Unit 1: The Information Age - 1.3 Digital Divide - Tackling the Divide on the Ground

ICT is capable of being very empowering. For example, unlike car or steel manufacturing, ICT can be extremely cost-effective. Targeting investment in basic education and access to ICT yields disproportionately great returns. Putting a community IT centre or IT kiosk in a central point in a village community, and teaching villages how to use the facilities can give masses of people access to information and communications through the internet and mobile telephony that can transform lives. Information kiosks, cybercafés and community telecentres are now common in places as diverse as Egypt, Kazakhstan and Peru. In Bolivia, internet centres are used to provide rural workers with up-to-date information on crops, markets, and policies and regulations that might affect them.
(Source: Challenges and Partnerships, A contribution by the Information and Communication Technologies Task Force).

Broadcasting:
Digital broadcasting is a good example of both an empowering technology and of the political barriers that can sometimes stall the elimination of the digital divide. Satellite broadcasting allows geographically remote areas to receive news and information in a manner that was previously unavailable or difficult to achieve.
Villagers in rural Asia who had to rely on low-quality terrestrial broadcasts provided on often unreliable equipment now have access to high-quality images and sound to a range that was previously unimaginable. This provides educational, entertainment and informative benefits for the populations or otherwise remote places.
Simple wireless base stations can makes access to previously inaccessible terrain relatively simple and inexpensive. Mountains, jungle, rivers and densely populated cities are all traversed better with wireless technology then with expensive cable.
However, in some states - such as some in the Middle East and North Africa - digital television is regarded as a major problem. Access to Western values and norms is not universally regarded as a good thing, and is even seen as corrupting in some particularly religious areas.
At one extreme, some countries have banned the reception of Western channels, and at the other, virtually all digital technologies have been banned. In the Muslim world, television stations - such as Al Jazeera - have grown up to provide an authentic local voice on world affairs. Community radio stations in Africa have been used to provide health warnings, agricultural information, weather disaster warnings andto disseminate vital information about HIV.

Mobile phones:
The quality of life in rural Pakistan and Bangladesh has been improved by the use of cellular phones, which allow people to stay in touch in remote locations. Indeed the introduction of mobile phones has been so successful in Pakistan that in April 2004, oneworld.net reported:

"Mobile phone-users in Pakistan will double next year (to more than 7m), outnumbering fixed-line customers for the first time and marking a new era of communications in the poverty-stricken nation."



Discussion - The success of wireless technology:
Why is wireless technology successful as a solution to the digital divide?
Wireless technology is successful as a solution to the digital divide because it allows up-to-date information to reach areas that would previously have been unable to receive such information; e.g. settlements in mountainous areas such as villages in the Himalayas.
Which of the problems that cause the digital divide does it overcome?
It solves the problem of far flung-places not being able to have the same information and education as places which have more modern technology, which puts them at a disadvantage.
Does the growth in available wireless technology have clear social, economic, educational and cultural benefits for the society involved?
Wireless technology's main social benefit for society is that, with wireless technology, people all over the world who may not neccessarily have been able to before - e.g. people in places where it was previously difficult to get internet connection, such as islands or in mountainous regions - can keep in contact with the rest of the world.
Wireless technology's main economic benefit for society is that, if more people can access the internet, more people can perform tasks, payfor items online and run websites, etc; this earns money which, therefore, improves the economy.

Wireless technology's main educational benefit for society is that people who may not have previously had the use of the internet can now use it, accessing new information and education.
Wireless technology's main cultural benefit for society is that, if more people who may not have been able to before can use the internet, they can educate themselves on different cultures and beliefs worldwide - this is another educational benefit too.

Governance:
Simple high-technology, or low-technology solutions are not the only answer to what is a large problem. A major challenge often comes in the form of governments of the under-served nations. For example, the state is often the main or only telecommunications provider, charges "monopoly prices" for its services, and prevents other organisations providing competitive services.
There are sometimes high tariffs on importing high technology or other trade barriers, and sometimes a massive amount of red tape or regulation that has to be overcome. In all these cases, a government strategy is needed to deal with the problem. This is often in association with the United Nations.
Successful strategies of this kind have been adopted in Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates, among other states. In the United Arab Emirates, the Dubai Internet City has been set up to act as a free-trade zone to encourage ICT investment throughout the Middle East, Asie and Africa, using Dubai as a hub.

