Task - Find out about WLANs

He's from Essex!

Research the local community WLANs mentioned at wlan.org.uk

• Where are these projects mainly located?

They are right across the world, including belgium and czech. However they are not in Gosport or Porstmouth but in SOUTHAMPTON!? Come on people! I want free wireless!!

• Why have they been created?

So people can by pass the companys who gain from selling people broadband by giving everyone free wireless access whereever they are using a network of wireless access points on peoples houses and on public places, for example piers.

• What groups do they serve and in what way?

They serve everyone and give them wireless access to the internet for their laptops and PDAs, this is good because people can go to the beach and still be able to keep in touch with people at work. The only disadvantage for that is they cannot access those places inTRANnet.

• Have they, and/or will they have, any impact on the digital divide?

Hopefully people accross the world will start to use this to bring wireless internet to the rest of the world until some one decides to shoot off a few satalittes to cover the whole world with super fast broadband for a small fee taken through tax (Only about £0.50 per person per week so £2.00 a month to keep it running per country. (Maybe more if you are some type of money hungry tycoon.))

Task - Research your local community ICT access.

Research the provision of ICT in the community within your home town. Identify the disadvantaged groups who could benefit most from having more access to digital technologies and what is the mpact of the current digital divide. Evaluate the extent to which disadvantaged groups are served by the initiatives.

There are really no disadvantages people around, its just that some choose not to use these things. Not to sound "posh" or "snobish" but I have seen no homeless people lying about in the streets where I live and the worst person I have seen is someone sitting around selling "BIG ISSUE!" with his golden retriever (who looked quite plump to say the least) and his musto on near the ferry on our side not pompey. !!*Not meaning to be rude or anything here, just saying*!!

However the people who choose not to use the internet and other tehnologies are disadvantaging themselves as there is a lot to gain from these resources, for example, they would be able to contact peole in different countries for relatively nothing and other amazing things.

Task - Research initiatives to fund the digital divide.

Project chosen - Old rural people.

• What is its purpose?

To give older people in rural places in England the chance to see and use a computer.

• How it relates o the digital divide.

Many countries that are rural and out of the way do not have access to the internet or computers.

• Who are its main target clients?

Older people who are thinking about using computers to help them do things easier or just want to learn about a computer before deciding if it is worth getting one with internet access etc or not at all.

• What are its strengths and weaknesses?

Strengths: Brings people knowledge of computers.

Allows people to use computers more effectively.

Allows people to keep in contact with relatives and business partners etc...

Weaknesses: They might not want this invasion of technology.

They might want to stay with what they have and the "old way of life"

They might not want people coming into the towns to teach them about things they really don't want because they think people are just trying to sell them things.

• What improvements could be made?

To promote it better so more people will go and learn and become better with computers, this will allow them to better themselves. The best way for people to understand the digital divide is to show them what they are missing after they have not had it before.

If more people in the UK know about computers and how it has changed their lives for the better the more they will want the lower developed countries to get the stuff they have gained to better themselves.

Task - ICT and pensioners in rural England.

• Do you feel digital technologies have made a genuine impact on the couple's lives?

It has because they are now able to do things that they wouldn't have dreamed about doing a years ago. It has allowed them to keep in contact with relatives they wouldn't have been able to otherwise and has made it easier for them to get things to themselves as their old bones can have a rest.

• Would their lives be poorer if they did not have access to ICT at home?

They certainly would not be able to talk to their relatives or catch up with old friends if they did not have the internet or a computer. Also they are able to store more photos and lose less money processing them because all they have to do is print them off after editing or send them to their relatives in Pakistan and Aus.

• The couple were able to afford their own computer. Would ccess in the community centre three miles away be as useful.

It would for other people who do not have access to the internet however, for them the only major benefit would be to get them out of the house so they could go and talk to their friends down at the community hall with a cup of tea and a computer.

Task - Who studes computing subjects?

What is the situation where you are studying? How many girls and how many boys study computing subjects post - 16?
If there is a significant difference between the two then investigate why this is the case. What impact do you think it has on girls and on society as a whole?

Generally there are more boys doing computing sciences whereas more girls go for social sciences, for example, physcology etc...

One of the main factors in this are that girls are discouraged throughout their life not to follow these paths and to follow a more "womenly role" of child care and cleaning. This spans back to earlier years when women did not have the vote and were expected to stay home and do the washing while the men went to war or to do some manual or "clever" things. People think that women are "not as good as men" in some cases and commonly today women are not payed as much as men, for example, women who play premiership football do not get payed as much as even second or third league men, they hold down jobs as well and sometimes, the women are better than the male players and are more aggressive.

It is all to do with "the fitting of roles" in society, you must be an upstanding member of the community and women should walk around with babies on their backs while men have briefcases.

Task - What is the impact of internet access for th homless? XP

• Write down five ways in which access to the internet could change the life of a homeless person for the better.
• They would be able to find a job easier and quicker.
• They would be able to set up a small business or something to gain some money
• Things such as as google ads would be used to gain them some money. For example, setting up a blog and putting adverts on it to gain some money from people clicking them.
• They would be able to communicate with "handlers" easier to gain information about different jobs.
• They would be in contact with more people allowing them to get a greater perspective of what is happening in the world.

• Write down the impact that not having access to the internet has on that person.

They do not have a massive impact since more than likely they never had it before, or they have better things to do with thier lives, such as get them back on track so they can use the internet again sometime.

• Write down five things that are more important to that person than the internet. (Oh come on...)

1. Food
2. Water
3. Living
4. Shelter
5. Not being eaten by that angry looking dog
6. Getting money to buy things

Task - What did the World Summit achieve?

• State the main aim of the summit.

To bring some form of electronic divice to 50% of the worlds population by 2015.

• List three positive points that have come out of the summit.

1. There is some interest with the low developed countries.
2. The United Nations is involved and heading the operation.
3. It has brought a few more countries together in the fight against the digital divide.

