Unit 3 - Contemporary computing

Until about the year 2000 the "hot" topics concerning personal computers were office applications like word processing, presentations, and spreadsheets--and the novelty of accessing all sorts of web sites since access to the internet was just becoming a household fixture. Desktop computer were the norm, laptops were much more expensive, and of course there were no netbooks or tablet computers. E-mail was BIG and America Online (AOL) was a big player in that field. But most of the things we commonly use computers for today were not even known! Things like digital sound and sound players, digital pictures, and video were not yet in the picture--.mp3 files were not well known, digital cameras weren't on the market at affordable prices, and video cameras recorded to tape cartridges! Cell phones were just phones, and Apple had no iPhone. And of course, there were no picture sharing sites, no YouTube, and no Facebook!

At this point a dozen years into the new millennium the computer world has turned upside down. Today's cell phones are more powerful than many of the desktops of AD 2000. Laptops are considered "big". As of September 2013, more than 170,000,000 iPads have been sold!

Assigned reading and viewing
Unit 3 course workbook (in the published workbook).

Work due
Repeatable online Exercise 3
Unit Summary Form 3 (USF 3)
These projects are required: 
     3.1 Simple sound editing
     3.9 Photo restoration with digital image editing
     3.3 Video screen capture and editing
     3.4 QR (Quick Response) code generation and use
Extra credit: You can do one additional project 3.2, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, or 3.8 for extra credit if you wish, you choose whichever interests you the most!

Study aid: an example project narrative
Many projects in Contemporary Computing require you to briefly recount and reflect on your experiences doing a project after you complete it. Students benefit from good examples. CLICK HERE to download an example of a very fine project narrative submitted by student Michael Donley in the Autumn 2012 term.