Case study Laos:
The yearly income in Laos is equivalent to approximately $1,900 per capita (2004 estimate). There are no credit-card facilities offered by Laotian banks. Literacy is low at 47%. Therefore, it cannot be assumed that access to a largely English-language web will be a high priority for the majority of the population. Indeed, text-based messaging is the most popular ICT application currently. Laos language support - Lao has its own alphabet - is available for Windows and Mac users, but there are few manuals or help applications written in the language.
There are thought to be less than 15,000 computers in Laos. The costs of PCs and the internet are too high for the average Laotian. A working, if somewhat obsolete PC, would cost about $200, so computer use is restricted mainly to the wealthy. Just over 1% of the population has a fixed telephone line, perhaps amounting to approximately 4% of households. The cost of installing a phone line is approximately $40; the monthly line cost plus 100 minutes of calls are around a further $30 per month. Electricity is only available in a few urban areas.
All of these factors, as in so many under-served nations, are a massive obstacle to bridging the digital divide. Only just over 1/3 of the population are in areas reached by the telephone network. There were about as many mobile phones as fixed lines in Laos in 2002. There has been massive growth in mobiles in recent times, but the mobile signal only reaches urban areas, and so covers approximately 10% of the population. The main means of access to the Information Age is through internet cafes that were originally set up for foreign tourists, but where locals now constitute the main driver of the demand.
The main obstacles to progress in reducing the digital divide in Laos have been identified as:

• the mountainous geography
• the weather with its monsoon rains
• a frustrating lack of coordination among government agencies
• the lack of IT standards to allow integration between systems
• a lack of IT knowledge at policy and skills levels
• a poor power and the telecommunications infrastructure
• a poor ISP service
• the high relative costs of ICT
• the lack of Laotian language support, especially for training materials      

However, several "ingenious solutions" are being found. Here are some examples:

Initiative 1 - Cantennae:
Although commercial solutions are subject to theft, vandalism and weather-related failure, low-tech solutions based on DIY "cantennae" have been very successful as phone base stations, wireless local area networks, etc. Factory manufactured versions of these are available in the UK to boost wireless reception.

Initiative 2 - Pedal powered wireless computer in Phon Kham:
Phon Kjam is a poor village in Laos, one of the poorest countries on Earth. All 200 villagers live in bamboo houses and walk dirt roads that are only passable before the monsoon. There is no electricity and no telephone system, and yet they have computers with internet access thanks to some ingenious thinking and pedal power.
A generator, powered by pedalling a bike, charges a battery that runs a small 486-type computer designed to run on only 12 watts.
"It has no moving parts, the lid seals up tight, and you can dunk it in water and it will still run," Lee Felsenstein, the inventor, said. "The idea is to be rugged, last at least 10 years and run in both the monsoon season and the dry season."
Wireless PC cards connect each PC to a hilltop relay station connected to a computer in town, which in turn is connected to the Laos phone system and the internet. The total cost of the network is approximately $19,000 and it will cost about $21 per month to run.
The main impacts of the system on the locals are not to do with chat or playing games, but are founded on a solid economic basis. Villagers wanted the system to find information to help them, and in particular the price that commodities were being sold at in Phon Hong, the local market town and in Vientiane, the capital. With this information they can make informed decisions about where and whether to travel, for commercial or any other purposes - a serious decision when talking of distances greater than 30km through dry and barren terrain in the dry season, and near impassable in the wet season.

Initiative 3 - The Jhai Foundation PC and communication and internet learning centres:
The Jhai Foundation - an American-Lao non-profit organisation whose aim is to help empower the next generation of Laos - has funded multiple community IT projects, including internet learning centres in schools. These have rapidly become self-sustaining buns for community learning. Although based in schools, they teach adults as well as children. The main reason for their success is that members of the community feel they own the centres.

Task - summarise the Laos case study:

                                                                                                                                                                   

Activity 5 - Email in the Solomons

What is the extent of the digital divide?

• Satellite phones are too expensive for most to use regularly.
• Communicate using only satellite phones and short-wave radio.
• In most areas there is no electricity.
• The connection speed is around 2Kbps, meaning that a typical text email sent by rural villagers will take approximately 10 seconds to transmit.

What are the problems that caused the divide?

• "The struggling South Pacific nation has endured years of bloodshed, corruption and economic decline."
•  There was a "legacy of fear and mistrust created by years of fighting between rival ethnic gangs from Malaita and Guadalcanal".

What is the impact of the digital divide?
The impact of the digital divide on the Solomon Islands is that, because the islands are far apart and there has been a lot of conflict, their economy will not be able to develop as it should. Furthermore, education and communication is limited.

What solutions have been provided so far?

1. The PeopleFirst Network - set up with funding from the United Nations Development Programme - worked to find a way to connect the remote island to the outside world, as well as each other.
2. 14 email stations in schools or clinics in rural areas have been set up.
3. The email stations use "old technology" that is still "robust" - the laptops are "quite old" but are "affordable in villages".
4. The PeopleFirst Network is working with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on using their Tek project - "researchers at the Boston institute are developing a search engine designed for people with a slow net connection". 

