Thursday, 25 November 2010

ICT in education

ICT has lead to many developments not only in the world of work but also in education as well. One example of this is the fact that all students in some schools each have their own computer account and LAN (local area network) in order to study and do work.In teaching there has also been a phase out of blackboards into whiteboards which in turn are then being replaced by the interactive whiteboards used in teaching.

Computer in schools also allow teachers to collect students work on the computer's servers as well as look at the syllabus and track work via the school's intranet. IT also allows mny textbooks to be now used as e-books on computers rather than physical books. With ICT in school, students can now use IT to communicate their work via e-mail.

An issue that often crops up with IT in school is that with many fast developments in technology during the school year, many schools have to rely on out of date IT systems and old operating systems with (for example) an upgrade from Windows XP to Windows Vista costing at least £74 ($99) and that is only for 1 computer. As a result of budget constarints and government cuts, many schools might not be able to afford to be able to keep up to date with the latest releases, models and updates in the world of ICT.

The software now used in Schools is PowerPoint which allows teachers and students to create slideshows and learn from them. The ease of IT now allows children to create professional looking leaflets using Publisher. As a result of this use of IT, essay quality improves due to a lack of writer's cramp however, it can lead to a rise in RSI (Repetative strain injury) due to bad typing posture.

The disadvantages are that children can then become over reliant on computers and as such their handwriting gets worse and their spelling and grammer also suffer due to over reliance on Spellchecker. Plagerism is often a problem as students can now access work from all around the world and copy and paste it into their work to pass it off as their own efforts. Another problem is that with the use of paper impacting on enviroment and children now tend to waste paper. To fix this schools put blocks on printing to limit the number of pages printed to save paper but this can be circumvented by printing one at a time but this slows down efficiantcy.

Wednesday, 24 November 2010

ICT and Employment

In the present world with the growth of ICT, there become more advantages and disadvantages of it. One example can be of a designer as now computers can do things quicker than a person could as a result of the computer's ability to monitor enviroments and improved processors. A designer might now create something on a 3D design programme on a computer rather than on paper. He can also send the designs off to someone else to vet them via computer and get the reply back also via computer. He can then instead of manually manufacturing the product. He can then use a computer and CAM (computer aided manufacture) to create his CAD (computer aided design)  designed product using a CNC (Computer Numerical control) machine. The manufacturing also includes from Integrated manufacturing cells which themselves are often computers. As a result of computers they can now also distribute products either to a warehouse or customer's address. The products in the warehouse also now have no need for people to move stuff around as they now use Computerised retreval to get products down for distribution. The stock control is now done by computer as well as the distribution and ordering of new products.

Another job that is improved by ICT in the workplace is in Banking. Instead of someone writing down what a customer had paid in or withdrawn, they can just type in the amount into the computer and the amount will be credited to their account. That also removes the need for paper records as nowadays they are trying to phase out paper bank statements as well to remove the need for someone to print out statements and send them off as they will just be sent electronically to a person direct. 

Jobs are now under threat with the ideas computers taking ther places as employers try to cut costs. However as some manual jobs go more computer based work comes into effect as now most jobs require their employees to be computer literate, a skill that was only avaliable to few people a few years ago. Computer programmes such as EXCEL Spreadsheet which was originally only used by accountants is now required for many new jobs. The jobs that are created are often computer technicians to run the computers, Software Engineers (Computer Programmer) to set up the system and those who are computer literate to train companies' employees to use new computer systems. Jobs in the gaming industry is also a major employer for computer literate people. The jobs that are under threat from computers are those who work in warehouses and move products around them, factory workers can be replaced by compter run machines and mechanics can also be replaced by computers which diagnose the problems to save time and labour costs.

The advantages of a computer in the workplace allows certain tasks such as sending messages between depatments easier, the inspection proccess in manufacturing to be better, can save company bosses money in the long run over employing someone. The case is also that the best performing buisness companies are those which use computers. Companies such as Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook, PC World all bring profits in thanks to computers. The mobile telephone industry also profits by selling the latest computing technology in their mobile phones.

The disadvantages are that due to computers also being able to answer company helpline phone calls such as the British Airways Flight Enquires Phone Line, people don't feel comfortable talking to a machine that could misunderstand you if you have a strong accent. the cost to set up a computer system costs a lot in the short term for companies and they'd have to pay more staff to set it up so it bcomes so expensive, that it is not finacially viable for small buisnesses.

