Btec Business Level 3 Unit 1
Unit 1 -
The Information Age
Contents
Introduction
1. Introduce yourself…
My name is… A student at…, who is studying…
2. Purpose of this unit
The purpose of this unit is to produce an Eportfolio (eBook / ePresentation) what will be used for a time capsule. The intensions is to educate and provide an insight to a generation (audience) 100 years from now, about what ICT technologies were available and how they were utilised…
3. Technologies currently used and what is the purpose
Briefly introduce the different forms of technologies used currently (Internet, e-mail, mobile, online services, etc…). Also discuss what/why they are used…
4. Identify the sections you will present within this unit, with hyperlinks setup for …show more content…
the relevant topics listed below:
Information Age
Online Services
Life in the Information Age
Digital Divide
Testing
Evaluation
Bibliography
The Information Age
Personal Audit
1. Brief introduction to how you use the technologies in the information age and the 7 topics covered (Create hyperlinks to the 7 BlogSpot’s, with a brief summarised overview of what it is) presenting information in different ways sharing information quickly greater interaction with others and organisations business opportunities, large and small virtual communities, where people are brought together via the Internet mobile technologies that are blurring the distinction between home and work
A self-service environment in which consumers carry out activities and transactions by themselves, including shopping, banking and learning.
2. Evidence and explain the setup of the blogs, with screenshots
ISSUES AND CHALLENGES?
The need for us to be lifelong learning is so that as technology develops, we also develop with it. This enables us to grown around technology. The main reason for this would be that people are being educated for jobs that aren’t even around yet, creating people to excel when technology moves on. If we don’t learn the skills for these inexistent jobs because as the technology advances, we will be left behind and will slowly lack employment as we haven’t got the skills. For example, most university courses that are 4 or more years long. By the third year the information is predicted to be out dated by new technologies and understandings. We need to stay ahead of technology, this will make it easier to adapt to the new skills that are needed as well as being open minded. One way in which we adapt to new technologies is by taking criticism and taking on board how we need to improve to excel and adjust to the technologies which are still being created. As well as jobs advancing, so have relationship, as 1 in 8 of married couples met on the internet.
WHAT IS LEGISLATION?
Legislation is a law which is used to set boundaries. Employers use these boundaries to see whether their employees are within the boundaries of expectations, then if the employees are below the boundaries, then they can suffer disciplinary orders or even fired. Some of the boundaries could be not using equipment correctly.
WHAT IS COPYRIGHT?
Copyright is an instant law that is used to protect material from others using it. Copyright is a law in which if it is applied to a company’s material, then it is seen as fraud/theft if another company uses it. This can be applied to anything that the company has created, whether it is a logo, spread sheets or any data. Copyright also protects original dramatic, musical and artistic works. The creator of the material has the right to control in which way the material can be used with other companies. The copyrights cover things like; copying, adapting, distributing, communication through electronic means to the public, renting or lending copies to the public and performing in public. To apply copyright to your material you’d normally pay a fee of £39 to cover your work from being used illegally for 5 years. Copyright is seen as a type of intellectual property, so it means it can’t be used without the owner’s permission. In most countries you have to mark your work/material with the copyright symbol to state that it is copyrighted, to show that you’ve copyrighted material you have to insert the international copyright symbol (©) followed by the creator’s name and the year of creation, however this isn’t need in the UK, but it helps if you are wanting to take action if the material is inappropriately used. If someone wanted to use your material then they would have to go through a process in which where they have to ask for permission to use your material and also would normally pay a certain amount to use their materials.
DATA PROTECTION
The data protection act is aimed to protecting the right of the individual privacy. The act is quite complex but there are basically eight common sense rule, known as the data protection principles.
The act says that data must be:
1. fairly
2. limited purposes only
3. only information that is relevant or adequate can be used
4. accurate
5. there is a limited time in which it can be kept
6. when necessary, the data can be corrected or removed by an individual with accessibility
7. safe and secure
8. adequate protection when being transferred countries
Employers (the businesses) have a responsibility to make sure that the data that the individuals give is kept safe and securely
Human right and equality
The human rights act (1988) is the law of legal respect. All individuals are obliged to follow the human rights act and have to respect other people’s rights. Some human right acts include freedom of expression, right to liberty and right to an education
Setting up my e-Blogger
Online Service
Online services are what people use on the internet now that that technology is available. This section will talk about the communication, real time information, ecommerce, online entertainment and online route planning and mapping
Revolution of online services
Communications
Communication is a really common use of the internet and of technology in general, now there are phones and computers, people hardly even talk face to face anymore.
One type of communication is social networking. This is things like Facebook and Twitter (the two probably used the most by the widest variety of people). The thing about Facebook in particular is that, although there is an age limit (of 13) there is no way of stopping a 12 year old from pretending they are a year older, they only have to click 1999 instead of 2000. Facebook is not all that dangerous as such when it comes to privacy, people on it just have to have the common sense to only add or accept friend requests of people that they know. Even children who are about nine years old have the sense for that and even if they didn’t, a parent would have the initiative to check up on their child to make sure they are using the internet safely and not talking to people they don’t know. However, chat rooms now have a system where you don’t have to register to use it, like Omegle. This can be seen as dangerous as if someone of a young age opens up Omegle, all you have to do to use the webcam chat rooms is type in your location and an interest. This can be seen to attract the wrong attention to the younger generation, also what is shown on the rooms isn’t monitored, and so many use it for personal pleasure basis. This is why you have parental control on your laptops so that sites like these are accessible. Obviously, …show more content…
Twitter and Facebook aren’t the only social networking sites; they’re just the ones with the most mainstream audience. Another popular social network with over 175 million users but for a more limited audience is LinkedIn. That is just for professional people looking to stay informed about their contacts and industry. There are literally hundreds of social networks according to a list on Wikipedia. There are ones for people to discuss books and for online dating. A lot of people nowadays meet someone online. Social networking is generally extremely popular. Popular networking sites have also been turned into apps available to download on a phone or an iPod or an iPad. Of the 1 billion users of Facebook in 2012, more than half of those use Facebook on a mobile device. The fact that there are 1 billion users on Facebook is extremely impressive considering it was set up by a boy at Harvard University in 2004. Facebook is so big that there is a film made about the making of it, ‘The Social Network’.
Dis-advantages
Advantages
Quick delivering and replying of messages
Convenient
Can contact a group at once
No limit to how short or how long the message is
Can attach large documents and other files with a click of a button
Doesn’t use any paper (environmentally friendly)
Less social contact with people (social skills won’t be as well developed
Less handwriting practise
Bad for your eyes
Messages can be misinterpreted
Abbreviated language can become common vocabulary
Access to internet and computer is needed.
Email is used for everything; pretty much everything you sign up for requires an email address. Social networks require an email address to be able to send you conformation that your account is verified and they can send you emails of updates and notifications if you choose that option. It can be used to send emails to other people as well as to receive them. It’s especially convenient if you need to send someone some sort of attachment such as a picture for whatever reason, it allows you to attach pictures, videos and links. Obviously, Twitter and Facebook aren’t the only social networking sites; they’re just the ones with the most mainstream audience. Another popular social network with over 175 million users but for a more limited audience is LinkedIn. That is just for professional people looking to stay informed about their contacts and industry. There are literally hundreds of social networks according to a list on Wikipedia. There are ones for people to discuss books and for online dating. A lot of people nowadays meet someone online. Social networking is generally extremely popular. Popular networking sites have also been turned into apps available to download on a phone or an iPod or an iPad. Of the 1 billion users of Facebook in 2012, more than half of those use Facebook on a mobile device. The fact that there are 1 billion users on Facebook is extremely impressive considering it was set up by a boy at Harvard University in 2004. Facebook is so big that there is a film made about the making of it, ‘The Social Network’.
