BONNIE MCELHINNY
2 Gender as Activity and Relation
As well as treating illness or injury, mobile devices can also be used to perform health screening. Typical uses might include testing for colour blindness or hearing loss. There are also many applications that use a question-and-answer format to help people evaluate their own health or help medical staff identify common conditions.
The sensors featured on tablets and similar devices can also be used to support health-related tasks. As an example, the camera and flash on a smartphone or tablet can be used as a cardiograph; the user’s heart rhythm is calculated from pictures taken of his fingertips.
In a similar way, the built-in microphone found on most devices can be used as a fetal heart rate monitor, allowing medics and anxious parents to listen to the heartbeat of an unborn child. With the addition of extra sensors, even more tests can be carried out. Such sensors are relatively inexpensive and allow a tablet to monitor patient body temperature, breathing, pulse, blood sugar, and so on.
Finally, it is worth mentioning the use of mobile technology for reference and training, especially in areas where the support of specialists and a fully equipped hospital may not be available. Devices equipped with a mobile Internet connection can provide an instant reference tool or can deliver – and assess – basic knowledge and skills. Some examples of applications include: reference guides to common medications, revision tools for those about to take medical exams, simulations designed to teach how to interpret ECG readings and animated tutorials showing how to use medical equipment correctly.
While m-Health developments will undoubtedly benefit people all around the world, many people are concerned about the potential for harm that arises when people self-diagnose or rely too heavily on information found via the Internet. As an example, there have been many cases where people have died after deciding to rely on online information instead of seeking medical help. Many people have also died as a result of self-medicating after researching medical information online. A 2013 survey by The Information Standard in the UK found that approximately four in ten people put off visiting a doctor after using the Internet to self-diagnose. Of those who eventually visited a doctor and obtained a professional diagnosis, almost one in six were told they had a
‘lucky escape’.
Input devices (Figure 3.2) are used to enter data or instructions. ‘Device’ is used in this context to refer to an individual piece of hardware with a specific function. The mouse and the keyboard are examples of input devices. Before looking at some of the devices available, it is worth making some observations:
n It should be noted that modern computers make use of a wide variety of input devices since data flowing in to the organisation may take a number of different forms.
n The choice of an input device will often depend upon the quantity of data to be entered.
Entering data on a small scale is normally carried out by human operators, using a number of familiar input devices, such as the mouse or keyboard. However, large-scale data input may require the use of more specialised input devices. In many cases, a direct capture device will be used to acquire and store data automatically. Generally, the data are captured at the source and stored with little or no human intervention. Data obtained from sensors on a production line, for example, might be stored and then processed automatically.
n A computer-based information system will seldom make use of only a single input device. Even a typical personal computer will often feature several different methods for data entry, such as keyboard, mouse, joystick and microphone.
Direct capture A method of acquiring and storing data automatically with little or no human intervention.
There is a wide variety of types of input device; note the business applications of the following.
Keyboard/keypad
The keyboard remains the most common input device and its basic design has remained largely unchanged for more than a century.
A common criticism of the keyboard is that inexperienced users find it difficult and uncomfortable to use. In answer to this, new keyboard designs have appeared that attempt to make them easier to use. Natural (or ergonomic) keyboards have the keys arranged so that users can locate them more quickly and easily and is shaped to make prolonged use more comfortable.
Mouse
Computers featuring a graphical user interface (GUI) often require the use of a mouse or other pointing device. Although there are many different kinds of mouse, all use the same basic method of operation: moving the mouse over a flat surface causes a corresponding movement to a small pointer on the screen. The operating system software (Chapter 3) translates direction and rate of movement of the mouse to movement of the on-screen cursor.
Stylus and graphics tablet
Devices with touchscreens, such as smartphones, tablets and some laptop computers, often allow the use of a stylus. A traditional stylus appears similar to a pen and offers more precision than a fingertip. A stylus often replaces a mouse where space is limited or a small screen is being used. Many recent devices have started to include a smart stylus, a stylus that offers more functionality and features when coupled with the right hardware and software.
Samsung’s S Pen, for instance, offers features like ‘Easy Clip’, where the stylus can be used to draw around part of picture so that it can be cut, copied or manipulated in other ways.
Applications involving graphics, such as drawing packages, often involve graphics
tablets (sometimes called drawing tablets or digitizers). With a graphics tablet, a stylus is used to draw an image onto a pressure-sensitive flat surface, just like using a pencil and paper. The image is shown on the computer’s screen as the user works. Graphics tablets can also be used to replace other pointing devices, like the mouse. Tablets are often used instead of drawing directly onto a touch sensitive screen because they usually offer greater precision and flexibility. As an example, a graphics tablet makes it easy to trace drawings or diagrams. Graphics tablets are also useful for entering text in languages where characters are often drawn, e.g. Chinese. allows the user to control the movement of a small pointer displayed on the screen that is used to select options. image is copied to the computer’s screen.
