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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY. The implications of IT. The general effect of IT on our lives. There have been a number of general trends in it: computers have become smaller cheaper and more powerful there has been an increased reliance on communications ;
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY The implications of IT
The general effect of IT on our lives There have been a number of general trends in it: • computers have become smaller cheaper and more powerful there has been an increased reliance on communications ; • the electric office has basically evolved using new computer software and communication technology. • there has been decreased use of cash with the use of such methods EDI, EFT and EFTPOS. • shops and shopping methods have changed dramatically .
Effect of IT on work and employment • Increased use of information systems brings advantages and disadvantages to workers. • Jobs can be lost: • The electronic office (Word processing etc) • Automation (Telephone exchanges, waterworks) • Computerised printing methods (DTP etc) • Jobs can be created: • Hardware (designing, manufacturing and servicing computers) • Software (analysts, programmers, training and operators) • The effect on those in work can be significant: • Staff have to be retrained to use computers • More people are using computers such as word processing in order to carry out their jobs
The effect of IT on personal privacy • Personal data is data about people which they do not want others to know. • Privacy refers to the right to keep data to ourselves or to have control over its use. • People hope for rights to: • withhold information about themselves; • stop data being passed from one database to another without their knowledge or consent; • find out what data is stored about them; • have inaccurate data corrected.
The Data Protection Act • The Data Protection Act gives people some of these rights: • it defines data users and data subjects • it created a Data Registrar, a data Tribunal and a Data Register. • The act says that: • data must be obtained fairly and lawfully, must only be used in the way registered and must be accurate; • people must be able to have information disclosed and have it changed or deleted if necessary; • data users must protect the data they hold.
EXAM QUESTIONS • Discuss the extent to which governments should encourage firms to use Information Technology if unemployment is a consequence. • Describe two features of computer storage of data which might make its misuse more serious than misuse of the same data stored in a filing cabinet. • Give three rights that the Data Protection Act gives to a data subject. • What obligations does the act place on a data user. • Describe two changes in employment which results from the introduction of computers into a supermarket.