Tutorial 4: Wireless LAN's

Wireless networking has become quintessential to almost every network worldwide.  Both big and small, networks are extremely important for the transfer and sharing of information at the business site as well as at home. Wireless Local Area Networks, or Wireless LAN’s, are simple to set up and can become vital to any user.

Using a Network Interface Card, or NIC, are the devices that allow your computer or device to access a wireless network.  Usually integrated into most notebooks and PDA’s now, an adapter or USB device is usually necessary for the desktop computer.

Access Points are fixed pieces of equipment, such as a router, that connect to wired Ethernet cables and transfers data wirelessly to and from NIC’s.  To avoid interference, access points can be configured to transfer data on different channels, too.

Wi-Fi is the most common type of wireless network.  Using radio waves, Wi-Fi networks can usually transmit data up to 300 feet away from an access point.  Surveying the site at which the network is to be set up can greatly increase the useful distance of the network by trying different locations of the access point.  Obstructions, such as walls, elevators, and office equipment, as well as interference from electrical equipment can cause the useful range of the network to suffer greatly.  Also known as ‘802.11’ networking, there are several different classes of such networks that all vary in the amount of data transferred per second.

Wireless B – Roughly 6 mbps on a 2.4 GHz channel

Wireless G – Roughly 54 mbps on a 2.4 GHz channel

Wireless A – Roughly 54 mbps on an uncommon 5 GHz channel

Wireless N – Roughly 75 mbps actual transfer rate on either a 2.4 or 5 GHz channel

(These speeds are within the W-LAN only: The speed of your internet connection may vary)

Following are a couple of photos taken by myself of my personal home network. You can see the cable modem which is attached to a wireless access point.

            Though wireless LAN’s are easy and basic to set up, they do lack in Security without proper configuration.  Basic W-LAN’s are not encrypted and any data transferred over the network can be intercepted by an outside source creating a breach in security, privacy, and safety of all who use the network.  Using Wi-Fi Protected Access, or WPA, you can secure your network with the use of passwords and encryption.  It is a MUST that you use a very strong password consisting of case-sensitive lettering as well as numbers without the use of any words that can be found in the dictionary (i. e. no words, just letters and numbers in no particular order).  Also, to protect you from potentially harmful data or other problems, NEVER automatically connect to any wireless network.

Secure E-Mail

Above is a personal Screen Capture of my Thunderbird Secure E-Mail inbox.

Link to a report about Boeing and their Secure E-Mail Challenge:
http://www.opengroup.org/comm/case-studies/boeing_challenge.pdf

     In 2001, the Boeing Corporation offered a challenge to companies to develop and institute a secure e-mail program as well as other valuable corporate security measures.  In 2002, the Secure Messaging Challenge Team ran over 600 tests within 11 separate and unique scenarios.  The methodology used was extremely precise as less than four percent of the said methodology was questioned.  Using only open source materials, the group tested and succeeded in creating secure means of messaging, a secure web client, a secured business process, as well as means for secure remote access.  This source of developing and implementing such security measures are most likely soon to be common practice among all parties involved in the aviation industry.

Tutorial 3: Databases - Importing and Exporting Data

                Working with databases can be a very daunting task to a new user.  When presented with the task of preparing and using a database, such as a database created by Microsoft Access, to return valuable information, a couple of key steps are necessary to begin manipulating the data.  Probably the easiest and most crucial step in creating a database is to import the external data that you are going to be using throughout your work.  Finally, exporting the information that results from such data for specific usage is another crucial aspect of external data when dealing with a database.

                To begin, data comes in many different forms.  These forms are textual or hyperlink, numbers and currency, dates, times, simple ‘Yes/No’ inputs, and objects such as pictures and video to name a few.  All data must be imported into a database to be able to use it.  A few different import sources are spreadsheets from Microsoft Excel, data already in an Access file, as well as manually written text.  Once the data is imported, the data is stored in what is known as a ‘table’.  A screenshot from a sample table created by myself is shown below.

Open database connectivity, or more simply ODBC, is part of what is called the ‘network language’.  This allows users to connect databases very quickly and effectively.

                When entering textual data, you would use what is known as a ‘transitional file type’.  This file type consists of all of the text data that you are going to import into a database.  Special features of text data are the DELIMITER which is simply a character, such as a quotation mark, that separates the fields or columns of your data, a TEXT QUALIFIER which again is a specific character that encloses the actual text data field within a text file, and finally text can be imported using FIXED WIDTH capabilities which allows for no need for a delimiter.  Fixed width instead aligns each column with a specific number of characters such as ‘1-23=Street’, etc.