 A further initiative which would help the people in the Solomon Islands is:

A wind-up laptop could be a further initiative which would help the people in the Solomon Islands.
The wind-up laptops in question are "cheap and robust", each costing $100. The laptops are powered with "a wind-up crank, have very low power consumption and will let children interact with each other while learning".
The UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said: "Children will be able to learn by doing, not just through instruction - they will be able to open up new fronts for their education, particularly peer-to-peer learning."
He added that the initiative was "inspiring" and held the promise of "special and economic development for children in developing countries".

Civil Rights

Civil rights are one of the more controversial areas in the debate about the impacts of ICT. Nowadays, there is more data on people, and more technology is used to monitor or control people in order to keep society safe. However, the more data there is on people, the more likely it is that people's civil rights and their right to privacy may be compromised.
In the United Kingdom, compulsory ID cards are also a controversial area. One of the reasons that this is so is that they are linked to a national database that will be capable of storing a large amount of information on an individual, and of being linked through keys, (such as NHS number, driver's license number, national insurance number, etc), to a number of other databases which - when put together - will give an unparalleled amount of information about an individual.
The proposed ID register(/database) is intended to be "the foundation of identity management in the UK in the coming years". The card would have a biometric signature, (e.g. retinal print, digital version of thumb print, etc), which would help to prevent fraud, protecting the card's owner but also allowing police and other officials to identify an individual, and then potentially have access to a large amount of information on that individual.
Some civil rights groups have protested that the scheme is anti-libertarian. For example, Privacy International (link to their website here) said that the scheme was "draconian and dangerous" as it gave so many government agencies wide-ranging powers against individuals.
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Task 1 - Pros and cons of ID cards:

Write a list of all the ICT that is involved in the UK's proposed card scheme:

• The system for administering the ID cards
• The system that would store all of the information, (e.g. the database) 
• The technology behind recording the signatures, (biometric or otherwise

State what the purpose of the ID card is meant to be:
The purpose behind the ID card would be to prevent fraud, protect the card's owner but also allow police and other officials to identify an individual, and potentially access a large amount of information on that individual.

Evaluate whether it will meet this purpose:
It would only work if there was legality on when you had to carry/use the ID card, on when you could use it and whether there was a critical mass on people using their ID card.

Enumerate the advantages of such a system and the drawbacks:
Advantages:

• All of your information is stored in one place - it is easy for police and officials to obtain your information.
• It is easy for police and other officials to identify and obtain a large amount of information on individuals.

Drawbacks:

• All of your information is stored in one place - it is easy for people (e.g. hackers, criminals, etc) to obtain your information.
• People may feel that the ID cards are an infringement of civil liberties.
• People might not use their ID cards.

Make your personal recommendation as to whether we should have ID cards:
I don't think we should have ID cards since the only clear advantage would lie with the police and other officials, giving them large amount of information about us which we may not be aware of. The police and other officials could track our movements with these ID cards and people may refuse to use them if they believed that the ID cards were an infringement of civil liberties.
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Task 2 - Discuss US passports and RFID:

"The US Department of Homeland Security has decided that 1 million US passports will contain radio frequency ID chips in 2005, moving to a universal system in 2006. These RFID tags will allow customs officials to scan passports using special radio receivers. They will not have to approach the travellers directly but can scan them from nearby. The passports will contain biometric and other information." (Source: "We don't need to see your ID", New Scientist, 23 October 2004).

It will be faster and more convenient for customs but what are the dangers?

A danger is that, if someone were to steal someone's passport - complete with RFID - and the passport was scanned by customs from a distance and without looking at the passport-holder to see if they matched the photograph inside, passport fraud would be much easier and there would be a much lower risk of apprehended. This means that criminals and illegal immigrants would be able to leave or enter the US with ease if they had a stolen passport.
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Task 2 - Discuss Teen Arrive Alive GPS tracking system:

"Teen Arrive Alive is a private company founded specifically to provide support to parents who are concerned about the driving safety of their teenagers. Our goal is to bring the teen problem to the forefront, assist in critical education, and recognise the positive driving behaviours of our nation's teens." (Source: Teen Arrive Alive).

The company claims that nearly 78% of teenagers in the US are ticketed or crash by the time they are a legal adult, (eighteen years old). One of the company's services is that the organisation offer a GPS tracking device to the parents of teenagers who may be worried that their child is "late, missing, lost, abducted or not driving very well". Using a mobile phone and GPS technology, parents can track their teenager's driving in real time. The route shows up on a digital map showing the speed travelled.

Research the website and discuss the benefits and drawbacks of this use of technology to "protect" teenagers:
Advantages:

• Parents will always know where the children are.
• Some companies use similar technology - if a young driver offers to get a GPS tracking system installed in their car and promise not to drive at night, they can get cheaper insurance - this is an incentive.

Drawbacks:

• Teenagers may feel like the GPS tracking system is an invasion of privacy.
• May encourage teenagers to be more rebellious if they feel that they don't have enough freedom when they are driving alone.