• List three negative points that have come out of the summit.

1. They started arguing over "who should own the internet" (The Brits of course! ;) We rule every wave! *Bad Joke*)
2. Only a few major countries turned up and the US made an appaling effort sending a delicate minion along.
3. They got no where apart from to say something they know they cannot live up to.

• Write a short conclusion stating whether you feel it was successful or not.

It was not at all successful in the aspect that they are going to do something about it as there was not enough involvedment, however, the few of the lower developed countries may benefit from this as there will be at least a small amount of improvement accross the world.

Task - E-mail n the Solomons

Study the news report on the creation of an Internet link for the Solomon Islands on the BBC Website alongside the World Bank data on the islands. Try to identify the extent of the digital divide, the problems that caused the divide the impact of the divide and the solutions provided so far. Propose at least one further initiative that would be useful to the islanders in reducing the digital divide.

The digital divide is not the main problem on the Solomon islands, its all the people trying to kill each other that stops them from growing. If they stopped killing each other and worked together to better the economy and pull down the digital divide then they would have a chance, as they are not the divide is massive and growing.

The solutions that have been provided so far are e-mails through radio waves. This allows them to communicate their concpiracys in privacy and quickly.

I suggest that there should be something done to stop them from fighting, to better the economy, as there economicy grows they will be able to buy in computers and catch up with everyone else. They will need help to start them up however so I suggest that there should be a satallite built for them by the UN that allows them to connect to the internet. This will allow them to get a foot hold on. The UN should also put internet cafés about that allow people to use them for free.

Task - Summarise the case study.

• What is the extent of the digital divide in Laos?

Although there is a huge divide in Laos there are methods to get around it. More wealthy countries have been able to help places like Laos gain access to ICT and the internet by using the "Cantennea" or the "pedal power computers" There are other places with a larger divide.

• What problems have caused the divide.

The mountainous geography.

The weather with its monsoon rains.

A frustrating lack of co-ordination among government agencies.

A lack of IT standards to allow integration between systems

A lack of IT knowledge at policy and skills levels.

A poor power and telecommunications infrastructure.

A poor ISP service.

The high relative costs of ICT

The lack of LAotian language support, especially for training materials.

• What is the impact of the divide on Laos?

There is not a massive impact on Laos since that is the way they have lived for centries. They have however had a huge benfit from being able to access the internet in at least a few places.

• What solutions ave been provided so far?

The Cantennea to provide a cheap and easy DIY solutions to wireless internet.

Pedal power computers with internet access in remote villages that is very cost effective.

• What do you think the educational, social, economic and cultural impacts of these solutions are?

Educational: They have access to the internet that allows them to learn new things for future generations.

Social: They are able to talk to people accross the world.

Economic: They are able to make informed desitions about what to do with their trades and goods.

Culture: They have been improved so they are able to improve there output and income.

Task - The success of wireless technology

• Why is wireless technology successful as a solution to the digital divide?

Since people can now have these traveling access points they can access the internet once a day for a period of time. This allows them to do things they couldn't do before. Having the wireless access means that the government do not have to lay down thousands of pounds to put fiber optics or something like that to different places. So, it saves a lot of money for both the governement and the people of the remote villages as they are able to collect information about different things that it would have taken them ages to find out about without access to the internet and a computer.

• Which of the problems that cause the digital divide does it overcome?

The fact that these countries are not able to connect to the internet and talk to other people accross the world. They are now able to start to catch up with the rest of the world technologically because they have access to that information. It also opens up a lot more jobs to increase the GDA of the countries.

• Does the growth in available wireless technology have clear social, economic, educational and cultural benefits for the society involved?

Social: More people are connected together and it will speed up what people learn.

Educational: Schools are able to gain access to the interenet so they are able to learn more from it. They will be able to learn how to use computers and then that generation will be able to teach the next and then the next until they catch up with the rest of the world.

Culture: There will be a lot more jobs about for different things so there culture will change to form around this. However they will also be able to get the latest methods for things such as farming and different cultural things, this will increase their productivity allowing them to live in better standards.

IT Work - Investigate the impact of access to telecoms

Using the CIA World Factbook as your main source, compare the telecoms sectors of the Central African Republic, Costa Rica, Singapor, the UK and one other under-served country of your choice. Create a table for your fidnings with the headings shown:



Task - Use this to draw some statistical conclusions about the gap between the haves and have-nots. State any assumptions you have made and any reservations you have.

(https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html) - CIA Factbook.

IT Work - Data response

Read the article - "Women and information technology in Sub-Saharan Africa" by Dr Mayuri Odedra-Staub. (http://www.unu/edu/unupress/unupbooks/uu37we/uu37/we0s.htm)
In the section, Current status of information technology in Sub-Saharan Africa:

• Dr Odedra cites a number of infrastructural reasons for the lack of effective ICT. What are these?

Examples abound of systems that are simply not used because of the lack of secondary equipment, suitable electric power, or training. The spread of computers in Africa owes more to hard selling from manufacturers and vendors, the urge to keep up with the latest technology, donations from international assistance organizations (half of the computers in Africa acquired in the early 1980s were 'aid-donated'), self-interest, and pressure from computer professionals than to evidence of their successful use in solving real problems.

• What is identified as the most pressing need for Africa (in terms of ICT)?

They need programmers to create resources and programs for the local populace to use for their needs.

• How successful have computer-aid projects been?

They have not been that successful and many of them have failed due to the same reasons.

• Why have they failed?

There is a lack of IT Programmers in the countries that need them and many countries put huge taxes on imported goods to try to raise their currencies to gain more money, however this has stopped people buying in computers because of the massive prices which has stopped the Information Technology growth in those countries.

• What computer skills are identified as lacking?

Programming skills and general training, people who use computers in those countries have learnt what they know by playing around with different applications and no one knows how to do much else appart from use the things that the computers have come with. It is hard to learn how to program unless you have a basic understanding of what you are doing and what you are trying to achieve.

