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Input Devices and Methods 3

Manual input devices are used by people to enter data by hand.

KeyboardPointing devicesJoystickDigital cameraTouch screenScannerConcept keyboardGraphics tabletMicrophone

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Keyboard

The keyboard is the most common type of input device. Ordinary computer keyboards have their keys arranged in a similar way to those on a typewriter. This way of arranging the keys is called QWERTY because of the order that the keys appear in on the first row of letters.

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Pointing devicesA mouse is a pointing device. It is the next most common type of input device after the keyboard.

Touch pads and trackballs are also types of pointing device. They are often used instead of a mouse on portable computers.

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Joystick

The main use of a joystick is to play computer games by controlling the way that something moves on the screen.

Joysticks can be used to control movement from side-to-side, up-and-down and diagonally.

A joystick will also always have at least one button on it which can be used to make something happen like making a character in a game jump or fire a gun.

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Touch screenA touch screen can detect exactly where on its surface it has been touched. Touch screens are used in a lot of fast food chains and restaurants because they are easy to keep clean and re-program if changes need to be made to the menu.

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Digital cameraA digital camera can store many more pictures than an ordinary camera. Pictures taken using a digital camera are stored inside its memory and can be transferred to a computer by connecting the camera to it. A digital camera takes pictures by converting the light passing through the lens at the front into a digital image.

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ScannerA scanner can be used to input pictures and text into a computer. There are two main types of scanner; Hand-held and Flat-bed.

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Concept keyboardA concept keyboard is a flat board with a grid of programmable keys on its surface.

A single key or a group of keys can be set up to carry out a particular task.

Paper overlays are placed on top of the keyboard with pictures drawn on them to represent what will happen if the keys in a certain position are pressed.

Concept keyboards are often used with young children in primary schools who can’t use an ordinary keyboard very well.

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Graphics tablet

When the special pen touches the surface of the graphics tablet data about its position is sent to the computer. This data is used to produce on the screen an exact copy of what is being drawn on the surface of the graphics tablet.

A graphics tablet consists of a flat surface and a pen, or stylus, which can be used to produce freehand drawings or trace around shapes.

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MicrophoneA microphone is used to input sound into a computer system.

Microphones are often used for voice recognition systems which convert sounds made by a user into commands that the computer can carry out. Systems like this are very useful for people who can’t use ordinary input devices such as the mouse and keyboard.

As computers become more powerful in the future, voice recognition will be a much more common input method for all computer users.