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communicate easily and that files were compatible. Nowadays, we have a society where, world wide, there is a higher number of computers in homes than there are refrigerators or baths. The effect of this has been enormous on society, and the effects are what are discussed in this chapter. 25 years ago the proportion of the worlds population that had access to a computer system was tiny, nowadays it is very high, and increasing daily. However, there are still large numbers of the population, even in a rich country like Britain, that do not have access on a regular basis. There is a distinct danger that this will lead to another form of class-divided society, not based on accident of birth, or based on wealth (or lack of it), but based on whether a person has access to the information revolution. Imagine two people who live in a village. The village has a grocers shop and newsagent. The last bank in the village has closed because it was too costly for the bank to maintain the branch which was losing money because so many of the villagers had changed to running their account on the Internet. A person living in this village that has a computer connected to the Internet will be able to pay their bills, order goods from the supermarket 20 miles away at a lower cost than buying them from the grocer, will have a wider variety of choice from the supermarket than they could get locally. They will be able to book rail tickets, at a discount, through the Internet, which will also allow them to pick up holiday bargains. The second person does not have a computer, so has difficulty with having a bank account, has to use the village shop with much higher prices, and does not have the convenience of ordering on the Internet, if they want to book a holiday there is a 40 mile round trip to find a travel agent in the nearest town. These two people are very different in their life styles and the social changes that have occurred to, not just one of them, because of the computer are immense. When we add to this the fact that one of these people used to be employed by the bank to run the branch in the village, but is now out of work, while the other has been told to go on a training course to learn a new piece of software, the scale of how much our lives are being effected by the use of new technology becomes even more evident. Note that many of the changes made to our life styles have been forced rather than being made by choice.
and less common as modern technology changes products, manufacturing techniques and the life cycle of businesses. Electronic communications have changed the way that business is done. Communication can be immediate, and the worker is never far from being contacted and consequently can be at work at all hours of the day. A good example is the worlds stock markets. Twenty years ago, each country had its own stock market, the performance of which might effect others when they opened, but they tended to be fairly insular in their dealings. Nowadays, the stock markets of the world are all interconnected. As a stock holder it is possible to buy and sell stock at any time of the day or night simply by using one of the markets open at the time, no longer is it necessary to wait for the national market to open the following day.
1.12.d Legislation
Most countries have now enacted legislation in attempts to overcome the problems that were mentioned in section 1.12.c. The purpose of such legislation is to protect citizens from something that by its very nature can be insidious because it is difficult to understand the consequences of unrestricted use of personal information. Legislation protecting personal information must not be confused with copyright law. Copyright law protects intellectual property, in the case of a computer system it would protect the person who has written the software rather than the user or the person whose details are being stored. Each country will pass laws that are particular to that country, but they largely follow the same model that is used in Britain. Any personal data that is stored in a computer system must be accurate and up to date. be relevant to the task for which it is intended to be used and used for that original purpose. not be kept longer than is necessary. be kept securely. Access to the data must be strictly controlled. be available, on request, to the subject of the stored data. Other measures that could be expected would be some control over the passing on of data to other organisations, exemptions for reasons of national security or because it is thought to be in the individuals interest. In Britain the Data Protection Act that was passed in 1984 only applied to data that was read magnetically, in other words was stored on a tape or a disk. It did not apply to data stored on a CDROM because that is stored optically. This has now been changed by the latest version of the act. This shows that, just like everything else in the world of computers, things change very quickly and that human systems often find difficulty in keeping up with the changes. Attempts have been made to harmonise legislation across boundaries. The European Union pass their own directives about data, but it is difficult to get agreement when individual parliaments still have sovereignty.
the lighting suitable? If the lighting is the ordinary classroom lighting then it will make the screens even more prone to glare. If the chairs are not comfortable then back problems can occur. These can be lessened by using ergonomically designed seating which encourages good posture. Working with computers can cause stress, particularly among workers who were not originally trained to use them. Historically, once a worker has attained middle age they should be more experienced than the younger people coming in to the firm who will probably be working under them. This situation has changed for many people because of the use of computer technology. Because of the need to keep up to date with the latest hardware and software it is now the young people coming into the firm that are more experienced than those who have been there some time. This can lead to feelings of inferiority and stress on the older workers. In section 1.12.b it was mentioned that the new technology allows remote working in many situations. While there are substantial benefits accruing from this practice there are also problems brought about by the lack of social interaction that human beings get from a shared work environment.
