Let’s Talk Conversational Scenarios
for Computers 7e by
Larry and Nancy Long
These Let’s Talk “conversations” introduce many of the terms in each chapter within the context of an everyday conversation. Students can play out these brief topically conversations before and after studying a particular chapter. When the conversation is acted out prior to students reading the chapter, students who may not be able to follow what is being said will:
1. Recognize that there is much to be learned about information technology.
2. Want to be able to participate in the conversation.
3. Recognize that to play an active role in the information society, they will need to master the material in the chapter (and the course/book).
Rereading the scenarios after studying a chapter gives the student a sense of accomplishment and shows them that completing each chapter brings them one step closer to full participation in the IT revolution.
CHAPTER 1 Information Technology in Perspective
CHAPTER 2 Using the PC: Popular Productivity Software
CHAPTER 3 Inside the Computer
CHAPTER 4 Storing and Retrieving Information
CHAPTER 5 Information Input and Output
CHAPTER 6 Networks and Networking
CHAPTER 7 Going Online
CHAPTER 8 The Windows Environment
CHAPTER 9 PC Software for Every Application
CHAPTER 10 Computers in Society: Today
CHAPTER 11 Computers in Society: Tomorrow
CHAPTER 12 Information Systems
CHAPTER 13 Developing Business Information Systems
CHAPTER 1 Information Technology in Perspective
The Scene: The car pool arrives at Frank's house, the last stop on a 40minute commute into the city.
Frank: Good morning, all. I need some help—and quick!
Jill: What's up, Frank?
Frank: Got an email last night from my boss. He wants me to put together some demographic information for our regional sales manager in Portland. And, he wants it yesterday! Any ideas?
Maria: You know, while I was cruising the Internet this weekend I found an online version of The World Fact Book. It might have what you need.
Spike: I think we can help, Frank. Here, Jill, let's plug my new notebook PC into your digital cellular phone. Where did you find that information, Maria?
Maria: On the CIA's Internet site. Just search on "CIA."
Spike (after about a minute): OK, we're online to the CIA site and here's the data.
Frank (looking at Spike's PC): Fantastic, Spike! That's exactly what the boss wants. Can you download the data for Washington, Oregon, and Idaho? Say, your new PC's monitor has great resolution.
Spike: Thanks, it's got a topoftheline processor with loads of RAM. And, when I need hard copy, I've got this onepound printer. Do you want to email your boss while I've got this communications link?
Frank: Sure. Send this to . Subject: Demographic data. Message: Jim, I'll have the data you requested on your desk by nine.
Spike: Frank, I’ll just forward this Web page information to your e-mail.
Frank: Thanks, I owe you guys.
Jill: Hey, what are friends for? But next time, how about greeting us with coffee and donuts instead!
CHAPTER 2 Using the PC: Popular Productivity Software
The Scene: The executive board of the newly formed RPOA (Rosemont Property Owners' Association) is convening to plan the agenda for the coming year. In attendance are the president (Michelle), vicepresident (Stan), treasurer (Neil), and secretary (Bernie).
Michelle: Welcome, neighbors, to our very first meeting of the RPOA. We've got lots to do.
Bernie: Where do we begin: the bylaws, the Rosemont newsletter, or the dues?
Neil: As for the dues, we're 95% paid up. I've already set up a table to keep track of dues and expenses. Here's a summary report (passing a printout to each person) that shows a $1,252.71 balance at First National.
Michelle: Stan, you volunteered to take care of the newsletter, didn't you?
Stan (laughing): No, but I guess my desktop publishing experience makes me the logical choice. If anyone has an item for the newsletter, could you give it to me as an ASCII file or word processing document on diskette, or email it to me at ? I've got a scanner, so we can include photos as well. I'll use my clip art library to add seasonal touches.
Neil: I've got a conversion program that will convert our print newsletter to an electronic document in PDF format. I'll put it up on my personal web page, so we can view it there as well.