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Task 3 - Monitoring internet and email use:

Case study:
"A large estate agency with multiple branches monitors all network activity by its staff (including  each internet access and each email) using content monitoring software.
Website access is strictly controlled and monitored. The amount of time accessing different categories of websites is logged. Each month a report is sent to the line manager of each employee so that any undue time spent on the internet or any part of the web can be immediately seen and discussed with the employee. Sites deemed unsuitable can be blocked and reported immediately by email for immediate action.
Emails are scanned for inappropriate usage. Pornographic and defamatory content is blocked by recognition of particular keywords and reported. Keywords such as "salary", "cv", "job", "employment" and other details related to the possibility of moving to new employment are also scanned for. Emails containing these words are parked in a special area where the network manager can read them. He decides if they are harmless, and thus sends them on, or whether the employee should be reported."

Task:
Describe the advantages the content monitoring system has for an organisation such as this estate agency:
The advantages the content monitoring system has for an organisation such as this are:

• The organisation's completed work may be of a higher standard because the employees have no distractions.
• Senior staff would get a lot of practise training new employees since many may be unwilling to stay on.

Describe the negative impacts it might have for the organisation:
The negative impacts the content monitoring system has for an organisation such as this are:

• Morale might be low if employees feel that the content monitoring system is an infringement of civil liberties.
• Employees might feel that the monitoring system is an invasion of privacy.
• Employees might be unhappy working there and search for a new job elsewhere, causing a "high churn rate", (churn rate definition can be found here).

Describe the advantages it has for employees:

• Helps employees to focus on their work - there are less distractions if their internet is limited.
• Helps employers because more work is completed to a higher standard.

Analyse the problems this system might have for an employee who only uses the system for business purposes:
The system is not foolproof. If an employee only uses the system for business purposes, it is quite likely - if not certain - that the employee will be using keywords such as "salary", "job" and "employment" in their work. Because these words are scanned for, the emails containing these words would be stopped and read by the network manager. If they are held back for too long, they may no longer be important if they missed a deadline, and both the employee and the employers could get into trouble. The system would prevent the employee from completing their work successfully and this would not make the organisation look good.
Furthermore, if the emails are constantly stopped and sent to the network manager but there is never anything suspicious in them, the network manager may stop reading any of the emails properly and this could mean that employees could use their work emails for other tasks, such as searching for new employment elsewhere, which would cause a higher churn rate.

Make recommendations about the use of this system:
I think, if the system was not quite as strict as it is in this case study, it could be quite effective. Website access being controlled is a good idea - blocking and reporting any websites deemed unsuitable is good, but monitoring every website employees go on (if it is in their break) should not be allowed.
However, when they are supposed to be working and are not on a break, it seems fair that their employers should be able to monitor what they are being paid for, especially if they aren't using their time productively.
I think it is fair that emails are scanned for inappropriate usage. It can't really be an invasion of privacy because, if it was truly a personal email, an employee could use their personal email account for it and not have to use their work email, where there is a chance that it will be read.
I don't agree with keywords being scanned and, if they are found, the emails being stopped because I think this would prevent work from being completed successfully if there is poor communication within the organisation.
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Task 4 - Discuss society and the individual:

George Orwell wrote about how technology could be used to control us in his "famous vision of a totalitarian future" - 1984, published in 1948.

Review some of the comments on the US's response to Homeland Security at the following websites:
The White House
Human Rights First

The White House has commented on the US's response to Homeland Security, saying that it has "launched a comprehensive, cutting-edge strategy to fight transnational organised crime". The White House websites also said that Homeland Security has concluded a cyberspace policy review and a Surface Transportation Security Assessment. It has also announced a new U.S.-Mexico border initiative, amongst other progressions. Many of these - especially the cyberspace policy review - would neither exist nor be possible without such advanced technology.
Human Rights First has also commented on the US's response to Homeland Security, saying that it has created a new Senior Refugee Position which will be filled by an Under Secretary. The position will reside within a new Directorate of Policy, which will ultimately be led by an Under Secretary. The job will involve a lot of work, and should "improve the treatment of asylum seekers held in US jails" and should "ensure that women who flee from horrendous violence will receive protection in appropriate cases". Much of the technology needed to complete these tasks would not be possible without such advanced technology as we have today.

To what extent do we allow society to "look after" us and as a result, deprive us of individual freedom?
As a whole, society does take care of individuals by protecting our rights, but it could be argued that we are deprived of our individual freedom. Some people may feel pressured by society to conform to what we see as "normal", whether this is what sort of life we lead or what mobile phone we have. Every new piece of technology we have creates a new crime and this also puts pressure on society.
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Task 5 - Legislation and ICT:

"The Information Age has brought with it the need for its own set of laws to regulate, monitor and control the way in which we conduct our personal, social and working lives when using ICT."
In the United Kingdom these include:

• Health and Safety at Work Act (1974), as amended
• Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations (1992)
• Data Protection Act (1984), as amended
• Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (1988)
• Computer Misuse Act (1990)
• Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (2000)
• Freedom of Information Act (2005)

(Task to go with this is here).