                There are a couple of different ways to actually import data into a database.  First, there is simply opening a pre-determined file of data such as something that is given to you by management or something found online.  These files of data are links to data sources and can be opened by clicking on the ‘External Data’ tab of the database on the Access tab bar and navigating to the ‘Import & Link’ section of the ribbon. Second, manually entering data into a text box using delimiters or fixed width fields can be used, too.

                Finally, exporting data from Microsoft Access is a cinch!  Click on the ‘External Data’ tab and venture to the ‘Export’ section of the ribbon as seen above.  You can choose several different ways to export and present your data and information from a database.

                All in all, databases are a very neat and organized utility to store and manipulate data.  After the need for data to be presented and used in such a manner, creating a database is a great way to import, manipulate, and export the information needed from the data set that you were originally given.  A link to a website containing much more detailed information about databases is http://databaseanswers.org/tutorials.htm which is full of useful information to refer to when creating and managing databases.  Most importantly, HAVE FUN!  Create your own database and explore the many wonderful opportunities that Microsoft Access has to offer!

Database Project

               After completing the database project for ISM3004, I have learned that databases are an extremely effective tool for organizing and processing data and information.  Through the use of queries, you can run specific functions for gathering information without having to manually and painstakingly browse through several, in this case thousands, of pieces of data to quickly and efficiently make decisions and inferences about such data and information.  Also, through the use of forms, you can easily create, modify, and extract information about one particular field, such as an individual member in this project, in an indexed matter.  Finally, reports are a useful tool to effectively display and print data and information on specific fields and other parameters for personal or organizational use.

                To enhance functionality of this database, a few options pertaining to the creation of different queries would thoroughly enhance the overall usage of the database.  To begin, after being a personal trainer at a gym before, a query based upon the gender of the member might be a good idea to list as to create gender-specific workout plans and also to describe the goals of the individual members.  Also, creating a query based upon the type of membership in this case could easily provide information about the overall membership usage and perhaps even discounts available to family membership holders.  Queries are an awesome tool to be very specific about the type of information that you would like to be able to view and analyze in a very quick and effective manner.

                The addition of new reports may enhance the functionality of the database, as well.  Creating a report based on the city in which the members are located might offer information about the possibility of expanding the business to various other cities.  Also, reports on the frequency of new memberships based on date might suggest the overall allocation of resources, such as staff members available, during peak months or time periods in which membership signings are high.

A Reflection of the Presentation and Web 2.0 Project

     After completing the Presentation and Web 2.0 Project, many new skills and abilities to create a successful and meaningful presentation were acquired.  Before evaluating my own project, I evaluated another student’s Web 2.0 Presentation using an evaluation rubric.  This initial evaluation immediately gave me insight into my own presentation and the project as a whole.  By critiquing another’s project, I could reflect on individual aspects of my own presentation comparing the two side by side.  I became far more objective in evaluating my personal project after completing the peer evaluation.  The student that I evaluated had similar marks on their rubric as I did after completing the evaluations.

     When evaluating my own presentation, I found a few areas that I could certainly improve upon.  Although I felt that my presentation had a logical flow of content and that I didn’t leave many if any questions unanswered about the cause and the organization which I was promoting, I didn’t directly ask the audience any questions about their thoughts or give them any scenarios in which to connect to the cause.  I felt that the second slide of my presentation, which contained statistics on acts against wildlife specifically in Colorado, sparked interest and grabbed attention with interesting yet awful statistics about wildlife and gaming violations.

     After critiquing my own project, I also felt that I set the context of the presentation early and clearly stating the organization in which I was promoting as well as their mission and reasons for which they are helping wildlife.  I didn’t use and outlandish claims and I also validated the claims which I brought forth in the presentation.  I used caution to avoid typos and grammar errors within the slides.  The slides were generally free of clutter and I ensured readability by using proper text color for the background that was chosen.  On one slide, however, I did write the entire mission statement for the organization and read it verbatim during the presentation.  I felt this was necessary and acceptable seeing as someone may want to review the presentation and have detail about what the organization was trying to accomplish.  Other than that slide, I felt that I ‘said it’ then ‘showed it’ with brief descriptions and bullets throughout the presentation.

     All in all, I learned a significant amount of new knowledge after completing the Presentation and Web 2.0 Project.  I had a wonderful time exploring Microsoft PowerPoint and learning that PowerPoint is also capable of recording direct narration and also that PowerPoint can convert the slideshow directly into a movie or otherwise presentable means of media.  I also learned that it is very important to start brainstorming and gathering information early as I ran into some trouble later on in the process with the overall organization of the information that I was trying to present.  I also learned that receiving peer critiques is an invaluable source of feedback and also that a self-critique is a great way to reflect on the overall quality of my own work.  Finally, I learned new skills such as a storyboard and source document are of great help when putting the presentation process into motion.  I had an awesome experience learning about the power of Microsoft PowerPoint and now have an amazing skillset in which to use throughout my business career both now and in the future.

