Introduction

Unit 1

Unit 2

 

 

 

  

9. The Consequences Of The Use Of ICT

Key Concepts Content and Amplification
1. For individuals.
For society.		 Students should be able to discuss, using examples, the
consequences of the use of ICT for different groups of
individuals and society as a whole.


Almost everyone who goes to work will be directly or indirectly involved with ICT.

ICT has been a massive benefit to the economy, as well as children, and the disabled. Any benefit to the economy is a benefit to society. Some of these benefits are:

  • greater leisure time (most not all);
  • access to unlimited information and news;
  • access to educational resources;
  • access to unlimited music and video;
  • access to medical advice;
  • exchange of ideas;
  • greater communication links;
  • cheaper goods and services from shopping from home;
  • banking from home;
  • new and different types of work;
  • devices that help disabled people - aids for hearing, seeing, mobility, speech, voice activation, learning difficulties, independence, working from home etc;
  • access for older people for communication, learning, family history, hobbies etc;
  • access to reliable information from anywhere in the world;
  • learning tools for students:
    • on-line information from the Internet and CD Roms;
    • educational software for students to work at their own pace, personalised learning, computer marking of work;
    • revision websites;
    • simulation software of experiments and results;
    • students can create their own revision materials for sharing on blogs;
    • reports professionally presented;
    • teacher use of projectors and whiteboards for presentations.

Teleworking: has benefits and disadvantages for both the organisation and the worker.

  • Benefits for the employee:- work your own hours; fit it round commitments; live anywhere; no travelling to work with less stress and expense; save time; can be disabled.
  • Benefits for the employer:- smaller premesis and less overheads; less furniture and computers; less absence.
  • Disadvantages for the employee:- less social interaction may be isolated; less wages; disturbance from family; home costs increased; no boundary between home and work.
  • Disadvantages for the employer:- less control of what staff do leading to looser management of staff; less time available for meetings and directing staff; less security as data is stored in different locations and communicated much more.
  • Benefits to society:- less people travelling to and from work - less pollution and congestion; better family relationships; people can live in rural areas where jobs are harder to find.

ICT has also caused many problems for society, as data is lost or stolen from organisations as well as government establishments. ICT is used for many criminal activities. Cybercrime is one of the fastet growing areas of crime and can be done from anywhere in the world. Fraud against individuals and organisations using bogus websites, and identity theft. The criminal can remain anonymous over the Internet making it easier to get away with the crime. Other crimes include hacking into systems for information or theft, virus attacks, uploading illegal content on websites, stalking by e-mail and SMS, money laundering and drug dealing.

ICT is used by the police to combat crime, from the use of CCTV in the streets, and automatic car registration recognition in patrol cars, all records are kept on the database. Details of crimes recorded, suspects, people charged and convicted, their DNA, fingerprints and photographs are available on database searches for matching crimes investigated.

Misuse of computers and ICT systems is general and most people are guilty of minor misuses. The worst cases of identity theft and purchasing goods under someone else's name are criminal activities. Misuse could cover:

  • Spam;
  • Monitoring of activities by CCTV, by logging Internet access, recording telephone calls, monitoring e-mail messages etc;
  • Cyberbullying;
  • Misinformation and bogus websites;
  • Illegal copying of software and music;
  • Access to pornography;
  • Deskilling and loss of jobs;
  • Widening gap between rich and poor;
  • Globalisation of the way things are done, jobs transferable between countries
    • the same website used for music download;
    • buying and selling anywhere in the world;
    • similar businesses running anywhere in the world;
  • This results in more loss of culture and national identity, greater commercialism, and alienation of countries left out.

Benefits of Videoconferencing.

  • Face to face meetings without all of the participants having to be present;
  • A high speed broadband connection is required to link remote computers in different parts of the world;
  • Web cameras, microphones and speakers are the hardware required, as well as special software running these;
  • The benefits to the orgaisation are:
    • expense - delegate travel, hotels, meals etc.
    • better time management of the employees.
    • meeting can be called more frequently at short notice just as if all delegates were in the same location.
  • The benefits to the employees are:
    • less travel and being away from home.
    • less time wasted, hence no long hours put in travelling etc.
  • The benefits to society are:
    • Less travel and flying means less environmental damage.
    • Less congestion on the roads.
    • Can be used anywhere with the correct equipment, most widely used in business meetings, but increasingly used in hospitals where doctors can share and analyse the results of x-rays, and in schools where teachers can hold classes while at different schools.
  • The disadvantages are small:-
    • equipment is expensive but not as expensive as travel.
    • quality of signal can be poor, not as high as television.
    • not as effective as proper face to face discussions, products cannot be shared, but documents can be shared.

 

 

Homework: 

Read text book: p 246-253.

Questions 1 & 2 & 3 & 4: p246

 

Activities:

Use the Learning Gateway for the self marking test!

Slides:

 

ICT-Teacher.com