Module III
Relevance of informatics in society: Social Cybernetics –meaning
and Characteristics. Difference between IT, ICT’s and ITES .Impact of
IT on social interactions: e-groups, virtual communities and
blogging. Impact of IT on language and culture, localization of
issues, Digital divide, IT and Social Change- Internet, Mass media
and Globalization, Corporatization of Knowledge.
IT & SOCIETY : UNDERSTANDING THE CHALLENGES FACING A
DIGITAL SOCIETY
Our world today has changed a great deal with the aid of information
technology. Things that were once done manually or by hand have now become
computerized operating systems, which simply require a single click of a mouse to get
a task completed.
Some of the advantages of information technology include
Globalization:- IT has not only brought the world closer together, but it has
allowed the world’s economy to become a single interdependent system. This means
that we can not only share information quickly and efficiently but we can also bring
down barriers of linguistic and geographic boundaries.
Communication:- With the help of information technology, communication has
also become cheaper, quicker and more efficient. The internet has also opened up
face to face direct communication from different parts of the world.
Cost effectiveness - Information technology has helped to computerize the business
process thus streamlining business to make them extremely cost effective money
making machines.
Bridging cultural gap:- Information technology has helped to bridge the cultural
gap by helping people from different cultures to communicate with one another, and
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allow for the exchange of views and ideas, thus increasing awareness and reducing
prejudice
More time:- IT has made it possible for businesses to be open 24 x 7 all over the
globe.
Creation of new jobs:-Probably the best advantage of information technology is the
creation of new and interesting jobs. Computer programmers, systems analyzers,
hardware and software developers and web designers are some of the many new
employment opportunities created with the help of IT.
Issues and Concerns
Even though advantages of information technology are many there are certain
disadvantages also
Unemployment - While information technology may have streamlined the
business process it has also created job redundancies, downsizing and outsourcing.
This means that a lot of lower and middle level jobs have been done by computers
which made more people to become unemployed.
Privacy - Though information technology may have made
communication quicker, easier and more convenient, it has also bought along privacy
issues.
Lack of job security - Industry experts believe that the internet has made job security
a big issue as since technology keeps on changing with each day. This means that one
has to be a constant learning mode, if he or she wishes for their job to be secure
Dominant culture - While information technology may have made the world a
global village, it has also contributed to one culture dominating another weaker one.
For example it is now argued that US influences how most young teenagers all over
the world now act, dress and behave. Language too have become overshadowed, with
English becoming the primary mode of communication for business and everything
else.
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IT AND DEVELOPMENTS
Information Technology (IT) is a branch of engineering that focuses on the use
of computers and its related technologies for automation and other purposes. Internet
is one of the main breakthroughs of IT that has revolutionized the lives of human
beings all across the globe. IT has also changed the conventional methods of
banking, healthcare, agriculture, education etc. Thus the impact of IT is considered
to be far more pivotal than other technological breakthroughs like television and
radio.
Science
One of the most important advantages of computers is in the field of
science for research and development. The computers have played a major role in
most of what we know about ourseleves and the universe. The satellites, the
telescopes and almost all the research tools make use of computers in some or the
other way. The huge calculations required for space science, safe communication
between scientists, storage of all the gathered information are some of the computer
uses in science technology.
Medical
The important use of computers in the medical field is for research and
development. The high end machines used for diagnosis and cure of many disease are
nothing but computers. For example, the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (IMR), CT
Scan, Ultrasound devices, etc are amongst the uses of computers in hospitals.
Education
Computer uses in the field of education are infinite. The internet is a
huge source of information. There are online universities that deliver online degrees
and distance learning is spreading fare and wide.
Banking
The banking sector has improved on fronts such as security, ease of
use, etc. with the help of computers. Most of the banking operations can be done
online known as internet banking. You can withdraw money from ATMs and deposit
money in any branch.
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Crime investigation
High end computer devices have ensured that justice is more effective.