Email is used for everything; pretty much everything you sign up for requires an email address. Social networks require an email address to be able to send you conformation that your account is verified and they can send you email of updates and notifications if you choose that option. It can be used to send emails to other people as well as to receive them. It’s especially convenient if you need to send someone some sort of attachment such as a picture for whatever reason, it allows you to attach pictures, videos and links Real time information is an online service used by a variety of people who need it, it includes news, weather and traffic reports and it is highly convenient to have that to hand. News reports can come from the TV or from newspapers or from the internet. BBC news is a good way to keep up on the news whether it is on the TV or on the internet. The internet gives a lot more options of news stories and type of news stories that you want to read. The weather can come from the TV, internet and newspapers as well. There are also apps for the weather for phones, iPods and iPads which are a quick and easy way of checking the weather, not just the weather at the time, like it says online and on TV; it includes a weather report for a few days afterwards as well. Of course the weather apps for phones and iPods and iPads do require the internet so, like the online weather reports, it’s not always the most reliable thing because the internet can crash. Of course there is still the option to check the temperature with a thermometer and there are also more clever thermometers that tell you the weather, whether it is raining or whatever it is doing, and there are some that tell you tomorrows weather but there isn’t the option to find out the weather for the whole week like there is online which is why checking the weather online is better. Train tables on the internet are great because they allow you to plan your train journey without leaving the house, long before you actually have to go and get your tickets and go on your train. Train timetables on the internet are good for people who need to plan because they are going on a long trip or on a journey that not getting a ticket can’t be an option because it’s something really important. Unless they already have too many pre-bookings, online train timetables allow you to book seats so that you know you won’t have to stand for the whole journey because you will have reserved seats. Also, if you just need to find out what time your train is, the online timetable allows you to do exactly that. The train timetable being online allows you a lot more convenience than only having the option to go to the station and get your ticket.
It is not necessary to have a computer to use real time information; there are apps for phones for weather, as mentioned before, and for news. The news on the internet it more convenient than waiting for a newspaper because the news comes onto the internet before it comes into newspapers. As well as that, if someone was to not have the chance to get a newspaper one day but might want to read the news. Although there is still the news on the television, it really is more convenient to have somewhere to read it wherever. On the TV news, they go from one story to another; on the internet there are categories on the news and there is also a list of news stories. Real time information like the weather is almost essential, on the news on the television, the weather reports are only every so often, and the weather being on the internet is there all the time and always changes when it needs to. Also, it doesn’t only give the weather for one day but for several days after as well so it is easy to plan trips and things like that. Train timetables on the internet are another thing that allows you to plan your trips beforehand. They let you plan where to go from and what time to go and what day. Traffic reports are another thing that is real time information on the internet. They give a report of traffic wherever you ask it to as accurate as it possibly can do. This could go with online maps and route planning.
People can check anything such as cinema times on the internet, that’s using real time information. The internet will tell the person what is on at the cinema at the time and when it is playing in the future so people don’t have to go to the cinema and find out for themselves, they don’t even have to wait and find out from the newspaper, they can look on their computer and even their portable devices such as their phones or iPads. There is also the means to book cinema tickets online;
The information age has come up with pretty much everything when it comes to convenience.
Commerce
Commerce is something that is highly convenient for people because it means not having to go out and buy things if you don’t have the chance to in that day. Commerce includes online shopping as well as online banking. Online shopping is things like clothes shopping and food shopping, pretty much anything you can buy you can get off the internet because of major things like Amazon. As well as that, shopping online is good in the way that it allows you to compare prices easily. Especially if you use a barcode scanner on your phone, they give you instant comparisons of prices of things on the internet so if you scan the barcode in the shop, you can tell whether you would be better off buying whatever it is in the shop or if you’d be better off buying it online. Shopping online using websites like Amazon is made particularly easy, step by step.
Shopping online for clothes is very much the same thing. There are an ‘add to basket’, ‘sign in’ and the other stages on the print screens from Amazon. Another thing about Amazon is that suggests other things that the user might want to buy. When you click on something to buy, there it says underneath it “people who bought this also bought this” and when you sign in and go onto the homepage, it remembers your search history and it suggests things for you to look at based on what you have looked at in the past. For example, if you searched ‘Harry Potter’ last time you went on amazon, it will come up with a load of Harry Potter merchandise as a suggestion next time you go on.
You can also do your food shopping online, this is really good for busy families if the parents don’t have time to go shopping every week because of work or because of having to take their children to places or whatever the reason might be. You can get next day delivery from Tesco which is good because you can order it and then just get it the next day. The bad thing about it is that if you actually go into the shop to do your food shopping you can choose which particular thing you want, check what the date on it is and check it’s not damaged. Although the online shopping worker people probably won’t purposely give you a damaged package or whatever it is, it’s always possible for something to slip through the net. Doing the shopping yourself, you can check and make sure everything is ok. Saying that, a damaged package every once in a while is probably a small price to pay for the high convenience of an online food shop.
Online banking isn’t quite as simple as online shopping until you’ve gotten used to it. When you are used to it though, it is extremely convenient and time saving. It allows you to check your bank balance without leaving the house and to move money around and things like that that you would have to go into the bank for otherwise. It’s good for people who don’t really have the time to go to the bank when they probably need to. They could check their bank balance from work if they need to. It’s probably not recommended to do it on a public computer rather than your own one at home but there is always the option to do it if it’s an emergency. Online banking is a very popular and very useful way of using the internet, much like online shopping.
Entertainment
Online entertainment is a variety of things, online gaming for example. This could mean a game being played on a website on a computer or it could mean someone playing their games console, such as their Xbox, online, with other people. People can connect their games consoles to the internet and it allows them to play with people all over the world or, if they share their codes, with their friends from their own houses. Using the Xbox as an example, there is a headset that allows you to talk to the people who you are playing with. This could be used as just a form of communication; there is no rule that says you have to just talk about the game you are playing at the time. Multi-player games don’t have to be online though, it just means that if they’re not then both (or all) of the people taking part need to be in the same room using the same console and there needs to be more than one controller. This isn’t the case for multi-players on a DS though, each player has to have their own DS, and they need to be within range of each other to be able to have a multi-player game on games like Mario Karts DS and Animal Crossing. This sort of multi-player gaming has been around for a long time, since the PlayStation came out in 1995 (although it came out in Japan in 1994). Multi-player not using the internet is sometimes better than using the internet because the internet can be so unreliable at times. Sometimes, the internet is affected by the weather or anything like that which causes it to crash and, if you’re playing an online game, it causes that game to be lost. Dodgy internet can be extremely annoying because so many people rely on the internet for so many important things. Of course, online gaming isn’t all that important really but it might be important to someone who has just lost a really good high score because the internet has crashed.
But online gaming isn’t just on an Xbox (or a PlayStation or a Wii). It is also on a computer, on a website. There are things like Club Penguin, used by children, which lots of people use at the same time and that requires a login to be recognised. Another thing that lots of people connect with and that requires a login but isn’t just for children is Pottermore, a website created by JK Rowling that takes you through the story. Then there are gaming website such as Agame that are just completely different games to play online. These are an example of the wide variety of online gaming that is available.
Online gaming is only a little bit of online entertainment, another very popular thing is websites that allow you to watch television programs that you have missed such as BBC iPlayer, ITV player and channel 4 on demand. The thing is about iPlayer (this isn’t the case for 4od), is that they get rid of the programs after just a week so you don’t actually get much of a chance to watch them before they’re gone. Although a week isn’t an insanely short time, it’s not like the program is taken down after the first day so it’s not actually that bad. And programs are nearly always repeated a couple of months later on the television so there is always another opportunity to watch the program that you have missed, even if it is a bit later than you planned. But it kind of is compared to 4od which leaves on not just the one program but the whole series, and series’ before that as well. The down point of 4od is that, like on channel 4 on the television, there are adverts between the shows which are always very annoying. If you actually know that you are going to miss a program, most people have the technology to be able to record the show, whatever channel it is on. This is good for ITV and channel 4 in particular because it means you can always fast forward through the adverts instead of having to sit through them, adverts take up so much time that is supposed to be program.
Real time information Real time information is an online service used by a variety of people who need it, it includes news, weather and traffic reports and it is highly convenient to have that to hand. News reports can come from the TV or from newspapers or from the internet. BBC news is a good way to keep up on the news whether it is on the TV or on the internet. The internet gives a lot more options of news stories and type of news stories that you want to read. The weather can come from the TV, internet and newspapers as well. There are also apps for the weather for phones, iPods and iPads which are a quick and easy way of checking the weather, not just the weather at the time, like it says online and on TV; it includes a weather report for a few days afterwards as well. Of course the weather apps for phones and iPods and iPads do require the internet so, like the online weather reports, it’s not always the most reliable thing because the internet can crash. Of course there is still the option to check the temperature with a thermometer and there are also more clever thermometers that tell you the weather, whether it is raining or whatever it is doing, and there are some that tell you tomorrows weather but there isn’t the option to find out the weather for the whole week like there is online which is why checking the weather online is better. Train tables on the internet are great because they allow you to plan your train journey without leaving the house, long before you actually have to go and get your tickets and go on your train. Train timetables on the internet are good for people who need to plan because they are going on a long trip or on a journey that not getting a ticket can’t be an option because it’s something really important. Unless they already have too many pre-bookings, online train timetables allow you to book seats so that you know you won’t have to stand for the whole journey because you will have reserved seats. Also, if you just need to find out what time your train is, the online timetable allows you to do exactly that. The train timetable being online allows you a lot more convenience than only having the option to go to the station and get your ticket.
