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### Why do we need input devices? A computer needs various input, output and storage devices so that it can accept data, process that data and produce useful output. All the input, output and storage devices connected to and dependent on a computer for operation are called peripherals. Input device...

### Why do we need input devices? A computer needs various input, output and storage devices so that it can accept data, process that data and produce useful output. All the input, output and storage devices connected to and dependent on a computer for operation are called peripherals. Input devices are pieces of equipment that are used to enter data into the computer. **Figure 2.1** Two peripherals in this photograph are input devices: the keyboard and the mouse. ### Data collection Data capture is the first stage of entering data into a computer. It is at this point that the various input devices are used to input data that the computer will process and/or store. There are two main ways to input data: * **Manual data input:** Data is entered directly into the computer by hand, one transaction at a time. Examples of devices used for manual data input are keyboards, mice, touch screens, light pens, graphics tablets and voice input devices. * **Automatic data input or data capture:** Data is entered directly into the computer from source documents. **Source documents** are documents on which data is first recorded before it is entered into the computer. Data entered from these documents is transferred directly from the document into the computer's memory. As the data is captured at the source, for example from **barcodes** on supermarket items or from national lottery slips using optical mark readers (OMRs), it is entered directly into the computer.