The focus of today's lesson is on using technology, namely ICT, to make a difference in the world. ICT (Information and Communication Technology) is a broad term that consists of many areas of interests, which I will discuss the main key takeaway messages from the session in this blog post.
1. Mass Media
What is mass media? Mass media is media that allows one to communicate and reach out to a large group of people. In the past, people made use of all sorts of methods to communicate with each other starting from the most basic forms like word of mouth, smoke signals, reading, letter-writing, before inventing more advanced ways of disseminating information such as utilising the radio, television and even the early Internet. There has been a clear transition from passive communication (one to many) that was used in the past mainly for the ruling government to aid in its centralisation of the country and advocation of propaganda; to an active one (many to one) that we are currently witnessing, where the government no longer uses the one-way approach and instead establishes an interactive communication channel with the public. An illustration of such a shift from passive to active communication is the Internet. Initially, with the introduction of the early Internet as a form of communication, a passive approach was harnessed where people posted information online and others would simply read and close the webpage, regardless of their decision to accept the information or not. However, this has changed with the advent of the 2nd generation technology that is more interactive and interesting with the invention of the World Wide Web. Web 2.0 unlike the early Internet has an additional component of interaction in the form of contribution. It also incorporated functions like bookmarking and brought in new ways of communicating and reaching out to others through novel concepts like social networking. With continuous improvements in technology, we are even in the process of a move towards the 3rd generation. Web 3.0 is not only interactive but is also invincible, working everywhere even as we are resting. Such examples include the ability of the 3rd generation technology to help us book our flights and plan our travel itinerary. It is even able to customise according to our habits, preferences and friends, showing off an ever higher level of technology that is unprecedented. However, as all innovations usually come with positive and negative effects, this shift from a one-way provider to interactive communication, has both sides to it too. In the perspective of a government, this improvement has definitely allowed for feedback and communication that fine-tunes messages to respond to the needs of people and find out what the public really wants and thinks. From the consumer's perspective, this shift is beneficial as it has allowed them to become more informed of the reliability of the source, product quality and product pricing from the commercial marketing done online. In the general perspective of the community, this change might also be seen as beneficial as they are now able to be more informed of the truth rather than simply absorbing what the government chooses to feed them with the one-way mode of communication in the past. Nevertheless, there are still negative effects that can be observed from the shift. One such example would be that the interactive communication now opens us up to a wide range of information that needs to be verified for its reliability and accuracy.
2. Internet
We also watched a video (Evolution Web 1.0, 2.0 to 3.0), where we saw devices interacting with other devices with web 3.0. Imagine that in the future, cars are able to interact with other cars such that if the cars are too close, one car will be able to tell the other without the driver having to do anything. This idea of automatic control in fact already exists in the aviation industry between planes. It is also seen in the introduction of self-driving cars and even in the commonly used YouTube, with the "suggested videos" function. Such a technology like most, has its share of positive and negative effects. An example of a benefit is that with this different ability introduced to control movements, traffic accidents can be reduced since it minimises the possibility of human error when cars and vehicles communicate with each other instead. Furthermore, this technology can also help to boost productivity. However, there is still the essential problem of a loss in privacy as these machines gain access to our thoughts, which remains unsolved. Web 3.0 represents the vision that we have, yet it takes more than just anyone to materialise this vision and make it happen. For example, intelligent harvesting has been introduced long ago but has not been seen to be made concrete in the market. In addition, such futuristic technology also raises the question on feasibility considering the myriad of other factors that have to be weighed in to be marketable to consumers. Looking at the example of the new innovation that allows you to control all your devices at home; while it might seem like an interesting concept to many, it is costly and thus, not feasible to most households. As a result, this technology is still not in common practice yet.
3. Social Networking
The next video we watched was "Social Networking Made Easy". From this video, we learnt that social networking allows us to reach people we never dreamt that we were able to reach and more importantly, allows us to capture the hidden opportunities (jobs, people and new places to live) in connections that cannot be seen in the real world since it makes connections between people that are potentially valuable, more visible and transparent. Social networking thus makes our network more useful.