CCTV (Closed Circuit TV) cameras and other computer operated security systems
have reduced the amount of crime.
Entertainment
The field of entertainment has been revolutionized by computers.
Animation, graphic image manipulation etc has made the entertainment experience
hundred time better.
DIGITAL DIVIDE
A term used to describe the difference between people who have access to and
the resources to use new information and communication tools, such as the internet,
and people who do not have the resources and access to the technology. The term
also describes the difference between those who have the skills, knowledge and
abilities to use the technologies and those who do not. The digital divide can exist
between those living in rural areas and those living in urban areas, between the
educated and uneducated, between economic classes, and on a global scale between
more and less industrially developed nations.
The falling cost of computers, combined with initiatives in many countries to
create community access points or telecentres, has meant that more and more people
are gaining access to some form of computer. As more people gain basic access to
computers, the term ‘digital divide’ has grown to encompass technological literacy
and the ability both technical financial, to make full use ot the technology available.
The digital divide now takes into consideration access, or lack of access, to the
internet as well.
Some organizations and even countries are trying to close the digital divide
using free and open source software (FOSS). FOSS allows anyone to modify the
software for his or her needs. There is also a large group of individuals, called the
Digital Divide Network (DDN) who are trying to close the divide in a number of
different and innovative ways.
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Social Cybernetics
The term “Cybernetics” comes from a Greek word meaning “the art of steering”.
Cybernetics is about having a goal and taking action to achieve that goal. In modern
times, the term became widespread because Norbert Wiener wrote a book called
“Cybernetics” in 1948.
The science of behavior cybernetics as a closed-loop, self governed process social
cybernetics focuses upon the reciprocal feedback interactions between two or more
individuals in a group or organizational setting. Human computer interaction also can
be characterized as a social Cybernetic process.
The basic ideas of a ‘learning community’ is that of a group with a common
dedication to a culture of learning in which everyone involved in a collective effort of
understanding. In an online learning community, interaction among members of the
community occurs not in physical space (the traditional Classroom) but in virtual
space, through medication of an intelligent ‘agent’ (computer software) responsible to
facilitating such interaction
The Scientific approach advocated here to analysis of interactive systems of this sort,
involving multiple human-human and human- computer relationships, is grounded in
social cybernetics. Social cybernetics is founded on the brooder field of behavioral
cybernetics, which assumes that human behavior is controlled as a closed-loop of
cybernetic process. The cybernetic nature of behavior becomes obvious during social
interaction between two or more individuals. This is because each individual in a
social context must control the sensory feedback created by interacting with one or
more social participants
E-GROUPS AND SOCIAL CYBERNETICS
Social networking refers to the act of building ‘networks’ or ‘groups’ of
people on specific websites. Social networking takes place among people who share
something – a political learning, an interest in a particular movie or musician or an
activity like yoga. Generally they are referred as E groups.
Once you have set up a social network account and entered some basic profile
information, you can basically sit back and let the social networking activity come to
you. Social baookmarking is an even more refined version of social networking that
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lets users share specific links and news articles to their friends and other members of
the site. There are so many social networking sites are available, Facebook Myspace,
twitter etc.
Cybernetics is that branch of science which deals with control mechanisms
and the transmission of information, both in living things and in machines. Social
cybernetics is a pragmatic view of epistemology (theory of knowledge) knowledge
which is constructed to achieve human purposes. This explains the relationship
between the natural and social sciences; how people create, maintain, and change
social systems through language and ideas.
ICT vs IT
IT and ICT must not be confused with each other because they are two different
fields. The industry of Information Technology (IT) which involves computers,
software, networking and other IT infrastructures to help relay or manage information
is very important in modern-day living as seen primarily in big companies or
corporations that run multi-billion-dollar ventures. So IT helps strengthen companies
with the existence of a set of IT personnel that are equipped with servers, database
management systems, and security measures for protecting confidential information
about the company. Without IT, all of the company’s important data can easily be
compromised by many outside attackers and hackers alike.
