Society and the individual

Society is crucial to us in the way that we live, however if we rely on society to a max then it will begin to take over our lives and individuals will become the norm and everyone will practically be the same. We need society when we need help but help is not necessary all the time so we must not rely on society to look after us, we must be individuals and thrive to live that way

Monitering Internet and E-mail use

The advantages of the monitering system is that it can prevent employees from being sidetracked and ensures that the employees are doing the work that they are being paid for. It makes all workers equal as it means that they all do the work the company sets as oppose to some working and some playing games, watching porn etc. The main negative impacts of a system such as this is that it may make workers feel an incrimination of their space and may demotivate them to work due to the strict working conditions in the environment. For the employees it is good as it means they know whats good and whats not good in the workplace and prevents individuals being singled out.
As far as the system is concerned, if a worker is being genuine in their search, the keywords that are seen as violating may be logged and certain non-harmful websites may be blocked even if the workers are searching without a secondary motive.
In my opinion the system is flawed and should be made far less incriminating as the workers will not work to their full potential if they fel they are not trusted/ feel they are being watched.

GPS tracking system

This system allows parents to keep a close eye on their son/daughters driving. Such information as speed cameras, speed limits and information of traffic jams etc will be sent via texts to mobile phones in order to form the best possible help for drivers and parents.

US passports and RFID

These RFID's contain small chips that contain the users information. These chips are like smart cards, but they can be read from a distance. This will be faster, easier and far more efficient for custom officials but the dangers outrun the advantages. Unfortunately, RFID chips can be read by any reader, not just the ones at passport control. The major downside of this is that travelers carrying around RFID passports are broadcasting their identity. This means that passport holders are continuously broadcasting their name, nationality, age, address and whatever else is on the RFID chip. The chips receiver has been known to work from up to 20 meters away, this is far too incriminating of personal identity.

ID cards

The new ID cards, set for relaese in november, will be issued to all immigrants who wish to stay or extend their stay in this country. the cards will hold fingerprints, pictures and personal information of the cardholder. I think this could be successful as it may control the amount of immigrants and will ultimately make the border more secure. As the card will hold the crad holders past, it could be hard to identify the immmigrants past information such as GCSE's and colleges attended etc. I dont think this will work as many people will see the cards as incriminating as they hold a lot of identification of an individual, this could cause identity theft to rise.

Managing information overload

Spreadsheets: Although you can use a spreadsheet to set up tables of just textual information, its real usefulness lies in its ability to calculate formulas - and recalculate them automatically when values change. Spreadsheets are great for budgets, financial statements and other tasks that require calculations.
Data mining tools: Data mining is the process of sorting through large amounts of data and picking out relevant information. It is usually used by business intelligence organizations, and financial analysts, but is increasingly being used in the sciences to extract information from the enormous data sets generated by modern experimental and observational methods.
Simulation software: Simulation software is based on the process of imitating a real phenomenon with a set of mathematical formulas. It is, essentially, a program that allows the user to observe an operation through simulation without actually running the program. Simulation software is used widely to design equipment so that the final product will be as close to design specs as possible without expensive in process modification.
Exception reporting tools: A computer-implemented technique that allows a per element mixture of “concrete” XML elements and “virtual” XML elements that are generated dynamically from external data sources. http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2006/0248092.html

Grandma

I have researched some of the cheap and efficient mobiles available, i have come to a conclusion of the phone for you, it is a samsung B130 black. This phone does not contain all the high quality features that you do not need. this means the price is very low. the phone retails at £9.95 and at £19.95 when bought with £10 credit. This is a good phone for you as it will be reliable and has all the basic funtions that you require.

Computer Games

Computer games are so appealing and so popular because they offer unlimited hours of fun as there is always a game to play and improve on. they have become an alternative to parenting for many families which is a potentially bad thing for the children as they could see violent computer game characters as role models as oppose to their parents. However, this does not mean that games should be labelled the cause of violence, as it is the parents allowing too much time, or just people who cannot control their emotions and take it too seriously. Games should be seen as a way of relaxing and enjoying free time. Computer games only make you isolated if you let them, however if you balance your time between socialising and going out, then there should not be a problem with isolation. constant use of networked games can make you isolated as you may begin to think you are socialising online, but this is not very interactive, it just adds to the gaming experience, not your social skills.

Pirate content

By downloading legal music you are guaranteed that the quality will be of a good standard and it can be trusted to use again. it also prevents you from being prosecuted if you were to be caught downloading illegal material off of an untrusted site. Pirated content is normally cheaper or is free. With music the quality may not be far off but with movies, the quality could be severely far from the movies original quality, also such added qualityies as surround sound and effects may be cut out where it could be a recording or unofficail copy. Nowadays, it is hard for people to succeed in the entertainment industry as many profits are lost to the sale of copies or immitations. this ,akes it unfair for producers, musicians etc as it becoming harder for them to make as much profit as they could.