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The impact of the Information Age on the way we conduct our personal, social and working lives has been, and continues to be, enormous. There are a number of themes running consistently through this topic: "We are able to do more for ourselves; we are able to have, or are forced to have, more flexibility and choice. We can work, lean or play, be alone or socialise in more places than ever, with more choice than ever, at more times than ever."
We have a large amount of data to deal with in all areas of our lives, and new tools, industries and laws have been created to manage this new increase of information.
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Task 6 -  Newspaper articles involving civil rights:

The issues expressed in this newspaper article are affected by ICT because, since it is such a controversial issue, it has gained a huge amount of media interest. More than one million people have signed an online petition against Uganda's anti-homosexuality bill.

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The issues expressed in this newspaper article are affected by ICT because, after "a wife who kept her neighbours awake at nights for three years" breached a "noise abatement notice", environmental health officers put up monitoring equipment.

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The issues expressed in this newspaper article are affected by ICT because strict background checks would be run using ICT since most of these are done online these days as it saves time due to an ever growing population.

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The issues expressed in this newspaper article are affected by ICT because, in the countries that "recognise same sex marriage", they may have previously only had databases for families consisting of a man and a woman, and their children. Obviously, same sex marriages would consist of two people of the same sex so a different database would have to be created, using ICT.

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The issues expressed in this newspaper article are affected by ICT because the article is all about Jobmatch, a website which will show job advisers whether or not the people who have signed up and are on benefits are looking for work or not: "We can see what people are doing. We can see their activity or lack of it.". The website will "work 24/7".

The Open University

The Open University was set up in Milton Keynes in 1969 to allow people who did not get a chance to study at university after school to access higher education through part time courses. The Open University "changed the face of education". It was different from the other universities because it was the first establishment to change higher education by allowing people who have left education long ago to continue learning and so improve their job prospects - this made a lot of difference as all of the other universities were aimed at students who had recently left education.

The Open University is also different from other universities because it facilitates distance learning. Even when the internet wasn't used by the Open University, students could send their work in the post to be marked.

The Open University links to the BBC because the BBC also used to show TV and radio recordings of the Open University's lectures. The students would do their work based on that and then send their work into the Open University that way.

Since the Open University first launched in 1969, over 1.6 million people worldwide became students and achieved their learning goals by studying with the Open University.

                                               

Websites I used:
http://www.open.ac.uk/

The History Of The Mobile Phone

The article "Faster, thinner, lighter... so what will we dial up next?" describes how mobile phones have altered the way we communicate.

As the article said, the phones we used to have - Nokia phones that were nicknamed "brick phones" - "did little else but ring and bleep". This shows that the first mobile phones were only ever used for ringing people and sending SMS text messages. The phones we have now are not like that but, surprisingly, twenty nine per cent of people aged over forty five still use their first mobile phone.
Now mobile phones are described as "powerful mini-computers" which "bear little resemblance to the clichéd 80s brick phones".
Nowadays, mobile phones are as the article's title states: "faster, thinner, lighter". The majority of people these days "rely on them for everything" as "there are now very few tasks we undertake that don't involve our phones", such as "keeping track of appointments" or "keeping us entertained at the gym".
The article says that "phones have become the centre of our universe", and that "the age of the phone as a calling device is well and truly over". As the article said, they are much more like "mini-computers" these days and, as the article said, the phones being made now are so different that many of us "look back with fondness on our first phone", and "get all nostalgic". This is not exactly surprising when you consider that, by the age of fourteen, seventy six per cent of eighteen-to-twenty-four year olds owned their first phone. They grew up with them.
More people own mobile phones nowadays as they are cheaper, people have more disposable income, and mobile phones are more widely viewed as an acceptable means of communication.
Here is the article:

 

Nowadays, there are many different types of phone. While basic phones, such as some of the early Nokia mobile phones, were very popular, after, phones such as blackberries with their qwerty keyboards were even more so and, nowadays, smartphones, such as touchscreen phones, even more than that. Because the phones are becoming more and more advanced with new technology, their usability and functionality have vastly improved, meaning that they can be used almost anywhere.

Crime and Crime Prevention

Task 1 - Mobile Phone Spam)

New crimes are often created due to new technology. For example, high-quality photocopiers make the forging of documents such as bank notes, concert tickets, and other event tickets.
The article below shows a new crime that has only come about due to new technology - mainly SMS messaging:

Mobile phone spam is a form of spamming that is directed at text messaging or other mobile phone communications services. It is sometimes called mobile spamming, SMS spam, text spam, m-spam or mspam.
It has become more widespread because, since the early 2000s, the popularity of mobile phones has increased as users frequently used text messaging as a form of communication. This has seen an increase in the number of unwanted and unsolicited commercial advertisements being set to people's mobile phones through text messaging.
This can be very annoying for the recipitent because, unlike in their email accounts, some recipitents can be charged a fee for every message they receive, including spam.