Bernie: Great, Neil. Are we hitech or what! And, I've got a copy of the bylaws from my old neighborhood association. Stan, if you could scan this (handing the paper to Stan) and email me the text file, we can edit this boilerplate to create our bylaws.
Stan: This typeface is easily scanned. I'll get it to you by Tuesday.
Michelle: It looks like we're well on our way to a great year!
CHAPTER 3 Inside the Computer
The Scene: Travis is visiting a high school friend, Deb, at her house.
Travis (entering Deb's game room): What are you doing, Deb?
Deb: Yo, Trav. I'm taking the cover off my PC.
Travis: How come?
Deb: It's a long story, but here's the short version. I just bought the new Intergalactic Invaders game, but my motherboard didn't meet the system requirements.
Travis: Why? What does it need?
Deb: Well, my Pentium III microprocessor's got the umph at 550 MHz and plenty of cache memory, but I'm short on RAM. Invaders works better with 256 megabytes, so I bought 64 MB to get me up to speed (inserting the memory into the DIMM on the motherboard).
Travis: What's that expansion card over there?
Deb: It's a new 56kilobit fax modem. Since I paid for the DIMM, I appealed to my parents to pay for the fax modem.
Travis: Wow! Are they always this generous?
Deb: No, but they wanted the fax modem so they could get America Online. Let's put it right here in this PCI local bus expansion slot on my system board.
Travis: All right! Let's put the cover on and take off!
CHAPTER 4 Storing and Retrieving Information
The Scene: The executive director of the State University Alumni Association (Max) is meeting in his office with an analyst from the University Computer Center (Leah) and the president of the Alumni Association (Scottie).
Scottie: Our membership is disappointed with the Annual Alumni Directory. They don't like the $50 price tag, and they're complaining that it's out of date.
Max: And they're right! I say we go electronic with it. Can we do it, Leah?
Leah: Well, all the university administrators already have direct access to the entire database, which now has over 140,000 records on hard disk. Technically, providing greater access to it is not a problem, but you guys will have to address the security and privacy issues.
Max: Let's assume we can overcome these concerns. Is our current database complete?
Scottie: In this era of multimedia, our members may want more than nameandaddress ASCII files. I suggest we give them the flexibility to attach their own graphics files, audio files, and even video files to their record.
Max: Great idea! I'd love to listen to my old friends and see some family photos.
Leah: If we do that, we'll need to go to optical laser disk storage to make this economically feasible. It sounds neat. Think about it—alums could change messages and their photos with the seasons.
Scottie: People want their databases on a computer, not in a book. Let's do the annual directory on CDROM and DVD.
Leah: You know, with CDRW coming down in price, we could do our own CDROM publishing right here in the Alumni Office. With a little file compression and a CD production station, we could provide a great service for the alumni.
Scottie: And, our members would love to be able to import selected portions of the alumni database on the Internet to their spreadsheet files.
Max: I'm excited! Forget the printed directory. What do you say we explore these options further?
CHAPTER 5 Information Input and Output
The Scene: A sales representative (Zeta) specializing in the sale of grocery store technology is calling on the vice president of operations (Paul) for an East Coast grocery chain.
Paul: Hello, Zeta. We don't want any more speech synthesis devices!
Zeta: I know, Paul. The voice feedback at the cash registers didn't take off here or anywhere else. But what I have today is already in demand.
Paul: Let's see it.
Zeta: Let's see them, Paul. I've got two new products. The first is a handheld scanner with a badge reader for use by customers in a hurry and by those who have trouble walking through the store. Customers insert their smart card for ID purposes. Then, rather than taking items off the shelves and putting them in shopping carts or baskets, shoppers simply scan the bar code of the desired item and continue shopping. On their way out, customers drop off their scanners, whose contents are entered into the system. How about that for sourcedata automation?
Paul: But what about the groceries?
Zeta: Well, based on the scanner output, the customer's account is charged, and an aislebyaisle list is printed for one of your professional shoppers. The order is gathered and boxed for pickup or delivery.
Paul: Sounds interesting. What's the other product?