It is not necessary to have a computer to use real time information; there are apps for phones for weather, as mentioned before, and for news. The news on the internet it more convenient than waiting for a newspaper because the news comes onto the internet before it comes into newspapers. As well as that, if someone was to not have the chance to get a newspaper one day but might want to read the news. Although there is still the news on the television, it really is more convenient to have somewhere to read it wherever. On the TV news, they go from one story to another; on the internet there are categories on the news and there is also a list of news stories. Real time information like the weather is almost essential, on the news on the television, the weather reports are only every so often, and the weather being on the internet is there all the time and always changes when it needs to. Also, it doesn’t only give the weather for one day but for several days after as well so it is easy to plan trips and things like that. Train timetables on the internet are another thing that allows you to plan your trips beforehand. They let you plan where to go from and what time to go and what day. Traffic reports are another thing that is real time information on the internet. They give a report of traffic wherever you ask it to as accurate as it possibly can do. This could go with online maps and route planning.
People can check anything such as cinema times on the internet, that’s using real time information. The internet will tell the person what is on at the cinema at the time and when it is playing in the future so people don’t have to go to the cinema and find out for themselves, they don’t even have to wait and find out from the newspaper, they can look on their computer and even their portable devices such as their phones or iPads. There is also the means to book cinema tickets online;
Online mapping is a good alternative to using road maps from a book; online maps are much more updated than the road maps you get from a shop. Route planning on Google maps is particularly good because it gives you the option whether you want driving directions, walking directions, cycling directions or directions for public transport. You don’t get that option with maps on paper so much, or if you do then they could possibly be inaccurate in the way that the public transport in particular could have different routes or stops than when the map was made.
Route planning online is better than on paper for means of convenience, Google maps gives traffic reports when you type where you want to go, it tells you what the traffic is like on the route at the time and that is highly convenient compared to on paper where there is no way to give an up to date report of traffic because it hasn’t happened yet. Using a map from a book to plan a journey means if there has been a crash or something else to delay the roads then there is a chance you will be stuck in traffic for a really long time, online maps give you the option to plan a different route, one that doesn’t have any major traffic.
Also, a map isn’t going to tell you how long a journey is going to take, that is exactly what online route planning does, and it even takes into account the level of traffic at the time and gives you an estimate of how long the journey will take. Obviously it’s impossible to tell you an exact time that it will take but it gives quite a good estimate that means you’re not just going out with no idea and turning up late or way too early.
Google maps have the option to see street view. This means you can drag the little yellow man onto the map to make it zoom into the actual picture of the street or place. This is good if there are two places with similar names and you have to work out which one it is you need to go to or if you would only recognise the right place if you saw it. The thing about street view is that people often just like to play with it – to use it just to see their own house for example. That’s not an issue; it’s just not exactly what it was designed for.
Online maps don’t really take short cuts into account which means someone could use an online map to get somewhere that they could have got to in a shorter time. Online maps do try and find the best, shortest route it can but there it can always miss something.
Another advantage of online mapping and route planning is that they – Google maps definitely – tell you how much the fuel will cost to get to the place you want to get to. Obviously it can’t say exactly but it’s better than nothing to know an average. And because it is online and most likely up to date, it will be taking into account how much fuel actually costs now and using real information, it would be a good estimate, as accurate as possible.
Life in the Information Age
Communication using technology means anything like phones, computers, iPods and iPads. Communication using technology has influenced people’s lives in a huge way because it’s what everyone uses to communicate with each other. From the questionnaires that I got from people aged from 13 to 70, every single one of them said that they own and use a mobile phone as a way to communicate and every single one of them also said that they have an email address, also used to communicate with people. This goes to show that, even 70 year old who was even around for the first computer and the first mention of the internet have had their lives affected by living in the information age, if they hadn’t then they just wouldn’t bother getting a mobile phone or a computer. It really goes to show that you can’t escape from it and, seeing as inventions are getting really good and useful, there isn’t really very much need to ‘escape’ from it anyway. Most people love technology, even when they say they would rather live in a simpler time.
The older people in the questionnaires even use Facebook, apart from one person, everyone does. They like how it is a good way to communicate with all sorts of people from wherever you might know them from. Even Twitter, which is newer than Facebook and often more misunderstood, is very popular with everyone asked, in questionnaires as well as interviews.
The interviews were with two people of a contrast of ages, one being 16 and the other being in her 40s.
The interviews proved that all ages are affected by living in the information age. Both of the interviewed people said that they use Facebook, Twitter, phones and emails. That would be expected of a 16 year old seeing as she has grown up in the era but it wouldn’t be necessarily be expected for someone who hasn’t grown up with it, it’s just come around. It shows that it can’t really be avoided.
EDUCATION
Technology in education is things like teachers using interactive whiteboards to aid their teaching, for presentations and things like that.
Teachers and students can use the VLE for getting and handing in work and homework as well as for emails about events and whatever might be going on at the school. Students from primary school age to GCSE age can use BBC Bitesize to help them with their learning. Nothing on the internet is a replacement for school and teaching by teachers though, learning aids on the internet are just that, to aid. The disadvantage of websites like Bitesize is that people might think they’ll just pass their exams using them even if they don’t listen to the teacher and that is just not the
case.
Most schools do use the VLE, primary schools, high schools and higher education. It has been proved to be useful (by the questionnaires and interviews) because it’s used to give in homework as well as for teachers to put on work and presentations that would help with the student’s homework. It is used frequently at schools.
Students and teachers have been affected by living in the information age because a lot of homework is now done on the internet or at least on the computer, if students choose to type up an essay or whatever it might be. Teachers have been given the opportunity to set online homework, whether it’s something like a ‘My Maths’ homework in high school or to research something online, it’s all affected by technology.
Everyone who did the questionnaire said that they use the VLE in school and they also have videos shown to them on the big interactive whiteboard, whether it’s from YouTube or any other website or from a DVD. This shows the affect, it means classes don’t have to just be the teacher standing talking to the class, it can come from the internet. A 16 year old girl was interviewed about how the information age has affected her education and she said that her teachers use useful resources such as PowerPoint presentations to help with teaching their lessons and she says she thinks it a really helpful tool in her education which goes to show that living in the information age has affected education.
ENTERTAINMENT
Entertainment using technology is anything like playing on video games- single player, multi-player or multi-player using the internet- listening to music and watching TV. Video games are more popular with boys than girls (taken from the questionnaire, that’s not just an assumption).
People use websites on demand, iPlayer, ITV player, 5 on demand and 4 on demand.
Listening to music can be done in different ways now too; it’s not just in the old days where you just had a record player, or even just like the more recent days of a CD. You can stream it online on websites just for listening to music and you can download it from websites especially for buying music or, more commonly, from iTunes. Although people actually do use iTunes to buy their music, a lot of people do download their music on the internet for free which is kind of illegal but it still happens. This is how the internet has affected the music industry, the fact that people have the ability to download music without paying for it means that they will actually choose that option and it means the music industry isn’t going to get paid for it.
The ways people can listen to music has also been affected by all the devices that have been invented to make it possible. Devices like MP3 players, iPods, CD players, radios. Also, people can use their phones and their computers to listen to music. That’s how the information age has influenced people and how they listen to music, where there used to be only a couple of ways, now there are lots.
People use their games consoles to multi-player using the internet, an example being Xbox live, where you can talk to people with a headset and you can play the game with people from all over the world if they have Xbox live as well. This is something that people have been affected by because it’s given people the opportunity to talk to people from all over the world without leaving their bedroom (or wherever their Xbox might be in the house).
A lot of people say that they love their TV. TV has been around for a very long time of course but there were only a couple of channels when it was first invented. Now there are hundreds of channels, too many to keep up with probably. People love their TV because there are so many options of what to watch, you can watch films on film channels such as film 4. There are channels that play things that were on a long time ago and there are channels that play new programs. Also, there are channels that catch up on programs that were on an hour ago like 4+1. This is an influence of living in the information age; people spend so much of their time watching TV seeing as there are so many things to watch, it’s not like when TV only had a couple of channels and when it went off air at certain times. This is kind of a drawback; it means people don’t spend enough time away from the TV screen.
