Topic 1: Impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on the Society

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Topic 1: Impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on the Society – Computer Notes Form Three

The Role of ICT in Daily Life

The Role of ICT in Business, Medicine Engineering, Data Management and Entertainment

Explain the Role of ICT in Business, Medicine Engineering, Data Management and Entertainment

a) In Education

Students and teachers records processing and keeping as a computer aided learning (CAL) as well as computer aided instruction (CAI) used to access teaching and learning materials in the internet ( online learning
Facilitate distance learning
Can be used as a research tool e.g. to analyze data from experiment
To assist education management.

b) In Industry and Engineering

To design drawings for products using Computer Aided Design (CAD) programs – To design drawing for products using computer aided design (CAD) programs example airplanes , bridges, buildings etc
To manufacture products using computer aided manufacturing (CAM)
To plan and control major projects
To stimulate or predict what will happen in real life situations from a model situation example turning on/off traffic lights
To control some operations in automobiles example mixing of fuel and air entering the engine
A new technology called artificial intelligence can solve problems in areas like medicine ,law etc.
To design drawings for products using Computer Aided Design (CAD) programs – To design drawing for products using computer aided design (CAD) programs example airplanes , bridges, buildings etc
To manufacture products using computer aided manufacturing (CAM)
To plan and control major projects
To stimulate or predict what will happen in real life situations from a model situation example turning on/off traffic lights
To control some operations in automobiles example mixing of fuel and air entering the engine
A new technology called artificial intelligence can solve problems in areas like medicine ,law etc.

c) In Banking and Business

To allow bank clerks and customers to find out bank balance in an account
To help bank clerks to record money paid in and out
To check computer sensitive cheques , to do reservation system for airline travel by checking if there is free seat on a flight
To help retailers to check out stock at a super market
To allow people to use Automatic Teller Machine in cash withdrawal and transfer funds between accounts to keep track of current prices of market stocks , bonds and currency.
Creates an effective way of producing document example reports, brochures, cards etc.

d) In Health

In health computer can be used for Diagnosing illness.
Modifying parent health development.
Assisting surgeons.

e) Home

Writing letter
Listening music
Playing game
Watching movie

f) In Law Enforcement

Storage information
Making document and printing document
DNA finger printing.

g) In Music Industry

Composing music
Editing sound
Editing videos

h) In Transport

It can be used for traffic control
It can be used in driving stimulator
It can be used for reservation systems
Computers are embedded in air craft to provide efficiency in flying

i) In Government

It can be used for internal revenue services i.e. to provide reports for tax purposes.
It can be used for planning, analysis, forecast, sampling, predictions etc.
It can be used for weather forecasting
It can be used for law enforcement

j) In Military

It can be used for planning and decision making
It can be used by planners to stimulate wars
It can be used to guide modern weapons such as missiles and field artillery

k) In Communication

Communication has become cheaper quicker and more efficient.
We can now communicate with anyone around the world buy text messages or email for an almost instantaneous response.
The internet has also opened up face to face direct communication from different parts of the world thanks to the helps of video conferencing.
Telephone switching transmission of computer data via network and electronic mail.
Transportation connections, time table, scheduling times, road, airways, railways etc

The Roles of ICT in Creating Awareness on Gender, HIV/AID, Drug and Drug abuse, Globalization, Family Life, Cultural changes, Corruption and Road Safety

Explain the Roles of ICT in Creating Awareness on Gender, HIV/AID, Drug and Drug abuse, Globalization, Family Life, Cultural changes, Corruption and Road Safety

A) HIV/AIDS and ICT

The use of information and communications technologies (ICT) complements other Information Education and Communications (IEC) campaigns designed to reach youth. The same technology resources – e-mail, CD-ROMs, and the World Wide Web – that can link HIV/AIDS educators and activists around the world, also holds great promise for reaching youth, who typically embrace the use of the technology for entertainment, learning and communication when given access to these resources.