Zeta: A multimedia kiosk that helps customers find what they need. Its easytouse touch screen monitor has 1280 by 1024 resolution and a .28 dot pitch. A quiet inkjet printer provides hardcopy output, mainly shopping lists and coupons.
Paul: So what's the value of the kiosk?
Zeta: For starters, the kiosk eliminates a thousand "Where is this?" questions each day, but it has many other benefits.
Paul: You've got my attention; tell me more.
CHAPTER 6 Networks and Networking
The Scene: Three techies (Herb, his wife Carol, and Art) and one nontechy (Art's fiancé, Laura) are talking during a candlelit dinner at Chez O'bere's.
Laura: This atmosphere is perfectly romantic!
Art: I'll say. The waiters are taking orders on pocket computers with a wireless transceiver.
Herb: It looks like their radio signals are transmitted to that desktop PC in the corner. It's probably linked to the LAN server by way of a coaxial cable network bus.
Carol: You know that digital convergence is imminent when your food orders are sent as messages from handheld PCs to a local net node in the kitchen.
Laura: Enough of this tech talk. Are we dining out or talking shop?
Carol: You're right, Laura. It's difficult for people like us who work with telecommunications to overlook such a great application.
Art: I'm sorry, Laura. It's weird, but sometimes we find beauty in network topologies, especially those that enable cooperative processing.
Laura: Well, I hope the next time we come to Chez O'bere's, its technology won't overshadow the wonderful food and atmosphere.
Herb: Uhoh, look at this note behind the pepper grinder. It says, "Coming Next Spring, Interactive Electronic Menus."
CHAPTER 7 Going Online
The Scene: The place is a private chat room on a commercial information service where a widow, IdaB (Ida's online name), in Austin, Texas, and a retired railroad supervisor, RailroadRoy (Roy's online name), in Kingfisher, Oklahoma, are enjoying a cyberromance.
RailroadRoy: Good evening, Ida. How are you tonight?
IdaB: I have a cold. :~) Worse, my 50yearold son has left his good job in the city. :(
RailroadRoy: Here's a dozen roses to pep you up. @–>–>– X12
IdaB: :) Thanks. [*] Bill is taking a new job so he can telecommute. :/ I'm a bit skeptical because I've never heard of Cyclometrics, his new company.
RailroadRoy: Me either, but I'll do some research. Let's log off now so I can link the Cyclometrics Web site. Come back at 3:30 and I'll know more. TTYL
IdaB: Thanks, honey, bye now.***
(3:30)
RailroadRoy: Hi again, my little O :). Check your email. You'll find a file attached that contains more than you'll ever want to know about Cyclometrics.
IdaB: Hi, sweetie. [*] How'd you do it?
RailroadRoy: I visited its World Wide Web site on the Internet at http://www.cyclometrics.com. The company's got a sound financial statement, some innovative products, and a bright future.
IdaB: How do you know all that?
RailroadRoy: I clicked on a few hypertext links and even listened to an audio message from its president. You might want to visit the site yourself. It's really informative.
IdaB: Thanks, triple R. I'm going surfin'. See you tomorrow—same time. [[[[****]]]]
CHAPTER 8 The Windows Environment
The Scene: The boss (Celeste), a certified cyberphobic, is seeking advice and compassion from her secretary (Jo Ellen).
Celeste: I'm beginning to feel out of sync now that we've linked the PCs in a local area network and standardized on the Windows 2000 platform. Other managers are passing information and making decisions with the help of applications software for workgroup computing . . .
Jo Ellen: And you want in the loop?
Celeste: You bet I do.
Jo Ellen: Two months ago I didn't know the difference between the foreground and the background. I suffered a mild case of cyberphobia but overcame it by learning a little something new each day. Now it's a snap to click and drag icons around the GUI. Today, I'm even learning to write macros in the Excel macro language.
Celeste: You're so at ease with the computer. What's your secret?
Jo Ellen: No secret—I just used my manuals, the online help commands, and Rick, the guy at the help desk.
Celeste: I think I'm ready to enter cyberland. Will you help me, Jo Ellen?