Reliable Information

The hoax websites often appear to be badly designed, with colours and pictures overlapping in the background. information provided may be false to entice the reader of the website. such as the 'jackalope' at http://www.sudftw.com/jackcon.htm. clearly a fake as all images appear to be photoshopped in and facts appear to be made up and contradictive. the user/website visitor should be able to decide whether a website is trustworthy or not by judging its ads and disads

Business communications

Face-to-face is still a valuable tool for imparting and building trust, negotiating, enthusing.
Video-conferencing allows some of the benefits of meeting in person without the travel - especially if the purpose of the meeting is transactional
Telephone - personal but loses the nuance of body expressions - a major part of communication. Voicemail and ’call waiting’ have generated enormous revenues although their effectiveness is debatable.
Mobile phone - if a conventional call is to a location, a call to a mobile is to a person. Some people think that the major use of this is as a tool for making calls...
Letter - still an excellent tool for contractual and complex communications, also for drawings.
E-mail - quicker and cheaper than a letter, the biggest danger here is that too few people re-read what has been written before hitting the ’send’ button. Also a point of danger for systems - you won’t get anthrax but some e-mails will be as terminal to your office systems if you aren’t careful.
Fax - the last ’big thing’ before e-mail usurped it; is still an excellent tool for getting pictures sent quickly.
Text -For the worst of all worlds, SMS ("Texting") to a mobile ’phone is high on impact but often low on clarity and personalisation.
Computer systems can talk directly to each other - settling invoices direct between company accounts for instance.
Websites - largely aimed at one-way communications, the Internet has transformed the way that we can get hold of information.
WAP phones - the internet on the move.

Evaluation of my communication

E-mail: i do not use email as much as i could, mainly due to the fact that most people i could talk to have MSN which is an instant messenger and far quicker and easier to use. however i may use email to communicate with a family member or relative as it is more formal and you can summarise everything you have been up to.
MSN: this is my most frequently used form of communication as it is fast and easy and best of all free, all of my friends use it so it is a good way to make plans and talk with eachother
Mobile:I do not use mobile as a form of communication a lot as it is expensive to top up and the credit seems to go no where, as oppose to MSN where you can chat for hours for free. however i always keep my mobile on me for the use of receiving calls and texts.

Mobile phones

i use my mobile phone whenever i am not at home and need to contact a friend or relative. i use my mobile to text, phone, listen to music and take pictures and videos. the major benefits in using a mobile is that you are able to be contacted/contact outside of home, and therefore expand your communication range. they work in almost every country as well which is very useful if travelling. The disadvantages of using a mobile is that it can become very expensive if phoning and texting regularly. which is why it is best to get people to ring you via a landline by texting them. My mobile generally fulfils its purpose, however in certain enclosed areas or cerain locations the signal may be low and messages sent will fail when possibly urgent.

E-mail

E-mail is the most popular and well used form of communication over the internet, it is useful as you can send a message any time, and to any location and the recipient can read it at his/her convenience. e-mail also allows you to send a message to multiple recipients which is useful and time saving. It is fast, usually taking no more than a few minutes to be received. you can attach various files to your e-mail such as video clips, photos music etc. There are disadvantages to using email, a lot of unwanted emails from spammers can fill your email inbox and important emails may not get delivered. Also email attachments can bring virus into your computer if not scanned by network or virus program on your computer. Email is not as common as it used to be, now there are instant messengers available which are far quicker then email and far more social and interactive.

digital communtication vs. voice conversation

there has been many additions to the ways in which we communicate digitally over recent years. SMS, MMS, E-mail etc.have all aided us in communcating successfully and efficiently.
using SMS is an effective way off communicating, and is alot cheaper than phoning.SMS however can be confusing with the use of modern text language such as "lol" menaing laugh out loud. unless you frequenttly are subjected to this form of language then you will be out of tune when you get a ttext of someone.
Overall, Digital communication is a better way of doing quick, shortfire messages (such as organising where to go with your friends) whereas voice communication is easier if your just looking for a friendly chat or discussion.

good old days

The programs I would use to replace a paper-based system would be microsoft Excel and Access.
Excel is good at working out complicated sums and organising a documented feature although acces exceeds excel in its ability. as these two programmes are more able than any human they are extremely helpful to bank workers etc. it would seem that computers would take over humans but people must be trained to use them. so people who generally understood the software were employed and many where made redundant to suffice. One advantage that the paper-based system has, is that it cannot be infected with something that will erase data.

Ambulance services

Both ambulance services have benifited greatly from the increase in IT. For one, the equipment added to the vehicle has allowed the ambulance teams to arrive at the situation quickly and act efficiently, and the upgraded equipment for treating injured patients allow them to treat the patient far more effectively, possibly preventing them from needing to go to the hospital therefore allowing more room in the hospitals saving space.

As far as disadvantages go however,if the power happened to fail, all the equipment the ambulance service uses would fail, causing the effectiveness of the service to decrease. However, the increase in IT allows the ambulance to know exactly what is wrong, and how to treat of support the patient before they even arrive.

Downloading services

We discussed in groups a number of items we have downloaded of the internet recently they consist of such things as: clothes, CD's and DVD's, games and game consoles.
The downloading service in most cases fulfilled its purpose and the items where received generally within time. the only problems with downloading such items online is that you have to give your details which some incriminating sites can use against you