                                                                                                                                                                    

Task 2 - Crime Detection)

 

Crime detection has improved hugely in the past few decades, especially due to DNA testing and other crime scene investigation tools, including closed circuit TV systems. Furthermore, numerous police officers have been trained in ICT at all levels in order to ensure that the police service can take advantage of the benefits that can be gained from its use. Nowadays, ICT is seen as a major driving force to improve methods and efficiency by the police service.

These days, ICT affects the work of every police officer. Street officers can type up reports efficiently using word processing software and templates, rather than having to laboriously type up every report. Clear, secure, digital radio systems are also used now - they allow communication between mobile officers and a computer-aided-despatch (CAD) room at base.

Nationally, huge integrated crime databases are used to record crimes and attempt to find patterns in them. Biometric databases are used to store DNA evicence, handprints and fingerprints. Geographical analysis and other sophisticated networks are used to attempt to analyse patterns in criminal behaviour.
Additionally, evidence gathering has improved through the use of digital video and CCTV, as well as more sophisticated computerised forensic analysis.

The benefits of using ICT to improve methods and efficiency of the police service are very clear. Communication systems have greatly improved; it is possible for officers to work through their administrative duties much more quickly. The number and sophistication of the tools available  to help track down criminals, and hopefully deter them, has increased hugely.

Evidence collecting, tracking, analysis and availability have improved, and the amount of data now available to the police system to help in their work and monitor how effective they are has grown in proportion to this.

However, many believe that the police service are now too driven by technology. People miss the days when there was "a local police officer who knew what was happening in the local community". There is now a huge collection of data, but it is not easy to access what impact of these major initiatives have had on detecting and reducing crime overall.

Another more unexpected tool used by the police service is social networking - this is useful as it allows the police service to find criminals - something shown in the article below - but communication technology can sometimes be a problem when cases come to court.

 

 

Task 3 - How technology has changed crimes)
Technology has changed how crimes are committed because, with each new branch of technology, another avenue for criminals is also created. For example, when online banking was created, a whole new type of crime was made - criminals could illegally hack into people's accounts online and steal their money that way - they did not even have to leave the house. Another example is cyber attack - this would also not have been possible without our current technology because, if computers did not exist, neither would cyber attack.
However, new technology has also opened new gateways in more positive ways. For example, the missingpersons.police.uk website would not have been possible without modern technology and that has helped the police to solve many investigations.
Both of these arguments are presented in articles below:









"PC hijackers" are also becoming a growing problem. Increasing numbers of people are learning how to create types of malware such as ransomware and scareware. These types of malicious software - ransomware - can effectively lock or encode people's documents and, without paying whatever money the criminals are demanding in return for the full use of your computer, you will not be able to use your machine - it is much simpler to have anti-virus software downloaded and to use common sense - e.g. if your computer shows a pop-up that says the police have found something suspicious on your computer and want compensation - scareware - then do not pay it! They would not inform you of it in that way and any money you send would be sent to criminals.
This is shown in the article below:

 Another type of crime that would not be possible without modern technology is shown in the article below. It explains for, by using the internet - twitter for example - a group of criminals were able to trace the movements of the "super-rich" and apprehend them, demanding that they give them incredible expensive jewellery they were wearing, and they only knew this because the victims had posted where they were going online. To summarise, the "Millionaire Muggers", as the group were later nicknamed, "followed the movements of high-profile figures on the internet before robbing them".
Here is the article:





































On a more positive note, over the last decade, the crime rate has dropped in the United Kingdom because it is getting increasingly difficult to commit a crime and get away with it.

Websites I used:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone_spam

Entertainment & Leisure

Task 1 - Read and summarise pages 29-31 in the textbook:

