Impact of ICT in the Society PDF

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Lecturer: Simon Macharia....

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DEPARTMENT: COMPUTER SCIENCE COURSE: CERTIFICATE IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SUBJECT: INTRODUCTION TO ICT TOPIC 7: IMPACT OF ICT IN THE SOCIETY INTAKE: JUNE & SEPTEMBER 2018

7.1 Application Areas of Information and Communication Technology 1. Financial Systems i) accounting ii) banking iii) payroll 2. Retail Systems i) point of sale systems ii) stock control 3. Reservations Systems i) hotels ii) air-lines 4. Communication Systems i) fax and telex ii) radio iii) television iv) video conferencing v) e-mail vi) telecommuting vii) internet 5. Education i) Computer Aided Learning(CAL) ii) e-learning iii) computer based simulation 6. Industrial systems i) simulation ii) process control iii) CAD (Computer Aided Design)/CAM (Computer Aided Manufacture) 7. Scientific and Research Systems i) weather forecasting ii) medical research iii) military/space exploration 8. Transportation Systems i) air-traffic control ii) shipping control iii) automobile traffic control 9. Entertainment Systems i) computers and movies ii) multi- media 10. Virtual reality i) uses of virtual reality ii) visor 11. Library Systems i) Library lending system 12. Health i) Expert systems

DEPARTMENT: COMPUTER SCIENCE COURSE: CERTIFICATE IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SUBJECT: INTRODUCTION TO ICT TOPIC 7: IMPACT OF ICT IN THE SOCIETY INTAKE: JUNE & SEPTEMBER 2018

13. Offices Expert systems 14. Marketing i) e-commerce ii) business 7.2

Positive impacts of Information and Communication Technology 1. Access to information: Increase in access to information and services that has accompanied the growth of the Internet. Some of the positive aspects of this increased access are better, and often cheaper, communications, such as VoIP phone and Instant Messaging. 2. Improved access to education, e.g. distance learning and on-line tutorials. New ways of learning, e.g. interactive multi-media and virtual reality.. 3. New tools, new opportunities: ICT gives access to new tools that did not previously exist: digital cameras, photo-editing software and high quality printers, screen magnification or screen reading software enables partially sighted or blind people to work with ordinary text rather than Braille. 4. Communication: Cost savings by using e.g. VoIP instead of normal telephone, email / messaging instead of post, video conferencing instead of traveling to meetings, e-commerce web sites instead of sales catalogues. Access to larger, even worldwide, markets. 5. Information management: Data mining of customer information to produce lists for targeted advertising. Improved stock control, resulting in less wastage, better cash flow, etc. 6. Security: ICT solves or reduces some security problems, e.g. Encryption methods can keep data safe from unauthorized people, both while it is being stored or while it is being sent electronically. 7. ICT allows people to participate in a wider, even worldwide, society. 8. Distance learning: students can access teaching materials from all over the world. 9. ICT facilitates the ability to perform ‘impossible’ experiments’ by using simulations. 10. Creation of new more interesting jobs. Examples would be systems analysts, programmers and software engineers, as well as help desk operators and trainers.

7.3

Negative impacts of Information and Communication Technology 1. Job loss: Manual operations being replaced by automation. e.g. robots replacing people on an assembly line. Job export. e.g. Data processing work being sent to other countries where operating costs are lower. Multiple workers being replaced by a smaller number who are able to do the same amount of work. e.g. A worker on a supermarket checkout can serve more customers per hour if a bar-code scanner linked to a computerized till is used to detect goods instead of the worker having to enter the item and price manually 2. Reduced personal interaction: Most people need some form of social interaction in their daily lives and if they do not get the chance to meet and talk with other people they may feel isolated and unhappy. 3. Reduced physical activity: This can lead to health problems such as obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. 4. Cost: A lot of ICT hardware and software is expensive, both to purchase and to maintain. An ICT system usually requires specialist staff to run it and there is also the challenge of keeping up with everchanging technology. 5. Competition: this is usually thought of as being a good thing, but for some organisations being exposed to greater competition can be a problem. If the organisation is competing for customers, donations, or other means of funding nationally or even internationally, they may lose out to other organisations that can offer the same service for less money.

DEPARTMENT: COMPUTER SCIENCE COURSE: CERTIFICATE IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SUBJECT: INTRODUCTION TO ICT TOPIC 7: IMPACT OF ICT IN THE SOCIETY INTAKE: JUNE & SEPTEMBER 2018

6. Security: this is always a problem for any organisation that uses ICT. Data must be kept secure, Internet connections must be protected from attack, new viruses and other forms of malware are released nearly every day. 7. The need to continually update your skills. Because of the fast pace of change in ICT, people need to continually learn new skills, or they themselves will become unemployed. 8. Lack of privacy – as more and more information is collected and stored on us, and with the use of more sophisticated equipment to search the data, privacy is harder to achieve. 9. Social problems: people tend to prefer online communication rather than person to person communication. This leads to people being more individualistic and introverts. 10. Pornography 11. Identity theft 12. Fraud 13. Hacking....