Introducing ICT systems

# 14.2 Modelling networked computers

You met a block diagram showing a model of a communication system in Figure 8. In this model, a transmitter sends data into a network which conveys it to a receiver; but how does this model work when the transmitter and receiver are computers?

Sometimes the computer's user is communicating with another computer user, (for example when using an online 'chat' system). In that case we can consider the users and their linked computers as forming a communication system similar to that shown in Figure 8.

Sometimes, however, the computer's user is communicating with another computer (for example, when browsing a website). Figure 11 models that situation; the blocks are 'user', 'computer', 'network' and then another 'computer'.

To explore the model shown in Figure 11, I'll use the example of sending a message from your computer at home to an Oepn University FirstClass conference. FirstClass is the system used by the Open University to enable registered students to communicate online with teaching staff and fellow students by email and take part in online conferencing.

Figure 11 Computers in a network
Figure 11
View long description

OpenLearn - Introducing ICT systems
Except for third party materials and otherwise, this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence, full copyright detail can be found in the acknowledgements section. Please see full copyright statement for details.