4. Crowd sourcing
The idea of crowd sourcing to reach out to a larger community beyond your network was also introduced. Crowd sourcing makes use of the Internet to reach out to a wider range of people to help you to find the solutions that you lack. Crowd funding works hand in hand with crowd sourcing to help us achieve our objectives. Wikipedia for example, uses crowd sourcing to bring in more contributors that will add more information to the existing knowledge base. Crowd sourcing has facilitated the establishment of connections to help us tackle the various challenges we face, in a cost-efficient and convenient way; although it is apt to question the reliability of the solutions and information retrieved through this method that serves as one of the limitations to this mode of ICT.
5. Gaming
Gaming technology is especially beneficial when it can be used to apply to other industries. For example, the use of joy stick in surgery, where we see gaming equipment and technology being transferred to the medical and healthcare industry that helps improve the lives of others. Gaming can also be used in education to better the way the syllabus is taught that can help improve the retention of knowledge in students or increase interest levels when engaging in the area of study. We can also harness the gaming environment to test for the feasibility of new inventions, giving the gaming arena a lot of potential for innovation.
6. Wireless Technologies
Wireless technology already exists in the present with the introduction of WIFI for us to access the Internet through our smartphones or through our laptops and other electronic devices. It also represents a move towards the future with the possibility of wireless TV that can definitely improve the quality of our lives as it reduces the hassle of handling the multiple cables attached to our television now and increases the aesthetic value with the absence of messy and tangled cables. Similarly, the idea of charging buses on roads as an innovation of wireless technology can improve convenience and benefit the transport system.
7. Interactive Telecommunication
Here, we learnt that as technology becomes more advanced, devices too become more integrated with the introduction of music capabilities, movie experience, data plan etc. This is a result of customer feedback or customer demand, although companies do work towards redundancy to maximise profits. For example, they will be less likely to introduce a technology that can last for a long time since that will severely reduce its profits when consumers find that with a long-lasting gadget, they will not need to replace it as often. Thus, most businesses and firms will choose to respond to consumer requests and demands one step at a time with intentional and tactical delay.
8. Information Systems
This is a system of sharing information and knowledge, with one major example being the traffic system. We learnt from our professor, who is also a practicing doctor, that there are 128 separate systems in a hospital system (e.g room allocation, patient welfare), where these separate and specialised systems help increase proficiency and efficiency. There are also other systems present such as the financial information system, which is an enterprise system that captures all of the separate systems and integrate them.
9. Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is the use of information that is not resident on your device but takes advantage of other sources of information, accessing and use it. The benefit of this is that if you were to lose your device, the information will not be lost since it will be stored in the cloud like the "iCloud" that Apple has launched. The downside to this technology, however, is the existence of a security risk that can jeopardise our personal safety and privacy. We watched a video ("What is cloud computing?") that taught us that with the use of cloud computing, we no longer require a big technical team which is beneficial to the company as it cuts down on the resources (human resource: labour) required. Cloud computing also allows for customisation, which enables us to select and harness the capabilities that we want. In addition, cloud computing gives us access to powerful technology at a fraction of the cost that saves both time and money for the product user. Basically, cloud computing has changed the way information technology system works, a truly revolutionary innovation.
10. Knowledge Management
This allows us to see the big picture and aid organisations in making better decisions. We utilise pieces of data to synthesize our information (things that are confirmed and that which we know) that can then contribute to our knowledge (harnessing information that might be gained from learning from our mistakes) and adds on to our wisdom (from past experiences). To develop wisdom, it is necessary to analyse and make sense of data, which can then be used for decision-making. This is what we call "smart data" and also the reason why analytics is critical as it helps us to see and apply patterns to the data.
