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Many of the interviews suggested as projects below could be organized as activities for an entire class or training session.

Project 1-1

Interview an IS employee.Talk to an employee in an Information Systems department at your organization or school, or interview a family member, friend, or acquaintance who works in an IS department. Find out the following information:

1. What is the employee’s job title and responsibilities?

2. With what kind of computer equipment does the person work?

3. What purpose does the computer system(s) serve in the organization? What tasks does it perform? Who uses the output from the system(s)?

4. How has computing changed since his or her organization first used computers? Write a one-page summary of the information you obtain.

Project 1-2

Interview an early computer user.Find a coworker, instructor, acquaintance, friend, or neighbor who worked with computers in the 1960s, 1970s, or 1980s. Interview the person to learn the following:

1. In what type of business did the person work?

2. With what type of computer equipment did the person work?

3. What were the principal tasks the computer performed? Who used the results? 4. What was the relationship between the computer professionals and the end users of the

information?

Hands-On Projects 31

5. Were terminals used?

6. Was the person involved with application programming? If so, did he or she experience any of the difficulties mentioned in this chapter?

7. What changes in computer use did the person experience, and over what time period? In a one-page report, summarize the results of your interview and compare this person’s experience with the information in this chapter.

Project 1-3

Predict future computing trends.Based on your knowledge of current trends in the computer industry, add more information to the decade milestones shown in Table 1-1 for the 2000s decade.What do you think the significant events and trends in this decade will be? Make predictions about computer size, cost, ease of use, and primary functions in business and home during the next decade.

Project 1-4

Interview a technical support person.Locate a technical support person at your school, your work, or a local company. Find out the following information:

1. Does the person support internal or external users?

2. With what resources does the person work (i.e., hardware, software, peripherals, networks, information)?

3. What types of applications do end users work with most frequently in their jobs? 4. Do any users or applications present difficult problems for him or her as a technical

support person?

5. Which of the end-user problems described in this chapter does the person encounter most often?

6. Does the organization have a policy on software piracy, invasion of privacy, or virus protection?

Write a one-page summary of the information you collect.

Project 1-5

Discuss a privacy issue.An organization opposed to the use of supermarket identification cards maintains a Web site atwww.nocards.org/faq/index.shtml. Find out why it thinks identification cards are an invasion of privacy. Summarize its arguments in a brief report. Do you agree or disagree with its positions? Explain why.

Project 1-6

Identify software packages.Find a mail-order computer catalog (in your computer room or library) or an Internet site that sells applications software packages of the types described in this chapter. For each category—electronic mail and instant messaging, Web browser, word processing, spreadsheets, database management, graphics, planning and scheduling, desktop publishing,Web site development, and educational and entertainment software—list the names of two or three representative packages. Include the price range for a typical package in each category.

Project 1-7

Identify computer users’ health concerns.Interview three classmates or coworkers about their health concerns related to their use of computers. Make a list of their health, safety, and productivity concerns. Are there any similarities to their concerns? Did any of their concerns surprise you?

Project 1-8

Evaluate TCO.A Houston,Texas, consulting company, JDA Professional Services, provides an online worksheet for calculating the total cost of ownership (TCO) of computer technology. Read about the factors they think contribute to the total cost of ownership at its Web sitewww.jdapsi.com/client/Articles/Default.php?Article=tco.Write a one- page report that describes how the factors JDA considers significant are different from those in this chapter.

Click theJDA’s Online TCO Worksheetlink. Enter the data for the following scenario: An instructional computer lab manager wants to purchase 10computers for a new lab at a cost of $1200 per machine. The cost of a network server and laser printer and related hardware and software is expected to be $5000.The lab will require two part-time support staff, expected to cost $15,000 each. Use the GartnerGroup’s recommended percentage for hidden costs. Answer the following questions:

1. What is the total cost of ownership per machine? 2. Is this a one-time cost or an annual cost?

Project 1-9

Research computer history.Use the Web-based computer history timelines mentioned in this chapter to find answers to the following computer trivia questions.

1. Put the following familiar computer hardware manufacturers in order from oldest to newest: Apple, IBM, Hewlett-Packard

2. An error in a software program is called a “bug.” How did this name originate? 3. When was a computer first used to predict the outcome of a presidential election in the

United States?

Hands-On Projects 33

4. Put these programming languages in order from oldest to newest: BASIC, C++, COBOL, Fortran. How did the C language get its name?

5. What university first organized a department of computer science?

6. The mouse and floppy disk became popular in the 1980s. When were these devices actually invented?

7. Who first noted that adding programmers to a project that is behind schedule just makes the project further behind schedule?

8. The Macintosh was not the first computer built by Apple. Name three of its predecessors.

9. A decision to store the year in computers as a two-digit code caused the Y2K crisis. When was that decision made?

10. The ARPA network, which eventually became the Internet, linked four sites. Where were they?

11. The first operating system for microcomputers wasn’t DOS.What was it?

12. What computer program developed in the late 1970s convinced many people to buy their first personal computer?

13. How large was the first “portable” computer?

14. How long did it take before the first IBM PC clone was developed? 15. How old is the Windows operating system?