Kelly Baumann Computers are everywhere and used for any number of situations from crisis mapping tools to hospitals intake records. The need to be computer literate is imperative in today’s workforce as well as social networking. Affective computing is also growing as more and more people are able to spread information about different causes and organizations. Information technology is one of the largest growing sectors in today’s work force. The digital divide is also become a small gap as the cost of this technology decreases. Presently autonomy is allowing more to be able to digitally commute, bringing in people that may not be able to work any other way. Also collaborative consumption gives the freedom to share among many that divide the cost among many. The mastery of computer skills as well as the purpose to do so is very important. Crowdsourcing has helped to widen the ability to work with others through the internet this can help keeping projects on time and budget. On the other hand other uses of for technology in areas of research and development include data mining that can point companies in the right direction for means of supply and demand for products. The components of computers have a great impact on the price, software, and hardware. The CPU or central processing unit is the main part or brain of the computer where software and various hardware and the ergonomics of the computer converge. Ink jet printers and laser printers offer wide assortments of products. Ink jet printers are a basic and laser printers while cost a little more provides a quick clean print. Microphones are an input device that allows the user to input voice commands and communication. Monitors are the screens that visual information is displayed these can be large or small and also in flat screen versions. Another input device is the mouse you can physically move a pointer on the screen the optical mouse uses an internal sensor or laser to control the mouse movement. Memory in a machine is divided between RAM and ROM. Random access memory or RAM is the computers temporary storage and is measured in megabytes or gigabytes. Rom is read only memory and supports the information that is needed to start the computer. Speakers, webcams and keyboard are all devices that allow input to the computer. USB ports or fire wire ports all receive information that can be changed by the computer into the motherboard. The internet is a growing beast that touches on several different platforms and media. Blogs are an online diary on the internet the poster or blogger can post anything that is important to them, this could mean a sports, movies, foods, even as simple as how there day was and what outfit they wore. To communicate online you have several options Email or electronic mail takes only a few seconds and it’s to the person’s inbox awaiting their log on. To add more information in an email about a specific website you can set a hyperlink, that gives the recipient a quick click link to the website or email address. Instant messaging is another form of communication; IMs are intended for short conversations that would not require a large text platform this can be on a certain site or social network. Social networking