• What lack of business skills are identified as a major problem?

It is hard for people with no training to start using the business applications to there full purpose since they do not know what everything does. There needs to be some form of course that teaches people to use the computers more effieciently. This will allow them to do everything that the programs have been created to do and then some people who understand them easily will be able to go on and start programming there own stuff for the populace.

IT Work - What leads to being on the wrong side of the divide.

The least digitally-developed countries according to the ITU are Guinea Biseau, Chad, Mali, Burkino Fass, and Niger.
Using an atlas plus information from the ITU, Spectrum Online the World Bank and CIA Factbook, write down some reasons why they might be on the wrong side of the digital divide.

Please can I have some links to these places so I know I have found the correct sites rather than a spoof site.

Thank you.

IT Work - Monitoring internet and e-mail use.

A large estate agency with multiple branches monitors all network activity by its staff (including each internet access and each e-mail) using content monitoring software.
Website access is strictly controlled and monitored. The amount of time accessing different categories of websites is logged. Each month a report is sent to the line manager of each employee so that any undue time spent on the internet or any part of the web can be immediately seen and discuessed with the employee. Sites deemed unsuitable can be blocked and reported immediately by e-mail for immediate action.
E-mails are scanned for inapporpriate usage. Pornographic and defamatory content is blocked by recognition of particular keywords and reported. Keywords such as "salary", "cv", "job", "employment", and other details related to the possibility of moving to a new employment are also scanned for. E-mails containing these words are parked in aspecial area where the netowrk manager can read them. He decides if they are harmless, and thus sends them on, or whether the emploee should be reported.

Task -

• Describe the advantages the content monitoring system has for an organistion such as this estate agency.

You can tell if someone wants to leave the job and then give them incentives to stay, for example a pay rise or bonus at the end of the month for "good work" or "a good sale" or discuss what is wrong with the place.

Also you can keep employees doing what they are supposed to do without them going off on tangents and doing something that they are not allowed to. This will keep them focused on what they need to do so they are able to increase their productivity.

• Describe the negative impacts it might have for the organistation.

It might make people feel as if they are being watched and they will not want to work as hard ebcause they will be to busy trying to dodge the system so not to be caught doing something that they did not mean to do. This will lower their productivity.

• Describe the advantages it has for employees.

They will be able to keep on track with what they are doing and they will not feel pressured by other colleges because they are doing something they don't want to do. It will make it feel a safer place to work because there will be less things to start to tempt people away from what they are doing and they are more likely to work better causing thier managers etc to think they need a bonus or pay rise for good work.

• Analyse the problems this system might have for an employee who only uses the system for business purposes.

They might need to access something and it will have been blocked because another employee would have used it for another purpose that was not work related. For example, in the school some of the work set you need to go to links, these links have been blocked because someone else somewhere has not used the site for its intended purpose or it has a keyword that needs to be blocked, for example, the NHS site is blocked due to "explicit words".

• Make recommendations about the use of this system.

To block things that will not be used or should not be used. For example a games site that someone is using to play on rather than for work purposes. This will help maximise work producitivity and lower the amount of distractions. The company should also have some form of communication service where employees can appeal to people to have the sites or their e-mails unblocked and give reasons why they need it or why they did what they did.

IT Work - US Passports and RFID

Task -



The US Department of Homeland Security has decided that 1 million US passports will contain radio frequency ID chips in 2005, moving to a universal system from 2006. These RFID tags will allow customs officials to scan passports using special radio recievers. They will not have to approach the travellers directly but can scan them from nearby. The passports will contain biometric and other information. (Source: "We don't need to see your ID", New Scientist, 23 October 2004.)

It will be faster and more convenient for customs but what are the dangers?



Dangers: Some people believe that radio waves can cause cancer and other nasty diseases and so there will be wide spread panic throughout the US because a lot of people will think that it will kill them slowly. Another thing is they must have some form of back up plan because there are ways that you can block radio transmissions, for example, scrambling or some kind of device that can take over the frequency. It must be a hidden frequency that can only be accessed through certain devices and it should not be disclosed to the general public. However there are devices that are able to pick up the frequencies and output what they are. You will have to have counter measures against scrambling such as the military style stuff in an aircraft.

IT Work - Investigating the pros and cons of ID cards

Task -

Using the internet research exactly what is being proposed by the UK Government and what the objections are.

• Write a list of all the ICT that is involved in the UK's proposed card scheme.
• State what the purpose of the ID card is meant to be.
• Evaluate whether it will meet this purpose.
• Enumerate the advantages of such a system and the drawbacks.
• Make your personal recommendation as to whether we should have ID cards.

IT: Security microchips inside the card that can be read to reveal the card holders digital picture, name, date of birth, nationality and fingure prints.

Purpose: So people can be easily identified if they are taken into a prison or have commited a crime. It can also be used to prove your identity if you are trying to buy something that is illegal to sell to people under a certain age. It will make it easier for people to just say "look I have this card" giving it to them to have a look at and then giving it back saying that they can buy whatever it is because they are within the age limit.

Will it meet its purpose? It will meet its purpose to prove identity and help speed up investigations if the governement has everyones fingure prints, however it will feel as if they are keeping a too close eye on us and we will feel as if we are being controlled until it has been around for about 10 years or so.

Advantages:

• Proves your identity.
• Can help in criminal investigations.
• You cannot duplicate cards as easily.
• You can only get them from the governement.
• It will help to improve national security.
• It will help people who have a right to refuse service to underaged people do so.

Disadvantages:

• It might feel to some people that the governement are keeping a closer eye on people.
• It might feel as if you are being controlled.
• You might be able to get away without having one.
• You could duplicate it and it will be harder to tell if it is a genuine or not.
• You will have to put some kind of encryption onto the chip so people cannot change it easily.
• You will have to pay more to get a card.
• The government will be able to access your fingure prints easier.

Recommendation: I think that it should be used because it will help people solve crimes quicker and keep track of all the foreign nationals who want to come into the country. This will help to identify terrortists and keep the country a little bit safer.

