CAN I DO WITHOUT THE INTERNET?

“The Internet is the first thing that humanity has built that humanity doesn't understand, the largest experiment in anarchy that we have ever had,” Eric Schmidt .It’s true that with the discovery of the internet it marks a great invention that the world has experienced! Although I dream about a day without computer, phone and TV, some people can't live without them! “Can I really live without it?”

Well, I normally find myself online for at least 2 hours a day in more than this over the weekends and holidays. I usually use the internet for communication. Since calling home is very expensive, I therefore surf the net so that I can communicate with my family and friends. E-mail is by far the most inexpensive and efficient way to communicate with persons outside of local calling areas. Many Web sites now offer e-mail service free of charge. Internet Web sites, e-mail, and more advanced technologies such as Internet phone service and videoconferencing, are incomparable tools to organize communities and strengthen social bonds between people.

The Internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow. It keeps me posted with the current issues in the world. News about my home and all what is happening there. I can access any TV channel back home via the internet as well as other broadcasting channels like Al Jazeera, BBC, CNN, ESPN and many others. I get to know what is happening around the world. This helps me to be aware of the events and also to be well informed. I also surf the internet to do shopping sometimes via the online shopping or to check the price of commodities and accessories.

More and more consumer transactions are being done online. It is more efficient and definitely more convenient as it allows me to shop from the comfort of my own location. I am able to take advantage of the best prices through online auctions, which allow shoppers to name their own prices for goods or services. And, when "traditional" routes fail, the Internet often is the only way to get that hard-to-find item you really want, or need.

I use the internet for education purposes. I can find learning materials easily and conveniently rather than spending time in a book shelf looking for a book. Many tutors are taking their tutorials online. It is through the internet that I knew about Albukhary Foundation scholarship and therefore I applied and came here.

I cannot deny  the internet is crucial in my life especially now as a student, but what I know is before the internet I had my life and I could go on a day, a week or a month without surfing and everything was ok. What I see myself is that it really helps me in many ways but I would never want to be an addict. I think I can do without internet for a day or even a week but I also need to know what’s happening around the world. So, it won’t be bad if I could update myself after every week!

HOW DOES THE INTERNET AFFECT MY LIFE AS A STUDENT...

My father used to tell me that during their time they had only one thing to play with and it was called “outside”. Outside was their everything and they used to play games and have fun with no technology at all! Today, outside is nothing but a world built around technological advancement. A five year old kid knows how to use computers, internet, and other electronic devices that have come into existence. Physical games have changed to computer games, music, movies, and mobile phones and so on. The Internet is becoming more and more important for nearly everybody as it is one of the newest and most forward-looking media and surely “the” medium of the future. There are many different ways in which technology affects my life as a student, both good and bad.

Can you imagine not having Google, but instead hundreds of books to search for information?  I can do my assignments quicker, neater and easier on a computer or a laptop. This is made possible with so many features and applications that are available in the internet like power points and others. It gives me an opportunity to view samples in the internet and therefore correct mistakes and arrange my work in a systematic way. The internet also allows me to ensure that I can do all of the research for different investigations and projects that am going to need throughout my studies. I can easily use resources like Google, Wikipedia and access many books and previous researches through the internet faster and easier.

Here in AIU, I can’t imagine my life without internet. All the announcements are being posted in Facebook page via the internet therefore I need to make sure I do not miss any update. To register for courses, check my results, download lecture notes, submit assignments, and download tutorials and so many tasks requires internet. Television and radio are also good uses of technology that that are really helping me as a student. There are certain shows and discussions which are going on over the internet on certain subjects and therefore are helping me a lot as a student.

“You can’t have a rainbow without a little rain.” Life as a student is majorly affected by the internet and has so many disadvantages. For example I do all of my homework  and save in the laptop, but if it breaks or my files get infected by viruses then am not going to have anything to show for all of my hard work. Internet addiction is also one factor affecting my student life.

The effect of this addiction may seem harmless but it has a great toll on my body and academic performance. It has drastically changed my life. The addiction is not only about the famous social media chat sites such as Facebook or twitter. It has a lot to do with v-logging, videos, forums, and various types of internet gaming. I spend a lot of times chatting online and playing games. Therefore, I have less time sleep and to revise my studies. This has also affected my academic performance.  Too much exposure to light from my pc has also affected my eyes and the last time I visited an eye specialist, recommended me to wear spectacles something I did not have before.

As long as each and every student ensures that they use the technology that they have with respect and that they are careful to ensure there are no problems with their work, there are not going to be any problems with them achieving everything that they can, however games must be kept at a low amount if you need to work hard and succeed!

ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD VISION...