We then moved on to discuss if Man has successfully captured the potential of ICT to make it a global driver of world change. The key takeaway messages from the discussion is that in ICT, there is a presence of a digital divide between those with access and those who do not have. Often those that do not possess the technology are the ones that need this technology the most, to possibly alleviate poverty for example, and thus, there is a need to cross this divide and ensure that every child and every village has access to ICT and are able to gain knowledge. Also, there has been little application of ICT to education, where there is lots of room for improvement in this area. In our local context for example, while there are instances when ICT has been incorporated in education when teachers make use of ebook readers, introduce e-learning or get students to engage in educational computer games; they are limited and usually not sustained over a long period of time. Moreover, there has not been a move towards literacy programmes through the games and ebooks. Thus, there is still a long way to go before ICT can drive a world change in education. This is where Bill Gates’ quote is extremely relevant when the message he is trying to convey is that we must first know how to use the information, and then apply, before an effective change can be made to the way things work. Similarly, for ICT to drive a global change, we must first know how to capture its potential and apply it to bring about a change.
The session also covered on the evolution of Man, where we traced the movement of hunters to the domestication of animals and agriculture. This transition resulted in higher efficiency that gave Man more time for other things and increased productivity (by 25 times). All these culminated in sufficient wealth, and eventually saw us entering the phase of Industrial Revolution that generated even more income. This later progressed to the ICT/Knowledge Revolution. The difference between both revolutions is that while the period of the Industrial Revolution rewarded manual work done by physical labour, the Knowledge Revolution rewarded on the basis of the work done by the brain. The question that was raised in class at this point was whether we should help the less-educated to upgrade their skills seeing that in the period of Knowledge Revolution, information and knowledge are crucial in order to be rewarded? Or should we leave them behind since some of the less-skilled workers already feel satisfied with their present situation and are unwilling to receive education and upgrade themselves? In my opinion, we should take an active step in helping those interested in re-education to upgrade their skills in order for them to remain relevant in a knowledge-intensive society like the one we are living in now. This is especially so with the emphasis on skills development in Singapore. I believe that everyone interested should have the right and the opportunities to receive education and training since this can help boost productivity and improve the quality of the workforce, which can generate long-term economic growth in the future. For those who express a rigid and closed mindset on the idea of skills upgrading, it is apt to raise awareness (possibly through campaigning efforts) on the importance of education and skills upgrading in ensuring their continuous employment in a workforce that rewards those who work and showcase knowledge and wisdom. Also, how do we capture the full potential of the ICT/Knowledge Revolution? To answer this, we must know that there is a need to cross the digital divide, giving more people the opportunity to access technology. There is also a need to ensure that the population is equipped with the relevant skills and technologies. It is important that these skills are up to date since the needs and demands of society are constantly changing. For example, there is now lesser need for specialized skills as automation becomes increasingly important.
There are definitely potential risks and dangers in using ICT which we have also discussed in class. Examples of such risks include espionage on the personal (relationships like extramarital affairs), corporate (business ideas, marketing strategies, new innovations etc.) and national level (capturing information and data to gain strategic advantage), identity theft (stealing of another person’s identity to commit crime or get away with crime – to fulfill own objectives) and access to illegal sites like pornography. A key takeaway message here is that there will always be risks present in every activity we choose to embark on and so, what becomes important is how we manage these risks to balance and maximize the benefit we can gain from utilizing the technology. Technology can be very useful and beneficial if it is used correctly.
An informative and interesting session as usual! I would rate it a 8.5/10 :)
Have a great week ahead,
Glenda!
2. Internet
We also watched a video (Evolution Web 1.0, 2.0 to 3.0), where we saw devices interacting with other devices with web 3.0. Imagine that in the future, cars are able to interact with other cars such that if the cars are too close, one car will be able to tell the other without the driver having to do anything. This idea of automatic control in fact already exists in the aviation industry between planes. It is also seen in the introduction of self-driving cars and even in the commonly used YouTube, with the "suggested videos" function. Such a technology like most, has its share of positive and negative effects. An example of a benefit is that with this different ability introduced to control movements, traffic accidents can be reduced since it minimises the possibility of human error when cars and vehicles communicate with each other instead. Furthermore, this technology can also help to boost productivity. However, there is still the essential problem of a loss in privacy as these machines gain access to our thoughts, which remains unsolved. Web 3.0 represents the vision that we have, yet it takes more than just anyone to materialise this vision and make it happen. For example, intelligent harvesting has been introduced long ago but has not been seen to be made concrete in the market. In addition, such futuristic technology also raises the question on feasibility considering the myriad of other factors that have to be weighed in to be marketable to consumers. Looking at the example of the new innovation that allows you to control all your devices at home; while it might seem like an interesting concept to many, it is costly and thus, not feasible to most households. As a result, this technology is still not in common practice yet.