ONLINE SHOPPING AND BANKING
Online shopping takes away the need to go out and buy clothes, or at least it lessens it. To be able to just click order and (after a couple of minutes) to have bought something without even having to leave your house is highly appealing to people although it haven’t completely overtaken shopping in an actual shop, people still like to be able to go out and try on lots of clothes and buy them like that. Online shopping isn’t just for clothes of course; you can buy pretty much anything online if you know what website to go to. Online shopping is convenient for people who don’t have the time to go out and shop. For example, a single parent with three kids probably can’t go out and get new clothes for themselves when they need to so they can just buy them online and it takes 5 minutes. Or, they might not have time to do a weekly shop every week so they can just do the food shop online and get next day delivery. Parents, in this way, have been very positively influenced by living in the information age. The bad thing about online shopping is that it can get quite addictive and, teenagers in particular, taking from people who did a questionnaire, can run out of money very quickly because of shopping online way too much.
The thing about online shopping that also takes away your money very quickly is the delivery cost that a lot of websites charge which can be quite expensive and, even if it’s not, if you order a lot of things online, it can add up to quite a lot. Online banking, much the same as online shopping, makes it convenient for people who don’t have time to go to the bank or anyone who doesn’t want to go to the bank to do whatever they want to do, if they can do it on the internet, they might as well just do it on the internet.
The benefits of being able to look for a job on the internet are that you can find out whether there is actually a job available instead of walking into lots of places and finding out that actually, there aren’t any jobs available at all.
Email has benefited employment because people can do some of their work via email. Also, email fits in with the applying for a job via the internet because it means you can get a quick response because it can just be emailed to them rather than having to wait for a phone call. Only one person who took the questionnaire said that they actually do more (clothes) shopping online than they do going to shops so clearly it 's not replaced going to a shop by any means, it 's just put out a really good and useful alternative so that there is always the option to not have to go out but to get new clothes anyway.
EMPLOYMENT
ICT has had a huge impact on employment in the way that is had created so many new jobs that thousands of people have had to be employed to do. Even though it seems employment is low nowadays, you could say it would be worse if it wasn’t for all the new technologies that have been invented. It means people can have jobs that wouldn’t be available 15-20 years ago.
Also, the ways that people can look for and apply for jobs has improved as well because of the internet. Now, people can look at online job centres or on the company’s/ shop’s/ restaurant’s website. Websites often have application forms on them to apply online.
The benefits of looking for a job online, on their website, are that it will be straight with you, it won’t say they’ve got a job if they actually haven’t. I have found that when I go into a shop or a café and ask if they have any jobs available they seem to try and think about it for too long as if they do when in fact there is nothing available. It saves a trip into town looking everywhere if there is the chance to just look on the internet and find out a straight answer, whether there are any jobs available or not. Also, if you apply for a job online then they get back to you really quickly.
Email has benefited employment because it is now possible to send emails with everything you need to say to the people you are working with if necessary and it is possible to forward emails that other people need to see and to send emails to more than one person. It means you can do some work from home that way without having to ring lots of people to say the same thing because that would take a very long time whereas sending out one email to lots of people wouldn’t take less time that repeating yourself over and over. Email also benefits the job application process because, when you send a job application online then they can just email you a confirmation that they’ve received it and they can send acceptances or rejections by email. Also, if you have a person or a company’s emails address then it is easy to email a CV to them and ask for a job that way and, again, it’s easy to get acceptances or rejections via email. The thing about it is that if you’re someone who tends to forget to check their emails or if your phone doesn’t send notifications when you have a new email, you could miss out just for that careless reason. Of course, if you’re expecting something then there’s more chance of checking everyday but there’s always a chance of missing something. I have sent my CV to a few places via email asking for a Saturday job and have been emailed back within a few days and I have sent job applications via their website, again, been emailed back in a few days. I have found that it is a quick way to ask for a job and to be honest; it is slightly easier to be rejected for a job by email than face to face.
ISSUES AND CHALLENGES?
The need for us to be lifelong learning is so that as technology develops, we also develop with it. This enables us to grown around technology. The main reason for this would be that people are being educated for jobs that aren’t even around yet, creating people to excel when technology moves on. If we don’t learn the skills for these inexistent jobs because as the technology advances, we will be left behind and will slowly lack employment as we haven’t got the skills. For example, most university courses that are 4 or more years long. By the third year the information is predicted to be out dated by new technologies and understandings. We need to stay ahead of technology, this will make it easier to adapt to the new skills that are needed as well as being open minded. One way in which we adapt to new technologies is by taking criticism and taking on board how we need to improve to excel and adjust to the technologies which are still being created. As well as jobs advancing, so have relationship, as 1 in 8 of married couples met on the internet.
WHAT IS LEGISLATION?
Legislation is a law which is used to set boundaries. Employers use these boundaries to see whether their employees are within the boundaries of expectations, then if the employees are below the boundaries, then they can suffer disciplinary orders or even fired. Some of the boundaries could be not using equipment correctly.
WHAT IS COPYRIGHT?
Copyright is an instant law that is used to protect material from others using it. Copyright is a law in which if it is applied to a company’s material, then it is seen as fraud/theft if another company uses it. This can be applied to anything that the company has created, whether it is a logo, spread sheets or any data. Copyright also protects original dramatic, musical and artistic works. The creator of the material has the right to control in which way the material can be used with other companies. The copyrights cover things like; copying, adapting, distributing, communication through electronic means to the public, renting or lending copies to the public and performing in public. To apply copyright to your material you’d normally pay a fee of £39 to cover your work from being used illegally for 5 years. Copyright is seen as a type of intellectual property, so it means it can’t be used without the owner’s permission. In most countries you have to mark your work/material with the copyright symbol to state that it is copyrighted, to show that you’ve copyrighted material you have to insert the international copyright symbol (©) followed by the creator’s name and the year of creation, however this isn’t need in the UK, but it helps if you are wanting to take action if the material is inappropriately used. If someone wanted to use your material then they would have to go through a process in which where they have to ask for permission to use your material and also would normally pay a certain amount to use their materials.
DATA PROTECTION
The data protection act is aimed to protecting the right of the individual privacy. The act is quite complex but there are basically eight common sense rule, known as the data protection principles.
The act says that data must be:
9. fairly
10. limited purposes only
11. only information that is relevant or adequate can be used
12. accurate
13. there is a limited time in which it can be kept
14. when necessary, the data can be corrected or removed by an individual with accessibility
15. safe and secure
16. adequate protection when being transferred countries
Employers (the businesses) have a responsibility to make sure that the data that the individuals give is kept safe and securely
Human right and equality
The human rights act (1988) is the law of legal respect. All individuals are obliged to follow the human rights act and have to respect other people’s rights. Some human right acts include freedom of expression, right to liberty and right to an education
Entertainment
Advantages
Disadvantages
Social
Free
Illegal
Professional
Copyright
Distraction
personal
Portable
Anti-social
Illegal
Distraction
Can be a distraction to the work ethnic
Working style
Advantages
Disadvantages
Social
Flexible
Easily accessible
Fraud
No longer private
Professional
Work from home
Dependant on IT
Big brother
Constant monitoring personal Access to info
24/7
Info overload
Communications
Advantages
Disadvantages
Social
Can communicate with people from around the world
Cheap
Quick
Cyber bullying
Professional
Cheap
Cant spilt home and work life personal Education
Advantages
Disadvantages
Social
Can help with the education of the learning challenged
Professional
personal
Banking & shopping
Advantages
Disadvantages
Social Show the boobies mwhahah
Fraud / hacking
Information is out there
Professional
Accessible
Advertisement
Hacking personal More time convenient
Freedom to shop for what you like
Safety of your information
Decision making
Advantages
Disadvantages
Social
Share ideas/decisions with a group
Fraud
Professional
An online survey could be held
Has to be validated personal Social networking could help make a decision
May influence to make the wrong decision
employment
Advantages
Disadvantages
Social
Easy to apply
Competition
Difficulties when getting in contact
Professional
Easier to look at applications
Better use of time, when recruiting
Unreliable applications
Internet required personal Applications are easier
Internet required
Applying for something that you’re unable to access.
