Computers and Society

1
Computers and Society
2
Frog and Water

• We tend to overlook the gradual changes around
  us, so fail to react in time to the threats that
  are in, as in the story of frog and boiling water.

3
Impacts by Design vs. Impacts not by Design

• Impacts by design are the intended functions of
  designers of applications.
• ATM and credit card over the world
• Shopping online
• Impacts not by design refer to the uses of
  applications which are not intended by the
  original designers.
• Peoples whereabouts, commercial behavior, and
  political views can be traced.

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Categories of Impacts

• Quality of life Work life and social life
• Security Computer crimes
• Privacy
• Ethics

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Areas of Impacts

• Business
• Communication
• Education
• Warfare
• Medicine
• Art and music
• The Handicapped

6
Two Articles

• J. F. George, Introduction to the Social Issues
  of Computing.
• On the impacts and issues at present.
• Ray Kurzweil, The Impact On .
• On the impacts and issues in the future.

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Computer and Society- 1 -

• Past and Present

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Social Issues of ComputingPast and Present

• J. F. George, Introduction to the Social Issues
  of Computing, 2003

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Computing and Social Issues

• It is FALSE to say
• Computing has no relationship at all to the
  issues like homeless, poverty, hunger, and world
  peace.
• We should not be as unawareness of the professor
  mentioned at the beginning of article about the
  impact of computing on society.

10
Employment

• An issue we are familiar with.
• Some old jobs are replaced some new jobs are
  created.
• The promised cost savings by office automations
  were rarely realized, because (p.8) How do we
  understand this?

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Sacrificing for Offspring?

• For most of jobs displaced in the past 200 years,
  they caused pain on those who were displaced, but
  not on their offspring like us. We even rarely
  appreciated our ancestors for their sacrifices
  that lead to todays convenience and
  civilization.
• Why do we complain today for our sacrifices
  that might be beneficial for our offspring?

12
Deskilling and Upskilling

• Deskilling is the effect as the skills needed to
  do the job originally have been removed by the
  replaced computers, and jobs are of lesser
  interest and challenge.
• Upskilling refers to the effects as jobs are more
  interesting and challenging, and less tedious and
  repetitive.

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Deskilling or Upskilling?

• In a debate-stopping article, 1987, Attewell
  reported that there were about as much deskilling
  in automated jobs as upskilling, but that
  upskilling had the upper hand. Computing, then,
  seems to make work a little more interesting.

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Quality of Work Life

• Measures of Work Life
• Physically dangerous or not
• Work pace
• Clean air and workplace
• Illumination
• Dirty looks of managers
• Performance monitoring
• The other side of the coin
• Employment rate and salary

15
Surveillance

• Many companies routinely monitor how professional
  workers use their e-mail and the Internet while
  at work.
• White collar workers feel the threat of
  surveillance, including managers, professionals,
  and specialists, in addition to clerical workers.

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Ubiquity of Computing

• Devices causing ubiquity of computing include
• Laptop computer
• Cell phone
• Personal digital assistants
• Those devices make it possible for people to work
  wherever they are at whatever time.

17
Concern of Ubiquity of Computing

• The concern of ubiquity of computing
• It blurs the line between work and home,
• It creates additional stress in white collar
  jobs,
• It increases the pace of work as well.
• It deteriorates the quality of work life.

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Organizational Structure

• Computers and Internet would make organizations
  centralized or decentralized.
• Is computing tech altering organizations or
  organizations are altering computing tech?

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Technological Elite

• Tech Elite refers to the few talented people who
  design and build computer system of an
  organization.
• It was feared that these tech elite would take on
  a special privileged role in the organization and
  would have undue influence in the organizations
  affairs.

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Privacy

• Privacy was, is, and will be a central issue in
  the relationship between computing and society.
• Privacy is threatened by computers because
  computers unprecedented capacity of
• Collecting data,
• Processing data,
• Disseminating data.

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Surveillance and Privacy

• It is legal in US for the company to monitor the
  employees use of company-owned equipment and
  network for e-mail and Internet surfing and
  access.
• How about company owned laptops and cell phones
  being used at home?

22
Computer Trailing

• When a person goes online, automatically he
  leaves behind a trail showing where he has gone
  and how long he stays.
• The trail can be used for characterize a person
  for business, political, or whatever use.

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Computer Trailing vs. Privacy

• Do you think computer trailing is against Privacy
  Act?
• Is it against law if someone uses your trails
  left at public places such as a shop, a
  bookstore, and street?
• Is Internet a public or a private occasion?

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Security

• The security issue refers to the threat that your
  computer system is attacked online.
• Can breaking into your computer be compared
  legally to breaking into your house?
• When you have a high-speed direct connection to
  Internet, you expose your system to the Internet
  hackers and computer viruses.

25
Hacking Tools Available at Internet

• Internet becomes an exchange market for hacking
  tools.
• Internet provides a meeting place for hackers and
  crackers to exchange information.
• This is an issue related to online freedom of
  speech.

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Degradation of Social Life

• How computer and Internet may change our social
  life?
• More time online, less time physically with
  family and friends, less time playing sports,
  less conversations.
• People are getting into deeper into the virtual
  world, and less capable to function in the real
  world.

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An Example of ipod

• Article Tune into Your World, Tune out All
  Others
• By Linda Shrieves, ltThe Orlando Sentinelgt
• See ltThe Press of Atlantic Citygt, 1/24/2006, p.B1

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Why Do People Love iPod?

• It tunes out the noises we prefer to close off.
• Its healthy to decompress yourself when you
  live in a chaotic, densely populated world.
• It helps people relieve stress or, particularly
  at work, concentrate.

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Does iPod Tune Out Too Much?

• Its a brushoff or snub, though maybe not
  intended. Technological insulation.
• Your day can be filled up with these short
  contacts with people (greetings or short talks)
  you see regularly. People who dont have that
  are really missing something.
• Its not helping us with social skills.

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Digital Divides

• Digital divide refers to differences in the
  availability of computing, especially in terms of
  Internet access, between two different groups in
  a society
• Examples of digital divides addressed so far
• Between young and old
• Between races
• Between poor and rich
• Between developed countries and developing
  countries.

31
Freedom of Speech Online

• Are the following expressions online protected by
  the freedom of speech
• Whipping up racism, hatred, violence, terrorism,
  fascism,
• Is a private web site private or public?

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Computer and Society

• Present and Future
• (see Part 2)