Tutorial 4 Blog

What key components do you think make up a good (LAN) local area network?  A high speed internet provider? A fast running modem? A high performance router?  Yes, all of these are important aspects of a good network.  But think about how the internet gets from the provider to the modem and then to the router?  These are arguably the most important parts of a network and without them we wouldn't be able to 'connect' the network together.  Hmm, let me think...I got it!  CABLES!  Yes you're right.  So right now you are probably thinking, "what do cable have to do with having a good network?" There are three main types of cables when dealing with a local area network. Let me break it down for you.  

Coaxial

First, you have the coaxial cable which has a copper core that data travels on. Coaxial has less attenuation and greater resistance to noise than other types of cable. It is an older technology with limited capabilities that is less expensive than fiber but more than twisted pair.

Twisted Pair

Next you have twisted pair cables which is your most commonly used ethernet cable on the market today.  This technology is compatible with almost every computer and peripheral device used within a standard local area network (LAN).  This cable offers the most bang for your buck and is easy to install.

Fiber Optic

Last but not least we have fiber optic cables.  Fiber optic is the fastest, most secure and most expensive networking cable available on the market today for a local area network.  The fiber optic is unique in that it does not contain copper as the coaxial and twisted pair cables do; allowing for little to no resistance when transferring data. Data is sent as pulsing light through the fibers from one node to another.

Things To Consider

Latency, throughput  and attenuation are factors to consider when trying to determine what cable would best suit your LAN needs. Latency is the delay in data transfer from point A to point B usually measured in (ms) milliseconds. Delays vary depending upon cable length, strength of signal and the number of devices it must travel through to reach its destination point. Throughput is a measurement of how much data can be transferred at a single time often measured in (b/s) bits per second. Attenuation is the loss of a signal the further away it gets from its origin. The fix for this is plugging into a amplifier, repeater or hub to further boost the signal strength.  Hopefully this information can help guide you to determine which cables you need to build your network.  Remember that your network is only as fast as your slowest running cable. 

Secure Email

Link to the article: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-HealthVault-Encrypted-Emails-Boost-Patient-Health-Data-Sharing-182340.shtml

This article is about Microsoft's HealthVault using encrypted emails within their project.  On February 2nd, 2011 there was a Health and Human Services event in D.C. where Microsoft announced the use of encrypted emails.  HealthVault will now be able to share patient information securely.  Patients can receive secure emails in hopes that they become more active in their healthcare plan.  All encrypted emails will be saved to HealthVault in the patients permeant file.  Their main goal is to be able to send patient information in a safe and secure way.

Presentation Blog

Here is a link to my presentation on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZaBc_wW9AM&feature=channel_video_title

The following is my self critic according to the presentation evaluation rubric.  I think that I had a good logical flow with my presentation material.  I could have improved it by adding more material but I did not want to make it very cluttered.  I feel I did an ok job of anticipating questions.  I do believe now that I probably did not answer every question.  I think I was decent at grabbing the attention of the audience.  I asked a single question, "How you can help?"  I think it is very clear what I am trying to present to the audience.  I really didn't validate any claims but I did reference the website at the end where I found my information.  I don't believe that I had any inconsistencies, errors and typos.  I think I did a good job of avoiding clutter, the material was very neat, clean and very readable.  I read the slides as I showed them to the audience.  That completes my self critic according to the presentation evaluation rubric.

The presentation evaluation rubric is such a great tool for editing and proofreading presentations.  It does a great job of breaking down a presentation so it becomes more clear.  Normally one would take in the whole presentation but the rubric gives you the structure to go section by section.  I feel this is a more clear view of the presentation.  Even a great presentation may seem flawless but until it endures the presentation evaluation rubric there is always something that can be improved.

I feel that the presentation project experience will for sure be useful to me in future business.  The different presentation tools that use Web 2.0 technology out there are unbelievable.  The presentation tool Prezi was amazing.  The amount of information you can present was limitless.  You can literally spend days and weeks playing around with it and just trying to get the hang of how it all works together.  I can see myself making some very dynamic presentations using this technology.  The possibilities for Web 2.0 presentations are endless.