1.07 for the mile run  A factor-of-21,000,000 for additions Getting information is easy with IT, but we need analysis to understand its significance Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology31

 Fluency involves  Knowing the correct vocabulary and concepts  Paying attention to what the computer does  Being able to make comparisons Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology32

 The GoPost board is now up  Let’s visit it: Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology33

 Ten weekly discussions  Goal is to engage in conversations about IT and fluency  Bring in our "barnyard" of diverse viewpoints and backgrounds  Talk in greater detail about what we might not have time for in lecture/labs Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology34

 Topics of discussions can include anything we have been studying  Asking questions about the material  Interesting applications  Your own thoughts  I will add additional topics in each week  Example: Digital natives and immigrants  You are invited to suggest/post other topics Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology35

 Your contributions to the weekly discussion is graded on a 0-12 scale  0 pts: No posts  1 pts:Minimal contributions (+1, this, I agree, etc.)  Up to 6pts: Contributes a decent post but mostly repeats previous posters and does not add to the conversation Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology36

 Your contributions to the weekly discussion is graded on a 0-12 scale  7 pts: Post contributes to discussion: says something somewhat novel or replies to previous comments  8 pts: Post contributes a link or question but does not provide context  10 pts:Significant contributions: asking questions with stated reason; posting links and discussing them; etc Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology37

 Your contributions to the weekly discussion is graded on a 0-12 scale  12 pts: Student makes exceptionally strong contributions to the conversation(s)  Note that serious grammatical errors posting incorrect information, or unclear writing will lose points Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology38

 10 weekly discussions worth up to 12 points each  Total possible points is 120  Your score will be out of 100 points  Ergo, you may earn up to 20 points of extra credit Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology39

 Late postings not accepted  You can post multiple times and is probably a good idea if you want to have a conversation  Summarizing topics is an easy 6 pts, but it is only 6 pts  I will be contributing as well Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology40

 Post Your Biography Activity  Instructions linked on the Calendar page  Due Friday by 10pm Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology41

 Read Chapter 2 for Friday  Lab 1 is due on Monday by 10pm  Submit your GoPost biography by 10pm on Friday  Bring clickers on Friday… we will do a test run and discuss their HCI aspects Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology42