COLLEGE OF BUSINESS EDUCATION (CBE)

MWANZA CAMPUS

Basics of computer applications and Information Literacy

ITT04115

LECTURE FIVE

ELEMENT/COMPONENTS OF A COMPUTER SYSTEM

What is computer system?
Computer system is the set of interrelated components that working together for the
purpose of accomplish computing task.

Point to understand: other people make the term Information System (IS) and
Computer System interchangeable, but the truth is: when you speak about IS, you are
speaking about set of interrelated components that work together for the purpose of to
facilitate planning, control, coordination, and decision making in an organization base on
processed data (information). Note: To be valuable, information must be accurate,
organized, timely, accessible, useful, and cost-effective to produce.

Generating information from a computer system requires the following five elements:-
1. Hardware - Hardware is physical or tangible part of computer that performing
computing task according to the set of instructions. The hardware must be reliable
and capable of handling the expected workload.
2. Software - is collection of program (Set of Instructions) and other related data that
tells a computer hardware what tasks to perform and how to perform them. The
software must be developed carefully and tested thoroughly.
3. Data - Data is a collection of unprocessed items (raw facts), which can include
text, numbers, dots, characters, and special characters. Data when stand for itself
(before be processed) has no context or meaning. The data entered into the
computer must be accurate, timely, organized and useful.
4. People/User - People is generally a human. It focuses to people who design and
operate the computer (software), input the data, build the hardware and keep it
running. Note: user is not necessary to be human being, it can be even other
machine or external system.
5. Procedures- Procedure is a rules and regulations that user follows to accomplish
an activity while using computer. All the computer system applications should have
readily available documented procedures that address operating the computer and
using its programs.
COMPUTER NETWORK

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What is computer network?
Computer Network is the connection to two or more computers, connected together for
the purpose of sharing resources (resource could be: applications, data, hardware,
information, files, technology and etc).

TYPES OF COMPUTER NETWORKS

We often define the type of Computer Network depending upon the geographical area
covered by a particular network, and these types are like:
• Local Area Network (LAN)
• Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)
• Wide Area Network (WAN)

1. Local Area Network (LAN) – These types of computer networks connect network
devices over a relatively short distance. Quite often, a networked office building,
home or school contains a single LAN although it is normal to come across a
building that contains a few small LANs. On a few occasions, a LAN may also span
over a group of nearby buildings. Such computer networks are usually owned by one
organization (In other word we can say LAN is Private computer network).

Example of LAN:
i. Networking in home, office.
ii. Networking between two computers.
iii. Wi-Fi (When we consider wireless LAN)

Intranet, An intranet is a private computer network that uses Internet Protocol

technology to share information, operational systems, or computing services within
an organization.

Point to understand: through different scholars used intranet as example of LAN,

there slightly difference between the two terms: as we said LAN is the computer
network span a room or building mean if you have a campus like CBE Mwanza we
have several buildings, means each building can has its own LAN. But when we
speak in term of Intranet: since all LAN of different building are connected to form
CBE network and the network is only accessed in CBE Mwanza Campus, which is
Intranet. So please don’t be confused by the two terms

2. Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) – This is a network that spans over a physical
area like a city or state that is smaller than a WAN but larger than a LAN. Quite
often, such computer networks are owned and operated by single entities such as

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 government bodies or large corporations (MAN is also private computer network
since its own by someone).

Example of MAN:
i. Networking between banks in a city.
ii. Used in air reservation.

CBE is one university with several campuses (Dar es Salaam & Mwanza), so if you
have the network that extends the functionality of other campus we say “you are
using MAN”. Extranet may be taken as example of MAN: Speaking about Extranet,
Extranet is a private network that uses Internet technology and the public
telecommunication system to securely share part of a business's information or
operations with suppliers, vendors, partners, customers, or other businesses. In
other words we can say Extranet, is the private computer network that can be
accessed by the outside part of the organization.

3. Wide Area Network (WAN) – As the name suggests, a WAN spans over a
continents to continents (globally). It may be regarded as a collection of LANs
dispersed over a geographical area. The internet is a very good example of a WAN.
Most WANs exist under distributed or collective ownership and management and
unlike the LANs, are not necessarily owned by one organization (in other word, we
can say: is the public computer network since no one has full mandate of the
network).

INTERNET
What is internet?
Internet is a public global computer network that connects different networks for the
purpose of sharing resources (Data/Information, Hardware, Software, User and etc.).

What is a history of internet?

The Internet developed from the ARPANET, which was funded by the US government to
support projects within the government and at universities and research laboratories in
the US – but grew over time to include most of the world's large universities and the
research arms of many technology companies. Use by a wider audience only came in
1995 when restrictions on the use of the Internet to carry commercial traffic were lifted.

Who own the internet?

Answer: No one actually owns the Internet, and no single person or organization
controls the Internet in its entirety. The Internet is more of a concept than an actual
tangible entity, and it relies on a physical infrastructure that connects networks to other

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networks.

How do we get internet services?

Answer: we always have internet services from Internet Service Providers (ISPs). If
you want to access the internet at home, you'll need an Internet Service Provider (ISP)
and a modem to connect to the ISP.
The Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for
accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. List of ISP in Tanzania: Africa Online,
Powernet by Powercomputers, SimbaNET, RAHA - Internet Services, TTCL Broadband,
Zanzibar Datacom Limited and etc.

INTERNET SERVICES
There variety of services offered by internet, some of them are:
• World Wide Web - the WWW is a system of interlinked hypertext documents that
are accessed via the Internet. With a web browser, one can view web pages that
may contain text, images, videos, and other multimedia and navigate between them
via hyperlinks.
• Telnet–is the network protocol that allows a user on one computer to log into
another computer that is part of the same network.
• Electronic Mail (E-mail)-messages distributed by electronic means from one
computer user to one or more recipients via a computer network (often internet).
• File Transfer Protocol (FTP)-is a standard network protocol used to transfer
computer files from one host to another host over a TCP-based network, such as the
Internet. FTP is built on client-server architecture and uses separate control and
data connections between the client and the server.
• Newsgroups-A newsgroup is an Internet-based discussion about a particular topic.
These topics range from sports, cars, investing, teen problems, and some stuff you
probably don't want to know about. Users post messages to a news server which
then sends them to a bunch of other participating servers. Then other users can
access the newsgroup and read the postings. The groups can be either
"moderated," where a person or group decides which postings will become part of
the discussion, or "un-moderated," where everything posted is included in the
discussion.
• Chat-is the Real-time communication between two users via computer. Once a chat
has been initiated, either user can enter text by typing on the keyboard and the
entered text will appear on the other user's monitor. Most networks and online
services offer a chat feature.
• Video conference –is a conference in which participants in different locations are
able to communicate with each other in sound and vision.

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• Streaming video is content sent in compressed form over the Internet and
displayed by the viewer in real time. With streaming video or streaming media, a
Web user does not have to wait to download a file to play it. Instead, the media is
sent in a continuous stream of data and is played as it arrives.
• Electronic Business and Electronic commerce (E-Commerce and E-Business)
– is the buying and selling of products and services by businesses and consumers
through an electronic medium, without using any paper documents. E-commerce is
widely considered the buying and selling of products over the internet, but any
transaction that is completed solely through electronic measures can be considered
e-commerce.

BASIC PARTS OF AN E-MAIL

What is E-mail?
E-Mail is the short for Electronic Mail, which means: messages distributed by
electronic means from one computer user to one or more recipients via a computer
network (often internet).
E-MAIL SERVICES
E-mail service also known as webmail, is the service that you can only utilize (enjoy) if
you only registered yourself with online email service providers to enable you to
send, receive and review e-Mail from your Web browsers.
e-Mail services offer many of the same features and functionality for managing e-Mail as
desktop email software counterparts like Microsoft Outlook and Mozilla Thunderbird.
Some of the more popular online e-Mail services providers are YahooMail, Gmail,
Hotmail and AOL Mail.
Note: Due to advancement of Information Technology, we can either save our e-Mail
message: either on server (where you register yourself for email service by using IMAP)
or on location machine like your laptop or desktop machine (using Ms Outlook, Ms
Express and etc by using POP3) or Mobile device like smart phone (using WAP).
COMPONENTS OF AN E-MAIL:

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Any Electronic Mail (e-Mail) consists of the basic four components, and these are:
1. HEADERSECTION – e-Mail header section contains the following:
a. The e-Mail address and sometimes the name of ADDRESSEE (keyed in the
TO: section)
b. The e-Mail address of AUTHOR (keyed in the FROM: section)
c. DATE – the date the message is created
d. SUBJECT – the topic of the message
Note: Use the subject line to inform the receiver of EXACTLY what the email
is about. Appropriate use of the subject line increases the chances your email
will be read and not discarded into the SPAM can
e. Cc (Carbon Copy) e-Mail addresses listed here will receive a copy of the
email that you sent to the people listed in the To: field. Everyone listed under
the CC field will see everyone’s email addresses that are under the To and
CC field.
f. Bcc- Stands for Blind Carbon Copy. e-Mail addresses listed here will
receive a copy of the email that you sent to the people listed in the To: field.
Everyone listed under the CC field will see everyone’s email address that are
listed under the To and CC field but will not see the addresses listed in the

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 BCC field. Each person listed on the BCC field will not see the email
addresses of other recipients.

2. BODY SECTION– the message of the email.

a. Usually contains a request for action.
b. Sentences should be kept short and to the point
c. Avoid with very long sentences when possible.
d. Include a desired action and a deadline for completion when appropriate

3. SIGNATURE (CALL OUT) – the name and contact information of the sender.
a. Email service providers provide a user interface for the creation of an
electronic signature that automatically attaches to the end of every message.
b. Make sure to include contact information, including your name, title, phone and
fax numbers, as well as snail-mail address in the signature portion of the
email.
c. If you have additional email addresses, you may want to include these as well

4. ATTACHMENT – is a computer file sent along with an email message. One or

more files can be attached to any email message, and be sent along with it to the
recipient. This is typically used as a simple method to share documents and
images.

What are advantages and disadvantages of Electronic mail (E-mail)

ADVANTAGES OF EMAIL
There are a number of benefits of using an email service. The benefits are listed in a
manner that readers should find them easy to understand.

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 • Easy to Use - Sending an email frees us from the tedious work of managing huge
chunks of data. An email service helps manage our contacts, allows us to send
mails quickly, helps maintain our mailing history and provides sufficient storage
space. An email can be sent from any terminal (computer) in the world with
Internet access.

• Speed - An email can be delivered instantly and almost anywhere across the
globe. No other mailing service matches the email in terms of speed. You can send
a message/mail simultaneously to multiple users; thus, email service saves a lot of
time.

• Data Storage-The email service providers offer their customers/users with enough
space for storage of data. Also, the process of sorting and arranging mails, as per
the subject or other criteria (date, sender, etc.), is made easier for users.

• Provision of Attachments - The feature of attachment allows users to send huge

chunks of data in a single mail. Also, sending attachments with emails doesn't
raise cost as in postal service.

• Easier for Reference -When a person has to reply to an email, he/she can use the
provision of attaching previously sent/received mails. Such mails can be used for
the purpose of reference in the communication process. It helps the recipient
understand what he/she is reading.

• Automated Emails - It is possible to send automated emails with the help of

specialized programs like auto-responders. Auto-responders reply only to those
messages with a generalized, pre-written text.

• Easy to Prioritize-Emails come with a subject line. Therefore, it becomes easy to

prioritize them and ignore the ones that are unwanted. Thus, users can easily sort
and filter the mails in their inbox.

• Reliable and Secure - Constant efforts are taken to improve the security needed
for using an electronic mailing service. Today, electronic mailing service is
considered as one of the most secure ways of communicating online.

• Advertising Tool - Nowadays, many individuals and business organizations are

using the email service to advertise their products, services, etc. Thus, email can
also be used as a marketing tool.

