1. Information Technology in a Global Society By: Al-Qassab, Shahnaz

2. ITGS Is the study and evaluation of the impact of information technology on individuals and society. It explores the advantages and disadvantages of the use of digitized information at the local, national and global level. Provides a framework to make informed judgments and decisions about the use of information technology (IT) within social contexts.

3. Fundamental ITGS Terms Information technology of digital information by computing of telecommunications or a combination of both. Information System is a collection of organized to accomplish specific functions and solve specific problems. Acquisition Processing Storage Manipulation Dissemination PeopleInformation Technologies DataMethods Policies

4. Fundamental ITGS Terms Social impact includes the economic, political, cultural, legal, environmental, ergonomic, health and psychological effects of IT on human life. Ethical considerations refer to the responsibility and accountability of those involved in the design implementation and use of IT.

5. The ITGS course aims Understand and critically examine the global impact of IT developments Demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of the social and ethical implications of IT systems and developments at the local, national and global level Analyse and evaluate the social and ethical implications of IT developments Express ideas clearly and coherently with supporting arguments and examples.

6. The ITGS course aims In addition to the above, students following the course at SL will be expected to be able to Design and apply IT solutions to a problem set in a social context through a project. In addition to objectives 1 to 4 above, students following the course at HL will be expected to be able to: –Analyse and evaluate relevant examples of the global impact of IT in a portfolio of individually –researched studies. –Demonstrate an ability to synthesize1 and reflect on ideas –Demonstrate an ability to project2 the global impact of IT developments –Research, analyse and evaluate3 relevant material and examples including “real-life” global or local interactions.

7. ITGS Triangle IT Technology Social & Ethical Issues Area of Impact

8. What do we mean by the terms: Social Ethical

9. Social and Ethical Issues in IT 1.Authenticity 2.Integrity 3.Globalization and Cultural Diversity 4.Policies and Standards 5.Reliability 6.Security 7.Privacy and anonymity 8.Intellectual property 9.Equality of access 10.Control 11.People and machines

10. Authenticity From the ITGS Guide: Authenticity means establishing the user’s identity beyond reasonable doubt. Authenticating the user is crucial in many situations, particularly in business and legal matters. A simple example of authentication is user login onto a network. A more advanced example would be the use of encrypted digital signatures in a business transaction. Authenticity Examples: –Digital Signature –Encryption –Face Recognition –Fingerprint recognition –Iris and Retinal Identification –Speech Recognition

11. Integrity From the ITGS Guide: –Integrity refers to the correspondence of data with itself, at its creation. –Data lacks integrity when it has been changed accidentally or tampered with. –For example, a hacker might change driver license data resulting in arrests of innocent people. –Data integrity is concerned with the ‘correctness’ of the data. Data cannot be regarded as having integrity if it has been accidentally changed or tampered with. –Data that lacks integrity cannot be trusted but is hard to spot. Errors may be introduced into data in a variety of ways. They can be introduced when the person typing in the data misreads it off a source document or if a program or machine errors corrupt data. Some types of corruption can be caused by simple typing errors. –Validation and verification checks are performed on data to ensure its integrity.

12. Integrity Verification When keying-in very large quantities of data it is normal for some errors to occur in copying from the hand-written source documents. Mistakes made when copying are known as transcription errors. It is also quite common for people to transpose characters, so that 69 would become 96, for example. To eliminate copying errors the data is re-typed by a second key- to-disk operator and any differences in the two sets of data are notified by the computer. Checking and correcting errors made when keying-in data from source documents onto disk or tape is known as verification. Validation Validation checks are intended to ensure that the data is suitable for the purpose for which it is being used, in particular that the data is: Of the correct type (alphabetic, numeric etc.) Within an acceptable numerical range Complete In the right format Validation checks must be combined with verification checks to reduce the number of errors in data input and ensure the integrity (accuracy and completeness) of the data.

