Output Devices How Does Your Computer Communicate With You

What are you saying? What good is computer with no way of communicating with the user? Maybe we should offer robot language course. no, don't worry, can understand you just fine, Mia. hey, you're here. Ready for your first real lesson on computer skills? Since it's on my mind, think we'll make today's lesson all about what these things are missing. way for computers to communicate with humans, known as output devices. By the end of this lesson you will be able to explain three ways that modern computers communicate information to users, and identify five examples of modern output devices. Let's get into it. So first things first. What exactly is an output device? An output device is piece of hardware that takes data from computer and translates it into form humans can understand using our senses. It's important to note that output devices translate data from computer. They aren't the computer itself. If you disconnect your computer from printer, it won't start printing things all on its own, and screen won't show anything unless computer tells it what to show. Mistaking an output device for the computer itself is kinda like calling my tongue my brain. Well, that tasted weird. My tongue lets me express the thoughts running through my brain to other people, but my brain isn't actually in my mouth. The same goes for anything that you might use to express your thoughts and feelings to others. If you communicate through sign language or hand gestures, that doesn't mean you have brains for hands. Ew, slimy. Instead, each of these is method of outputting the thoughts from my brain, the one in my head, so that others can understand what I'm thinking. This is what output devices do for computer. They aren't the computer itself, but they let the computer express what's inside it. you're thinking about me? Anyway, enough gross brain analogies. Can you identify any output devices on the computer or computing device that you're using right now? Here's hint. How do you know that the computer is thinking about this video right now? It must be telling or showing you somehow, right? Pause the video now and unpause it when you think you figured it out. Your computer is probably outputting this video in two different ways right now. Visually, through screen, and audibly, through speaker or headphones. When you do the practice for this lesson, those same outputs will be used again to display the questions and answers visually on screen, and read the questions audibly if you choose to turn on the read aloud option. Screens, speakers, and headphones are output devices, which turn the data inside the computer into forms you can understand. You could mute the volume right now. Or even turn off your computer screen. The data would still be in the computer, and this video would continue playing inside the computer. You just wouldn't know it. By turning off the output devices, you're not stopping the computer from doing its job. You're just stopping it from telling you what it's doing. It used to be that all output devices were separate from the computer and had to be plugged into it. Old school computers had lot of plug-in ports. So you could use monitor, printer, set of speakers, projector, and whatever else you needed. But thanks to the advancements of modern technology, some output devices are now built in, like the screen and speakers on laptop, and other output devices can be connected wirelessly instead of having to plug them in, like Bluetooth headphones or Wi-Fi enabled printers. Okay, now that you understand what output devices do, let's take look at some examples. Some of these will seem really obvious, and others you've probably never even heard of. Some output devices translate computer data into things you can see. Some computers today, such as tablets, have built-in screens, but there are also standalone screens known as monitors. You can also visually display computer data through projector, or if you want the computer data recorded on piece of paper, you'd send it through printer. Visual output devices are the most common way we interpret computer data, but we have to keep in mind that we're all different, and for various reasons like visual or hearing impairments, some may need to use other kinds of output devices. Luckily, computers can communicate with us in other ways too. Auditory output devices translate computer data into sounds that you can hear. Most smartphones have two built-in speakers, one at the top and one at the bottom. There are also standalone speakers that you can connect to most computers. Or you might be more familiar with the tiny speakers that go over your ears, known as headphones, or the ones that go in your ears, known as earbuds, that you can use to listen to your lessons while you're in public. There are variety of programs out there that work with different output devices to make information coming from computers accessible to everyone. For example, screen reader programs use auditory output devices to read text aloud and describe what's shown on the screen. How neat is that? Recent technology has even allowed us to invent tactile output devices. That means you can experience them using your sense of touch. These days, the most well-known would be 3D printers, which take computer file and turn it into physical object that you can hold. Another tactile output device you might be familiar with is vibration motors, which are used in game controllers and phones. Some modern controllers use these motors along with haptic technology so that the vibrations mimic things happening in your game, like your character's pulse getting faster when they're scared. Haptic suits are wearable output devices that make your body feel like you're touching or being touched by things that aren't there. Kinda weird to think about, but also really cool. Again, for people whose vision is impaired, tactile output devices can be extremely useful. Like Braille displays which convert written text on the computer into raised dots that form lines of Braille, so that those with low vision can read what's on the computer using their sense of touch. There aren't many output devices that let computers communicate with us using tastes or smells, which would be called gustatory and olfactory output devices. Fun little fact there, but that's mainly because we don't even use those senses to communicate with each other. But communicating with smell and taste is completely normal for some animals, so it's not impossible that someday we'll have output devices like flavor printer or pheromone emitter. Who knows what the future has in store? All right, if want to know what this computer is thinking, all gotta do is... This computer had my lessons in it the whole time. guess that's hint that should do my school work for today. Hey computer, log in. Computer, hello? Well, guess just because can see what the computer is saying doesn't mean it can understand what I'm saying. need way to communicate my thoughts to the computer. That's why in the next computer skills lesson, we'll explore input devices. Pieces of hardware that humans use to tell the computer what we want it to do. Remember, your brain is the smartest computer in the world. So keep it charged and never stop updating it. See you next time.