Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 11, 2nd Edition

Module 1.4 Software

Written module activity
1. The World Wide Web is often loosely referred to as the multimedia content part of the internet.
What do we mean by the term multimedia?
1. Multimedia content is content that combines text, sound, images, drawings, animations and movies to
communicate ideas and concepts to a user.
2. Give three examples of web browsers.
2. Edge, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Google Chrome, etc.
3. Give an example of VoIP software.
3. Skype, FaceTime, etc.
4. What do we mean when we say that programs are not compatible with each other?
4. It means that the files from the one program cannot be opened or read by the other program.
5. Your teacher received a sample work scheme from the department but she could not open it.
Someone suggested she try to import the document into her word processor.
(a) How does importing differ from just opening the document as normal?
(a) The import function of the program would need to be used to change the format (encoding) of
the document into a format that is compatible with the word processor.
(b) Another option to get around the compatibility problem would be to ask the department to save
the document in the version of the word processor that the teacher uses and resend it to her.
What would the department have to do to get this document in the same version as the one used
by the teacher?
(b) They would have to export it by using the Save As function to save the document in the format
that the teacher’s software can use.
6. A friend who takes Information Technology said that just about all software has bugs in it. Briefly
explain what a software bug is.
6. A (software) bug is a term used to describe an error or fault in the program caused by the way it was
written or programmed.
7. Give two reasons why people would want to update their software.
7. To get the latest ‘fixes’ for the bugs in the current version of the software and to obtain new,
additional features.
8. Your operating system lets you know it wants to update to apply a security patch.
What is a ‘patch’ in this context?
8. A patch is software designed to fix an error or bug in existing software (the operating system in this
case) by updating a program or part of it.

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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 11, 2nd Edition

9. Google Docs is an example of online software.

(a) What do we mean by online software?
(a) This refers to a scenario where software actually runs on servers on the internet. You see the
interface of the software in your web browser and use the software as if it is running on your
computer.
(b) Give three applications included with Google Docs.
(b) A word processor, spreadsheet and presentations editor.
(c) Give four potential disadvantages of using online software.
(c) If you do not have an internet connection you are unable to access the software or your data.
You no longer have control over security of your data or the backup policy if the files created with
the software are also saved online.
You may have to ‘rent’ the software.
The software might not have all the features or abilities of locally installed software.
It might run much slower, depending on the speed of your internet connection.
(d) Give four advantages of using online software such as Google Docs.
(d) The software is always up to date.
You don’t have to download or install anything.
It does not take up space on your local storage.
You can use the software and access your data from any computer anywhere in the world as long
as you have an internet connection.
10. One can find blogs covering a wide variety of topics .
(a) Briefly explain what a blog is.
(a) Blogs (or Weblogs) are online publishing tools.
(b) How can bloggers make money via their blogs?
(b) Blogs can make money mainly through advertising but also through sponsorship and
subscriptions.
(c) Give two examples of blogging software.
(c) Squarespace, Blogger or WordPress.
(d) Give four good practices to use to attract people to read and return to your blog.
(d) Update your site frequently.
Interact with your readers – look at their comments and respond.
Be casual, informative and interesting.
Use catchy titles and graphics.
Have opinions and express them well.
Link to your sources and other sites of interest (and check that the links work).

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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 11, 2nd Edition

11. Give four common software features that most modern operating systems have built into them to
make it easier for people with physical disabilities to use computers.
11. Screen magnification
Text to speech (Narration)
Larger mouse cursor
Higher contrast settings
Speech recognition for voice control of the computer
12. The following message dialog appeared while a user was using Excel 2016.

(a) What file action was the user performing to cause this dialog to appear?
(a) Saving the file (in a previous version).
(b) Explain in general terms why this dialog might appear (in any application)?
(b) Newer versions or editions of an application may use different file formats or contain features
that older versions do not support.
(c) What might be the consequence of continuing to save this spreadsheet (by clicking on the
Continue button)?
(c) While this is unlikely to result in a loss of data, certain types of formatting (such as the conditional
formatting icon sets indicated in the screenshot) may not be saved.
(d) What, in general, would be the main reason why a user might need to save a file in a lower or
‘older’ version?
(d) So that it can be opened and read by any user who may not have access to the newer version of
the software.