IT Work - Managing information overload.

Task -

Many ICT tools have been created to help in dealing with the information explosion. In what ways can the following help in decision-making:

• Spreadsheets
• Simulations software
• Data mining tools
• Exception reporting tools?

Spreadsheets: Spreadsheets can be used to keep track of your money, they are good tools to add in all your accountancy work instead of having lots of different pieces of paper with your income and outgoings thrown across them.

The spreadsheets can also do calculations for you so, if you put in the right equations then you can add up blocks of information, for example, 2 numbers into another number. Subtract things and it can be used to give you a total profit/loss calculation if you are using it for accountancy.

Simulations software: These can be used for large companys that needs to find out if something will actually widthstand something, for example, putting satalites into space costs a lot of money and so the owners of the satelites will want them to go up and work successfully without any breakages for a long period of time. They will need to run simulations of the strains on the different parts of the satelite. In a simulator you can program them to show where the largest strain on the satelite will be and so where you will need to use the right materials and re-enforce parts of it so it does not just snap in half due to the pressures of space.

Data mining tools: Data mining is the process of sorting through large amounts of data and picking out relevant information. it is usually used by business intelligence organisations and finacial analysts but is increasingly being used in the sciences to extract information from the enormous data sets generated by modern experimental and observational methods. It has been describes as "the nontrivial extraction of implicit, previously unknown and potentially useful information from data" adn "the science of extracting useful information from large data sets or databases." Data mining in relation to enterprice resource planning is the statistical and logical analysis of large sets of transactional data, looking for patterns that can aid decision making.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_mining)

Exception Reporting tools: Exception Reporting tools are a computing term referring to the computerized handling of errors. Runtime engines such as those for the Java language or Microsoft .Net lend themselves to an automated mode of exception or error handling. In these environments software errors do not 'crash' the operating system or the runtime engine but rather generate exceptions. Recent advances in these runtime engines enables specialized runtime-engine add-on products to provide automated exception handling that is independent of the source code and provides root-cause information for every exception of interest.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_Exception_Handling)

IT Work - Making Choices

Task -

Your grandmother wants a mobile phone. She does not have a price limit as such but wants to spend as little as possible.
Investigate the phones available and suggest one for her. Evaluate very carefully why she should buy the one you suggest. State any assumptions you make very clearly.

Phone 1: LG KG130 Black

The LG KG130 boasts a vibrant colour screen, an easy to use interface, intuitive, well placed buttons, a VGA camera and an uncompromising design. With features like theses the KG130 is a no nonsense, compact fashion handset.

Price - £9.95 + £10.00 for simcard with £10.00 credit
Total - £19.95

Vibration Alert - No
Address Book Memory - 1000 entries
Address book memory (size) - 2 Mb
Display Colour Depth - 65K colours
Display Size - 128x128 pixels
Frequency bands - Daul Band
MMS - Yes
Size - 103.4x44.1x18.4 millimeters
SMS - Yes
Standby Time (Up to) - 200:00 hours
Talk Time (Up to) - 180 minutes
Weight - 75 grams
Works in USA - No

I would buy this one for you because it does everything a mobile phone really needs to do. It can text or SMS which means you can type short messages to people with it. You can also phone people anywhere in the world apart from America and Canada, but then over in different countries it costs a lot more to text or phone people, same as outgoing calls and texts.

You will probably not want to use the camera to send picture messages because they are extremely expensive.

I have used a Pay-as-you-go sim card, this will allow you to pay as much as you like in credit and then you will be able to use up that credit but you will also own the phone yourself.

This would be your best choice because it is cheap and you can easily use it to contact people. You do not need any of the flashy stuff that can be brought with phones such as the camera and internet but you do have a camera just in case. You will be able to see all the buttons and with a long stand by lifetime you will be able to leave it on in your pocket for a long time so you don't have to keep remembering that you need to charge it every 5 minutes.

After a little while you will get used to the phone, really it will be like a normal phone where you type in all the numbers manually but you will start using the address book where you will be able to quickly find people and call them.

IT Work - Evaluate your communication

Task -

Evaluate your personal, social and work (school/college) related uses of the other communication service analysed in Chapter 1.1

Personal:

Social:

Work (school/college):

Don't know what "Chapter 1.1" is refering too!

IT Work - Impact of gamers players

Task -

Perhaps one of the largest impacts of ICT on the personal lives of young people has been the explosive growth of home games players or "play" stations. An article in New Scientist (23 October 2004, p26) stated that $3.8 million of games were sold in 1995, rising to $6 thousand million in 1998 and $7 thousand million by 2003. It estimated that 25% of these games were violent.

• Why are computer games so popular?

It is a form of entertainment where you can do anything you like. You can become a World War II veteren or start a new life where you fast track to being the prime minister or presedent. It gievs you imagination a kick start to make you think of all the things that you might be able to do. This makes them popular because it gives people something to do if they are bored and will also help their imaginations conjure up new things, some games might help people become more creative.

• Do computer games make you more violent?

Computer games themselves do not make you more violent. They may seem to make you more violent but you are only as violent as you were before you went on. If you get frustrated with something then it is a good time to stop that and calm down because you are only as violent as you feel or think you are. If you start thinking you are inside the game and you really are sniping Nazi's or robbing banks then you will become more aggressive. The people this affects are generally the ones who do not know how to controll their anger anyway, if you can controll it then you are mroe than likely not to start trying to "disarm you little brother" or waiting in trees for the next unsuspecting person to go past where you then shout "KAPOW KAPOW TAKE THAT YOU ****!"

You only get more aggressive if you cannot control it and tell yourself that it is not real.

• Do computer games make you more isolated?

If you play them in moderation then you will not become isolated from the outside world. They are a good escape if it is raining and none of your friends actually want to leave their houses to see each other, they just log onto their different games and play games together. They only make you isolated if you again think that they are real life and your imagination starts to fall apart.