13. Globalization and Cultural Diversity From the ITGS Guide: Globalization means the diminishing importance of geographic, political, economic and cultural boundaries. IT has played a major role in reducing these boundaries. For example, any dramatic event anywhere in the world can be broadcast almost instantly by television or on the Internet. However, there is a fear that easier communication can become a source of cultural homogeneity. The new global village provides a worldwide cultural awareness, but may lead to less diversity.

14. Globalization and Cultural Diversity Globalization & Business: Outsourcing –The terms "outsourcing", "off-shoring", or “near-shoring” are often used to refer to the movement of jobs from regions with high labor costs, such as the U.S., Western Europe, and Japan, to countries with relatively low labor costs, such as India, China, and the Philippines. –Already commonplace in the manufacturing sector, outsourcing has recently spread to the service and high-tech industries, effecting workers who are traditionally among the most highly-paid and highly-skilled in their home countries. –U.S. market research firm Forrester Research, predicts that by 2015, 3.3 million U.S. service jobs, totaling $136 billion in wages, will move offshore, fueled by advances in digitization, the Internet, and high-speed networks.

15. Globalization and Cultural Diversity Globalization & education –There are a number of different online tutoring organisations developing that offer students anywhere in the world, at any time, access to help with their studies. This is part of the globalization of education. –The prevalence of online courses and virtual university degrees that require no physical attendance on a campus ground also contribute to the ‘flattening’ of the world.

16. Policies and Standards From the ITGS Policies are regulations, laws or contractual obligations that promote the appropriate use of technology. Policies are enforceable measures intended to promote appropriate use. They can be developed by governments, businesses and private groups or individuals. They normally consist of rules governing access to, or use of, information, hardware and software. For example: a national policy on IT security would need to define what constitutes unlawful access to networks and how to treat transgression. Policies also affect the exchange of information. For example: making information subject to copyright laws. In general policies can promote or restrict access, modify behaviour or require the fulfillment of certain conditions prior to or during use. Standards are social or technical rules that systems must have in place to run efficiently. They might govern the design and use of hardware, software and information. For example, communication protocols used on the Internet, the ASCII representation for characters, or the design of the printer port on a personal computer are all governed by standards.

17. Reliability From the ITGS Guide Reliability refers to the operation of hardware, the design of software, the accuracy of data or the correspondence of data with the real world. Data may be unreliable if it is entered incorrectly or if it becomes outdated. For example, a medical record that becomes dissociated from the patient it refers to become unreliable. The reliability of machines, software and data determines our confidence in their value.

18. Security From the ITGS Guide: Security refers to the protection of hardware, software, machines and networks from unauthorized access, alteration or destruction. Security measures include restricted access to machines and networks and encryptions of information. The degree of security of information systems determines society’s confidence in the information contained in the systems. Computer security is concerned with taking care of: –Hardware. –Software. –Data.

19. Security Issues Data is only as secure as the system that it is held on and data security is concerned with keeping the data safe from the various hazards that could destroy it. There are a number of ways that system administrators can protect data. – Physical Security: Protection from theft, fire, flood, dust and extremes of temperature. Important computers are placed in secure rooms, sometimes with devices such as biometric scanners, to limit physical access. –Backing up data: This means taking a copy of the data and keeping it in a different location in a secure place.

20. Security Issues –Password Security: Access to a computer or a network of computers requires a password to be present, usually with a username specific to the person attempting to gain access to the network. Levels of access can be attached to the username allowing a junior member of staff to be restricted to a lower level of data than senior management through the principles of “groups”. –Software security: Viruses are numerous and often contaminate and destroy software and files. Anti-virus software can be used to scan a computer’s memory and files downloaded from the Internet. –Encryption: A “key” is used to encode the data in such a way that the data cannot be viewed again without the key.

21. Security Issues In the end though, no computer system is totally foolproof and breaches do happen. This is usually due to the carelessness of users or the system administrator but can sometimes be caused by the use of utilities by hackers to exploit vulnerabilities or to crack passwords.

