Vews on information sources

• Surveys as sources Resource

Surveys can be either Secondary or First hand information depending on who collected them, Secondary is if someone else collected the information and you cannot completely rely on that data just in case it is wrong, there might be anomlese, for example someone missed a question.

It is a good source if you know where the information came from and you have taken out any errors, it can be relied upon more if you collected it yourself (or your company).

• Sensors as sources Resource

These are highly reliable unless there is a malfunction but the degree of reliability drops as the quality of the equipment drops, but you will need to take the tests more than once to get more accurate data.

Very good if you can record and use the data for what you are doing, in QwikFeet's example, this is not a good choice because you cannot collect data about shoes by sticking a probe into the sole.

• The internet as a source Resource

This can be very unreliable, everyone can post things here, look what I am doing, do not believe everything you read here. (The world will end tomorrow at 4 o'clock!)

Stear clear from this.

Fixed and Variable costs

Fixed costs are things such as the premesis hire or the amount you pay your staff. A business definition is the costs that you pay monthly, quarterly or yearly that do not change.

Variable costs are the costs that change with how many products you produce, the more you produce the more costs you have but the lower the cost per item there is.

For example if you sell 5 widgets with fixed costs of £2.00 and a total fixed cost of £1000 that means that it is 5*£2.00=£10.00
£1000/5=£200
£200+£2.00= £202.00 per item with a total cost of £1010 but if you make 10 items the total cost per item would be:

£10*£2.00=£20.00
£1000/10=£100
£100+£2.00=£102.00 per item with a total cost of £1020.00

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.