Session 5

In this session we talked about ICT. What is ICT then? Before I attempted the readings, the term ICT was totally foreign to me, although the concept was seriously not. ICT or information and communication technologies are what in my opinion is definitely a driving force for change and development in the world today. A few examples of ICTs that we are familiar with would be the internet, cellphones, and more recently cloud computing.

Essentially, ICTs have not been around so long as the other drivers of world change. This is because, ICTs were developed as I found out only with the development of the knowledge economy. When information needed to travel fast and accurate in real time, hence the needs for Information and Communication technologies, albeit people for the longest time needed to transfer information accurately as fast as possible. I imagined in ancient times, the most common form of ICT for them, especially to the people who were fighting battles and wars would be the messengers, the horses and their pigeons. (punt intended)

So we discussed about the history of the internet. My history of the internet was initially warped, but at least I learnt the truth of it in the lesson. The internet, unlike my contrary belief, was created by the US army, not CERN. CERN came up with the global network, but the US army came up with the first "network" What I found particularly interesting for this session was the componant about web 3.0. We are all familiar with the current web 2.0, where there is the development of different media sources for us to gain information and services. Such as online shopping and video viewing. I honestly haven't heard of web 3.0, but from what i recall, it is about a semantic web. Information is aways collected from your surfing habits, to what you purchase online. Very soon, the web would be integrated into our everyday appliances, for example, when we search for a destination, it would give us recommendations of food and services along the route etc. However we all must avoid the pitfalls of having web 3.0. seem different. Essentially its a gradual implementation of collecting information and then ultimately its goals is to aid us in our likes and dislikes, help us to make more informed choices.

I really like the idea of web 3.0, however, with the data collection for predicting or recommending websites and services, wouldn't it be nearly an invasion of privacy? We let go so much of ourselves when we are on the net, because of the cover of the way the net is built, we feel safe behind a computer, because nobody will know what we are doing, who we are. However with the collecting of information fro our surfing habits etc, companies working with todays psychologists and social scientist, and also mathematicians programming the most advanced algorithm, they could hence build a profile of the person sitting behind a computer and with today's prevalence of social networking, finding out who we actually really are wouldn't be that difficult a job right? This is just a thought to ponder on yeah.

Also, with ICTs the arena of gaming has achieved a paradigm shift. Games are now more interactive. In a nugget, they have become more "real" than ever. With real time information gathering, a programme could essentially, I say again, predict your behavior and react to you, based on the algorithms they have been programmed with. It may seem like a real being we are actually interacting with, rather than just an algorithm. Perhaps then, it has been our mistake for being so developed. People could now take solace with virtual characters, sympathize with them etc. They are not real, but we are. So our psychology could change and we may end up thinking that we are really interacting with the virtual world, and lose track of what is real and what is not.

With ICTs, people now do not need to travel hundreds of miles to perhaps consult a doctor when they are sick. The doctor can diagnose the illness, and the patient can go to their local pharmacy to pick up their prescription. I have read that in fact, with real time transmission of images and data, operations can also be done remotely. A doctor on the other side of the globe can control a robot which will do an operation for a patient. The same goes for board room meetings, With video conferencing, people can stay at the same place, but the formation of ideas can take place across the globe.

With such prevalence, wouldn't it be a matter of time before the world sees ICT penetration as a rule rather than a tool for the rich? For at least some parts of the world it could be. In fact, in Finland, broadband 1mbps is a human right!

Cloud computing, a developing component of ICTs, bases programmes and systems to be stored on the internet rather than locally. This in my personal opinion is a paradigm shift. We learnt in class about the benefits of how it really streamlines startup costs for enterprises and enable multi tenancy etc. However what does this all mean? If you do not experience it first hand, you will never comprehend the feeling. A few years back, with the prevalence of the internet, we could send files over after we had edited it and stuff. It was good, however it wasnt efficient. People couldn't see what was already done, and there would be overlaps of similar ideas, and hence a loss in productivity. The key point here is productivity. With cloud computing, many people actually can access the same document in the cloud, and edit something onto it. There wouldnt be overlaps, because people could see what is already being written. Essentially it is the same as doing the job face to face, but now its being done remotely. WOW. A very clear example of the cloud prevalence is the Google Docs platform. For those who already know, good for you. For those who do not, I wont spoil your surprise, but you really have to adopt this, and your life's convinience will never be the same!

One of the most thought provoking episodes of this session was the "capturing of the knowledge revolution" ICTs in our opinions have developed pretty advance systems for us to streamline our services and productions, however productivity has only gone up about 5 times as compared to agriculture and the industrial revolution 25X. WHY? The answer turned out to be the way of managing people. At that instant, it brought me back to the first few lessons when prof quoted tech is easy, men are difficult. Yes, its always a grey area when dealing with humans, because of emotions and uncertainty and risk appetites. Men are not easy to herd. You would need a great leader to lead them. However a great leader doesn't come all the time. So there are lapses in decision making etc, hence because we have done what we are dreaming of, what else then can we improve to reach a higher standard?

Another thing that enlightened me was the discussion on ICTs prevalence for the poor. A necessary tool for the poor to help break out of their middleman cycle,esp farmers. With their cellphones, there is no longer a need for corporations and governments to provide for fixed land lines, hence it will be a reduction in infrastructure costs. The society there can kind of skip the step of fixed land lines and jump straight to the modern ICTs, such as cellphones and the internet. I feel that this is indeed great, but however, infrastructure for the cellphone lines are still needed. And the poor will have to pay for their cellphone bills. Only if they have subsidies for the poor to afford and pay for a cellphone, can the widespread of their use prevail. And through this, countries can then have the poor not feel oppressed, because the opportunity for ICTs are available to them, and they will thus not be exploited due to the lack of information, and also too, there will be more competitiveness within these sectors, as with more information, market forces will be more apparent. Opportunities can then be made. The poor, if they are lucky can have the chance to be liberated!

ICT is indeed, without a doubt a driver of world change. And a powerful one that it! However its prevalence must be addressed, and education for their use must be taught and made available. With this, can alot more people have the chance to go up Maslow's hierarchy of needs!

8/10 for lesson. ICTs is one of my more favourate topics of technology. I did learn alot of new things in this lesson, and alot more thought experiments about this driver of change came from that! I would however like more exploration into the way ICTs make impacts on the less fortunate. After all, more than half the world's population live on less than a dollar a day.