Notes for the teacher
 -Where am I up to ?
 -The Syllabus
 -Core Topic 3 : Data Handling
 -Core Topic 5 : I s s u e s
 -Option 4: Digital Media
 -Ideas!

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Notes for the teacher

I see this topic as the perfect vehicle to introduce the concepts from Core Topic 3 - Data Handling. Almost all of the material in Core 3 can be introduced in this topic. I also like this topic as you get to play with lots of cool stuff like Flash - so I think I'll use it to introduce the course. Much of the material may be revisited again in Option topics like software and programming or Multimedia, however, I feel it is important to provide a solid introduction and use these later topics for re-inforcement.

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Where am I up to ?

• What is Digital Data ? Notes and exercises for this topic can be found here.
• Exercise 3
• The third set of notes for this topic can be found here.

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Computer Graphics

• The first set of notes for this topic can be found here.
• Exercise 2

Data in Computers

• The first set of notes for this topic can be found here

Bit-Mapped Graphics

• The first set of notes for this topic can be found here.
• The second set of notes for this topic can be found here.
• The third set of notes for this topic can be found here.
• I have put a nice page about color graphics onto the PPC .. will need to move to this site some time.

Vector Graphics

Animation

Sound

Video

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The Syllabus

Core Topic 3 : Data Handling

• C3.1.0 Data and information
• C3.1.1 importance of information to society, particularly in electronic form%
• C3.2.0 Data forms
• C3.2.1 analogue
• C3.2.2 digital
• C3.3.0 Data coding such as
• C3.3.1 decimal and binary
• C3.3.2 ASCII
• C3.4.0 Data sources such as
• C3.4.1 books
• C3.4.2 internet
• C3.4.3 magazines
• C3.4.4 journals
• C3.5.0 Data types
• C3.5.1 text and hypertext
• C3.5.2 graphics
• C3.5.3 audio
• C3.5.4 video
• C3.5.5 animation
• C3.6.0 Data transmission types
• C3.6.1 serial
• C3.6.2 parallel
• C3.7.0 Data storage and function
• C3.7.1 primary storage such as RAM and ROM
• C3.7.2 secondary storage such as random and sequential access
• C3.7.3 secondary storage media such as tape, disk and optical media
• C3.7.4 bits and bytes such as kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes and terabytes
• C3.7.5 file types
• C3.8.0 Data compression techniques
• C3.8.1 lossy
• C3.8.2 lossless
• C3.9.0 Data security
• C3.9.1 need for data security
• C3.9.2 basic security methods

Core Topic 5 : I s s u e s

• C5.1.0 Legal issues such as
• C5.1.1 copyright and/or licensing
• C5.1.2 piracy
• C5.1.3 intellectual property
• C5.4.0 Industrial issue such as
• C5.4.1 rights & responsibilities of users of Information & Software Technologies
• C5.4.2 ergonomic principles and industry standards

Option 4: Digital Media

Students learn about:

• The purpose of digital media such as
• e-music
• digital newspaper
• interactive TV
• games
• Types of digital media products such as
• desktop publishing magazine, newspaper
• graphical design
• audio sequences
• musical compositions
• animation sequences
• video production
• Data types for digital media products such as
• used in specific digital media products
• Manipulation techniques such as
• cropping, rendering, special effects, time coding, sampling
• morphing, tweening
• Digitisation process of data types such as
• frame grabbing
• scanning
• bit mapping
• optical character recognition (OCR)
• Factors affecting file size such as
• memory size
• processing speed
• colour palette
• compression
• sampling rate
• frames per second
• Display and distribution
• considerations including mode of delivery and intended audience
• Project development
• processes and techniques

Students learn to:

• define digital media
• assess the effectiveness of a range of digital media products
• describe a range of digital media
• select and use appropriate file formats for the digital media product
• recognise and select data types used in digital media products
• produce samples of work for a range of data types
• describe how data types combine to produce and enhance a digital media product
• manipulate data types for specific digital media products
• explain the digitisation process for a selected data type
• digitise selected data types using appropriate hardware
• discuss factors that affect file size
• describe factors affecting file size and observe the effects on the digital media
• examine display and distribution considerations for the digital media product
• select and deliver the digital media product for a targeted audience
• design, produce and evaluate a simple project for a real-world application either separately for this option, or integrated with other options

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Ideas!

Investigate i-tunes sites and services. Investigate free e-music as well as downloading and converting music from traditional medi. What is mixing use a digital mixer application.

Find a e-newpaper or e-magazine site and create a web page showing the front page of the e-magazine, where the links go to and why the site is so good. What are the copyright implications of each of these ?

Investigate digital television

Investigate games from zork I to Kings Quest, to Beneath a Steel sky, Myst and beyond.

»Zork can be found here

Zork and other text adventures can be »played online here

Play pong online »here

Making of myst »here

Some good ideas for small projects and worksheets on the Heineman Disk.