• Do networked computer games make you more or less social?

They can make you more social, for example on days that you really don't want to go out, if it is raining or blowing a gale then you can keep in contact with your friends through the games but if you always sit there and play them rather than going out on a sunny day then it can make you less socialable, again you must play them in moderation to avoid becoming unsocialable, isolated, aggressive and senile!

IT Work - Pirated entertainment

Task -

• What is the advantage of paying a supplier such as Apple for a legal music download?

You get the music legally and will not be hunted down and killed by some random man.

• What is the disadvantage of buying a pirate DVD from a market stall?

You cannot garentee that the quality will be good and then when you buy it and find out it is rubbish you cannot go back and say "Oi! This is a pirate copy and its ****!" because they already know that and will not do anything about it but shout at you!

• What is the disadvantage of getting a pirate download of the latest Hollywood blockbuster before its UK release?

It will not be good quality and again you cannot complain to them, this time they will just not answer you, you will also have just wasted money and there could have been a virus or something attached to the file which is now eating the insides of your computer.

• What is the disadvantage to you visiting an illicit music download site?

You will only find bad copies and you might not even get what you want, also you will most likely download another virus with a song that shouts "You are an idiot!" before your computer crashes and you must get a new one.

• Does widespread illicit downloading discourage the funding of new talent?

It is more likely that people will not want to pay for the cds and so there will be only a number of cds brought that will then be added to the internet where more people can download it without having to pay anything. This will take away your funding and the money you might have gained from people actually buying your cds.

This will put new bands out of business because they will not get enough income due to the lack of people willing to take them on and the amount of people getting their songs for free.

IT Work - When do you use mobile phones?

Task -

Evaluate your personal, social and work (school/college) related uses of mobile phones:

1) For what purposes do you use your mobile phone?

I use my mobile to talk to people when I cannot see them. I also use it to text if I am just writting as short message or question.

2) How and where do you use your mobile phone?

I use my mobile wherever I can get a connection and generally when I want to.

3) Whate are the major benefits for you in using yor mobile phone?

I can contact people wherever I am if I need something or something happens. I can also call the emergency services if something bad happens.

4) What problems or disadvantages do you have in using your mobile phone?

You lose emotions through texting.
You tend to call or text people rather than meeting them or going to them somewhere.
You don't necessarily talk as much as you used to because you can do so through the phone.

5) Does your mobile phone fulfil its intended purposes?

Yes it does but some people think it can replace your normal ways of communicating through talking to people face to face. This is easier than talking over the phone and it is a lot cheaper since you don't have to pay anything.

IT Work - When do you use e-mail?

Task -
Useful link: http://www.learnthenet.com/english/email/000mail.html

Evaluate your personal, social and work (school/college) uses of e-mail.

1) For what purposes do you use e-mail?

To send work from college to myself if I don't have a memory stick.
To send messages to my friends or family if I cannot see them face to face.
To send links or funny things to my friends.

2) How and where do you use e-mail?

You can use e-mail anywhere in the world but I usually use e-mail at home or at school.

3) What are the major benefits for you in using e-mail?

You can send e-mails wherever you are to anyone in the world.
You can send short messages that get your point across easily.
You are able to revieve the messages from nearly any internet access point in the world.
They are simple to write and you are able to write them quickly too.

4) What problems or disadvantages do you have in using e-mail

You cannot show your emotions just rhough words, you need body language too.
You cannot have a conversation with someone through e-mail because you cannot get your point across successfully.

5) When does e-mail make you more productive and when less productive?

More Productive - When you cannot see the person you want to communicate with face to face.
When you are unable to get away from what you are doing but you have access to a computer and really want to send something to someone who is elsewhere.
When you cannot physically meet the person for example, they are on holiday or you are away from home.
When you are sending information about something to a work colleage, this is easier than giving someone a sheet of paper with something that they need to copy into a document on the computer because all they will need to do is copy and paste from the message rather than type everything up again from the sheet of paper.

Less Productive - When it is easier and quicker to get up and talk to the person.
When you cannot communicate well what you mean through the message.
When you can wait to see the person because they are going to come to your house or you are going to them.

6) Does e-mail fulfil its intended purposes?

Yes it does fulfil its purposes but people try and send messages that are easier to talk to them face to face. People try and use it to replace their natural form of communication, talking and body language.

IT Work - Discussion Digital Communication Versus Voice Conversation.

Task -

Does communicating with SMS in text language have any social downside compared to having a proper voice conversation?
Are there any social downsides to firing off a quick e-mail rather than having a short conversation?

Sending an SMS message will not have the same value as talking face to face with the person because they do not know what kind of mood that person is in, for example, typing something even without it being in text speak, it is hard to understand what kind of emotion is being sent through it. For example if someone typed: Oh, right. you would think they had just understood what you had said but in real life, they could have actually have been sarcastic.

With voice conversations you also see the person, their body language and other things that all come down to the persons emotions, sending texts and e-mails detracts the personal feeling. You cannot comfort someone if you are sending an e-mail or text because there is no way to show that you care but the words could mean anything, its easier for people to "change" their feelings by texting because they could not really feel sorry for you but they write it.

IT Work - "The Good Old Days!"

In the 1970’s the expenses for a small business were entered onto analysis paper. A date, description and amount were entered in the first three columns and that the figure was double-entered into an analysis column on the right. Individual expenses (e.g. postage, food, sundries and stationery) could then be analysed simply by adding the columns. An automatic check was made on the accuracy of the addition as the individual columns had to sum to the same as the amount column on the left.

Around the same time one large multinational organisation with an HQ in London might employ over 100 managers in the finance area to set, manage and control the budgets for the European area. The managers used techniques similar to the small business. They entered budget figures onto A3 analysis sheets, which were typed up as required by their secretaries. These were then used as the basis for analysing what would happen given different sales performances, different commission rates, different interest rates etc. These were well-paid, well qualified and skilled accountants who were able to work quickly and efficiently to analyse potential changes using the latest calculators and replicate them quickly with only a tiny proportion of mistakes across all columns, and down all rows.