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 • Cheap Service - The expenses incurred in using an email service are lesser in
comparison to that in the traditional mailing service. However, the expenses also
depend on whether you have an Internet connection at home or not. Those who
don't have access to Internet at home can avail the services offered by internet
cafes.

• Advantages of Technological Development - Development in computer

technology has enabled users to send emails not only from their desktop
computers, but also smartphones and other such devices. Thus, a user can send
and receive emails even while he/she is traveling.

DISADVANTAGES OF EMAIL
The email service, although has many benefits to offer, it also has certain limitations.
Disadvantages of the email service are listed below.
• Spam - Emails when used to send unsolicited messages and unwanted
advertisements create nuisance and are termed as spam. The activity of checking
and deleting unwanted mails may consume a lot of user's time. Therefore, it has
become necessary to block or filter unwanted emails through spam filters.
Generally, spamming is practiced by sending hoax emails. Email spoofing is
another practice which is commonly used for spamming. The act of spoofing
involves deceiving a recipient by altering email headers or addresses from which a
mail is sent.
• Viruses - Viruses are computer programs which have the potential to harm
computer systems. Viruses are known to copy themselves and further infect the
computer system in question. Recipients are required to scan their mails because,
viruses can be transmitted through them.
• Less privacy –in order to use email service: you need the internet service
provider(ISP) to provide email service since email is part of service offeredby the
internet. ISP act as third person on your conversation and all emails from sender to
receiver and vice versa has to pass to third person who is your ISP.
• Email services need sender and receiver to have email address so as to make
communication active
• Lacking that Personal Touch - Even in today's digital age, there are many who
feel comfortable reading the handwritten word. Emails lack that personal touch.
• Internet Access is required - There are many parts in the world where people
don't have access to Internet. The email service doesn't serve any purpose in such
areas.

PARTS OF AN EMAIL ADDRESS

Every e-Mail user on the Internet has a unique e-Mail address that identifies an

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electronic post office box on a network where e-Mail can be sent. Different types of
networks have different formats for e-mail addresses. On the Internet, all e-Mail
addresses have a similar form. All addresses must have a user name, @Symbol and a
domain. For example, an email address at CBE University might look like this:

[email protected] ---- username@domain

The first part of the address <aloyce> is also known as the user name. This is the
unique name recognized by the mail server.The @ symbol separates the unique user
name from the domain. The domain in this case is cbe.ac.tz. The domain name may
also be broken down into parts. Understanding the parts of the domain name is helpful
in deciphering the origin of an email address.

The mail server at IFM University for all faculty, staff, and students is <cbe>.The second
part before the last part of the address, <ac>, is the second level domain (SLD) and last
part of the address is<tz>, is the top-level domain (TLD) in the hierarchical Domain
Name System. Examples of top-level domains include:
gov - Government agencies
edu - Educational institutions
org - Organizations (nonprofit)
mil - Military
com - Commercial business
net - Network organizations
tz - Tanzania or ug - Uganda - both of these are examples of country domains.

BROWSER
What is Browser?
Browser is an application software that allows a user to view contents of the web. An
easy way to navigating the Internet through a series of hyperlinks you can use browser
to do so.
Examples of popular browsers are Chrome, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari,
Netscape and Opera.

Each browser has a navigation toolbar, like the ones shown below that also illustrate
how the Internet browser toolbar has changed over the history of Internet browsers.
This navigation bar is the most essential portion of the browser and will always at least
contain the Back arrows and address bar.
Internet browser bar evolution

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Exercise
1. Define what is Computer Network
2. Describe the main types of Computer Network
3. Illustrate different types of network topology
4. Write short notes Intranet, extranet and internet
5. Brief explain the different internet services
6. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of computer Network
7. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of using e-Mail
8. With examples, define what is web browser?
9. Who own internet?
10. Write short notes on how internet user(s) connected to internet
11. Write short notes on elements/ components of computer system
12. Write short notes on elements/ components of computer

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