Since early 2000, World Links and its project partners have been running the AIDS WEB project in secondary schools in Africa using information and communications technology (ICT) to promote HIV/AIDS education and prevention activities. Early results from the project suggest that technology can play a complementary and useful role in helping combat this horrible pandemic.

B)ICT AND ROAD SAFETY

ICT is an enabler of road safety. With real time data gathering and analysis, it can provide up to second information about traffic situation and also propose alternative routes. It can help better plan and manage the road safety for the individual commuter as well as the whole system.

Developed countries are more and more relying on ICT for road safety, whereas the developing countries are following the suit at their own pace ICT can be used for real time monitoring of over speeding Vehicles on the roads using IP cameras.

C) ICT and GENDER

ICTs have been promoted by international organizations such asUnited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the World Bank and the FAO as a poverty reduction strategy with the additional benefit of empowering women in developing countries.

A study by the International Development Research Centre of Canada (IDRC) on ICT for poverty reduction strategies states that trends show that ICT have been applied to systemic improvements important to poverty reduction such as education, health and social services delivery, broader Government transparency and accountability, helping empower citizens and build social organization voice.

However, existing persistent gender discrimination in labour markets, in education and training opportunities, and allocation of financial resources for entrepreneurship and business development, negatively impact women’s potential to fully utilize ICT for economic, social and political empowerment.

Research and studies have highlighted the many benefits of ICT for women’s empowerment, through increasing their access to information on health, nutrition, and education. Projects founded by NGOs and international organizations include providing WAP phones to women in Senegal to help them check the price of food items and communicate with other women in the network, there by breaking down the digital divide.

D) THE ROLE OF ICT IN CREATING AWARENESS ON CORRUPTION

In recent years, many governments have worked to increase openness and transparency in their actions. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are seen by many as a cost-effective and convenient means to promote openness and transparency and to reduce corruption. E-government, in particular, has been used in many prominent, comprehensive transparency efforts in a number of nations. While some of these individual efforts have received considerable attention, the issue of whether these ICT-enabled efforts have the potential to create a substantive social change in attitudes toward transparency has not been widely considered.

E) THE ROLE OF ICT TO SPREAD INFORMATION

Information about Gender, HIV/AIDS, drug/ drug abuse and corruption is dispread and received all over the world through communication media such as TV, Radio, CD-ROMs, newspapers and computer internet etc.

F) ICT AND GENDER SENSITIVITY

Girls and boys have equal right to join the school woman have a right to own land

G) ICT AND GLOBALIZATION

ICT has not only brought the world closer together, but it has allowed the world’s economy to become a single interdependent system. This means that we can not only share information quickly and efficiently, but we can also bring down barriers of linguistic and geographic boundaries. The world has developed into a global village due to the help of information and communication technology allowing countries like Chile and Japan who are not only separated by distance but also by language to share ideas and information with each other.

H) ICT AND CULTURAL CHANGES

Bridging the cultural gap (interactivity) – Information and communication technology has helped to bridge the cultural gap by helping people from different cultures to communicate with one another and allow for the exchange of views and ideas thus increasing awareness and reducing prejudice. With ICT local radios can be much more interactive and run more economically than a decade ago

ICT and Crimes

The Criminal Activities Facilitated by ICT

Explain Criminal Activities Facilitated by ICT

Some ICT criminal cases include the following:

Viruses Transmission
Junk mail
Unauthorized electronic money transfer. Virus, worms, and Trojan
Undesired contents,
Denial of contents organized crimes

Junk mail is an unwanted or unsolicited advertising or promotional material received through the post or sent as email.

Organized crime is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals who intend to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for money and profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist groups, are politically motivated. Sometimes criminal organizations force people to do business with them, such as when a gang extorts money from shopkeepers for so-called protection

DENIAL OF SERVICE (DoS) is a type of attack on a network that is designed to bring the network to its knees by flooding it with useless traffic. Many DoS attacks, such as the Ping of Death and Teardrop attacks, exploit limitations in the TCP/IP protocols. For all known DoS attacks, there are software fixes that system administrators can install to limit the damage caused by the attacks. But, like viruses, new DoS attacks are constantly being dreamed up by hackers.