One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is a project supported by the Miami-based One Laptop per Child Association (OLPCA) and the Cambridge-based OLPC Foundation (OLPCF) with the aim of empowering the world's poorest child through education. The laptops are sold to governments targeting a price of lower than $150, to be distributed through the ministries of education with the goal of distributing "one laptop per child". The laptops are given to students, similar to school uniforms and ultimately remain the property of the child. The operating system and software is localized to the languages of the participating countries. The program aimed to be available worldwide. Laptops could be delivered in the USA, in Canada and in more than 30 European countries, as well as in some Central and South American countries (Colombia, Haiti, Peru, Uruguay, Paraguay), African countries (Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Madagascar, Rwanda) and Asian countries (Afghanistan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Nepal).

Every child has dreams and therefore education directs the child’s passion, creativity and energy for these dreams into a new user interface that has 12 dreams. Such dreams include “I want to be” an artist, a musician and a scientist. Each dream features a rich learning experience and applications, books, games and videos that allow children ages 3 to 12 to naturally explore their dreams and learn at the same time. Content within a dream has three levels, so as the child advances in his/her learning, there is no need to pay for additional apps or content. Every dream features a “hero”, a real person who personifies the dream.The OLPC  vision provides access to affordable education materials and devices to poor children in underdeveloped and developing world. As the pace of change in the world increases dramatically, the urgency to prepare all children to be full citizens of the emerging world also increases dramatically. No one can predict the world our children will inherit. The best preparation for children is to develop the passion for learning and the ability to learn how to learn. The root cause of the rapid change, digital technology, also provides a solution. When every child has a connected laptop, they have in their hands the key to full development and participation. Limits are erased as they can learn to work with others around the world, to access high-quality, modern materials, to engage their passions and develop their expertise.

What children lack is not capability, it is opportunity and resources. The tool with which to unlock their potential. Put this ultra-low-cost, powerful, rugged, low-power, ecological laptop in their hands and contribute to making a better world.Many  previously marginalized children learn, achieve and begin to transform their communities. There have been much improvement in many children's performances in schools enhanced by the initiative. 

At the same time the vision could be unrealistic to the underdeveloped countries.This might be a nightmare to them as people are living below poverty lines and therefore a small laptop would be meaningless in a place where people are starving and dying of hunger and diseases like malaria, high infant mortality rates and poor education incentives. Malaria has been a chronic disease in most places in Africa and parts of Asia costing the lives of many kids especially below 12 years. HIV/AIDS is also a major challenge leaving many kids orphans and desperate. Therefore, a need to help this kids by providing them with food, shelter and clothing is much better than an electronic gadget that they may have never seen before. These countries need the basic needs for survival more than any other thing,therefore it will be unrealistic for a government to emphasize more on providing laptops than making these readily available. A well set up education system  to make sure that all kids have an access to free and fair  education, improved health sectors, job creation and poverty eradication should be well looked at.  

While this noble initiative is put into practise, It would be much better if the governments in the underdeveloped countries especially those in Africa and Asia would first of all play their role in providing the basic human needs so that all the kids irrespective of their economic status, backgrounds and color be able to have access to a better education and then the one laptop per child can come later on.


References:

Nicholas Negroponte,2010,One laptop per child mission, 15th January 2012, http://one.laptop.org/about/mission

HOW THE DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY HAS INFLUENCED THE TRADITIONS OF A SOCIETY...

INTRODUCTION

WEEK 1

In this week's lesson we discussed about Information technology.It is defined as the use of computers and software to manage information. We also learnt about the history of IT which included four era namely:

• Pre-mechanical

• Mechanical

• Electromechanical

• Electronic

          

In today's world everything is made easy by technology, so there is a need to be associated with IT in one way or the other. Life has been made easy and simple by the advancement and development of IT since  the beggining of 20th century to date!

When I look around today at the conveniences produced by information and communication technology, I often pause to reflect on past decades when we did not have any of this. How did it ever get anything done? A document that now takes a few seconds to attach and send by email took several days by regular mail not to mention that you had to address the envelope, put a stamp on it, and deliver it to the nearest post office. As for banking, you were required to adhere to the hours of the local bank when you wished to deposit your pay cheque , pay bills, or withdraw funds; thank goodness for direct deposits, pre authorized payments, and automated tellers! Technology has certainly changed our lives by giving us the freedom to conduct these activities from the comfort of our home and at any time we choose. Information technology has mad the whole world look like a village through  computer networking via the world wide web ,you can access any information about anything at any time  any place. This is what we call ; Advancement in information technology! However, how has this advancement influenced societies’ traditions and cultures that have been standing over time memorial even before the advancement of technology? This still remains a debatable issue and here I throw my arguements :

Information technology has helped improve productivity. Work that needed hours earlier could now be done in minutes, e.g. a single computer can perform a task that would otherwise have been done by over ten men in within a minute, this ha led to less demand in hardcore and unskilled labour  to more demand in skilled and learned man power.

This same technology is now providing more choice when it comes to education. It is no longer necessary to attend lessons in a classroom in order to further our learning. The widespread use of the Internet has globalized education and enabled educational institutions to be able to offer courses to students anywhere in the world. E-learning has changed the way that courses can be taught and distance education has removed the traditional barriers of higher education.Easy access to learning materials in the internet has also facilitated the learning process as a whole. This has replaced the traditional learning styles which were normally based on traditional means of teaching.

The influence of information technology on religious practices has mainly been to the effect of making information about them more accessible. In todays societies, religious institutions are able to convey message to their followers easier and faster enhanced by the advancement in technology. It also brings about all people of same faith together although separated by geographical locations through teleconfrencing, announcements, advertisements and other related fields.

The advances in information technology have heavily influenced commercial businesses in several ways. The most important role of information technology in a commercial business however is to provide a commercial advantage. Advances such as computer aided design, relational database technologies, spreadsheets, and word processing software all provide a commercial benefit to the business, as does automation of manufacturing processes. It has led to international trade and business with world wide markets with world wide brands eg The Apple company, samsung, Nokia, McDonalds etc.

Information technology influenced the way news and media organisations deliver content.Developments such as the Internet and satellite television have created new medium and audiences through which and to which these organisations can disseminate their information. Given the situation thirty years ago the developments that we have seen have enabled the news and media organisations access to more people, they have a wider audience. The audience however now has a wider, global choice. News reports can be received which highlight many different sides of an international conflict for example than was possible before. The relative cheapness of being able to publish information on the Internet for example means that virtually anyone can publish information accessible anywhere in the world. 

The change in the continuity of social attitudes or customs o a certain society are also brought about by advancement in IT. Social attitudes have changed with the effect that citizens of a society now expect the various elements of that society to be better informed than previously. They also expect to be able to access more information about a specific product, service or organisation so that they can make informed decisions with regard to their interactions with that entity. It has also enhanced intercultural communication and relations of many kinds. Enabling individuals to learn about other cultures and be fully aware of others.

Information Technology has also had a major impact on the defence capabilities of governments. This covers both a government’s capability to wage war and their intelligence gathering capability. Advances in weapons technology and weapons design has increased the effectiveness of various governments’ armed forces. For example it would have been impossible to design aeroplanes such as the B2 Bomber if it were not for the advances made in information technology. The B2 bomber relies on a “continuous curvature” design to minimise radar signature. It would have been impossible to design or build this machine without the development of computer modelling techniques. Information Technology has also had a major impact on a government’s intelligence agencies. Encryption of sensitive information has enabled government’s to obtain added security. 

Interactions between individuals have been enhanced by the development of information technologies. New channels of communication have been opened between people irrespective of the distance between them. Social networks such as facebook, tweeter, you tube, and many others enable individuals to communicate through chatting as well as doing various business advertisements. This proliferation of Internet technologies has enabled people with disabilities such as those who are blind or visually impaired, physical disabilities or others to be able to enjoy access to sources of information and ways of communicating they may not have had the opportunity to have used before. A disabled person using a computer has access to vast amounts of information at his fingertips. People with disabilities can tap into practical disability-related information or converse with other disabled people. Not only that, they can also enter the mainstream. With the help of these computer devices and advanced software many disabled people can be just as competitive as anyone else

Amidst all these great developments,it has also brought about adverse impact on society that the same developments have created. Yet the negative impact has also been serious enough to deserve extremely serious attention and purposeful action.

When I was a kid, we had a social life, and it was called 'outside'. And look at today's kids - Facebook, PlayStations, iPhones, Blackberries, and not to forget, television sets with 300 channels. Kids have become addicted to this and spend most of their precious time in this. They forsake their studies and also indulge in immoral activities as exposed by the internet. 

Consider the danger our children are exposed to through the easy access child predators have to them. The predators can establish contact with the children and win their trust and confidence, quite unknown to us unless we are very cyber-vigilant.

Cyber-fraud is another phenomenon that developments in infotech have helped. There are robots that crawl the web harvesting e-mail addresses; e-mail servers that focus on sending out spam mail; and fraudsters who use these to send out announcements that you have won a million dollars in some prize draw (which you will never get even after sending money as “processing fee” to the fraudster)

I totally support the fact that information technology has made our life unbelievably easy. Yes, it has. However, every revolution has its adversities associated. We cannot savor technology optimally if we close our eyes to the negatives, and they are extremely difficult to express. We might have the latest technology serving us big time, but unknowingly, we might be missing out on those teeny-weeny moments of happiness that life bestows on us,we should enjoy technology and use it for the betterment of our living but above all we should enjoy life!

This lesson was very interesting to me as i was able to know a lot of things which I had no idea before such as the history of information technology and the inventions being made in each stage. It was also a nice experience as i got to know more about my IT field and this helps me as an IT student.