Q. What is e-commerce?

Ans. E-commerce refers to the business transactions made over the internet
such as buying and selling items online.

Session 10 : DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY AND MEDIA DEVICES

Q. Explain different digital and media devices.
Ans. Some of the digital devices are:-
1. Audio and Video Player – Examples – MP3 Player, CD players and DVD
players. MP3 players are used to play audio whereas CD and DVD players
are used to play audio or video.
2. Mobile Phones – It is wireless device that is used to make a call from any
location. Web enabled phones can be used to connect to internet, check e-
mail messages or download songs and games from the internet. If the phone
has multimedia features and camera, you can click pictures, videos, record
sound and play music.
3. Video Game systems – Example – Microsoft Xbox. An Xbox has a
motherboard and a harddisk and supports online gaming. You can play
games, transfer audio files and can also play movies.
4. Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) – A PDA is handheld computer that is
used as a personal organizer. A traditional PDA includes features, such as an
address book, task list and a calculator.PDA can be connected to internet
and can also contain camera.
5. Digital Camera - A digital camera stores images digitally on a memory
device such as flash memory card or a mini hard disk.
6. Digital Video Cameras - It is used to record both audio & video and store
it in a digital format. Digital camcorders and webcams are examples of
digital video cameras.
Q. Write types of Audio.
Ans. Audio is of two types – analog and digital.
Analog - What you speak or hear is of analog form or wave format.
Digital - The audio stored in digital devices is of digital format.
Q. What is digital audio technology and what are its characteristics.
Ans. The audio stored in digital devices are called digital audio. Digital audio
technology allows us to record, edit and play digital audio files on a
computing device. This technology lets you communicate with the computer
by just speaking.
Basic characteristics of digital audio technology are:-
1. Digital audio can be compressed. Compressed audio files save space,
allow portability and are easier to transfer over the internet .
2. It can be edited on a computer by using audio editing software.
Q. Explain different audio file formats?
A. 1. Wave (.WAV): This is a universal sound file format which is used to
store audio files in the wave audio format. Audio files stored in this format
have good audio quality but this format is used sparingly these days as the
audio files stored in this format are larger when compared with other
formats. It was developed for Microsoft Windows 95.
2. MPEG Audio Layer 3 (.MP3): This format was developed by Motion
Picture Expert Group to allow compression of audio and video for digital
distribution. The MP3 format is a popular format that is used to store digital
audio files as the files stored in this format are generally smaller than WAV
files.
3. Windows Media Audio (.WMA): This format was developed by Microsoft.
It is used to store digital audio files.
Q. What is audio streaming?
A. Audio streaming is the process of playing a large audio file from the
Internet without downloading it. The audio file is sent to the computer in a
continuous stream.
Q. Define Digital recording?
A. Digital recording is the technique of recording and storing audio files in a
digital format. These audio files can also be stored in storage devices like
CDs and DVDs , in various formats such as WAV and MP3.
Q. Explain the concept of burning?
A. The process of copying audio and storing it on a recordable CD or DVD is
referred to as burning. For the burning,
1. We need a special hardware device, such as CD or a DVD writer. A CD
writer can burn only recordable CDs whereas most DVD writers can burn
recordable CDs and DVDs.
2. We also need software to copy audio to a recordable CD or DVD. Different
types of CDs can be created from these software, such as Data CDs, Audio
CDs and Mixed Mode CDs. Mixed Mode CDs contain audio, video and data
files.
Q. Explain different speech technologies?
A. 1. Speech Synthesis: It is a technology that allows the computer to speak
to you by converting text to digital audio. Windows Vista has a built-in
screen reader called Narrator that supports speech synthesis. A screen
reader is a program that reads the text on the computer screen aloud. To
support speech synthesis, the computer must have a sound card and
speakers.
2. Speech Recognition: It is a technology that allows us to communicate
with a computer by using only our voice to enter text and to issue
commands. To support speech recognition, the computer must have an
audio input device like microphone, a sound card and speech recognition
software that converts human speech into text and commands for the
computer.
Q. What is digital video technology?
A. Digital video technology allows us to record video in the digital format on
a digital storage device, such as a CD, DVD or a flash memory card, and edit
it on a computer by using digital video editing software.
Q. What are the characteristics of Digital Video?
A. The characteristics of Digital Video are:-
1. We can edit them easily using digital video editing software.
2. We can also upload the video to a web site and share it over the Internet.
3. We can copy the video from a computer to a recordable CD or DVD.
4. These files can be easily compressed. Compressed files save space and
are easier to transfer over the Internet.
Q. What are Camcorders? Explain the types of Camcorder.
A. Camcorder captures and records video.
The 2 types of Camcorder are as follows:
1. Analog Camcorder: An analog camcorder records and stores video in an
analog format on a tape. To edit the video on the computer, we have to
convert it to digital format from analog format.
2. Digital Camcorder: A digital camcorder records and stores video in a
digital format, which makes editing the recorded video easy.
Note: A Digital camcorder is lighter and smaller than an analog camcorder.
Q. Explain the purpose of using Digital Video Editing Software?
A. A digital video editing software can:
1. Add titles and background music to the video.
2. Cut or remove certain scenes from the video.
3. Add special effects, such as fade-in and fade-out to the video.
4. Enhance video quality by adjusting its brightness, contrast and color.
5. Record audio over the video to describe certain scenes.
Q. What are the different types of Digital Video Editing?
A. The digital video editing can be of two types:
1. Linear: In linear editing, we have to sequentially traverse a file to edit it.
Tape is always in a linear format and has to be edited linearly.
2. Non-Linear: In non-linear editing, we can directly go the frame and
remove it from the video. Random access devices such as, DVDs and CDs
read and write data in a non-linear manner.
WARNING: Copying video directly from the web and storing it on CDs is
illegal. Copying video directly from a video CD or DVD is also illegal. We
should have permission to copy and video before copying and storing it.
Q. What is Web Video Technology?
A. Web Video Technology allow us to transfer digital video files over the
Internet.
Some of Web Video Technology are:
1. Video Streaming
2. Downloading Video
3. Web Conferencing.
Q. What is Digital Photography?
A. Digital Photography allows us to transfer pictures to a computer where
we can edit pictures to enhance their quality.
Q. Define Personal and Professional Photo Printers?
A. Personal Photo Printers: They can either be black and white or color
printers. Color Inkjet printers are the most commonly used personal photo
printers.
Professional Photo Printers: They are used in print labs, use special imaging
devices to expose regular photo paper. These printers produce true-
photographic quality prints on paper.