22. Privacy and anonymity Privacy is the ability of individuals and groups to determine for themselves when, how and to what extent information about themselves is shared with others. At its extreme, privacy becomes anonymity, which might be called for in some contexts bit is dangerous in others. Example, discussion of a delicate subject might require anonymity, or at least privacy. On the other hand, anonymity could also conceal the perpetrators of criminal, terrorist or computer hacking acts.(A condition in which an individual's true identity is unknown )

23. Intellectual property Intellectual property includes ideas, discoveries, writings, works of art, software, collections and presentations of data. Copyrights, trademarks and patents legally protect intellectual property, but easy and accurate duplication methods made available by IT can undermine such protections. On the other hand, the same methods create opportunity for inexpensive dissemination of information.

24. Equality of access IT has the potential to offer universal access to information, regardless of distance, age, race, gender or other personal characteristics. However, the above characteristics, and cost, can also bar individuals or groups from access. For example, while tele-learning brings previously unavailable opportunities to everyone's doorstep, the cost of hardware, software or course fees might place the learning beyond the reach of an average person.

25. Control As an instrument of control, IT improves reliability, accuracy and speed of systems. However, it can also be used to control people. An automatic aircraft landing system provides an example of increased reliability resulting from IT control. Employer surveillance of employees represents a new kind of control imposed on people.

26. People and machines The interaction of humans with IT hardware raises all the issues encountered in this section, as well as additional ones such as the following. Who controls the design of technology and the peace of all its introduction? How sale and effective is the design? Is technology going to extend human faculties and make work easier and more pleasant, or are machines going to displace humans and lead to mass unemployment? Is technology used appropriately, or should a better, possibly non-technological alternative be found? Which social and ethical issues arise from a comparison of people and machines in the following areas: stamina, memory, accuracy, speed, analysis, synthesis, judgment, innovation, creativity?

27. Area of Impact Business & Employment Education Health Art, Entertainment & Leisure Science & Environment Politics & Government

28. Business & Employment Transportation: reservation systems, luggage processing, navigation, scheduling and distribution, traffic simulation, smart roads and cars, fuel efficiency and traffic safety systems Employment: electronic employee monitoring, telecommuting, ergonomics and health, job obsolescence and retraining, online job search, employee surveillance Banking and finance: EFT, ATMs, Internet banking and brokerage, electronic cash, insurance International commerce: management of transnational corporations, business concentration E-commerce: teleshopping, online marketing, data mining, spyware Retailing, advertising, media

29. Education Telelearning: isolated and remote areas; use in hospitals, prisons, retirement homes Modification of hardware and software for special needs: voice recognition software, text-to-speech, special input and output devices, Internet resources Software in the classroom: science experiments, social studies modelling and simulation, instructional tools and media, computer-aided instruction, computer-aided learning School library systems: catalogues, security systems, online research Hardware in the classroom: laptops, notebooks, teleconferencing Software in school administration: record keeping, scheduling, Intranets, public information Training, tutorials, simulators

30. Health Telemedicine: service delivery to isolated and remote areas Electronic health records: privacy, data analysis, public health Diagnostic and therapeutic tools: robotic surgery, prosthetic devices, diagnostic software, drug development and marketing Medical advice on the Internet or a CD-ROM Monitoring patients IT solutions for disabled people

31. Art, Entertainment & Leisure Digital art: electronic music, interactive visual art, desktop publishing Film: digital actor simulations, characters and animation Live arts: digital effects, choreography, lighting, marketing New media: DVD, CD, VR, stereolithography Broadcast media: digital radio and television, electronic news, magazines and books Toys and games: CD or online games, online gambling

32. Science & Environment Modeling and simulation: digital experimentation, demographic and environmental simulation Visualization: mapping Data search, collection, processing and analysis Forecasting Data Logging

33. Politics & Government Political process: voting and elections, lobbying, open government and free movement of information Government administration: record keeping, tax collection, policy implementation Legislation: policy development, enactment, enforcement and analysis Police: DNA data collection, video surveillance Military: cyberwarfare, smart weapons development, espionage Rebel and terrorist use of IT

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