/ Computer systems are being used in every area of modern society. Computers are everywhere—they tell us how much money we have in our bank account and let us pay for our groceries using a bank card that has a magnetic strip. We can also send our friends messages through the computer electronic mailing system (e-mail). Think about when you borrow from the library. Don't you use the computerized catalogues to find the right book? Anywhere you look, you will see the influence and work of a computer—in art, business, school or entertainment. Computers allow us to go about many daily tasks in a speedy and efficient manner. This is very useful in a fastpaced society as ours.
/ Credit cards have changed the way in which we handle our money. Today, your cash savings can be simply a series of numbers stored in the bank's computer. In the United States, over thirty billion checks are used each year to transfer approximately eight trillion dollars from one group or individual to another. The cost of processing these checks is more than five billion dollars a year for the bank fees alone.
Because of this, a new system has been developed using a computer network to replace much of the check and cash handling. This network allows funds to be transferred directly from
/ one bank account to another via the electronic funds transfer system (EFTS). Some people call this development the “cashless society.” It simply means that it will be a society with fewer checks and less cash being used to buy things. Checks take about two to five days to process. The EFTS system allows funds to process within seconds using computers. The system also allows quick reporting on consumer spending habits for Governments making connected policies. It is also much easier and safer for the individual to carry a card around instead of large amounts of cash. The EFTS purchase is easy. Imagine that you are going shopping at the mall and need to buy groceries from the supermarket and clothes from a clothing boutique. You go into the supermarket, select your items and take them to the checkout person who would scan the goods through with an electric scanner. Each item is automatically identified by the barcode and the cost will come up on the register. You decide to pay by EFTS and give the shop assistant your bank card, who then swipes it through a terminal. You enter the account you are transferring the funds from (savings, check or credit), and enter your personal identification number (PIN) into the EFTS terminal. The bank code on the card dials your account number, checks you have enough money and then transfers those funds into the supermarket's account. The shop you are buying your clothes from doesn't have EFTS terminals, so you decide to take an extra one hundred dollars cash
/ out of your account, using the same system. There are many advantages of EFTS. It reduces the amount of cash people must carry—possibly avoiding robbery and loss. It also reduces the amount of cash that shops must keep in their registers. All this would not be possible without computers.
/ Computer networks can also be used to enable people to communicate in new ways that combine the advantages of mail and the telephone. Consider mail as a form of communication. It can be carefully written before it is sent to make sure that it says clearly what you want it to say. It can be written whenever you wish. You can read your e-mail when you have the time available. Both the sender and receiver can have copies of the mail for future reference. However, a letter could take days to deliver, could get lost, or could be delivered to the wrong address. The telephone is a faster form of communication as each person can respond to questions directly expressed by the other person. However, it is often difficult to call at a convenient time. The caller may be interrupting important work or relaxation time of the person being called. That is why e-mail is an exciting invention that overcomes the problems of the other forms of communication.
E-mail is short for “electronic mail.” If both people are connected to a computer network, they can communicate in a way that has the advantages of both mail and telephone. People
/ belonging to this system have a reserved area of memory (called a mailbox) within the network. Each person has a different mailbox address. To send a message, you only have to sit down at the computer terminal, type out the address of the receiver, followed by your message. The computer then transfers the message to the receiver's mailbox. If your name is “John Smith,” your mailbox might be called something like “.” This is called your e-mail address.
/ Imagine that you needed to get an important message to your school teacher, but they weren’t answering their phone. If you knew their e-mail address, you could leave a message and they could get back to you at anytime. Very convenient, don't you think? The good thing about electronic mail is that the receiver can read it at his/her own leisure. E-mail is much faster than normal mail. Messages arrive in a few seconds after they are sent, instead of days later. Even if you have a friend who lives in another country. You can send him/her an e-mail and it might take only a few minutes to send! You can either store your mail or erase it after reading it. Computers and the Internet have made this type of communication a reality.
There are computer techniques that allow us to store and find information quickly. Database software allows large amounts of information to be stored and retrieved in many different ways. This is of great use to students, scien-
/ tists, and companies who need to find information. These type of techniques are already being used in public, state and school libraries, making it easier to obtain access to information hidden somewhere on the library shelves. Obviously, librarians would have been concerned with how to arrange information in a way that will be easier to find when needed. Books are usually catalogued according to their general subject area, as well as by title and author. Each book is given a catalogue number that specifies where the book can be found within the library. So, if you know the book's title or author you can look it up in the catalogue to see where it's stored. But if you are interested in finding a book in a general subject area like on environmental problems, it will give you a large list of the books to be found within that area.
/ The computer makes this system easier by getting rid of the card catalogues and replacing them with a magnetic disk which holds the same information. So, you could then sit at a computer terminal and type in the title, author or general area. The computer will then flash all the information on the screen, until you direct it to give you more specific details on one book. You then write down the catalogue number and go find the book.
However, think about the times you might have used this system—did the computer list about 100 different titles on environmental pollution (for example), yet it could not tell you which
/ books dealt with water pollution and chemicals? Moresophisticated systems have many keywords describing the subject matter of a book. Then the computer can find a short list on the specific topics typed in by the user. For example, you could type in “water pollution,” “poisons,” and “published after 1985,” and the computer would list the few books that meet those conditions. This would save you the time and effort of reading through the titles of many books on a general topic. It also saves you from rushing to the shelves to get a book whose title is misleading and contains nothing that you need. So we see that computers, with clever database software, can allow people toobtain easier and quicker access to a wide range of materials that they need. Research for school assignments or other book-requiring activities, will become a task that should take less time and effort.
/ Another useful link between computers and learning is that of computer-assisted instruction which can help students master mathematics, vocabulary and language skills. For example, for mathematics, a computer can present problems and wait until the student types in the answer. If the answer is correct the computer will give another problem. If it is wrong the computer will get the student to work through the problem again. You could do the same thing for grammar, typing and other subjects. The introduction of home correspondence courses and self-study courses will be possible through this computer technology. (bbc.co.uk)
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