Game:

Play Being a Bus in a separate tab or window.

In a few sentences, describe how you felt after playing.

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Activity:

What do you think of when you think of the word “bus?”

Together, let’s draw individually what we think of as a “bus.”

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Bus, Explained

A bus is a connection + some materiality.

 

In a digital setting, a bus works in concert with a driver. A bus is, in a sense, “driven” by some software that knows when to pick data or power up, where to drop it off, and what to do while carrying it.

 

A bus is a description of the constraints placed on the connection between nodes.

 

In a network, there might be a bandwidth limit between nodes. A certain amount of data might only be able to be sent at a certain time or as part of some batch. The bus is the manner through which data is exchanged and moved. It is both the means and the director of that data.

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References:

“How does a computer’s parallel port work?” 1 April 2000.
HowStuffWorks.com. <http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question11.htm> 18 January 2016

HowStuffWorks.com Contributors “What is the main difference between FireWire and USB?” 27 July 2011. HowStuffWorks.com. <http://computer.howstuffworks.com/difference-between-firewire-usb.htm> 18 January 2016

HowStuffWorks.com Contributors “What’s another name for FireWire?” 27 July 2011.
HowStuffWorks.com. <http://computer.howstuffworks.com/whats-another-name-firewire.htm> 18 January 2016

Tracy V. Wilson “How PCI Express Works” 17 August 2005.
HowStuffWorks.com. <http://computer.howstuffworks.com/pci-express.htm> 18 January 2016

Jeff Tyson & Tracy V. Wilson “How SCSI Works” 18 May 2001.
HowStuffWorks.com. <http://computer.howstuffworks.com/scsi.htm> 18 January 2016