In an IT department, there are several specialists like a system administrator, IT
manager, network engineer, computer programmer, and other IT experts that are all
tasked with different specific roles. The core services of IT are summarized as giving
tools that hasten company productivity, automates business processing, establishes a
way to connect effectively with valuable customers or clients, and also the basic core
service of supplying information. The more specific sub-tasks included in these core
services are installing programs or computer software, building computer networks,
designing an effective electronic system, and also managing an entire bulk of
information in the form of databases.
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“ICT,” completely known as “Information Communications Technology,” is more
inclined to the education setting. In the more general sense, ICT is described as using
computers and other digital technologies to aid individuals or institutions in handling
or using information.
ICT is used in the academe for the benefit of the individual or the institution which is
smaller in size than the ones handled by IT professionals in bigger industries. ICT can
be as simple as utilizing audiovisual equipment for learning at school, the use of
electronic telephony and other devices that help transmit information across the
campus. Since 1997, ICT has also been recognized as the incorporation of telephony
and audiovisual devices in computers. This direction helped academic institutions cut
down the cost of operations, most especially in the removal of traditional telephone
networks.
Summary:
1.“IT” is “Information Technology” whereas “ICT” is “Information Communications
Technology.”
[Link] is an industry in itself which employs the use of computers, elaborate networks,
computer software, and other digital or electronic devices for managing and
communicating information.
[Link] is mainly used in the academic setup while IT is used in more complex and
bigger organizations such as companies and large corporations.
ITES: Information Technology Enabled Services
ITES stands for Information Technology Enabled Services. It includes a wide variety
of operations which uses information technology to improve the efficiency of an
organization. Most of the major companies in the world prefer India for outsourcing
IT Enable Services (ITES).
IT Enabled Services consist of the following processes.
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o Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)
o Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO)
o Back Office Operations
o Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO)
o Logistics Management
o Game Process Outsourcing (GPO)
o Call Centers
It also includes the services like e-CRM, medical transcription and coding, data
processing, data mining, electronic publishing etc.
IMPACT OF IT ON LANGUAGE AND CULTURE: LOCALIZATION
ISSUES, UNICODE, IT AND REGIONAL LANGUAGES
IT and its infrastructure are not language bound; i.e. you do not have to work
only on English language based computer systems. Instead, you can choose the
language of your own choice for working on a computer system. This made possible
with the help of internationalization and localization. Internationalization and
localization modify the interface of software applications to adapt to different regional
languages. The only difference between internationalization and localization is that in
internationalization no fundamental changes are brought into the main software
application while in localization certain localized components are added to the main
application for effecting the translation.
The driving force behind both internationalization and localization is the
Unicode character set. Developed by the Unicode consortium, it is the unification of
a large number of regional character sets to create a 100,000 strong standard character
database that can be easily referred by application developers for achieving
internationalization and localization objectives.
The government of India has also kept the issue of localization in mind while
effecting the e-governance measures. It is ensured that the state and nation wide
e-governance applications are equipped with multi-language support so as to ensue
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that it is successfully implemented in different regional locations. The efforts of
operating system developers like Microsoft have helped the government’s cause by
providing regional language support in their system software.
Impact of IT on social interactions
The internet and technology has really changed the way that people interact with each
other. The instant nature of e-mail, social media networks and video chat programs
allow people from all over the world to stay in constant contact with each other.
Through the use of these websites and computer programs it allows technologies to
have a major impact on various social interactions. One of the first types of impact
that technology has on social interactions is that it allows people to stay in contact
with each other. In the days of mail, snail mail and telegraphs it would often take days
or weeks to hear news about friends and family members. Nowadays with social
media, text messaging and e-mail news and information arrive to friends and family in
a matter of minutes. This instant connectivity allows people to feel closer to friends
and family members. The internet also allows people to reconnect with long lost loved
ones or old friends. Running a simple Google search will allow people to be able to
reconnect with each other after a long absence.
