P5 Use IT to aid communication

Use IT to aid communication

IT can aid a lot of communication problems.

To start with, the windows 7 operating system has a 'Ease of access' tab in the control panel which will allow people who have a disability be able to use the computer. The ease of access has a lot of options that disable could use. For example if a person is blind they can turn the 'narrator' on so that when they highlight a word the narrator will say it out loud. Other options are like if you can't see very well then you can adjust the text size and font to something you can read.

Word is useful for making professional letters and documents as it is designed for office use. The advantages of word are that you can change the background colour. This means you can either have a nice colourful background or if your are wanting to send a dyslexic friend a word document then they can read it as you have made it more friendlier to them. Another advantage

The disadvantages of word are that sometimes it does a few random things which you don't how it happen. When you want to print out a page anything you put on there which is outside the margin will be cut of when printed. Another annoying problem is that if you save it as a word document and send to some who doesn't have word then they can't open or view it however you can save it as a PDF but if that person doesn't have adobe then they still can't view it. The main really big problem about word (and all Microsoft office products) are that it is VERY expensive (£250E).

PowerPoint allows you to make a slideshow to help you explain something's while you are talking to a crowd. PowerPoint can also allow you to make interactive quizzes and little other activities. Presentations can be made using PowerPoint so if you presenting to deaf people you can use your slides as subtitles for what you are saying and to add any additional information. If you are presenting to people who have trouble reading text you can change the font and slide colour to help.

The advantages of PowerPoint is that it is laid out exactly like word except it is for PowerPoint instead. Other advantages are that PowerPoint allows you to make professional looking slides in very easy steps. Just like word PowerPoint allows you to change the background colour and font so that people who have trouble reading as they find it hard to read the font then you can chooses a more readable font plus because it is going to be projected it will be a lot larger. What else is useful is that you can add pictures to help explain but you can add animation to it to keep the show interesting. Animation are very useful, when used professionally, as this allows you to show more than one picture on the same slide in the same area or appear on a different part of the slide to help explain different things.

The disadvantages of PowerPoint are that it doesn't have a spell checker on it so if you have misspelt something then there will be no indication of it being spelt wrong. Some animations are a little childish. If a disabled user is trying to use this software it doesn't have a lot of disabled usability. The animations installed on it are childish and sometimes are just a waste of time as they will be probably skipped past.

E-Mail. A advantage disadvantage (good but also a bad thing) is where it will remember the email address you put in to use again but if you put in wrong then it will remember the wrong one and its hard to get rid of it.

A advantage of email is that it allows you to communicate with friends that live far distances or live in area not accessible by disabled people.

A disadvantage of e-mail is that a lot of the time you will receive spam or anomalous e-mails. Some older people are more liable to give criminals there bank details through fishing emails.

Specialist software (VOIP)

Skype

The advantages of Skype are that it is free and very easy to use. I have used Skype before and its advantages are that it has 3 forms of communication you can use. Instant messages are used so you can type in a message to your friend and they will get the message instantly. Voice chat (comes standard) where you can talk to another person or people (conference) via headphones and while chatting you can do video chat too. If the person you want to talk to is not signed into Skype you do have the option to call their mobile phone number if you know it. You can also send files to your friends as well.

A disadvantage however is that if you are doing a conference call you have to upgrade your account using money to be able to use video chat in a conference.

my experience with Skype is that I have used it to talk to friends who are doing different things. So for example I was on the PlayStation and my friend James was on the computer. He asked if I wanted to Skype so I said yes and we were talking to each while playing two different games on two different platforms.

Facetime
I haven't used Facetime so I don't know what it's like. What I'm going to say is of what I find about it.

A disadvantage is that Facetime is Apple product so people who have a Microsoft product can't use Facetime. It looks like it isn't friendly to people who have disability as you have to hold it so you are in shot and to end calls you have to touch the end button which means people with bad eye to hand coordination will struggle.

Advantages of Facetime are that it will work on any apple product but you can do face time on a computer to a phone or a phone to a IPad.