Transcript The Impact of Communications Technology Part II

The Impact of
Communication Technology
Part 2
Economic Impact
Today, businesses rely on computers,
high tech telephones, fax machines and
local area computer networks. These
systems have a real effect on our
economy.
 With global communication comes a
global economy. Things that happen
this morning in New York can affect
business in Tokyo, thousands of miles
away, a few hours later.
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Economic Impact
Communication technologies are also
moving us from a production economy to a
service economy. Instead of building
things in a factory, more and more people
are performing services.
 Technologies make factories more efficient
and they require less people to work in
them.
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Economic Impact – Use of
Credit
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Many people live on credit. Many people
spend more than they earn. Unlike people of
the past, they are unwilling or unable to save
for what they want.
Do you think that high speed communications
may be a part of the reason people seem to
want everything right away?
What about TV advertising. Everyday we
watch while hundreds of commercials urge us
to buy, buy, buy.
Does TV affect our spending habits?
Environmental Impact
Communication tends to be “clean”
technology.
 Compared to “smokestack” industries like
steel production, communication industries
are easier on our environment.
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Environmental Impact Downside
People thought that computers would
allow us to have a “paperless” office of the
future.
 Computers and photocopiers generate
more paper copies than ever before.
 When we harvest trees and use energy to
produce paper, we make an impact on the
environment.
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Cultural Impact
Many people believe television has made
us a less literate society than we were a
generation or two ago.
 People who are literate are able to read
and write well.
 School test scores have declined.
 Could that be because we read less and
watch television more?
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Cultural Impact – The Video
Revolution
Many television shows change scenes or
images every couple of seconds.
Something seems to be happening
constantly.
 We have come to expect this constant
action or we are bored.
 Many teachers report short attention
spans among today’s students.
 Is television to blame for this?
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Cultural Impact - Violence
What about our attitude toward violence?
 Have they changed because of television?
 When we constantly see violent movies
and violent stories on the evening news,
does it desensitize us toward violence?
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Cultural Impacts - Advertising
Shopping has become a national pastime.
 Instead of spending Sundays going to
museums or visiting, many families
wander around shopping malls.
 Do you think the constant advertising on
television might have something to do with
this?
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Ethical Issues
Ethical concerns have to do with matters
of right and wrong.
 Things that are unethical may not
necessarily be against the law, however,
most people agree that they are wrong.
 New developments in communication
bring with them some ethical problems
that did not exist before.
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Digital Editing
One of the things about digital files is that
they can be changed very easily.
 This process is called digital editing.
 While digital editing makes many tasks
much simpler, it may also be used for
questionable purposes.
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Digital Editing - Continued
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Photographers pictures can be altered with
digital editing systems with a few keystrokes,
often by someone other than the photographer.
The question is, what rights do photographers
have regarding their pictures?
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Digital sound editing enables an audio
technician to alter the voice of a singer or the
sound of an instrument. They can make anyone
sound good singing. Is this right?
Data Security
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The ability for programmers to alter software
creates a problem known as data security.
When should a programmer be allowed to alter
software developed by someone else?
Who should be allowed to access data stored
by a computer.
When should software be copy protected so it
may not be easily duplicated?
Should companies that purchase software allow
employees to make a copy for home use?
Computer Viruses
In the late 1980’s, computer viruses
became a major data security issue.
 A computer virus is a program hidden
within another program.
 When that program is loaded into the
computer, the virus copies itself onto
floppy or hard disks that are run on that
computer.
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Computer Viruses Continued
Sometimes the viruses are meant to be
harmless. Example just taking up space or
making the computer run slowly.
 Others may display a graphic or message
on the monitor.
 Some viruses are written to destroy data in
the computers they infect. They can
completely wipe out large databases and
destroy years of work.
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Ethical Questions
Some people have predicted that a virus
could bring our country to its knees if it
infected key databases.
 Others have suggested that it is now easy
to “fix” an election since voting results are
handled by a small number of computers.
 All these legal and ethical questions must
be answered.
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