Chapter 5 Projects
Communications Across the Globe
Worldwide, communications capabilities are growing at a rapid pace.
Nonetheless, there exists among countries a great disparity in
communications capabilities. What you take for granted in your country
might not be available to the average person in, say, Greece. On the
other hand, you might discover that people in Finland, for example make
far greater use of cell phones than the people in your country. For this
project, use library and Internet resources to gather information about
the communications options that are available throughout the world. You
should consider which technologies are available and the number of
people who use each technology. Your research can include any of the
following: land-based phones, cellular phones, premium phone services
such as ISDN and ADSL, Internet access, broadcast television, and cable
television.
Once you have gathered these facts,
consider how they might affect the lifestyles, politics, and economies
of various regions. Suppose that you are organizing a high school debate
about communications technology. As the organizer, you must devise a
controversial question on which the debate will be based. You should
also write a few "pro" and "con" paragraphs just to
make sure that both sides of the issue will have substantial material to
debate. For this project, write the controversial debate question, your
"pro" and "con" paragraphs, and a short bibliography
of your sources.
Building a Home Network
Computer networks are popping up everywhere, including homes and
apartments. Why would anyone want a home network? Are they easy to
install? Are they expensive? Try to find the answers to these questions,
then write an article about home networks that might appear in your
local newspaper.
Claude Shannon
The father of information theory, Claude Shannon was one of the
communications industry's early pioneers. For this project, suppose that
you have been asked to create a Web page containing a brief biography of
Claude Shannon. Your page should discuss how his ideas have contributed
to our modern communications infrastructure. In addition, you should
include his photo, a list of his achievements, awards and honors. After
researching this topic, create a prototype of your Web page using a word
processor or Web page authoring software. Follow your instructor's
guidelines for submitting your project on paper, on disk, or on the Web.
|