The speed at which they worked necessitates continual retyping so the secretaries were also kept very busy. When sheets were returned they had to be proofed, but as the managers were skilled and the secretaries well trained and highly efficient for the most part there were only a few occasions when the sheets had to be retyped. A dramatic change occurred in the early half of the 1980s to this organisation when microcomputer software became widely available.

Tasks -

Name two different office applications that could be used by the small business to improve upon the paper-based systems employed in the 1970s.
Describe two advantages of each over the paper-based system and one advantage of each over the other.
How were secretaries’ and typists’ employment prospects affected by the advent of these office packages?
What new job opportunities were opened up by the advent of office applications?

Excel - This would have made it easier to keep track of the finances and would have done all the sums and other mathematical equations for you with pin-point accuracy that you could select. (e.g. You have a number: 1.25465456 and you want to round it to 3 decimal points then it would round it to: 1.255.)

Advantage over Access: You can do more money based things than Access with higher accuracy and ease.

Access - This would be used to store all the customer information, t would also allow you to put a password and username system in place to stop unorthorised people acccessing the data and causing you to break the law. It can be set up by someone who has an understanding of the software and they can make it easy for the people who will be using it to understand, this will allow for increased productivity in the staff and making it faster to go through records if you need to find them by just entering a search query.

Advantage over Excel: You can store customers data without having to create new rows, all you have to do is have someone set up the forms and then it is easy for someone who doesn't know a lot about computers to use.

Secretaries: There was less need for them, instead of having lots you could have just one who was skilled in using simple applications such as word processing to get the job done, it could also be quicker depending on the task set. This meant that there were less jobs in secretarial work and this caused people who had skills in these jobs to look for another job, usually however they were all taken and so they had to learn new skills to get a different job.

Typist: They were most commonly used to type out messages without mistakes, as programms such as "Microsoft Word" came about you could use the mail merge option to create multiple copies of one things with lots of people names on seperate messages. Also the fact that you could now delete mistakes before printing it out lowered paper costs and time consumption as the typists became accusome to the change. This also made some typists redundent because again, the same as the secretaries, you needed less people to do the job. This caused them to look for other jobs and improve in ICT in the hope of securing another job.

To name a few, the new jobs that opened up were things such as an IT Technican or a teacher as computing was only going to grow and bringing up a new generation who had a good understanding into the technical world would cause the computing world to boom and grow at an extraudinary rate.

Another job would have been to work in the main companies that were trying to become the best computer and software designers so becoming a software designer and improving your skills all the time would help you secure a job in the huge companys, if you chose wisely you could have been one of the worlds most known "computer Gurus".

IT Work - Ambulance

UK ambulance services have experienced a revolution in working styles as a result of technology. ICT has been used extensively in command and control centres to make the service more efficient and responsive. New secure digital communications systems have replaced crackly broadcast systems. Satellite tracking of resources (such as ambulances, helicopters, paramedic cars and bikes) and geographical information systems allow the optimal resource to be deployed at all times by centre staff. Technology is used to analyse patterns of usage to roster (call in) the exact number of staff required. It uses geographical analysis to decide where it is best to position ambulances and other resources so that they can be deployed to nearby locations very quickly. Ambulances are placed at points that are closed in travel time to places of peak demand and are tracked at all times to show where they are.

The Staffordshire ambulance service says of the impact of new technology: “The adopting of this modern approach has resulted in remarkable results in the Trust performance in recorded response times. This has given the Trust the lead position in national ambulance table’s fir the last seven years. It has also seen dramatic improvements in the cardiac survival figures.”

The introduction of this system in London in the 1990s, however, was extremely problematic, not least because of the working practices that were brought about by the introduction of these measures.

Task –
Research the impact on the working styles of ambulance workers in your area, and of the London Ambulance Service, after the introduction of new technologies.

Why have some workers objected to being sited in their “resources” in the most efficient place rather than being sited in the ambulance station? What other drawbacks have there been with the introduction of these ICT systems? What have been the benefits of these systems?

Add your research to your Blog.

http://www.wmas.nhs.uk/ --- Blocked by the School! (Governement blocking the Government!)


http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/A.Finkelstein/las/lascase0.9.pdf


The introduction of technology to both ambulance services greatly increased their effectivness. They for one were able to reach their destinations quicker due to better vehichles and secondly the equipment used to save the lives has been updated and more things were able to fit inside the back of the ambulance giving a higher survival rate to patients because it was now easier to treat a fataly wounded patient in the back of the ambulance or at least keep them alive.

Being away from the ambulances causes the service to have to move further to get to their ambulances before actually going out, this decreases the effectivness of the ambulances and increases the time it takes to get to their destinations. This lowers the amount of lives that could be saved by being closer to the ambulances.

The ICT systems run on electricity, if these were to fail then they would not be able to know if someone was hurt without having some kind of backup service. If that backup service also was lost along with power then there would be no way to help the wounded and dieing. The benefits of these systems however have been that getting calls for the ambulance and re-laying information from the caller to the crew has been increased which allows the crew to know what they are dealing with and work out the best thing to do long before they have reached the patient, this allows for a better understanding and quicker reactions of the crew.

IT Work - Tool Man

John is a sales representative selling tools to garden centres and DIY stores. He travels over 1000 miles a week to see new and existing clients. For the past 20 years he has carried around a large diary, an address book, a large road atlas and numerous A-Zs as well as numerous small coins for phones. He prides himself on his punctuality, but even he is occasionally late as he struggles to find a new client or is delayed by traffic. He always takes along a calculator, and a bulky sales catalogue with the latest price lists and order forms. He is usually on the road four days a week, six hours a day and spends every Friday in the office ensuring all his administration and sales are handled properly. He has always said he quite likes the time spend in his car between appointments, as it is his time when he can listen to CDs undisturbed.

