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How 'binary information' is communicated via the internet

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Words on left-screen 'Bits', 'Binary code', number 1 above number zero on right-screen
How 'binary information' is communicated via the internet

SUBJECTS:  Technologies

YEARS:  5–6, 7–8


Ever wondered how your photos, emails and messages get sent between devices?

Watch as software engineer Tess Winlock explains what binary information is, and how it gets from one place to another. Can you explain what 'bits' are? How about 'bytes'?

In the past, binary information was sent using physical systems like semaphore and morse code. Today, binary code is sent using electricity, light and radio waves in the form of wires, fibre optic cables and wifi.

After you've watched this video, see if you can write a list of the pros and cons of each of these technologies. How do you think communication technologies might change in the future?

Please note: the radio waveforms that appear at 5 mins 27 secs in this video are incorrectly labelled. The first one should be AM, the one under it, FM.


Acknowledgements

Video © Code.org



Production Date: 6 Oct 2015


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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