SQA Unit DW7J 11 Social Software Unit Content Russell Taylor Lecturer in Computing & Business Studies

Unit Content In this Unit, you will learn: What Social Software is and the various types available Locate and review Social Software of various types How to describe the development of social software and how the various types developed Use Social Software to perform specific social tasks

Unit Content Practical and “Hands-on” Backed up by Theory Students will learn to an Intermediate level Unit Assessment is conducted in two ways: By Multiple Choice Questions (Assessment Outcome 1) Creating a written description of types of Social Software (Assessment Outcome 2) Conducting a series of practical tasks and by the creation of a portfolio (Ongoing and Assessment Outcome 3)

SQA Unit DW7J 11 Social Software Historical Context and Russell Taylor Lecturer in Computing & Business Studies

Historical Context Gaming company Atari created the first computer game in 1970 called “Pong” (after Ping Pong)! This was renamed Paddle Battle after the Japanese developers discovered the use of this word in English! ‘Pong Tournaments’ developed in people’s homes or in bars where these gaming machines were popular. The game was based on Tennis/Table Tennis, was simple to understand and easy to use.

Historical Context (2) New developments quickly followed with advent of Personal Computers in mid 1970s onwards: Sinclair Spectrum, Commodore 64, Acorn’s BBC Computer New games appeared including one of the world’s most popular – Pacman Multi-platform game – now even available on Mobile Phones Pacman was played by individuals – less by groups and gamers started to become isolated

Historical Context (3) Isolation has persisted until advert of Internet- based gaming in 1990s Now Multi-player gaming common with 1000s of titles Early multi-player game – Doom (1993) Voted greatest game of all time in 2004! ‘World of Warcraft’ Series now dominates this market with 11.5 million monthly subscribers A social phenomenon - changed the way that gamers view their activity

Social Software - Birth of Indispensible now – but ‘invented’ in 1971 by Ray Tomlinson – he chose the symbol too! Once only available on a PC Now accessible using a variety of devices MP3 Players, Blackberrys, Personal Digital Assistants, Mobile ‘Phones, Handheld PCs Two main types of - Dial-up and On-line Older ‘clients’ worked on dial-up connections – before birth of ‘Broadband’ Used ‘Store & Forward’ technology – messages were downloaded onto client for ‘off-line’ reading

Dial-up Advantages Mail can be taken away on laptops for reading / replying later Messages were text only – short with no pictures, formatting Disadvantages Virus-prone Messages were text only – short with no pictures, formatting Data could be lost if dial-up connection was unstable

On-line Usually over Broadband Server-based Usually scanned for viruses before viewing ‘hoster’ can be different from Internet Service Provider (ISP) – e.g. Hotmail

Advantages/Disadvantages of Advantages Cheap or even free to send / receive If charged for – same charge for local, national or International Normally accessible from Internet-connected device Normally secure – if you do not share password! Disadvantages Need to be connected to Internet Stable connection needed Can host viruses – even when scanned SPAM / Junk is common

Basic Features From – the address of the sender. To – The address of the intended recipient. Subject - What the is about The Message area – The large box where you type your message.

More Advanced Features Attachments Address Book / Contact List The ‘cc’ Box The ‘bcc’ Box -role of as a marketing tool

Activities Log in to Hotmail – creating account if necessary Log in to Google Mail - creating account if necessary Task 1 – Compare Hotmail & Google Mail Task 2 – Send a short polite message to Lecturer Task 3 – Send a message to a friend, a group and create a Distribution (Mailing) List