The Social Impact of Information and Communication Technology

1. The Social Impact of Information and Communication Technology www.ICT-Teacher.com

2. Explain the benefits and drawbacks of the use of information and communication technology in: • manufacturing, • industry, • commerce, • medicine, • the home, • education • tele-working.

3. Computers and Employment • Has machinery displaced workers? • Steam engine turbines – Industrial revolution. • Factory workers and robotics. • Have computers replaced workers? • Have more jobs have been created by the new technology (computerisation)? • What has happened to clerical workers over the last 20 years? • How has their skills been lost/changed?

4. The Changing Nature of Employment • What has happened to the Farm and Factory workers? • What is the Service industries? • How does computers assist employment in the Service industry? • Consider: banking, travel, supermarket etc. • Has computerisation given greater job satisfaction? • Consider: engineering, architecture, accounting etc.

5. Changing Locations of Work • Where did the population move from/to during the Industrial revolution? • With Communications technology is this being reversed? • Where does data processing need to be done, in the office or at the end of a ‘phone line? • Consider British Airways and other companies using call centres, where are these centres?

6. Tele-working • What is Tele-working? • What are the benefits of Tele-working? • Consider: environment, commuting, working hours, commitments, space saving, team-working in a network. • What are the problems with Tele-working? • Consider: management, organisational loyalty, social isolation, separation of work with leisure time. • Would you do any form of Tele-working? • Consider doing school-work at home and e-mailing it to your teacher.

8. The Other Side • What happens to older workers who may find it difficult to re-train to adapt to the new technology? • What happens to people that do not have access to the new technology? • What about people who try to ignore the new technology? • What can happen when people rely on technology? • Consider: back up systems for breakdown, fault handling, natural accidents, malicious damage.

9. New Products and Services • Will you need to understand and use Information Technology? • What are some of the new ICT products available now? • Consider: CD Rom, DVD, mobile ‘phones, barcode scanning, Internet shopping.

10. Using ICT to Run a Small Business • What could the following software packages be useful for? • Spreadsheet • Graphics • Word Processing • Desktop publishing • Database • Accounts • E-mail • Internet browser

11. IT in Banking • How is IT used in Banking? • Consider: telephone banking, Internet banking, ATM’s, Debit cards, Credit cards, MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition) e.g. cheque processing, Direct debiting, etc. • How is IT used with a Store Card?

13. Internet Shopping • Web sites used for advertising have been developed into a ‘virtual store’. What is a virtual store? • How can a virtual store help a business? • What is another useful by-product that a web site can collect? • Consider a database of potential customers. • What could a business do with this information?

14. Supermarkets • Offer on-line shopping for customers unable to get to the shop. • What are the advantages for the shop? • What are the advantages for the customer?

15. Internet Shopping

16. Manufacturing • How are computers used in manufacturing? • Consider: order processing, stock reports and replacement, progress tracking. Project management – budgets, on-time. • What is CAD (Computer aided Design)? • What is CAM (Computer aided Manufacture)?

18. CAD • What are some examples of CAD? • How can a computer image help with design? • How can an animation software package assist with design? • How does CAD enhance sales and marketing? • What is the difference between Vector based graphics and Bit-mapped graphics?

20. CAM • What are some examples CAM is used for? • How is this system of creating products very flexible/individual? • Robots are controlled by computers what are the basic components? • Consider: a sensor, a microprocessor, an actuator. • Give some examples of where robotics are used? • Why are robots so useful? • Consider: repetition, strength, quality, costs, hazardous environment.

22. Medicine • Give some example where computers are used in the Health service? • Consider: records, databases, computerised medical devices, monitoring, expert systems (diagnosis), surgery. • What is an expert (knowledge-based) system? • Consider: image capture and processing. • What is robotic surgery? • Consider: operations. • How important are computers for the disabled? • Consider: blind, deaf, special devices, implants.

24. Education • Why are there so many computers in schools? • How do computers assist with teaching and learning? • What is an interactive teaching package? • How should the Internet be used to assist learning? • How can computers help with distance learning?

25. Can Computers Replace Teachers • What can computers do that is better than having a teacher? • Consider: pace, repetition, patience, consistency, cost effective. • What can a teacher do that is better than a computer? • What could the classroom of the future look like? • will it exist, • will students need to attend school, • could they choose what subject to do and when, • will they be motivated to take charge of their own learning?

26. Dependence on IT • How are individuals dependant on IT? • Routine chores: money, shopping, holiday, • Scanners and imaging systems, • Traffic control, and car parking, motorway, • Flood warning systems, • Computer controlled braking, fuel, on cars, • Personal use, data, accounts, education, • Electrical devices in the home, washing machines, video DVD players, microwaves, etc, • Telephone lines for Internet communications.

27. How are organisations dependant on IT? • Consider the type of organisation: • Supermarkets, • Hospitals, • The emergency services, • The utility companies, • Schools, • Air traffic control, • Nuclear power stations. • What would be the consequences of failure on the organisations above?

28. Multimedia • What is meant by multimedia? • What are necessary to run multimedia software? • How can multimedia assist learning? • What is Authoring software? • What help are Internet based services in finding your preferred university degree course?