A second impact that technology has on social interactions is that it allows groups of
like minded people to gather together. The internet allows groups of people with
similar interests to gather together regardless of where they live in the world.
Websites like MySpace, face book and Twitter allow anyone to create a group for
others to join that talk about a number of interests. These groups can share
information, talk about interests and really explore their interests, because they all
have a common theme. Without these websites these people would never be able
gather together and find likeminded people. E-groups, Virtual communities, and
blogging are considered the three powerful modes of social interactions through
internet.
Electronic groups (E-groups)
[Link] was an email list management website. The site allowed users to create
their own mailing lists and allowed others to sign up for membership on the list. The
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website provided archives of the messages as well as list management functionality.
Each group also had a shared calendar, file space, group chat and a simple database.
When a computer network connects people, it is social network. Just as a computer
network is a set of machines connected by a set of cables, a social network is a set of
people connected by a set of socially-meaningful relationships. Social network
analysis conceives of social structure as the patterned organization of these network
members and their relationships.
Electronic groups are online work areas for peoples to collaborate on some shared
task. The group areas are typically private so that only members of the assigned team
can access the work area. In the electronic group area, each team member is displayed
with a quick e-mail link. Group features are then provided private discussion boards
and chat rooms to communicate with team members about a project, and file
exchange boxes to share working documents. E-group is a computer based
communication technology, specifically electronic group mail, might affect group
behavior in organizations. It proposes a framework for analyzing groups formed by
electronic distribution lists. The e-group at work is a new social phenomenon that may
contribute importantly to organizational behavior.
Virtual Communities
A virtual community is a social network of individuals who interact through specific
media, potentially crossing geographical and political boundaries in order to pursue
mutual interests or goals. One of the most pervasive types of virtual community
includes social networking services, which consists of various online communities.
The term virtual community is attributed to the book of the same title by Howard
Rheingold, published in 1993. The book, which could be considered a social enquiry,
putting the research in the social sciences, discussed computer –mediated
communication and social groups, broadening it to information science.
The technology included Usenet, MUDs (Multi -User Dungeon) and other derivatives
MUSHes (Multi User Shared Hallucination) and MOOs, Internet Relay Chat (IRC),
Chat Rooms and electronic mailing lists, the World Wide Web as we know it today
was not yet used by many people. Rheingold pointed out the potential benefits for
personal psychological well being, as well as for society at large, of belonging
to such a group.
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These virtual communities all encourage interaction, sometimes focusing around a
particular interest, or sometimes just to communicate. Quality virtual communities do
both. They allow users to interact over a shared passion, whether be through message
boards, chat rooms, social networking sites or virtual worlds.
Blogging
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new
content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular
entries of commentary, descriptions of events or other materials such as graphics or
video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. Blog can also
be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.
Although not a must, but most good quality blogs are interactive, allowing visitors to
leave comments and even message each other via widgets on the blogs and it is this
interactivity that distinguishes them from other static websites.
Many blogs provide commentary on a particular subject; others function as more
personal online diaries; yet still other function more as online brand advertising of a
particular individual or company. A typical blog combines text, images and links to
other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability of readers to
leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most
blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (art blog), Photography (Photo
blog), videos (video blogging or vlogging), music (MP3 blog) and audio (Pod
casting).
Micro blogging is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts. The term
weblog was coined by Jorn Barger on 17 Dec 1997. The short for “blog” was
coined by Peter Merholz, who jokingly broke the word weblog into the phrase we
blog in the side bar on his blog [Link] in April or May 1999. The modern blog
evolved from the online diary, where people would keep a running account of their
personal lives. Early blogs were simply manually updated components of common
websites. However the evolution of tools to facilitate the production and maintenance
of web articles posted in reverse chronological order made the publishing process
feasible to a much larger, less technical population. Ultimately, this resulted in the
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distinct class of online publishing that produces blogs we recognize today. For
instance, the use of some sort of browser based software is now typical aspect of
“blogging”.
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