Information Security

Information security means protecting information and information systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction.

The terms information security, computer security and information assurance are frequently used interchangeably. These fields are interrelated and share the common goals of protecting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information; however, there are some subtle differences between them. These differences lie primarily in the approach to the subject, the methodologies used, and the areas of concentration. Information security is concerned with the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data regardless of the form the data may take: electronic, print, or other forms.”

The Importance of Protecting Information systems in Various Ways

Outline the Importance of Protecting Information Systems in Various Ways

Some of the benefits include:

Demonstrates a clear commitment to data security- including confidentiality and strict accessibility rules;
provides procedures to manage risk;
keeps confidential information secure;
provides a significant competitive advantage;
ensures a secure exchange of information;
creates consistency in the delivery our services;
allows for inter-operability between organizations or groups within an organization;
builds a culture of security;
protects the company, assets, shareholders, employees and clients;
gives assurance that a third party provider takes your data security (and your business) as seriously as you do

ICT and Employment

The Effects of ICT on Employment

The Dedate on the Effects of ICT on Employment

ICT employment is defined as the people working in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector. This indicator is measured as a percentage of business sector employment.

Greater connectivity, more than 120 countries now have over 80 percent market penetration of mobile telephones
Digitization of more aspects of work ,today telecommuting and outsourcing have become standard business practices globally
More globalized skills,India and the Philippines have become major outsourcing hubs thanks to their English language skills, and other countries are targeting the sector for future growth.

ICTs are providing new avenues for job creation that could help tackle global unemployment. For instance, the development of the mobile phone applications industry has created new opportunities for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). A firm that provides a digital application to the Apple app store, for example, gains access to over 500 million app store account holders.

ICTs connect people to jobs. Online employment marketplaces are helping an estimated 12 million people worldwide find work by connecting them with employers globally. Babajob in India, Duma and M-Kazi in Kenya, and Souktel in the Middle East and North Africa are examples of job search services using internet-based and mobile tools. Such services empower workers by making labor markets more transparent and inclusive; for instance, Souktel targets low-income and marginalized communities.

ICTs also support innovation that has created new, more flexible forms of employment and work:

Online contracting uses ICT to increase access to work opportunities worldwide, mainly for smaller employers. Popular services include oDesk and Elance. In 2012, about 2.5 million jobs were posted on these services, for tasks ranging from writing to customer service to software development.
Microwork platforms break down large business processes into smaller discrete tasks – such as data entry and verification, copy-writing, or graphic design – and distribute them to workers across geographic boundaries. The platforms include Cloud Factory, Mobile Works, and Sam source. Analysts suggest the market size is about US$1 billion today and could grow to about US$5 billion by 2018.

ICTs create opportunities, but also pose new challenges for workers and employers. By enabling new forms of work, ICT also changes the structure of jobs, the way people develop their career, and the way they work. Many ICT-enabled jobs are temporary or contract-based, for example, leading to a separation of work from social safety nets such as health insurance or pensions. But, for young people especially, they offer a way into more formal careers, as well as providing a supplementary income.

ICT Hazards

The Effect of Disposing Electronic Equipments to the Environment

Explain the Effects of Disposing Electronic Equipments to the Environment

1. Air

How does e-waste contaminate air?

Air can be contaminated by e-waste primarily when e-waste is transported to countries where recycling processes are poorly regulated, as is typical in informal economies. In these informal economies, e-waste is often dismantled and shredded, releasing dust or large particulates into the immediate environment where the respiratory health of workers without proper respiratory protection is hurt, often seriously and chronically.

E-waste of little value is often burned and low value e-waste tends to contain a great deal of plastic. Unregulated or under-regulated burning is often carried out at lower temperatures and releases toxins, such as dioxins, which are potent and damaging to human and animal health in a myriad of ways.

Burning also releases fine particles which can travel hundreds if not thousands of miles and bring about negative consequences to respiratory health and bypass the body’s defense mechanisms, increasing the risk for a wide range of chronic diseases and cancers.

Finally, higher value materials, such as gold and silver, are often extracted from highly integrated electronics and e-waste using acids, desoldering, and other chemicals and techniques which release additional damaging fumes into local communities when recycling is not properly regulated. The impacts of informal recycling of e-waste on air are worst for the workers who handle this waste, but can extend, tens, hundreds, and sometimes thousands of miles away from recycling sites.

How are ecosystems impacted?

Some animal species are more profoundly impacted by air pollution than others, which in addition to endangering these species, also endangers the biodiversity of regions that are chronically and heavily polluted. Over the long term, air pollution can hurt water quality, soil chemistry, and plant species, creating damaging and irreversible changes in ecosystems.

For example, lead levels in air near informal recycling hubs like Guiyu, China can be up to three times those found in industrial European sites. Lead can be inhaled while still in the air and ingested when it returns to water and soil. Once ingested or inhaled, it can bio-accumulate up the food chain, causing disproportionate neurological damage to larger animals and wildlife, including human beings.

How are human beings impacted?

Human beings can inhale fine (small) particles generated from informal recycling practices and toxic chemicals from these same practices. Fine particles are of particular concern because

(a) they can travel long distances through air from their point of origin, thus impacting communities far away from where the pollution was generated; and

(b) they bypass the body’s respiratory defense mechanisms and can cause a wide range of health problems, chronic, acute, and otherwise.

Short term exposure to fine particles is often linked with eye irritation, asthma attacks, and acute bronchitis while long term exposure can result in reduced lung function, chronic bronchitis, lung cancer, and a wide range of systemic problems that extend well behind compromised respiratory health. These risks are especially heightened for older adults who already have heart or lung issues such as asthma or coronary heart disease.

Being exposed to particle pollution can aggravate these diseases and even lead to death. For children, inhaling particles can not only result in immediate respiratory difficulty but can also increase the risk of debilitating respiratory disease later in life.

Soil

How does e-waste contaminate soil?

Soil can be contaminated in two primary ways from e-waste:

(a) through direct contact with contaminants from e-waste or the byproducts of e-waste recycling and disposal; or

(b) indirectly through irrigation from contaminated water.

When e-waste is improperly disposed in regular landfills or illegally dumped, both heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, and others) and flame retardants in e-waste can leach directly from the e-waste into the soil, causing contamination of underlying groundwater or contaminating crops that may be planted in that soil now or in the future.

When e-waste is not recycled properly as is the case in areas of the world where recycling practices for e-waste are not regulated or are informally monitored, soil can become directly contaminated by

(a) effluent or waste products from leaching practices which extract precious metals and other valuable materials from e-waste;

(b) coarse particles and bottom ash generated from dismantling, shredding, or burning of e-waste; and

Practices used to extract precious metals from e-waste such as mercury amalgamation or cyanide leaching can release additional toxic substances to the soil. Dismantling can also release large, coarse particles into the air, which due to their size and weight, quickly re-deposit to the ground and subsequently contaminate soil.

How does ecosystems impacted through e-waste soil?

Fundamentally, heavy metals (from improper e-waste disposal and incomplete recycling activities), PBDEs (from burning , shredding, and dismantling), dioxins/furans (from incomplete burning) and acidification from recycling practices which involve leaching change the composition of soil in unpredictable and complex ways. These changes can be very harmful to micro-organisms in the soil and plants, as well as animals and wildlife that rely on these plants for survival.

Plants often suffer from damaged cell structure, altered metabolism, and reduced growth in contaminated soils. In addition, some plant species can be doubly impacted by e-waste through the contamination of underlying soil and through direct contact with contaminants. Lead, for example, can coat the surface of leaves, reducing the rate of photosynthesis within a plant and causing damage or death.

Exposure to contaminated plants/vegetation can create compounding exposures to heavy metals (e.g. lead, arsenic, cadmium), dioxins, furans, PBDEs and other potent pollutants. Animals are not only inhaling contaminated air but also consuming plants contaminated by underlying soil. Since many of these pollutants bio-accumulate up the food chain, the larger the animal, the more the impact, which can cause complex and disturbing disruptions to biodiversity and ecosystem balance in contaminated areas.

How does e-waste impact human beings on the soil?

Humans are doubly impacted by contaminated soil via consuming crops grown in contaminated soil and eating eggs, meat, and fish where toxic substances have bio-accumulated (increased in concentration) up the food chain. For children, these effects are further compounded because children are more likely to play in contaminated soil and ingest contaminated soil through poor hygiene or inadequate hand-washing practices.

Water

How does e-waste contaminate water?

Water can be contaminated by e-waste in two major ways: (a) via landfills that are not properly designed to contain e-waste; and (b) via improper recycling and subsequent disposal of e-waste. Electronic components often contain precious metals and other desirable materials that make e-waste lucrative for many to recycle and reuse these materials, particularly certain impoverished communities in developing countries. Extracting materials from highly integrated systems, as many electronics are in modern design, is complicated and can require shredding, burning, leaching, and other processing that produces toxic byproducts in air, water, and soil.

Surface water, in particular, is affected by the chemical processes used to extract precious metals like gold from electronic devices. These processes typically leach or strip precious materials away from less valuable materials like plastic using acids and other toxic chemicals that, when improperly treated or regulated, are released into local water sources such as streams, ponds, and rivers.

Through these pathways, acidification and toxification of water can extend to communities miles away from a recycling site, impacting public and ecosystem health in many, many ways. Ground water can also be impacted by improper disposal or dumping of e-waste as heavy metals (like lead, arsenic, and cadmium) and other persistent chemicals leach from landfills and illegal dump sites into ground water tables, affecting people and animal life for many miles around.

How does ecosystems impacted through water?

One of the biggest impacts to ecosystems through water sources contaminated by e-waste is through acidification of surface waterways. Acids used to extract and leach precious metals from e-waste during recycling and reuse enter into local waters when improperly handled.

Heavy metals can also enter surface waters through improper recycling and handling of e-waste. For example, in fish, ingestion of mercury readily leads to neurological damage, permanent disabilities and damage to the immune system. Heavy metals can also lead to tissue and gill damage as well as erratic movements among many species of fish. These heavy metal impacts extend well beyond fish, above and beneath these fish on the food chain, ultimately extending to human beings and public health.

How are human beings impacted through e-waste in the water?

When surface waters are contaminated by the products of e-waste, those drinking from, bathing, and recreating in these waters are impacted. Many toxic chemicals can impact surface waters but heavy metals can impact both surface and ground waters.

The Health Hazards of ICT use to Human Life

Outline the Health Hazards of ICT use to Human Life

1. Eye-Strain

One health issue that can occur after using computers for a long time is eye-strain (tiredness of the eyes). This is caused by looking at a monitor which is a constant distance away. The muscles that focus your eyes do not move, and so get tired and painful. Eye-strain can also cause headaches.

This problem can be solved

Look away from the monitor at regular intervals – re-focus on distant or close objects to exercise the muscles in the eye.
Take regular breaks.
Use an anti-glare filter in front of the monitor to cut down on screen reflections that can also tire the eyes.

2. Back and Neck Ache

Many people suffer from back and neck pain after working at a computer for a long time. This is usually due to them having a bad sitting posture.

This problem can be solved:

Use an adjustable, ergonomic chair, and take the time to set it up properly.
The computer keyboard and monitor should be at the correct height for the seated person (keyboard lower than the elbow, top of monitor at eye level).
Take regular breaks: get up, walk around, stretch your muscles

3. Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) in Wrists and Hands

Any repetitive movement (same movement over and over again) can result in a health problem called repetitive strain injury (RSI).

In particular, typing and using a mouse for long periods are common causes of RSI in the wrist (it is often called carpal-tunnel syndrome).

This problem can be solved,