State how john could use the following ICT to change and hopefully improve his working style: PDA, GPS, Laptop, software, Mobile phone, and the internet:

PDA: He could use this to store all his notes and dates he needs to keep to in one place without needing numerous diaries. It is also fairly easy to use, depending on what type you buy and you can delete and change entries without wasting paper. They usually have a good battery life and so it will be cheaper to charge this than to buy the new diaries, you will probably have lots due to the amount of customers that "the tool man" sees each day. It is always a good idea though to keep a paper copy just in case something happens to the PDA (only small notes otherwise it will still take up a lot of room in a diary, e.g. Address : time.

GPS: This will help him know where he is going, he will be able to enter addresses of his clients and follow the route without having to start and stop and look at a map repeatedly. It also gives instructions on where to go and so you will just need to adjust it onces to add in the details and then just follow the instructions. Depending on the make and model you might even get traffic information and speed cameras so you will be able to get there faster by missing the traffic and knowing where the cameras are. Always keep a map in the back just in case the GPS does not work properly.

Laptop: This will be useful for doing all the administrative pieces in the work, it can also be used along with the PDA to backup all the dates and meetings he needs to attend. It is also portable so when he has free time in his van he will be able to do some administrative, this will also allow for more time to do other things such as have a break on Fridays. Make sure you make repeated backups of everything you do, and print out your work after each update and keep them in files just in case something happens to the computer.

Software: There is a large range of software available but what "the toll man" will need will be a word processor, spreadsheet, database and some type of mathematics calculation software. This will allow him to do everything that he needs to do, the database for keeping track of his customers, the word processor to send out letters and messages to his clients or to make information packs about keeping things in good condition and the spreadsheets to keep track of his money, income and outgoings so he will never have to worry about losing money and not knowing about it as long as he keeps the spreadsheet updated. Keep all the discs just in case something happens to the software.

Mobile Phone: This will allow him to call customers without having to stop off at a pay phone somewhere while he is driving as long as he had a hands free kit with his phone. It will also allow customers to call him, this will allow him to know whether they are out or something bad has happened and they can get him on call. Always keep coins handy though, but do not take as many, just in case the battery dies or you are in a "dead spot"

The Internet: This will allow him to find out things that he might want to know, if he has the right software or someone with the right skills he would be able to make a website to advertise his company more effectivly and gaining him more business and thus getting him more money to improve his business further.

What possible disadvantages are there for him in employing a lot of ICT?

They all take electricity and this might become expensive.
Keeping track of all the bits of electronics will get a little confusing.
You must know a little about computers and electronics to understand how to use things.
They can break and so will need to call someone or find out what is wrong with things unlike a notebook with a torn page.
The internet can hold many surprises that can be fatal to a PDA or Laptop so he must be careful.

IT Work - Online Entertainment

Online Entertainments I have used in the last 3 months:

1) Online games sites.
2) Browser based web games.
3) Downloading music.
4) Downloading games from websites.
5) Online games brought from shops.
6) Youtube.
7) Blogger.
8) FaceBook.
9) Swoopo - Watching people spend money for something that they won't get! :P
10) E-bay

The purpose of this technology is to give people something to do. Some of the websites however have things that you can buy to "improve the site" or to "unlock hidden features". Some websites are done on a no gain basis but most have to make money in some way otherwise it would cost to much to run them.

The technology is targeted at all types of people. All you need is to understand the basics of computers, so you can get onto the interenet and type in something to go to the place you wish to get. Things such as e-bay and swoopo are aimed at people with money.

It makes it easy for people to do and so will be able to sit there for hours and play or place bids instead of having to be somewhere and then go home again after you have finished. Most have reached their full potential.

IT Work - Downloading goods and services.

Things I have downloaded from the interent recently:

1) Games for my Ipod Touch.
2) Updates for my computer.
3) Updates for my software.
4) Software to make a program run like should do.
5) Music.

Reasons why I did this through the internet, rather than buying the physical goods?

1) You can only download some things, for example, the updates.
2) In most cases it is quicker than going to the shops.
3) You do not waste money getting to places.
4) It can be cheaper online than else where.
5) Easier to find what you are looking for than going into a shop and looking around if you do not know what it looks like.

Problems I found:

1) The internet crashed or was cut off and I had to start downloading again.
2) If the connection is bad but not broken then it takes a long time.
3) You can download viruses instead of the products you want.
4) You might have to sign up to something and then they will send you junk e-mail.
5) Your e-mail can be given to other people, i.e. scammers who try and sell you things.

More IT Work - Evaluation of a website

Website Name: Science Museum - Making the Moderen World - Personal Computers and information networks
Website Address: http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk/stories/the_age_of_ambivalence/02.ST.04/

Task 1: Evaluate the site against its purpose.

The site outlines what the information age was like to start with. For example it goes through some of the main computers that were first made. Then it outlines some of the earliest most sold personal computers such as the Apple I, Apple II or the BBC Micro to name just a few.

It takes you through all the stages in the making of computers, from "Personal computer and information networks" to the "Dot com Goldrush".

It is very informative on all of the catagories and explains in both a child and adult friendly way.
Task 2: What lessons does it teach about "online education".

The sites content gives no lessons about online education but the actual site shows that using computers and the internet to teach is a good way of making people learn. Understandable and enjoyable for all ages who might wish to learn about the information age.
The small "rich media scenes" are very good and show some of the information given in an easier to digest way while giving pictures and other things that make the learning better for children.

IT Work - Ebay

What I have to do:

Visit eBay (you may have to use ebay.ie - when in school)
Then write a short document in your blog on what are its major purposes, who is the target audience, how the auction process works, how well it fulfils these purposes, and what are the benefits and limitations of the service. Explain why it is so successful as a shopping model.

