The social impacts of the use of IT

Since Personal Computers were created in the 1980s a lot has changed and been developed, the first PC made was the Xerox NoteTaker in 1978 and only 10 prototypes were made. It didn't have a HD display, it had a 128Kb RAM and 5MHz Intel processor, not 5GHz. Modern day PCs have a lot more than that and even Smartphones are better than the Xerox NoteTaker.

Back in the 20th Century the internet was used by the military and governments to share intelligence (information), then though the years it was made available to the public, back then there was no; CSS (used in html for altering the font), streaming videos/music and spectacular UI. Also 20Mbs of data was a vast amount, whiles we have 32Gb (over 1000x the amount) USB drives.

The internet really started when Web2.0 (first used in 1999) was introduced, it wasn't a new piece of software or update, but where CSS, sending text, folksonomy (tagging), subscription services and crowdsourcing was possible and more things were introduced, most importantly javascript and social networking websites.

Since then IT has been used to connect people more and help toward goals, it is used in a variety of places, from organizing your schedule to databases for banks. It also helps us be more social and connect to friends/family and also help us to connect to acquaintances from ages ago. I went to North Grecian Street Primary School and had a few friends, but did not have any social accounts, a few years ago I joined a page for the school and last year i found more than 10 of my friends from that school. It helps friends reconnect and find lost family members every day, then lets you chat with them or video call them and share memory's. I also use Twitter (added in the about tab to the right by editing the html) to find out information, keep updated on events and win prizes, i won Section 8 Prejudiced from @4JStudios for something I did on Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition, also I feel companies are more social with their customers/users on Twitter.

Assignment

Assignment U01-A2

Characteristics

Issue date:     W/C 18/11/2013

Submission:   W/C 09/12/2013

Scenario

Your boss is impressed with your work on the training materials and has asked you to share your IT experience with other employees.

Task

[P5] You are to set up and use a blog to communicate and exchange information. You have been provided with the instructions to do this. (work for the rest of this assignment should be posted to this blog) [P6] Since personal computers were introduced in the 1980s so much has changed. The last 10 years has seen a huge surge in the use of mobile devices. You are to post an article to your blog entitled “The social impacts of the use of IT” and in it explain how things have changed in the way IT is used over the years and importantly what IT has done for us and society. [M1] Post an article to your blog entitled “Blogs – What’s good about them?” [M2] Along with all of the benefits that IT has introduced there are as many threats. These range from security to health issues. Add an article to your blog that discusses the full range the potential threats which the use of IT has introduced. [D1] Continue your ‘threats’ article to explain how to ensure safe and secure use of a specialist communication channel such as a blog.