• The important of the convergence of digital technologies on entertainment and leisure has been huge.
• Almost every area of entertainment has been changed due to digital technology.
• Digital technology affects both production and distribution, and there is still further scope for change.
• It enables more personal creativity and choice.
• It is now simple and relatively inexpensive to produce creative works digitally such as:
• Music
• Video
• Sound
• Radio
• Magazines
• Books
• Art
• It is now a great deal easier to make and record music.
• It is now possible to record and mix music successfully on a home computer thanks to MIDI input devices, sequencers and sophisticated sound cards.
• Because of this, many independent "indie" bands have been using this software to edit and add to their music.
• As with the internet itself, this has the effect of:
• providing wide variety and allowing new talent to publish.
• allowing a great deal of mediocre work to be published.
• creating a certain similarity in feel to a great deal of what is published.
• Consumers have experienced a much wider choice of entertainment as a result of the digital age.
• Films can be sent to many different locations simultaneously in digital form so release dates can be brought forward.
• DVD release and broadcast distribution can be brought closer to the original date - this funds more movies and more choice.
• As with music, small independent production companies are able to produce TV and radio programmes.
• Broadcasting can happen almost anywhere in the world now thanks to simpler means of distribution.
• All of this broadens the choice for the consumer - however, many people feel that this dilutes the quality.
• It is certainly true that there is so much new music, so many TV stations, so many radio stations and so many films available that an individual could feel overwhelmed by choice, and not able to properly take advantage of these resources - this is a phenomenon knows as "information overload".
• An interesting way of dealing with this new "explosion of choice" is Sky + because it allows consumers to record TV onto hard disc.
• It's system is simple and flexible, effectively allowing people to build up their own personal channel onto which they can record their favourite programmes.
• It is also possible to skip the advertisements that effectively fund many programmes at the moment - this may have a longer-term effect on the way in which we pay for TV.
• Another massive impact of ICT on entertainment echoes that of communication.
• Entertainment is not restricted to the home or the theatre at set times, but is now available anywhere and at any time.
• The iPod, MP3 players and other similar devices allow you to transport and listen to the equivalent of entire CD collections at near CD quality wherever and whenever you are.
• Portable media players allow you to record TV or DVDs, and watch them anywhere and any time too.
• DVD recorders allow you to capture permanently movies and broadcast programmes in high quality and watch them anywhere and any time a DVD player is available.
• The most obvious effect of the digital age is the sheer amount of information / information sources that are available to us.
• To summarise, people are "bombarded with data and choice" in a way that they were not in the past.
• One impact of this is that people can feel stress and hopelessness as a result of this overload of information and choice, especially where information is contradictory, inconclusive or ambiguous.

                                                                                                                                                                         

Task 2 - Review the PowerPoint shown at the start of our lesson:

The PowerPoint shows us that the impact of technology on entertainment and leisure has been enormous. It has created digital television, radio, films and games, and all of these have been altered in the way they are produced and broadcast due to the digital age.
It also shows us that digital recording has allowed both professional and amateurs to record their work easily, and then to broadcast it online, as well as conventionally on television, radio or streamed online. It shows us that the archiving of television and radio programmes has "become second nature" - this was not the case when television and radio were new.
The presentation also shows us how the formats we use for digital technology have changed. Video became DVD which became CD-Rom, which became an HD-DVD which then became a Blue Ray DVD. Each format has its advantages and disadvantages but they all did the job they were created for.
The PowerPoint presentation shows us that films are still being released in cinemas nowadays. Cinemas were saved from closure by the development of The Point - the first multiplex cinema in the UK - which is in Milton Keynes. When cinemas were first created, if you wanted to see a film after its cinema release then you had to join one of several video rental stores. Many of these stores are now struggling as it is so much easier to access films online; e.g. with Netflix or LOVEFILM. These online film viewing services have expanded along with satellite television, now offering mobile services which give customers a longer period of time in which they can use these websites.
The presentation also showed that the development of BBS and eventually Sky was altered the way that television has been offered. Initially, BBS and then Sky have offered a wider choice and enabled isolated communities access to television for the first time. Satellite television has developed with improved boxes, allowing the recording of television programmes without the need of a video recorder. Television companies have started to offer red button services of live coverage, and HD cameras have allowed HD stations to be offered. Other companies have entered the television market now, such as Virgin and Freeview - each was offering a similar service, which involved allowing customers to pre-record programmes.
The presentation also showed us that technology has now taken over music, television and film industries. However, counterfeits, (e.g. pirate copies), have come into the market now - both on an individual and a commercial level - producing fake products ranging from cassettes, videos, CDs and concert tickets. With the invention of high quality but cheap printers, the production of high quality fakes was made much easier and so they are used more widely.
The PowerPoint presentation's final slide showed us how the industry for computer games has expanded enormously - from the simple pixel based games of tennis and hockey that worked due to a program file on a games box which was hooked onto a television screen in black and white, to the hand-held gaming systems with stunning graphics that are taken for granted nowadays.
                                                                                                                                                                         


Task 3 - Explain how the entertainment industry has been altered using the discussions in the textbook, and the articles provided:

Discussions:

Discussion 1 - Access to original entertainment:
"It has never been easier to publish original entertainment.
It has never been harder to see and hear original entertainment."
This discussion is clearly making a point that - because people can now successfully mix music at home, using software to: create sophisticated backing tracks by selecting a key signature and music style, provide a solid rhythmic backing from computerised drum machines, editing out mistakes, and even "correcting" voices that are out of tune - the work is no longer original or, if it is, it does not sound original because they are all edited in much the same way and can sound very similar.