The link to my presentation on YouTube is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EsZ4gOc4ms

Tutorial 2: A World of Sound

            Each and every day, we encounter an enormous amount of sensory input from all aspects of our lives.  One of the most important senses that commonly gets taken for granted is our ability to hear.  Whether the sound of the coffee pot running as we wake up and rush into the world or a favorite comedian doing stand-up on late night television, we are never free from sound.

            Most of the audio that we hear generally comes from unnatural sources (for example, iPods, televisions, and radios to name a few).  Generally speaking, there are two types of multimedia audio: compressed and uncompressed.

            Compressed Audio is the majority of all audio we hear every day in distributed audio media.  Compressed audio includes MP3 or MPEG1 Audio Layer 3, WMA or Windows Media Audio, and AAC or Advanced Audio Coding.  MP3s and AAC audio has quickly become the most common audio formats as the iPod and iTunes boom.  Compressing audio is a great deal of help due to the actual data size or amount that can be found in just one song or other audio sample.  For music, this can equate to around 44000 bits of data per second or upwards of 700 MEGABYTES for just one song!

            ‘Lossy’ compression typically removes data, permanently, from a source to allow for an extremely smaller bit of audio.  This reduction can be around 1/10 the size of the original audio piece.

            ‘Lossless’ compression simply removes redundant data found in a piece of audio without actually destroying data from the source.

            Uncompressed Audio is effective for storing original pieces of audio in its raw form for editing in the future or other useful means.  For Windows, WAV or Waveform Audio Format is the uncompressed formatting.  For Apple, AIFF or Audio Interchange File Format is used for uncompressed audio.

            DRM or Digital Restriction Management has been set in place to help reduce the ability to create digital piracy.  This piracy is a huge problem to control as the internet and computers have made it very easy to download and upload music that can be heard and shared with others.  Digital watermarks have been very effective at creating traceable media so that, if pirated, there will be a direct, immediate link to whoever started the illegal act.  Expiration dates on rentals and other types or media are now in use to control various types of media.  Although there are many different ways to effectively reduce the amounts of piracy, an ‘Analog Loophole’ will forever be an issue.  The ‘Analog Loophole’ is basically the ability to rerecord music from one source to another such as a radio to a computer with only a small loss of actual quality.

            Creating audio and music is quite easy, as well.  There are several free software applications for operating systems of all types.  A couple of these applications are ‘Audacity’ and Apple’s ‘Garage Band’.

            Sounds and music are everywhere around us every second we breathe.  Our ears never stop listening and neither should we.  Take time every day to simply listen to the world around you.  You will not be disappointed.

Excel Project

           There are many aspects of Microsoft Windows that many people in the general population will never experience.  Whether it be for personal use or for the workplace, Microsoft Windows, specifically Microsoft Office, contains a few of the most vast, intricate, yet user friendly applications on the market.  Microsoft Excel, for instance, allows anyone to create spreadsheets with accuracy, ease, and a certain ‘pizazz’ when used to Excel’s full potential.  After completing the Excel Project for ISM3004, I have learned that a person, such as myself, with a fairly knowledgeable background with computers can expand their skills and knowledge of Microsoft Excel even further with the right tools and time to explore such a wonderful application.

            PivotTables have opened my eyes to a new and extremely helpful new office tool.  Not only can you create very easy to read tables in addition to the ‘raw data’ of the original spreadsheet, but these new tables can calculate an unimaginable amount of information from such data in a matter of seconds.  With very little effort whatsoever, a multitude of calculations of huge amounts of data can be displayed, edited, and adapted to almost any need of the user.  An example of a PivotTable from the Excel Project that calculated a percentage from 500 ROWS of data is expressed easily as you can see here:

With very little effort and a few clicks of the mouse, the PivotTable gathered, calculated, and displayed a neat and precise visual representation of the ‘raw data’.

Before starting the Excel Project, I had a pretty good idea of what Excel had to offer.  Whether it is the ability to generate enormous amounts of information from a simple data spreadsheet or to complete complex calculations with a few clicks of the mouse, Microsoft Excel has always been an awesome (often intimidating) tool for use around the house, school, or office.  Prior to this taking ISM3004, I had some background using Excel with previous classes completing spreadsheets using simple calculation commands such as “=SUM” and “=AVG” but had no previous knowledge of PivotTables and how extremely capable PivotTables really are.  This project included several tasks including adding columns, using the Freeze Pane capability, inserting and executing several functions and their calculations, as well as the before described PivotTables.  I will personally never use another application for organizing and manipulating numerical data.  All in all, Microsoft Excel is an unimaginably useful and indispensible addition to anyone’s office repertoire.