Social and Professional Issues in IT Roshan Chitrakar
Implications of IT “Technology is the creation of man and it is meant for mankind.” Technological inventions have both positive and negative impacts. Technology is not limited to the technologists alone. The impact with be in in different areas at different times
Four quadrants Impacts Individual Social Legal Ethical
Social Implications of IT Social Applications Employment and Productivity Competition Individuality Quality of life Privacy Crime
Social Applications Solve human and social problems through applications like –Medical diagnosis –Computer assisted instructions –Govt. program planning IT may be used for crime control through law enforcement applications Application for finding out level of pollution in the air and body might have good impact.
Employment and Productivity Achieve automation in production line Creates new job opportunities and productivity Causes significant reduction of paper works / specific types of jobs Retrain employees for new jobs / responsibilities
Competition Large business houses become more efficient, whereas smaller forms are driven out Strategic business alliances are formed or network business is started IT systems can control complex activities and relationships there exists, which are requires as a part of competition
Quality of life Production of better quality goods and services at lower cost. Computerized systems uplift living standard Increases leisure time by reducing manual tasks Upgrades the skill level and thus the quality of working conditions too. Monotonous jobs like data entry can have adverse effect in life Worker in assembly line have to work like machines
Privacy Technical possibility of storing, retrieving and exchanging data has raised the issue of “right to privacy” Centralized databases of big enterprises are prone to invasion Computer fraud and hacking has become a serious concern
Individual Implications of IT
Individual aspects Ergonomics Autonomy and Power Skill and Knowledge Involvement and Commitment Variety and Scope of work Types of jobs –Healthy jobs –Unhealthy jobs
Ergonomics Ergos = work; nomos=laws (in Greek) RMI (Repititive Motion Injuries) Solution of RMI –Good workstation design –Reduced injury risk
Autonomy and Power Autonomy means discretion of individual is planning, regulation and control of their work Power means ability to get other people to do things Information system is autonomous when an individual can do entry, processing and get results himself Sometimes IT is used to reduce autonomy and power (control over some functions and subsystems) Distribution of information reduces power.
Skill and Knowledge Manual skill gets reduced as IT based device does it quickly. (e.g. Calculator) Imparts knowledge by keeping data for a long period e.g. DSS, OLAP etc. Expert systems take over the skill and knowledge of people.
Involvement and Commitment “Social inertia” of resisting change less involvement and low level of commitment make IT systems prone to failures.
Variety and Scope of Work IT can increase or decrease the scope of work Variety can be reduced if worker is focused in a small module of systems. May cause monotonicity for extremely specialized works.