Discussion 2 - Pirated entertainment:
What is the advantage of paying a supplier such as Apple for a legal music download?
The advantage of this is that the customer can guarantee that they will be paying for a download that is definitely going to be what they wanted in the first place, and will also be of a good quality. This saves you money as you do not have to pay for the CD, but you are also not illegally downloading a pirated copy of the music for free. Furthermore, sometimes downloading pirated copies could lead to you downloading a virus or other malicious malware onto your machine.
What is the disadvantage of buying a pirate DVD from a market stall?
The disadvantage is that the DVD could A) not be what you wished to purchase in the first place, B) it may be very poor quality so not worth watching anyway, or C) if you did not know how much a legal copy of the DVD cost, you could spend more money on a poorer-quality pirate DVD.
What is the disadvantage of getting a pirate download of the latest Hollywood blockbuster before its UK release?
There are many disadvantages of getting a pirate download of a film are: you could also be downloading malware onto your machine; you have no physical copy of the film; it is illegal; it could be traced back to you and you could be fined / arrested; you have no packaging - A.K.A. no tangible thing afterwards; you cannot watch it again; and it could be very poor quality.
What is the disadvantage to you of visiting an illicit music download site?
The disadvantages are that: a virus or other malware could be downloaded onto your machine; it is illegal; and you could be traced which could lead to you being fined / arrested.
Does widespread illicit downloading discourage the funding of new talent?
The funding of new talent could be discouraged due to widespread illicit downloading because people may not think that it is worth their while if people are going to download their material illicitly for free because they will make no profit from it.

Discussion 3 - Impact of games players:
One of the largest impacts of ICT on the personal lives of young people has been the "explosive growth" of home games players or "play" stations. An article from New Scientist - written on the 23rd of October in 2004 - stated that $3.8 thousand million of games were sold in 1995, rising to $6 thousand million in 1998, and $7 thousand million by 2003. Approximately 25% of these games were violent.
Why are computer games so popular?
One obvious reason for this could be escapism - playing computer games allows people to forget about their own worries as they lose themselves in something that will not affect their real life.
Do computer games make you more violent?
If a computer game is violent, the chance is that it could make you more violent too if you played it frequently. For example, if the game involved killing or attacking enemies - it could be anything from zombies to criminals - then the idea of killing or attacking, if you played the game enough, could begin to seem more normal to you which could lead to violent tendencies.
Do computer games make you more isolated?
If you spend a lot of time playing computer games alone, the likelihood is that you will become more isolated as you stop seeking human interaction and play computer games instead.
Do networked computer games make you more or less social?
Networked games allow you to talk to other players which, despite being social interaction, is not the same as talking to a person in "real life" and, if you only feel comfortable talking to people online, this could make it more difficult for you to interact with people in everyday life.


Articles:

Article no. 1) Under fire: Women who dare to game:

 

This article shows that it is not just the male population who like to buy video and computer games. This could persuade the entertainment industry to make games that are more stereotypically "female" so as to accommodate for everyone who plays the games, not just men.

Article no. 2) Gre@t show on the box:

This article shows that the entertainment industry is already accommodating "how we watch TV" with a graph showing which portable devices we use to watch our programmes, and how we choose what to watch from the wide selection of material provided for us.
 

Article no. 3) Pirate TV founder's deal with US courts:

This article is about a student who created a website that allowed people to watch films and TV for free. It shows how easily media can be downloaded nowadays, and that the people who make the material in the first place are losing out because many people no longer pay for the material.

Article no. 4) £1.1bn price-fixing fine for TV makers:

This article shows that the entertainment industry is not always a positive thing. Sometimes the customer demand for new entertainment is exploited and it is left to the European Union to punish this.

Article no. 5) Skyfall breaks box office record in 00 quick time:

This article shows the top grossing films in Britain - something people do not always realise about the entertainment industry is how much money it is making because of us. This shows just how effective the entertainment industry can be, showing that Skyfall earned £94,277,612 in 2012 and it is still increasing.

SMS - Has its time past?

Short Message Service (SMS) - otherwise known as text messaging - was created by engineer Neil Papworth, aged 22, on the 3rd of December in 1992.

SMS was originally devised to utilise mobile phone transmissions to send "short bursts of textual data" and it is now the preferred method of communication for many people. SMS is designed for short messages with as much meaning as possible - therefore, the SMS language has evolved based on abbreviations and informal phonics.

SMS has changed over the last twenty years as more and more people have used it. Emoticons have been developed and these also add more meaning to text messages as it can sometimes be hard for others to work out what you mean; e.g. if you are being sarcastic or not.

SMS has influenced our lives because we no longer need to meet people or ring them on the telephones. This could make people more antisocial but it also makes communicating much simpler and faster.

The following article describes how SMS came to be and why it may or may not be used so widely nowadays: