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Communicate quickly and efficiently with others who are distant.
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Locate information for messages.
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Communicate in a timely way. Shape their messages to be more clear and effective.
12.1 The Basics of Computers
Computers have two elements: equipment, called hardware, and the instructions for how to manipulate data, called software. Think of a computer as a manager’s staff. The equipment, the hardware, is the staff itself. It represents capability, but not volition; it is essentially in a state of potential, ready to perform as instructed but unable to initiate action. The instructions come from the software. These instructions can lead the computer to take a number of actions – find the address of a client, say, or figure out the commissions earned by the sales staff, or send a message from headquarters to a field office.
This manager-staff relationship has three factors:
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Unlike a staff of human workers, the computer cannot act without orders. It does not have the ability to make independent judgments about what to do.
. The instructions must be given in specific ways, using a special vocabulary and grammar, or they will not be carried out.
. Hardware and software must both be capable of performing a task for the computer to
get the job done. TYPES OF HARDWARE Although many different kinds of computer equipment exist, a basic computer system includes these components:
. Central Processing Unit (CPU). The CPU, the brain of the computer, is the circuitry that allows the computer to process data. The CPU also contains silicon chips that serve as memory; they retain the information that is entered into the computer for use later.
. Keyboard. An expanded version of a typewriter keyboard, the keyboard is connected to the CPU by a cable and is used to place information into the CPU. This task is called
inputting.
. Monitor. The monitor is the screen by which the operator can monitor the information
input into the computer and the results of the computer’s manipulation of that information. These three pieces of equipment are essential to any computer; without them, no electronic data processing could be done. Other pieces of equipment can be added as well to increase a given system’s capabilities. These include a printer, a mouse, which allows the user to move information around more efficiently than a keyboard; and a modem, a device that acts like a telephone for data rather than voices, allowing someone to send messages from one computer to another. Of all the additional pieces of equipment, perhaps the most important are data storage devices. While the CPU has memory, there’s a catch – once the machine is turned off, the memory is no longer active and the information stored in it is lost. Clearly, such a machine is of limited usefulness. It would be uneconomical to leave it turned on at all times, day and night, and yet otherwise all work is lost. The solution is data storage devices. Called disk drives, these components have the ability to take the information in the computer and encode it onto a thin plate coated with a magnetic film, where it can be stored and be available for retrieval later. Disk drives, and the disks onto which they write the data, expand the computer’s ability to use data from one day to next.
12.2 Electronic Mail
Electronic mail is most commonly defined as person-to-person communication in which the transmission and receipt of the message takes place through a computer.
Electronic mail or e-mail, as it is sometimes called, can be categorized as either internal or external.
. Internal E-Mail. Within a company, electronic mail can be used to distribute memos, reports and documents without sending them through the mailroom. Suppose that the sale manager completes a report and wants the division chiefs to review it before they all meet that afternoon. Before electronic mail, he or she would have to get a messenger to deliver the document by hand to the various recipients. Using the company’s internal electronic-mail system, however, the manager can now deliver the report to each of the others almost instantly.
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