Figure 3.2 Input devices in context
Input Processing Output
Storage
Info PC hardware system
Data
Trackball
A trackball is a pointing device that is controlled by rotating a small ball with the fingertips or the palm of the hand. Moving the ball causes corresponding movement to a small pointer on the screen. Buttons are used to select items in the same way as with the mouse. Trackballs are often used when space is limited; in portable equipment they are often used to replace a mouse.
Joystick
The joystick is one of the most common input devices available and is primarily used for leisure activities, such as playing computer games. There are, however, a number of more serious applications for joysticks, in areas such as medicine and engineering. We also include game controllers in this section, such as those supplied with games consoles.
Optical scanner
The optical scanner is now widely used in business for capturing graphics and text from printed documents. Images captured in this way are normally incorporated into word processing or desktop publishing documents or are part of workflow management systems (Chapter 6).
Optical scanners can also be used to perform data entry by converting printed documents into text files that can be used by word processing packages and other programs. Optical character recognition (OCR) involves using software that attempts to recognise individual characters. As a scanned image is processed, the program creates a text file containing all of the characters recognised. This file can then be edited further using a word processor, text editor or some other suitable program since recognition is not always 100 per cent accurate.
For example, the letter ‘i’ is sometimes recognised as ‘l’.
Optical scanners often form the basis for document image processing (DIP) systems.
A DIP system allows users to convert paper documents into their electronic equivalents.
This makes it easier to organise, store and process large numbers of documents. Typical applications for DIP systems are found in areas such as medicine, insurance and law. For instance, hospital records are often stored electronically, allowing medical staff to access them via a network from anywhere in the hospital.
A variation on optical character recognition is optical mark recognition (OMR), which involves detecting and recognising simple marks made on a document.
Trackball
A trackball is a pointing device that is controlled by rotating a small ball with the fingertips or palm of the hand.
Optical scanner An input device used to capture graphics and text from printed documents.
Optical character recognition (OCR) Software that attempts to recognise individual characters.
Optical mark recognition (OMR) Detection and recognition of simple marks made on a document.
Public examinations, such as the GCSE qualifications that students take at school, often involve a multiple-choice paper. Students record their answers on a special sheet, usually by filling in small boxes corresponding to their choices.
The answer sheet used by students is a special document that has been prepared so that it can be used with an optical mark reader. The size and position of the boxes on the sheet, for example, have been designed so that the optical mark reader can process the sheet quickly and accurately.
The optical mark readers used by examination bodies are almost completely automatic and are able to deal with hundreds of answer sheets each hour. However, although this simplifies the process of marking the papers from the many thousands of examinations sat each year, problems can still arise. Common problems include equipment breakdowns, damaged answer sheets and answer sheets that have been completed incorrectly.
Optical mark recognition Mini case study
Bar code
A means of displaying a unique identification number as a series of thick and thin lines.
Universal product code
A standard for defining bar codes used frequently in retailing.
Bar code reader Measures the intensity of a light beam reflected from a printed bar code to identify the digits making up a unique identification number.
Figure 3.3 Examples of different formats for bar codes
UPC Version A
12345 67890 12345 67890
5 0
EAN–13, Flag digit 1
4 0
EAN–8
123 456 5 0
UPC Version E
123456
0 5
Bar code reader
A bar code (Figure 3.3) is a means of displaying a unique identification number as a series of thick and thin lines. The sequence and width of the lines in the bar code can be translated into a sequence of digits. Bar code numbers are normally produced according to a specific method. The universal product code, for example, is a standard method for creating and using bar codes.
A bar code reader measures the intensity of a light beam reflected from the printed bar code to identify the digits making up the unique identification number. The digits making up the identification number are also printed at the foot of the bar code.
The most common example of the use of the bar code reader in industry is the supermarket checkout. However, bar codes are also used in a variety of other situations including manual inspection and update of stock levels on inventory control systems;
identification of patients in hospitals by bracelets to enable retrieval of patient information;
bar codes on magazines and newspapers are used to record sales of particular titles, which helps vendors, distributors and publishers to monitor trends and plan possible promotions.
Many industry experts believe that bar codes will eventually be replaced by RFID (Radio-frequency identification) tags. These are often called smart bar codes and are small, fairly inexpensive tags that can be attached to a wide variety of objects. The information stored on each tag is transmitted when a request is received from an electronic reader.
Depending on the power source used by the tag, the reader can be located from a few metres to a few hundred metres away. RFID has many applications, ranging from monitoring components as they move through a production process, to locating lost livestock. As an example, supermarkets have been experimenting with RFID for a number of years with the aim of eliminating the need for customers to pack and unpack their groceries at the checkout. Using RFID tags, as a customer walks past a special scanner, every item in the basket or trolley can be automatically identified and the total cost calculated. While such technology is likely to bring significant benefits to the retailing industry, there remain many problems to resolve.
What are some of the disadvantages of printed bar codes and what are some of the advantages of RFID tags? Use the Internet as a resource and try to find at least three examples of each.