Answer:

Ebays main purpose is to get people to sell things in online auctions. You must bid for things that you want against other people.
The target audience are people who want to buy things that they want for less than the recommended retail price.
First someone adds a product that they wish to sell. There is then a set time until the highest bidder wins the item, this depends on the item that is being sold. People will then search for products that they want and if they want your product then they will start to bid on it, they choose an amount to go up to and then they will wait for someone else to bid. After the time runs out the person who has bid the most will win the product. They will then have to agree on a payment method, either by going to the person’s house and giving them cash, through online payment such as paypal or another method like that. They will then also have to agree on how the product will be acquired, usually it is sent to you and there is a little cost of postage and packaging but you can also collect it yourself.
Ebay fulfils these purposes perfectly because it does exactly what it is supposed to do. You can buy and sells things in an online auction and then the rest is up to you, ebay is just a platform on which you can sell things.
The benefits of this service are that you can sell things to anyone across the world who has the internet and is willing to sign up to ebay and place a bid. You don’t have to pay anything to bid unless you win the product, the only thing that you have to pay is to ebay if you are selling the product, usually it is just a small sum that you pay to for them to host the item while you collect all the winnings made from selling the items.
The limitations to the service are that for larger items you must go and get them. Other things include the fact that you do not know the person that is selling the items and they could be scam artists who are selling you non-existent items, they are usually big items too that sell for lots of money, they only accept online payment to so you cannot get your money back.
It is so successful because thousands of people are able to set up small shops without having a huge knowledge of e-commerce as someone else has already made the base to which you are working on. Also people see it as an easy and sometimes fun way to buy things for less than their retail prices. You can also get second hand items that otherwise you wouldn’t be able to find elsewhere. Thousands of people everyday buy things that they might not use but think they need because it is going cheap and there is a limited time to get them and you are competing against other people who want it. It brings a small amount of excitement but enough to make you get carried away and sometimes lose out on a large sum of money.

IT Work - Route Journey from Gosport to Tottenham Court Road, London

Routes from Gosport to Tottenham Court Road in London.

(From the South Coast of England to London, Tottenham Court Road.)

Instructions by Car:


Start out at **** ***, Gosport (Classified)
Total Miles: 0.00

Turn left onto Burney Road.
Total Miles: 0.07

Turn left onto Bay Road.
Total Miles: 0.21

Continue forward onto Bury Hall Lane.
Total Miles: 0.26

Turn left onto Oval Gardens.
Total Miles: 0.27

Turn right onto Privett Road - B3333.
Total Miles: 0.49

Turn left onto Ann's Hill Road.
Total Miles: 0.75

Turn left onto the A32.
Total Miles 1.50

At the roundabout take the 2nd exit onto the A32 (signposted Fareham)
Total Miles: 2.20


At the roundabout take the 2nd exit onto the A32 (signposted Fareham)
Total Miles: 2.28

Bear right onto the A32 (one way)
Total Miles: 4.74

Keep in the right hand lane then continue forward onto the A32
Total Miles: 4.85

At the roundabout take the 1st exit onto the A32
Total Miles: 5.11

At Quay Street roundabout take the 4th exit onto the A27 (signposted Portsmouth, M27)
Total Miles: 5.37

Continue forward onto the A27
Total Miles: 5.72

At Wallington Roundabout take the 1st exit, then join the M27 motorway (signposted The West)
Total Miles: 6.53

Turn left onto the M3
Total Miles: 20.12

Holiday Inn (Southampton - Eastleigh M3, Jct.13)
Total Miles: 22.25

Shell Winnall (Junction 9)
Total Miles: 30.23

Leave the M3 at Junction 2, then join the M25 motorway (signposted Heathrow Airport)
Total Miles: 72.64

Leave the M25 at junction 15, then join the M4 motorway (signposted London (WandC), Heathrow Terminals 1,2 and 3)
Total Miles: 79.53

Continue forward onto the A4
Total Miles: 89.82
At Hogarth Roundabout take the 2nd exit onto the A4 (signposted Central London, Hammersmith)
Total Miles: 90.94

At Hammersmith Flyover Junction continue forward onto the A4 (signposted Central London, Olympia)
Total Miles: 91.93

At traffic signals continue forward onto the A4
Total Miles:93.33


At traffic signals continue forward onto the A4 (signposted Central London (West End), Knightsbridge) Central London Congestion Charges Applys Mon-Fri 7am-6pm
Total Miles: 93.58

At Brompton Oratory continue forward onto the A4
Total Miles: 94.73

At Scotch House Junction continue forward onto the A4 (signposted Central London)
Total Miles: 95.26

At Hyde Park Corner Junction, continue forward through underpass (signposted The City, West End, Piccadilly Circus)
Total Miles: 95.46

At Piccadilly Circus turn left then right and continue forward onto Shaftesbury Avenue
Total Miles : 96.54

At Cambridge Circus turn left onto the A400
Total Miles: 96.88

Arrive at Tottenham Court Road Underground Station,London
Total Miles: 97.10

Total time 2 hours, 13 minutes
Total Miles Travelled: 97.10

Train Journey - Portsmouth - London:

Times:

Shortest Time: 1 hour 36 minutes (From: PMH To: WAT Leaves: 14.51)
Longest Time: 2 hours 14 minutes (From: PMH To : WAT Leaves: 15.08)

Links for ICT work

Sites used linked with ICT work.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windows2000serv/reskit/iisbook/c04_the_internet_transactional_web_site.mspx?mfr=true
http://www.blogger.com/profile/15517650218568137614

IT Homework

E-mail or Electronic mail or originally eMail, is a store-and-forward method of writing, sending, reviewing and saving messages over electronic communication systems, i.e. the internet. The term “e-mail” (as a noun or verb) applies to the Internet e-mail system based on the “Simple Mail Transfer Protocol” or “SMTP” to network systems based on other protocols and to mainframes, personal computer or again the internet by a particular systems maker/provider, or on the same protocols used on public networks. E-mail can be used to send “bulk unsolicited messages” or “spam” but filter programs now exist that can automatically block, quarantine or delete most of these.

I hope you lot can find this and write some good comments! = \

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