3. Social Networking
The next video we watched was "Social Networking Made Easy". From this video, we learnt that social networking allows us to reach people we never dreamt that we were able to reach and more importantly, allows us to capture the hidden opportunities (jobs, people and new places to live) in connections that cannot be seen in the real world since it makes connections between people that are potentially valuable, more visible and transparent. Social networking thus makes our network more useful.
4. Crowd sourcing
The idea of crowd sourcing to reach out to a larger community beyond your network was also introduced. Crowd sourcing makes use of the Internet to reach out to a wider range of people to help you to find the solutions that you lack. Crowd funding works hand in hand with crowd sourcing to help us achieve our objectives. Wikipedia for example, uses crowd sourcing to bring in more contributors that will add more information to the existing knowledge base. Crowd sourcing has facilitated the establishment of connections to help us tackle the various challenges we face, in a cost-efficient and convenient way; although it is apt to question the reliability of the solutions and information retrieved through this method that serves as one of the limitations to this mode of ICT.
5. Gaming
Gaming technology is especially beneficial when it can be used to apply to other industries. For example, the use of joy stick in surgery, where we see gaming equipment and technology being transferred to the medical and healthcare industry that helps improve the lives of others. Gaming can also be used in education to better the way the syllabus is taught that can help improve the retention of knowledge in students or increase interest levels when engaging in the area of study. We can also harness the gaming environment to test for the feasibility of new inventions, giving the gaming arena a lot of potential for innovation.
6. Wireless Technologies
Wireless technology already exists in the present with the introduction of WIFI for us to access the Internet through our smartphones or through our laptops and other electronic devices. It also represents a move towards the future with the possibility of wireless TV that can definitely improve the quality of our lives as it reduces the hassle of handling the multiple cables attached to our television now and increases the aesthetic value with the absence of messy and tangled cables. Similarly, the idea of charging buses on roads as an innovation of wireless technology can improve convenience and benefit the transport system.
7. Interactive Telecommunication
Here, we learnt that as technology becomes more advanced, devices too become more integrated with the introduction of music capabilities, movie experience, data plan etc. This is a result of customer feedback or customer demand, although companies do work towards redundancy to maximise profits. For example, they will be less likely to introduce a technology that can last for a long time since that will severely reduce its profits when consumers find that with a long-lasting gadget, they will not need to replace it as often. Thus, most businesses and firms will choose to respond to consumer requests and demands one step at a time with intentional and tactical delay.
8. Information Systems
This is a system of sharing information and knowledge, with one major example being the traffic system. We learnt from our professor, who is also a practicing doctor, that there are 128 separate systems in a hospital system (e.g room allocation, patient welfare), where these separate and specialised systems help increase proficiency and efficiency. There are also other systems present such as the financial information system, which is an enterprise system that captures all of the separate systems and integrate them.
9. Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is the use of information that is not resident on your device but takes advantage of other sources of information, accessing and use it. The benefit of this is that if you were to lose your device, the information will not be lost since it will be stored in the cloud like the "iCloud" that Apple has launched. The downside to this technology, however, is the existence of a security risk that can jeopardise our personal safety and privacy. We watched a video ("What is cloud computing?") that taught us that with the use of cloud computing, we no longer require a big technical team which is beneficial to the company as it cuts down on the resources (human resource: labour) required. Cloud computing also allows for customisation, which enables us to select and harness the capabilities that we want. In addition, cloud computing gives us access to powerful technology at a fraction of the cost that saves both time and money for the product user. Basically, cloud computing has changed the way information technology system works, a truly revolutionary innovation.