Environmental Issues
Strictly, this is not part of the syllabus, however an understanding of the implications of the use of computers would be incomplete without comment about our environment. Many years ago the use of computer systems in the office was hailed as the start of the paperless revolution. In the 1950s LEO was invented. It was the Lyons (same company as the cakes!) Electronic Office. The idea was that paper would become a thing of the past because messages would all be sent electronically. The environmental implications of this were tremendous. No more cutting down forests to provide paper, no more burning of the documents that are no longer needed so that they remained confidential, with an electronic office this was no longer necessary. There was one tiny problem. With the introduction of machines the amount of paper increased massively. The explanation is simple. Consider a project that you are doing for one of your courses. How many sheets of paper do you use? Not, how many do you hand in?, but how many do you use? The difference is that if you have made a mistake you correct it and get another printout, if you were using a typewriter you wouldnt do that. When you send something for printing, how often does the printer produce an extra sheet? Do you save it and put it back in the paper tray? How often does the printer not print properly making another printout necessary? How many people printing off a spreadsheet havent given the limits of the sheet so that the printer has printed 20 or 30 sheets of blank cells before anyone has noticed? The same sort of things happen in business, so what should have been good news environmentally has tended to backfire. As has been mentioned before in this chapter, there is an element of people being able to work from home rather than having to commute. This has obvious advantages in that the pollution is cut down because there are fewer vehicles on the road, but it is not all good news, because if 50 people dont go in to the office it is an additional 50 homes (offices in those homes) that have to be heated that day which would not otherwise need to be heated. There is a minimal saving at the office block because some workers have to go in to work and therefore the office block must be fully heated. The computer systems themselves have to be produced. There is an environmental cost here on two fronts, the computer requires a certain amount of power to enable the factory to make it, and then there are the raw materials that are needed in the manufacture. When computers are eventually finished with and need to be replaced, there is a large amount of hardware that needs to be got rid of. Some is recyclable. Chips are heated in order to recover the gold used in their manufacture, and some parts of the chassis can be melted down and reused. However, much of the content of a system is not economically viable to reuse and consequently is discarded. As the life of a system in business is about two years this adds up to an enormous waste of resources. When it is also realised that some of the contents of a system are heavy metals and other toxic materials the environmental problems of replacing a system are great.
Example Questions
1. Discuss the implications for customers of a travel agent closing down their agencies and doing all their business on the Internet. (6) A. -Lower overheads for the business -meaning that customers can expect to pay lower prices. -Information will always be up to date because up dated centrally.. -but customer may find more difficulty in finding the information required because there is no assistant to help. -Customers who have the Internet will be able to access late bargains -Customers without the Internet may find difficulty in booking any holiday. -Customers with disabilities, particularly blindness may be more disadvantaged than most -Complaints, if things go wrong, will be harder to make. Notes: There are other points to make but only 6 marks, so dont waste too much time. When you think you have earned the marks, stop. The question is quite specific about it being from the point of view of the customer, so dont start to talk about workers losing their jobs. It may be true, but does not answer the question. Although the mark scheme would be set out in this way, the question does use the keyword discuss, so dont just write notes, the examiner is looking for a coherent argument which contains six of the sensible points. Describe two ways in which a computer system in the home can alter the interaction of the family with the outside world. (4) A. -Children play computer games -stops them going out and consequently they are safer, but -effects their social development. -Parents may use the computer to work from home -cuts down the time spent commuting to work and allows for more leisure time -but may increase stress and worry about work because of reduced contact with colleagues. Notes: Sensible to use obviously different members of the family. Need to say at least two things for each one because the question uses the keyword describe. If you were thinking of saying that they could send emails rather than write letters it may be worth a mark but is a little trivial for both marks. State two reasons why it is necessary to protect the confidentiality of information stored about people. (2) Data can be misused -by insurance companies to alter an insurance premium, -by thieves who want to know which addresses have large premiums and are hence worth burgling -by employers who can check on employees moonlighting. Notes: Again, many different possible answers. This would be a nice starter question for a paper, as it expects simple one line answers.
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Describe three measures that would be expected in a countrys data protection legislation. (6) A. Any three of the measures listed in section 1.12.d. Notes: This is a banker question. It is such an important area of the syllabus it is likely to be asked on a regular basis, the problem for the examiner is that there are only a few ways of asking the question. Candidates should learn the measures stated in the syllabus and use them to answer the question. Describe the consequences of allowing upper school pupils to use the Internet to find information for project work. (4) A. -There is a danger that those pupils who have access to the Internet outside school will use it anyway, and -therefore it is only right to allow access in school. -Pupils may find inappropriate sites -which means that the teacher has to censor the material in some way. Outline the health problems that may be experienced by telecall operators and state how such problems could be overcome. (6) A. -RSI -Use sensible keyboards and properly designed furniture to encourage good posture. -Eye problems caused by staring at the screen -Wear glasses and fit anti glare screens. -Problems associated with radiation from the monitor -Sit further away from the monitor screen. Describe two ways in which the use of computer systems in business has harmed the environment. (4) A. -The use of large amounts of paper because -everyone now expects that when a final copy of a document is produced it is perfect, leading to many copies being produced. -The high turn over of machines means that many new machines have to be produced and -the old ones must be disposed of. They contain toxic material which can harm the environment.
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