# 1 Communication between devices

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## 1.1 Getting an overview

This section starts with an article from a technical journal – the sort that is read by academics and professionals working in a related technical field. It sets the scene for some of the technologies and issues that you will be encountering later in this course.

We're not going to ask you to read the entire article, but we would like you to get an idea of the article's contents, the kind of points the author is making, and the range of issues that it throws up. With this aim in mind, we're going to lead you through a method of getting an overview of the contents of a document without actually having to read it through completely.

When reading any document there are some good reasons for starting off by getting a quick overview. If you are looking for some specific information, an overview enables you to assess whether the document contains anything that is of use to you. (There's no point spending more time ploughing through it only to find it doesn't hold what you were looking for.) If it does, you might choose to concentrate only on the section that is of interest to you. On the other hand, if you are reading the document because you want to assimilate its entire contents then an overview gives you a familiarity with the document before you engage with it in depth. This will be easier if you know the direction in which you're heading (it's easier to navigate on a journey you've travelled before). An overview will help you to identify particular parts you may really need to focus on.

◄Contents►Next: 1.2 Skimming to get an overview

OpenLearn - IT: device to device communication
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