2008/10/18
Activity 6
Activity 3
Access To Digital Technology·
"Name? – Edward Smith Age? – 71
What example of technology do you use in normal day? -In a normal day I use my sky plus to record TV, I also do my banking over the phone. Also I use a mobile phone to call a cab while we are out shopping to bring us home.·
What things would you like to be able to do more easily with the use of technology?- We often go to the cinema on Tuesday mornings, I would like if we could see the movie from home instead of having to travel. Also it would be good if we could get our shopping delivered home without having to use the Internet. That would mean we would not have to bring it back on the bus, which can be difficult.· Thank you
Who’s My Interviewee?My interviewee is my grandfather who is 71 years old, who has 6 children and 12 grandchildren. He lives in a cul-de-sac in Far Cotton, in a terrace house which is a two up two down. He has only recently upgraded to sky plus, which allows him to record live TV. Also by having this he doesn’t have to buy new tapes when they run out. Secondly Mr Smith has a mobile phone. He uses it to contact people when he is out in town with his wife, and have no way of making contact with anyone. This allows them to have more freedom when outside the house. Finally with the use of their over the phone banking they are to make transactions without having to go into town. This saves them time and money on having to travel on the bus."
Source from: http://jonny1441.blogspot.com/2008/10/activity-3-access-to-digital-technology.html
Activity 2
The overall opinion is that more boys are taking computer related subjects than girls. This is reflected all throughout the real world. For example, at Abbeyfields School (my school) there is one AS ICT class. In that class there is 4 girls and 10 boys. This information is shown as a pie chart below.
This is only where I live, in Northampton. From information provided by a family member she told me of the boy to girl ratio in her GCSE ICT class in central London. And the findings where the same. In her class there were 24 boys and only 6 girls. Again below is a piechart to show these results.
After seeing that these results in two different schools were similar I began to think. What effect would this have on the females later on in life and how this will affect society as a whole. Firstly, as jobs are now becoming more integrated with the use of computers these girls are being put to a disadvantage. This could potentially affect their chances of getting the jobs involving computers and IT. This will also have an affect on the wider society. By having a belief that girls don’t have particular interest in ICT, will mean that it is a cycle in which few girls go into jobs that use this technology.
Activity 1
The ability to get information on government grants to help homeless people. If someone has access to this information they will be able to apply for money that can be used to pay for housing and rent, this will lead to other things, such as the option of the homeless person to look and apply for, a job. A homeless person could also make use of the educational services online. This will greatly increase the homeless person’s chances of being able to get a job, which will helpthem get their life back on track. If a homeless person can access the Internet, they will be able to get onto social networking pages to attempt to get back in touch with family. If they succeed in getting in touch with family they can ask for help to get their life back on track and even request housing or a job. Another way that having access to the Internet can help a homeless is that they are able to get medical information. The person could go onto the NHS website, to get directions to the nearest help centre that they can discuss health problems with. Lastly, a way in which a homeless person can benefit from having access to the Internet is they can get information about homeless shelters they can go to for hygiene, food, healthcare, etc.
Having no internet access
By not having access to the Internet, many of the homeless lives will become more problematic, if anything. With each problem I have explained how it will affect them in the real world. One problem with not having internet access is that they will be unable to gain information about services available to them. For example where they can go to get a free hot meal or somewhere to have a wash and clean theirself up. When you are homeless these are things that can make your day much better if they are available to use. Also by not having access to the Internet someone will find it hard to keep up with news about mnew jobs that are vacant. This will cause the homeless person to struggle to get the information about the jobs and training. Finally, no
access to the Internet will mean people will be unable to get in contact with that person.
More Important Things Than The Internet
I have 5 things listed that I believe are more important to a homeless person than having access to the Internet, and reasons why. Firstly, their healthcare – If they had no healthcare they could get very ill and even to the point of death. Social– For people who live on the streets, who often have no family to turn to friends are the only ones who are there to help. Food – Again without this the homeless person will be dead within a few days. So like good health this is required to live. Housing – By having a roof over their head, the homeless person is able to apply for jobs and improve the way in which they live. Money – Without money they will find it hard to do anything. Some places offer free services but everywhere else money is the source to get what they need , such as most shelter, food and some healthcare.
2008/10/16
The International Digital Divide
In the past decades we have seen many major improvements and changes in ICT technology. These include educational, social, cultural and economic benefits. But in the less economically developed areas of the world, there has not been as much technological advances compared to other parts of the world. An example of this would be Africa, many of the countries in Africa are vastly less economically developed compared to Europe, or North America. Out of the 841,546,000 million people, a mere 1.6% are Internet users. In the UK, the figure is 69%.
Two different sides of the Digital Divide, the ones who are on the beneficial side of the divide. Such as the UK and North America. For we use technology for many everyday things, not just for work. We use them to communicate, educational purposes such as online learning sites and games. Using this technology we can keep up with the latest important news and reports, with the use of news sites. Then there is the other side of the divide, Continents such as Africa. A good example to study Digital Divide would be Afghanistan, where 580,000 people have access to Internet in the whole country. The population of Afghanistan 32,738,376, only 1.7% of those have internet access.
The countrys economy is a factor of the Digital Divide. Afghanistan has external debts of $8 billion. To make matters worse there is an unemployment rate of 40% ! 53% of the country live below the poverty line. This is likely that the people who live below the poverty line or will not have the resources for a computer or other technological objects.
You may ask, "what is being done to bridge the digital divide?". Well there are now organisations and projects being set up worldwide to help bridge the Digital Divide. The organisation ‘One Laptop Per Child’ is a U.S. non-profit organization set up to oversee the creation of a cheap, affordable educational devices for use in the undeveloped and developing countries. The company’s focus is on the development, construction and deployment of laptops to promote children's education in developing nations, who normally would not be able to afford even a moblie phone. This will aid these students and offer them increased knowledge for when the technology becomes available for home use to the whole population.
With all these many different organisations and projects in place some people ask, are they really making any difference? After doing some research I have come across a story of how the ‘One Laptop Per Child’ association has helped children in Brazil, below I have listed the link to the story, feel free to view.
Source: BBChttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7647114.stm
