Chapter 6: The Explore Curricular Requirement

Computing Innovations

A computing innovation is one that has a computer program that is essential to the innovation being able to operate.
You should be able to describe the program and what it does for an innovation.
- A physical innovation—such as a GPS
- Nonphysical computing software—such as an app
- Nonphysical computing concept—such as social networking

Input/Processing/Output

A key concept is being able to distinguish the data from the device that collects the data.
For example, a sensor is a data collection device.
- It sends the data it collects to the program.
- The data would be values for distance, temperature, motion, among many others, and it is input to the computer program in the innovation.
The innovation’s program then processes the data and produces some type of output.
- The message and “turn on” signal are examples of output.

You could also see questions about other important concepts related to analyzing a computing innovation’s data.
These include the following:
- How the data collected could be traced to an individual (privacy)
- Who can access the data (security)
- Where the data is warehoused (storage)
Privacy is protecting our identity.
- Could partial data and other publicly available data reveal our identity?
- Can an individual be identified if our data is mixed with a lot of other data to hide our identities?
Security deals with who can access our data.
- Organizations should restrict data access and update.
- Schools keep much of student and teacher data.
- Keeping your data secure means not letting other students view your grades or vice versa in an online gradebook.
Data storage concerns center around where the data is located.
- If your school data is stored on a local server, the data should be protected so only authorized people are able to access it.

Computing advancements have implications based on their intended usage.
These impacts might be good or bad, sometimes for the same person.
When examining stimulus questions, attempt to observe the effects from many perspectives to determine whether they are positive or negative.

A computing innovation is one that has a computer program that is essential to the innovation being able to operate.
You should be able to describe the program and what it does for an innovation.
- A physical innovation—such as a GPS
- Nonphysical computing software—such as an app
- Nonphysical computing concept—such as social networking

A key concept is being able to distinguish the data from the device that collects the data.
For example, a sensor is a data collection device.
- It sends the data it collects to the program.
- The data would be values for distance, temperature, motion, among many others, and it is input to the computer program in the innovation.
The innovation’s program then processes the data and produces some type of output.
- The message and “turn on” signal are examples of output.

You could also see questions about other important concepts related to analyzing a computing innovation’s data.
These include the following:
- How the data collected could be traced to an individual (privacy)
- Who can access the data (security)
- Where the data is warehoused (storage)
Privacy is protecting our identity.
- Could partial data and other publicly available data reveal our identity?
- Can an individual be identified if our data is mixed with a lot of other data to hide our identities?
Security deals with who can access our data.
- Organizations should restrict data access and update.
- Schools keep much of student and teacher data.
- Keeping your data secure means not letting other students view your grades or vice versa in an online gradebook.
Data storage concerns center around where the data is located.
- If your school data is stored on a local server, the data should be protected so only authorized people are able to access it.

Computing advancements have implications based on their intended usage.
These impacts might be good or bad, sometimes for the same person.
When examining stimulus questions, attempt to observe the effects from many perspectives to determine whether they are positive or negative.