In conclusing, ICT at work creates as well as destroys jobs along with making current worker's jobs much easier and allowing companies to increase efficiantcy


Garden centre worker

Imagine sales representative selling tools to garden centres all over the country and list all the ICT the rep might use.
Internet
Chip and PIN
EPOS
EFTPOS
Concept keyboard
CAD
CAM
E-mail
Search engine
Instant messaging
Call centres
Internet phone calls

Thursday, 11 November 2010

IT at work

In the information age there is now a large amount of IT around. So much so that most jobs now require employees to be computer literate as most jobs now require the use of some form of computer.


Ict is not only just for the internet, it is everywhere as many new machines now require ICT. Many items such as mobile phones are getting more powerful and smaller such as Smartphones and Blackberries.

The invention of chip and PIN is not a new invention, however it has come into mainstream very quickly. As a result of it's quick rise there are some people who are concerned about it's use as it is slowly now phasing out cheques which have been used for several hundred years which by 2018 will be gone from the UK. The use of chip and pin is helpful to buinesses as they no longer need to take cheques to the bank to cash them and can now withdraw the money electronically which saves them time and money.

Supermarkets originally used Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS), better known as checkouts to process customer's shopping. The Barcode on a product when scanned sends computer signals out to other comuters such as the stock computer which then removes one of that item from stock and if needed will work out how long it takes for an item to drop below a certain level of stock and sends a message automatically to a supplier that the supermarket needs to order more stock. The EPOS also sends a message to a computer requesting the price of an item as the price is not stored on the barcode but in a computer.The EPOS is now being slowly replace by the Electronic Fund Transfer at Point of Sale (EFTPOS) as it now allows money to be transferred electronically from a customers bank account. The card is also linked to the customer's purchases and data is collected about the legally under the Data Protection Act as it is not about the customer's personal information but their shopping habits so they can send them information and offers pertaining to their choices.

Car mechanics also now use ICT in their work. The IT they use is in a diagnostic computer which they hook up to a car which will then tell them what is wrong so that they can replace the broken part. This however means that a part that can sometimes be repaired is now not recognised as being repairable in a black box mentality and is thrown away and replaced at greater expense. The problem this also poses is that you now lose the old mechanics skills of being able to diagnose and fix cars themselves if you rely on machines to do their jobs for them.

Some designers now use Computer aided design (CAD) and Computer Aided manufacture (CAM) to design and create new products. This is usually quicker and cheaper than hiring someone to design and make something by hand.


Most call centres use IT in response to peoples problems as most call centres are not affiliated to any company but are used by that company to act as their representatives despite the fact the call centres are often in another country such as India. The call centre worker's computer contains pages of scripts from different companies to sort peoples problems out so the worker just types in what the customer's problem is and reads what comes up on the computer screen, the call centre worker may not even know anything about  the customers problem and only reads what comes up which takes away the personal touch of someone who would know how to deal with a problem.


Computers can now also be programmed to answer questions to the best of their programming. Certain sites and companies use these rather than people to answer queries. These can be voice activated such as the British Airways flight enquires phone number.


As a result of ICT being accesible everywhere now most people are expected to work while commputing to work or while returining home due to the ability to uses IT on their laptops and phones and PDA's.


A sales representative for example selling to garden centres around the country use a vide varity of ICT in his job.He might use Internet, Chip and PIN, EPOS, EFTPOS, a Concept keyboard, CAD, CAM, E-mail, a Search engine, Instant messaging, Call centres and Internet phone calls to do his job.


In conclusion most work need a knowledge of ICT in order for a job to work well for customer's and for company profits as well as for the ease of the worker.


Monday, 8 November 2010

Avoiding security scams

In a world where the internet is used to download mny things there are several sites that are added by hackers in order to obtain credit card details and infect your computer with Malware software.

The way to avoid it is that if after you click on a website link, it will claim to detect a virus and offer you a free virus scan. These scans seem to show your computer full of malware and trojan viruses.You are then offered the chance to remove it and run antivirus software.your computer gets scanned again and you are given a message telling you to activate the protection. It is from there that you are told to pay for it and that is where you have your details stolen and viruses infected and run on your computer.

This can be avoided if the website's address has a code of letters and numbers after it which shouldn't be there on a normal website adress, it shows that that site has been hacked. the next popup comes from the infected website, not your computer.the facade of a virus scan is in fact just an animation being played on your monitor and there is no scan. the remove button is in fact a download button to send you malware. if yu chose to run the software your computer becomes infected, any infection of viruses can be avoided if you stop at this point. Another issue is that although something may look professional, spelling mistakes and bad grammer give it away and if you type in your credit card details, you ae just giving it to the criminals for free and getting nothing in return. Sometimes if you stop before running the malware, the hacker's page won't let you leave you can use the CTRL-ALT-DEL button combination and click on the internet page and chose "end task".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/9161218.stm