10. Knowledge Management
This allows us to see the big picture and aid organisations in making better decisions. We utilise pieces of data to synthesize our information (things that are confirmed and that which we know) that can then contribute to our knowledge (harnessing information that might be gained from learning from our mistakes) and adds on to our wisdom (from past experiences). To develop wisdom, it is necessary to analyse and make sense of data, which can then be used for decision-making. This is what we call "smart data" and also the reason why analytics is critical as it helps us to see and apply patterns to the data.
We then moved on to discuss if Man has successfully captured the potential of ICT to make it a global driver of world change. The key takeaway messages from the discussion is that in ICT, there is a presence of a digital divide between those with access and those who do not have. Often those that do not possess the technology are the ones that need this technology the most, to possibly alleviate poverty for example, and thus, there is a need to cross this divide and ensure that every child and every village has access to ICT and are able to gain knowledge. Also, there has been little application of ICT to education, where there is lots of room for improvement in this area. In our local context for example, while there are instances when ICT has been incorporated in education when teachers make use of ebook readers, introduce e-learning or get students to engage in educational computer games; they are limited and usually not sustained over a long period of time. Moreover, there has not been a move towards literacy programmes through the games and ebooks. Thus, there is still a long way to go before ICT can drive a world change in education. This is where Bill Gates’ quote is extremely relevant when the message he is trying to convey is that we must first know how to use the information, and then apply, before an effective change can be made to the way things work. Similarly, for ICT to drive a global change, we must first know how to capture its potential and apply it to bring about a change.
The session also covered on the evolution of Man, where we traced the movement of hunters to the domestication of animals and agriculture. This transition resulted in higher efficiency that gave Man more time for other things and increased productivity (by 25 times). All these culminated in sufficient wealth, and eventually saw us entering the phase of Industrial Revolution that generated even more income. This later progressed to the ICT/Knowledge Revolution. The difference between both revolutions is that while the period of the Industrial Revolution rewarded manual work done by physical labour, the Knowledge Revolution rewarded on the basis of the work done by the brain. The question that was raised in class at this point was whether we should help the less-educated to upgrade their skills seeing that in the period of Knowledge Revolution, information and knowledge are crucial in order to be rewarded? Or should we leave them behind since some of the less-skilled workers already feel satisfied with their present situation and are unwilling to receive education and upgrade themselves? In my opinion, we should take an active step in helping those interested in re-education to upgrade their skills in order for them to remain relevant in a knowledge-intensive society like the one we are living in now. This is especially so with the emphasis on skills development in Singapore. I believe that everyone interested should have the right and the opportunities to receive education and training since this can help boost productivity and improve the quality of the workforce, which can generate long-term economic growth in the future. For those who express a rigid and closed mindset on the idea of skills upgrading, it is apt to raise awareness (possibly through campaigning efforts) on the importance of education and skills upgrading in ensuring their continuous employment in a workforce that rewards those who work and showcase knowledge and wisdom. Also, how do we capture the full potential of the ICT/Knowledge Revolution? To answer this, we must know that there is a need to cross the digital divide, giving more people the opportunity to access technology. There is also a need to ensure that the population is equipped with the relevant skills and technologies. It is important that these skills are up to date since the needs and demands of society are constantly changing. For example, there is now lesser need for specialized skills as automation becomes increasingly important.
There are definitely potential risks and dangers in using ICT which we have also discussed in class. Examples of such risks include espionage on the personal (relationships like extramarital affairs), corporate (business ideas, marketing strategies, new innovations etc.) and national level (capturing information and data to gain strategic advantage), identity theft (stealing of another person’s identity to commit crime or get away with crime – to fulfill own objectives) and access to illegal sites like pornography. A key takeaway message here is that there will always be risks present in every activity we choose to embark on and so, what becomes important is how we manage these risks to balance and maximize the benefit we can gain from utilizing the technology. Technology can be very useful and beneficial if it is used correctly.
An informative and interesting session as usual! I would rate it a 8.5/10 :)
Have a great week ahead,
Glenda!
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