Crime and crime prevention
Advantages
Disadvantages
Social
Able to report crimes easier
Safer
Secure
Pranks
Professional
Easier to do jobs of crime stopping
Higher efficiency at preventing crimes
Incorrect information
Time consuming
Missing documents personal Safer environment
Misinterpreted information
Civil
Advantages
Disadvantages
Social
Control of own life
Free will
Professional
Workers who are willing to work more
Limitations on decisions personal It gives you your own thoughts
legislation
Advantages
Disadvantages
Social
Its protects the person
Hard to understand
Professional
It allows guide lines to be followed
The employer is liable personal Security
Understanding a knowledge
Digital Divide
Creating the Eportfolio
Testing
Evaluation
Bibliography
The Information Age
Contents
Introduction
1. Introduce yourself…
My name is… A student at…, who is studying…
2. Purpose of this unit
The purpose of this unit is to produce an Eportfolio (eBook / ePresentation) what will be used for a time capsule. The intensions is to educate and provide an insight to a generation (audience) 100 years from now, about what ICT technologies were available and how they were utilised…
3. Technologies currently used and what is the purpose
Briefly introduce the different forms of technologies used currently (Internet, e-mail, mobile, online services, etc…). Also discuss what/why they are used…
4. Identify the sections you will present within this unit, with hyperlinks setup for …show more content…
the relevant topics listed below:
Information Age
Online Services
Life in the Information Age
Digital Divide
Testing
Evaluation
Bibliography
The Information Age
Personal Audit
1. Brief introduction to how you use the technologies in the information age and the 7 topics covered (Create hyperlinks to the 7 BlogSpot’s, with a brief summarised overview of what it is) presenting information in different ways sharing information quickly greater interaction with others and organisations business opportunities, large and small virtual communities, where people are brought together via the Internet mobile technologies that are blurring the distinction between home and work
A self-service environment in which consumers carry out activities and transactions by themselves, including shopping, banking and learning.
2. Evidence and explain the setup of the blogs, with screenshots
ISSUES AND CHALLENGES?
The need for us to be lifelong learning is so that as technology develops, we also develop with it. This enables us to grown around technology. The main reason for this would be that people are being educated for jobs that aren’t even around yet, creating people to excel when technology moves on. If we don’t learn the skills for these inexistent jobs because as the technology advances, we will be left behind and will slowly lack employment as we haven’t got the skills. For example, most university courses that are 4 or more years long. By the third year the information is predicted to be out dated by new technologies and understandings. We need to stay ahead of technology, this will make it easier to adapt to the new skills that are needed as well as being open minded. One way in which we adapt to new technologies is by taking criticism and taking on board how we need to improve to excel and adjust to the technologies which are still being created. As well as jobs advancing, so have relationship, as 1 in 8 of married couples met on the internet.
WHAT IS LEGISLATION?
Legislation is a law which is used to set boundaries. Employers use these boundaries to see whether their employees are within the boundaries of expectations, then if the employees are below the boundaries, then they can suffer disciplinary orders or even fired. Some of the boundaries could be not using equipment correctly.
WHAT IS COPYRIGHT?
Copyright is an instant law that is used to protect material from others using it. Copyright is a law in which if it is applied to a company’s material, then it is seen as fraud/theft if another company uses it. This can be applied to anything that the company has created, whether it is a logo, spread sheets or any data. Copyright also protects original dramatic, musical and artistic works. The creator of the material has the right to control in which way the material can be used with other companies. The copyrights cover things like; copying, adapting, distributing, communication through electronic means to the public, renting or lending copies to the public and performing in public. To apply copyright to your material you’d normally pay a fee of £39 to cover your work from being used illegally for 5 years. Copyright is seen as a type of intellectual property, so it means it can’t be used without the owner’s permission. In most countries you have to mark your work/material with the copyright symbol to state that it is copyrighted, to show that you’ve copyrighted material you have to insert the international copyright symbol (©) followed by the creator’s name and the year of creation, however this isn’t need in the UK, but it helps if you are wanting to take action if the material is inappropriately used. If someone wanted to use your material then they would have to go through a process in which where they have to ask for permission to use your material and also would normally pay a certain amount to use their materials.
DATA PROTECTION
The data protection act is aimed to protecting the right of the individual privacy. The act is quite complex but there are basically eight common sense rule, known as the data protection principles.
The act says that data must be:
1. fairly
2. limited purposes only
3. only information that is relevant or adequate can be used
4. accurate
5. there is a limited time in which it can be kept
6. when necessary, the data can be corrected or removed by an individual with accessibility
7. safe and secure
8. adequate protection when being transferred countries
Employers (the businesses) have a responsibility to make sure that the data that the individuals give is kept safe and securely
Human right and equality
The human rights act (1988) is the law of legal respect. All individuals are obliged to follow the human rights act and have to respect other people’s rights. Some human right acts include freedom of expression, right to liberty and right to an education
Setting up my e-Blogger
Online Service
Online services are what people use on the internet now that that technology is available. This section will talk about the communication, real time information, ecommerce, online entertainment and online route planning and mapping
Revolution of online services
Communications
Communication is a really common use of the internet and of technology in general, now there are phones and computers, people hardly even talk face to face anymore.
One type of communication is social networking. This is things like Facebook and Twitter (the two probably used the most by the widest variety of people). The thing about Facebook in particular is that, although there is an age limit (of 13) there is no way of stopping a 12 year old from pretending they are a year older, they only have to click 1999 instead of 2000. Facebook is not all that dangerous as such when it comes to privacy, people on it just have to have the common sense to only add or accept friend requests of people that they know. Even children who are about nine years old have the sense for that and even if they didn’t, a parent would have the initiative to check up on their child to make sure they are using the internet safely and not talking to people they don’t know. However, chat rooms now have a system where you don’t have to register to use it, like Omegle. This can be seen as dangerous as if someone of a young age opens up Omegle, all you have to do to use the webcam chat rooms is type in your location and an interest. This can be seen to attract the wrong attention to the younger generation, also what is shown on the rooms isn’t monitored, and so many use it for personal pleasure basis. This is why you have parental control on your laptops so that sites like these are accessible. Obviously, …show more content…
Twitter and Facebook aren’t the only social networking sites; they’re just the ones with the most mainstream audience. Another popular social network with over 175 million users but for a more limited audience is LinkedIn. That is just for professional people looking to stay informed about their contacts and industry. There are literally hundreds of social networks according to a list on Wikipedia. There are ones for people to discuss books and for online dating. A lot of people nowadays meet someone online. Social networking is generally extremely popular. Popular networking sites have also been turned into apps available to download on a phone or an iPod or an iPad. Of the 1 billion users of Facebook in 2012, more than half of those use Facebook on a mobile device. The fact that there are 1 billion users on Facebook is extremely impressive considering it was set up by a boy at Harvard University in 2004. Facebook is so big that there is a film made about the making of it, ‘The Social Network’.
Dis-advantages
Advantages
Quick delivering and replying of messages
Convenient
Can contact a group at once
No limit to how short or how long the message is
Can attach large documents and other files with a click of a button
Doesn’t use any paper (environmentally friendly)
Less social contact with people (social skills won’t be as well developed
Less handwriting practise
Bad for your eyes
Messages can be misinterpreted
Abbreviated language can become common vocabulary
Access to internet and computer is needed.
Email is used for everything; pretty much everything you sign up for requires an email address. Social networks require an email address to be able to send you conformation that your account is verified and they can send you emails of updates and notifications if you choose that option. It can be used to send emails to other people as well as to receive them. It’s especially convenient if you need to send someone some sort of attachment such as a picture for whatever reason, it allows you to attach pictures, videos and links. Obviously, Twitter and Facebook aren’t the only social networking sites; they’re just the ones with the most mainstream audience. Another popular social network with over 175 million users but for a more limited audience is LinkedIn. That is just for professional people looking to stay informed about their contacts and industry. There are literally hundreds of social networks according to a list on Wikipedia. There are ones for people to discuss books and for online dating. A lot of people nowadays meet someone online. Social networking is generally extremely popular. Popular networking sites have also been turned into apps available to download on a phone or an iPod or an iPad. Of the 1 billion users of Facebook in 2012, more than half of those use Facebook on a mobile device. The fact that there are 1 billion users on Facebook is extremely impressive considering it was set up by a boy at Harvard University in 2004. Facebook is so big that there is a film made about the making of it, ‘The Social Network’.
Email is used for everything; pretty much everything you sign up for requires an email address. Social networks require an email address to be able to send you conformation that your account is verified and they can send you email of updates and notifications if you choose that option. It can be used to send emails to other people as well as to receive them. It’s especially convenient if you need to send someone some sort of attachment such as a picture for whatever reason, it allows you to attach pictures, videos and links Real time information is an online service used by a variety of people who need it, it includes news, weather and traffic reports and it is highly convenient to have that to hand. News reports can come from the TV or from newspapers or from the internet. BBC news is a good way to keep up on the news whether it is on the TV or on the internet. The internet gives a lot more options of news stories and type of news stories that you want to read. The weather can come from the TV, internet and newspapers as well. There are also apps for the weather for phones, iPods and iPads which are a quick and easy way of checking the weather, not just the weather at the time, like it says online and on TV; it includes a weather report for a few days afterwards as well. Of course the weather apps for phones and iPods and iPads do require the internet so, like the online weather reports, it’s not always the most reliable thing because the internet can crash. Of course there is still the option to check the temperature with a thermometer and there are also more clever thermometers that tell you the weather, whether it is raining or whatever it is doing, and there are some that tell you tomorrows weather but there isn’t the option to find out the weather for the whole week like there is online which is why checking the weather online is better. Train tables on the internet are great because they allow you to plan your train journey without leaving the house, long before you actually have to go and get your tickets and go on your train. Train timetables on the internet are good for people who need to plan because they are going on a long trip or on a journey that not getting a ticket can’t be an option because it’s something really important. Unless they already have too many pre-bookings, online train timetables allow you to book seats so that you know you won’t have to stand for the whole journey because you will have reserved seats. Also, if you just need to find out what time your train is, the online timetable allows you to do exactly that. The train timetable being online allows you a lot more convenience than only having the option to go to the station and get your ticket.
It is not necessary to have a computer to use real time information; there are apps for phones for weather, as mentioned before, and for news. The news on the internet it more convenient than waiting for a newspaper because the news comes onto the internet before it comes into newspapers. As well as that, if someone was to not have the chance to get a newspaper one day but might want to read the news. Although there is still the news on the television, it really is more convenient to have somewhere to read it wherever. On the TV news, they go from one story to another; on the internet there are categories on the news and there is also a list of news stories. Real time information like the weather is almost essential, on the news on the television, the weather reports are only every so often, and the weather being on the internet is there all the time and always changes when it needs to. Also, it doesn’t only give the weather for one day but for several days after as well so it is easy to plan trips and things like that. Train timetables on the internet are another thing that allows you to plan your trips beforehand. They let you plan where to go from and what time to go and what day. Traffic reports are another thing that is real time information on the internet. They give a report of traffic wherever you ask it to as accurate as it possibly can do. This could go with online maps and route planning.
People can check anything such as cinema times on the internet, that’s using real time information. The internet will tell the person what is on at the cinema at the time and when it is playing in the future so people don’t have to go to the cinema and find out for themselves, they don’t even have to wait and find out from the newspaper, they can look on their computer and even their portable devices such as their phones or iPads. There is also the means to book cinema tickets online;
The information age has come up with pretty much everything when it comes to convenience.
Commerce
Commerce is something that is highly convenient for people because it means not having to go out and buy things if you don’t have the chance to in that day. Commerce includes online shopping as well as online banking. Online shopping is things like clothes shopping and food shopping, pretty much anything you can buy you can get off the internet because of major things like Amazon. As well as that, shopping online is good in the way that it allows you to compare prices easily. Especially if you use a barcode scanner on your phone, they give you instant comparisons of prices of things on the internet so if you scan the barcode in the shop, you can tell whether you would be better off buying whatever it is in the shop or if you’d be better off buying it online. Shopping online using websites like Amazon is made particularly easy, step by step.
Shopping online for clothes is very much the same thing. There are an ‘add to basket’, ‘sign in’ and the other stages on the print screens from Amazon. Another thing about Amazon is that suggests other things that the user might want to buy. When you click on something to buy, there it says underneath it “people who bought this also bought this” and when you sign in and go onto the homepage, it remembers your search history and it suggests things for you to look at based on what you have looked at in the past. For example, if you searched ‘Harry Potter’ last time you went on amazon, it will come up with a load of Harry Potter merchandise as a suggestion next time you go on.
You can also do your food shopping online, this is really good for busy families if the parents don’t have time to go shopping every week because of work or because of having to take their children to places or whatever the reason might be. You can get next day delivery from Tesco which is good because you can order it and then just get it the next day. The bad thing about it is that if you actually go into the shop to do your food shopping you can choose which particular thing you want, check what the date on it is and check it’s not damaged. Although the online shopping worker people probably won’t purposely give you a damaged package or whatever it is, it’s always possible for something to slip through the net. Doing the shopping yourself, you can check and make sure everything is ok. Saying that, a damaged package every once in a while is probably a small price to pay for the high convenience of an online food shop.
Online banking isn’t quite as simple as online shopping until you’ve gotten used to it. When you are used to it though, it is extremely convenient and time saving. It allows you to check your bank balance without leaving the house and to move money around and things like that that you would have to go into the bank for otherwise. It’s good for people who don’t really have the time to go to the bank when they probably need to. They could check their bank balance from work if they need to. It’s probably not recommended to do it on a public computer rather than your own one at home but there is always the option to do it if it’s an emergency. Online banking is a very popular and very useful way of using the internet, much like online shopping.
Entertainment
Online entertainment is a variety of things, online gaming for example. This could mean a game being played on a website on a computer or it could mean someone playing their games console, such as their Xbox, online, with other people. People can connect their games consoles to the internet and it allows them to play with people all over the world or, if they share their codes, with their friends from their own houses. Using the Xbox as an example, there is a headset that allows you to talk to the people who you are playing with. This could be used as just a form of communication; there is no rule that says you have to just talk about the game you are playing at the time. Multi-player games don’t have to be online though, it just means that if they’re not then both (or all) of the people taking part need to be in the same room using the same console and there needs to be more than one controller. This isn’t the case for multi-players on a DS though, each player has to have their own DS, and they need to be within range of each other to be able to have a multi-player game on games like Mario Karts DS and Animal Crossing. This sort of multi-player gaming has been around for a long time, since the PlayStation came out in 1995 (although it came out in Japan in 1994). Multi-player not using the internet is sometimes better than using the internet because the internet can be so unreliable at times. Sometimes, the internet is affected by the weather or anything like that which causes it to crash and, if you’re playing an online game, it causes that game to be lost. Dodgy internet can be extremely annoying because so many people rely on the internet for so many important things. Of course, online gaming isn’t all that important really but it might be important to someone who has just lost a really good high score because the internet has crashed.
But online gaming isn’t just on an Xbox (or a PlayStation or a Wii). It is also on a computer, on a website. There are things like Club Penguin, used by children, which lots of people use at the same time and that requires a login to be recognised. Another thing that lots of people connect with and that requires a login but isn’t just for children is Pottermore, a website created by JK Rowling that takes you through the story. Then there are gaming website such as Agame that are just completely different games to play online. These are an example of the wide variety of online gaming that is available.
Online gaming is only a little bit of online entertainment, another very popular thing is websites that allow you to watch television programs that you have missed such as BBC iPlayer, ITV player and channel 4 on demand. The thing is about iPlayer (this isn’t the case for 4od), is that they get rid of the programs after just a week so you don’t actually get much of a chance to watch them before they’re gone. Although a week isn’t an insanely short time, it’s not like the program is taken down after the first day so it’s not actually that bad. And programs are nearly always repeated a couple of months later on the television so there is always another opportunity to watch the program that you have missed, even if it is a bit later than you planned. But it kind of is compared to 4od which leaves on not just the one program but the whole series, and series’ before that as well. The down point of 4od is that, like on channel 4 on the television, there are adverts between the shows which are always very annoying. If you actually know that you are going to miss a program, most people have the technology to be able to record the show, whatever channel it is on. This is good for ITV and channel 4 in particular because it means you can always fast forward through the adverts instead of having to sit through them, adverts take up so much time that is supposed to be program.
Real time information Real time information is an online service used by a variety of people who need it, it includes news, weather and traffic reports and it is highly convenient to have that to hand. News reports can come from the TV or from newspapers or from the internet. BBC news is a good way to keep up on the news whether it is on the TV or on the internet. The internet gives a lot more options of news stories and type of news stories that you want to read. The weather can come from the TV, internet and newspapers as well. There are also apps for the weather for phones, iPods and iPads which are a quick and easy way of checking the weather, not just the weather at the time, like it says online and on TV; it includes a weather report for a few days afterwards as well. Of course the weather apps for phones and iPods and iPads do require the internet so, like the online weather reports, it’s not always the most reliable thing because the internet can crash. Of course there is still the option to check the temperature with a thermometer and there are also more clever thermometers that tell you the weather, whether it is raining or whatever it is doing, and there are some that tell you tomorrows weather but there isn’t the option to find out the weather for the whole week like there is online which is why checking the weather online is better. Train tables on the internet are great because they allow you to plan your train journey without leaving the house, long before you actually have to go and get your tickets and go on your train. Train timetables on the internet are good for people who need to plan because they are going on a long trip or on a journey that not getting a ticket can’t be an option because it’s something really important. Unless they already have too many pre-bookings, online train timetables allow you to book seats so that you know you won’t have to stand for the whole journey because you will have reserved seats. Also, if you just need to find out what time your train is, the online timetable allows you to do exactly that. The train timetable being online allows you a lot more convenience than only having the option to go to the station and get your ticket.
It is not necessary to have a computer to use real time information; there are apps for phones for weather, as mentioned before, and for news. The news on the internet it more convenient than waiting for a newspaper because the news comes onto the internet before it comes into newspapers. As well as that, if someone was to not have the chance to get a newspaper one day but might want to read the news. Although there is still the news on the television, it really is more convenient to have somewhere to read it wherever. On the TV news, they go from one story to another; on the internet there are categories on the news and there is also a list of news stories. Real time information like the weather is almost essential, on the news on the television, the weather reports are only every so often, and the weather being on the internet is there all the time and always changes when it needs to. Also, it doesn’t only give the weather for one day but for several days after as well so it is easy to plan trips and things like that. Train timetables on the internet are another thing that allows you to plan your trips beforehand. They let you plan where to go from and what time to go and what day. Traffic reports are another thing that is real time information on the internet. They give a report of traffic wherever you ask it to as accurate as it possibly can do. This could go with online maps and route planning.
People can check anything such as cinema times on the internet, that’s using real time information. The internet will tell the person what is on at the cinema at the time and when it is playing in the future so people don’t have to go to the cinema and find out for themselves, they don’t even have to wait and find out from the newspaper, they can look on their computer and even their portable devices such as their phones or iPads. There is also the means to book cinema tickets online;
Online mapping is a good alternative to using road maps from a book; online maps are much more updated than the road maps you get from a shop. Route planning on Google maps is particularly good because it gives you the option whether you want driving directions, walking directions, cycling directions or directions for public transport. You don’t get that option with maps on paper so much, or if you do then they could possibly be inaccurate in the way that the public transport in particular could have different routes or stops than when the map was made.
Route planning online is better than on paper for means of convenience, Google maps gives traffic reports when you type where you want to go, it tells you what the traffic is like on the route at the time and that is highly convenient compared to on paper where there is no way to give an up to date report of traffic because it hasn’t happened yet. Using a map from a book to plan a journey means if there has been a crash or something else to delay the roads then there is a chance you will be stuck in traffic for a really long time, online maps give you the option to plan a different route, one that doesn’t have any major traffic.
Also, a map isn’t going to tell you how long a journey is going to take, that is exactly what online route planning does, and it even takes into account the level of traffic at the time and gives you an estimate of how long the journey will take. Obviously it’s impossible to tell you an exact time that it will take but it gives quite a good estimate that means you’re not just going out with no idea and turning up late or way too early.
Google maps have the option to see street view. This means you can drag the little yellow man onto the map to make it zoom into the actual picture of the street or place. This is good if there are two places with similar names and you have to work out which one it is you need to go to or if you would only recognise the right place if you saw it. The thing about street view is that people often just like to play with it – to use it just to see their own house for example. That’s not an issue; it’s just not exactly what it was designed for.
Online maps don’t really take short cuts into account which means someone could use an online map to get somewhere that they could have got to in a shorter time. Online maps do try and find the best, shortest route it can but there it can always miss something.
Another advantage of online mapping and route planning is that they – Google maps definitely – tell you how much the fuel will cost to get to the place you want to get to. Obviously it can’t say exactly but it’s better than nothing to know an average. And because it is online and most likely up to date, it will be taking into account how much fuel actually costs now and using real information, it would be a good estimate, as accurate as possible.
Life in the Information Age
Communication using technology means anything like phones, computers, iPods and iPads. Communication using technology has influenced people’s lives in a huge way because it’s what everyone uses to communicate with each other. From the questionnaires that I got from people aged from 13 to 70, every single one of them said that they own and use a mobile phone as a way to communicate and every single one of them also said that they have an email address, also used to communicate with people. This goes to show that, even 70 year old who was even around for the first computer and the first mention of the internet have had their lives affected by living in the information age, if they hadn’t then they just wouldn’t bother getting a mobile phone or a computer. It really goes to show that you can’t escape from it and, seeing as inventions are getting really good and useful, there isn’t really very much need to ‘escape’ from it anyway. Most people love technology, even when they say they would rather live in a simpler time.
The older people in the questionnaires even use Facebook, apart from one person, everyone does. They like how it is a good way to communicate with all sorts of people from wherever you might know them from. Even Twitter, which is newer than Facebook and often more misunderstood, is very popular with everyone asked, in questionnaires as well as interviews.
The interviews were with two people of a contrast of ages, one being 16 and the other being in her 40s.
The interviews proved that all ages are affected by living in the information age. Both of the interviewed people said that they use Facebook, Twitter, phones and emails. That would be expected of a 16 year old seeing as she has grown up in the era but it wouldn’t be necessarily be expected for someone who hasn’t grown up with it, it’s just come around. It shows that it can’t really be avoided.
EDUCATION
Technology in education is things like teachers using interactive whiteboards to aid their teaching, for presentations and things like that.
Teachers and students can use the VLE for getting and handing in work and homework as well as for emails about events and whatever might be going on at the school. Students from primary school age to GCSE age can use BBC Bitesize to help them with their learning. Nothing on the internet is a replacement for school and teaching by teachers though, learning aids on the internet are just that, to aid. The disadvantage of websites like Bitesize is that people might think they’ll just pass their exams using them even if they don’t listen to the teacher and that is just not the
case.
Most schools do use the VLE, primary schools, high schools and higher education. It has been proved to be useful (by the questionnaires and interviews) because it’s used to give in homework as well as for teachers to put on work and presentations that would help with the student’s homework. It is used frequently at schools.
Students and teachers have been affected by living in the information age because a lot of homework is now done on the internet or at least on the computer, if students choose to type up an essay or whatever it might be. Teachers have been given the opportunity to set online homework, whether it’s something like a ‘My Maths’ homework in high school or to research something online, it’s all affected by technology.
Everyone who did the questionnaire said that they use the VLE in school and they also have videos shown to them on the big interactive whiteboard, whether it’s from YouTube or any other website or from a DVD. This shows the affect, it means classes don’t have to just be the teacher standing talking to the class, it can come from the internet. A 16 year old girl was interviewed about how the information age has affected her education and she said that her teachers use useful resources such as PowerPoint presentations to help with teaching their lessons and she says she thinks it a really helpful tool in her education which goes to show that living in the information age has affected education.
ENTERTAINMENT
Entertainment using technology is anything like playing on video games- single player, multi-player or multi-player using the internet- listening to music and watching TV. Video games are more popular with boys than girls (taken from the questionnaire, that’s not just an assumption).
People use websites on demand, iPlayer, ITV player, 5 on demand and 4 on demand.
Listening to music can be done in different ways now too; it’s not just in the old days where you just had a record player, or even just like the more recent days of a CD. You can stream it online on websites just for listening to music and you can download it from websites especially for buying music or, more commonly, from iTunes. Although people actually do use iTunes to buy their music, a lot of people do download their music on the internet for free which is kind of illegal but it still happens. This is how the internet has affected the music industry, the fact that people have the ability to download music without paying for it means that they will actually choose that option and it means the music industry isn’t going to get paid for it.
The ways people can listen to music has also been affected by all the devices that have been invented to make it possible. Devices like MP3 players, iPods, CD players, radios. Also, people can use their phones and their computers to listen to music. That’s how the information age has influenced people and how they listen to music, where there used to be only a couple of ways, now there are lots.
People use their games consoles to multi-player using the internet, an example being Xbox live, where you can talk to people with a headset and you can play the game with people from all over the world if they have Xbox live as well. This is something that people have been affected by because it’s given people the opportunity to talk to people from all over the world without leaving their bedroom (or wherever their Xbox might be in the house).
A lot of people say that they love their TV. TV has been around for a very long time of course but there were only a couple of channels when it was first invented. Now there are hundreds of channels, too many to keep up with probably. People love their TV because there are so many options of what to watch, you can watch films on film channels such as film 4. There are channels that play things that were on a long time ago and there are channels that play new programs. Also, there are channels that catch up on programs that were on an hour ago like 4+1. This is an influence of living in the information age; people spend so much of their time watching TV seeing as there are so many things to watch, it’s not like when TV only had a couple of channels and when it went off air at certain times. This is kind of a drawback; it means people don’t spend enough time away from the TV screen.
ONLINE SHOPPING AND BANKING
Online shopping takes away the need to go out and buy clothes, or at least it lessens it. To be able to just click order and (after a couple of minutes) to have bought something without even having to leave your house is highly appealing to people although it haven’t completely overtaken shopping in an actual shop, people still like to be able to go out and try on lots of clothes and buy them like that. Online shopping isn’t just for clothes of course; you can buy pretty much anything online if you know what website to go to. Online shopping is convenient for people who don’t have the time to go out and shop. For example, a single parent with three kids probably can’t go out and get new clothes for themselves when they need to so they can just buy them online and it takes 5 minutes. Or, they might not have time to do a weekly shop every week so they can just do the food shop online and get next day delivery. Parents, in this way, have been very positively influenced by living in the information age. The bad thing about online shopping is that it can get quite addictive and, teenagers in particular, taking from people who did a questionnaire, can run out of money very quickly because of shopping online way too much.
The thing about online shopping that also takes away your money very quickly is the delivery cost that a lot of websites charge which can be quite expensive and, even if it’s not, if you order a lot of things online, it can add up to quite a lot. Online banking, much the same as online shopping, makes it convenient for people who don’t have time to go to the bank or anyone who doesn’t want to go to the bank to do whatever they want to do, if they can do it on the internet, they might as well just do it on the internet.
The benefits of being able to look for a job on the internet are that you can find out whether there is actually a job available instead of walking into lots of places and finding out that actually, there aren’t any jobs available at all.
Email has benefited employment because people can do some of their work via email. Also, email fits in with the applying for a job via the internet because it means you can get a quick response because it can just be emailed to them rather than having to wait for a phone call. Only one person who took the questionnaire said that they actually do more (clothes) shopping online than they do going to shops so clearly it 's not replaced going to a shop by any means, it 's just put out a really good and useful alternative so that there is always the option to not have to go out but to get new clothes anyway.
EMPLOYMENT
ICT has had a huge impact on employment in the way that is had created so many new jobs that thousands of people have had to be employed to do. Even though it seems employment is low nowadays, you could say it would be worse if it wasn’t for all the new technologies that have been invented. It means people can have jobs that wouldn’t be available 15-20 years ago.
Also, the ways that people can look for and apply for jobs has improved as well because of the internet. Now, people can look at online job centres or on the company’s/ shop’s/ restaurant’s website. Websites often have application forms on them to apply online.
The benefits of looking for a job online, on their website, are that it will be straight with you, it won’t say they’ve got a job if they actually haven’t. I have found that when I go into a shop or a café and ask if they have any jobs available they seem to try and think about it for too long as if they do when in fact there is nothing available. It saves a trip into town looking everywhere if there is the chance to just look on the internet and find out a straight answer, whether there are any jobs available or not. Also, if you apply for a job online then they get back to you really quickly.
Email has benefited employment because it is now possible to send emails with everything you need to say to the people you are working with if necessary and it is possible to forward emails that other people need to see and to send emails to more than one person. It means you can do some work from home that way without having to ring lots of people to say the same thing because that would take a very long time whereas sending out one email to lots of people wouldn’t take less time that repeating yourself over and over. Email also benefits the job application process because, when you send a job application online then they can just email you a confirmation that they’ve received it and they can send acceptances or rejections by email. Also, if you have a person or a company’s emails address then it is easy to email a CV to them and ask for a job that way and, again, it’s easy to get acceptances or rejections via email. The thing about it is that if you’re someone who tends to forget to check their emails or if your phone doesn’t send notifications when you have a new email, you could miss out just for that careless reason. Of course, if you’re expecting something then there’s more chance of checking everyday but there’s always a chance of missing something. I have sent my CV to a few places via email asking for a Saturday job and have been emailed back within a few days and I have sent job applications via their website, again, been emailed back in a few days. I have found that it is a quick way to ask for a job and to be honest; it is slightly easier to be rejected for a job by email than face to face.
ISSUES AND CHALLENGES?
The need for us to be lifelong learning is so that as technology develops, we also develop with it. This enables us to grown around technology. The main reason for this would be that people are being educated for jobs that aren’t even around yet, creating people to excel when technology moves on. If we don’t learn the skills for these inexistent jobs because as the technology advances, we will be left behind and will slowly lack employment as we haven’t got the skills. For example, most university courses that are 4 or more years long. By the third year the information is predicted to be out dated by new technologies and understandings. We need to stay ahead of technology, this will make it easier to adapt to the new skills that are needed as well as being open minded. One way in which we adapt to new technologies is by taking criticism and taking on board how we need to improve to excel and adjust to the technologies which are still being created. As well as jobs advancing, so have relationship, as 1 in 8 of married couples met on the internet.
WHAT IS LEGISLATION?
Legislation is a law which is used to set boundaries. Employers use these boundaries to see whether their employees are within the boundaries of expectations, then if the employees are below the boundaries, then they can suffer disciplinary orders or even fired. Some of the boundaries could be not using equipment correctly.
WHAT IS COPYRIGHT?
Copyright is an instant law that is used to protect material from others using it. Copyright is a law in which if it is applied to a company’s material, then it is seen as fraud/theft if another company uses it. This can be applied to anything that the company has created, whether it is a logo, spread sheets or any data. Copyright also protects original dramatic, musical and artistic works. The creator of the material has the right to control in which way the material can be used with other companies. The copyrights cover things like; copying, adapting, distributing, communication through electronic means to the public, renting or lending copies to the public and performing in public. To apply copyright to your material you’d normally pay a fee of £39 to cover your work from being used illegally for 5 years. Copyright is seen as a type of intellectual property, so it means it can’t be used without the owner’s permission. In most countries you have to mark your work/material with the copyright symbol to state that it is copyrighted, to show that you’ve copyrighted material you have to insert the international copyright symbol (©) followed by the creator’s name and the year of creation, however this isn’t need in the UK, but it helps if you are wanting to take action if the material is inappropriately used. If someone wanted to use your material then they would have to go through a process in which where they have to ask for permission to use your material and also would normally pay a certain amount to use their materials.
DATA PROTECTION
The data protection act is aimed to protecting the right of the individual privacy. The act is quite complex but there are basically eight common sense rule, known as the data protection principles.
The act says that data must be:
9. fairly
10. limited purposes only
11. only information that is relevant or adequate can be used
12. accurate
13. there is a limited time in which it can be kept
14. when necessary, the data can be corrected or removed by an individual with accessibility
15. safe and secure
16. adequate protection when being transferred countries
Employers (the businesses) have a responsibility to make sure that the data that the individuals give is kept safe and securely
Human right and equality
The human rights act (1988) is the law of legal respect. All individuals are obliged to follow the human rights act and have to respect other people’s rights. Some human right acts include freedom of expression, right to liberty and right to an education
Entertainment
Advantages
Disadvantages
Social
Free
Illegal
Professional
Copyright
Distraction
personal
Portable
Anti-social
Illegal
Distraction
Can be a distraction to the work ethnic
Working style
Advantages
Disadvantages
Social
Flexible
Easily accessible
Fraud
No longer private
Professional
Work from home
Dependant on IT
Big brother
Constant monitoring personal Access to info
24/7
Info overload
Communications
Advantages
Disadvantages
Social
Can communicate with people from around the world
Cheap
Quick
Cyber bullying
Professional
Cheap
Cant spilt home and work life personal Education
Advantages
Disadvantages
Social
Can help with the education of the learning challenged
Professional
personal
Banking & shopping
Advantages
Disadvantages
Social Show the boobies mwhahah
Fraud / hacking
Information is out there
Professional
Accessible
Advertisement
Hacking personal More time convenient
Freedom to shop for what you like
Safety of your information
Decision making
Advantages
Disadvantages
Social
Share ideas/decisions with a group
Fraud
Professional
An online survey could be held
Has to be validated personal Social networking could help make a decision
May influence to make the wrong decision
employment
Advantages
Disadvantages
Social
Easy to apply
Competition
Difficulties when getting in contact
Professional
Easier to look at applications
Better use of time, when recruiting
Unreliable applications
Internet required personal Applications are easier
Internet required
Applying for something that you’re unable to access.
Crime and crime prevention
Advantages
Disadvantages
Social
Able to report crimes easier
Safer
Secure
Pranks
Professional
Easier to do jobs of crime stopping
Higher efficiency at preventing crimes
Incorrect information
Time consuming
Missing documents personal Safer environment
Misinterpreted information
Civil
Advantages
Disadvantages
Social
Control of own life
Free will
Professional
Workers who are willing to work more
Limitations on decisions personal It gives you your own thoughts
legislation
Advantages
Disadvantages
Social
Its protects the person
Hard to understand
Professional
It allows guide lines to be followed
The employer is liable personal Security
Understanding a knowledge
Digital Divide
Creating the Eportfolio
Testing
Evaluation
Bibliography