The Impact of Communication Technology

1
The Impact of Communication Technology

• Part 1
• Political and Social

2
Technology Assessment

• To assess something means to evaluate it.
• When you study the effect of a new technological
  device, you are doing technology assessment.
• Because technological change can have a major
  impact on our society, the U.S. government has
  established the Office of Technology Assessment.

3
Categories of Impact

• Six categories that relate to communication
  technology
• Political
• Social
• Economic
• Environmental
• Cultural
• Ethical

4
Political Impact

• If a technology has political effects, the
  effects relate to government.
• The mass media (television, radio, newspapers,
  magazines, and books) have a real impact on our
  political system.
• Politicians have media advisors to make them
  look and sound good in the media.

5
Political Impact - continued

• The media can influence the political process.
  For example, candidates in elections have dropped
  out overnight after reports that appeared in the
  media.
• Popularity of candidates go up and down depending
  on their media image.

6
Political continued (Satellite Communication)

• Today, communication satellites allow us to send
  messages around the world instantly.
• Officials in our government routinely telephone
  officials in other governments.These calls travel
  via satellite.

7
Political continued (Satellite Communication)

• Television signals sent by satellite bring us
  news from other countries even while it is
  happening.
• Such rapid flow of information affects how
  governments relate to one another.
• Communication satellites are also used to spy on
  other countries. Mapping satellites photograph
  areas being watched for defense purposes.

8
Social Impact

• How people live together has been deeply
  influenced by communication technology.
• The effects range from the power government has
  over us to the way we spend leisure time.

9
Social Impact Government Tracking

• Government computers keep track of us by our
  social insurance number. This number is used in
  connection with drivers licenses, bank accounts,
  income taxes and so forth.
• When we spend money, we leave a trail that may be
  followed. If we use a credit card or write a
  cheque, the credit card company or bank keeps a
  computer record of how much money we spent.

10
Social Impact Government Tracking

• When all this information is combined, it
  provides an economic profile of a person. This
  profile is known as a credit rating.
• When we ask to borrow money from a bank, the bank
  checks this credit rating to see if we are a
  good risk.

11
Social Impact Education and Training

• Microcomputers made their way into classrooms in
  the 1980s.
• Teachers use computers to help them deliver
  curriculum.
• Educational video tapes have become a useful aid
  for many teachers.

12
Social Impact Education and Training

• Industry has also made good use of technology
  when training their employees.
• Interactive video can help train people such as
  pilots. They learn to fly planes by using a
  flight simulator.
• Teachers will never be replaced by technology,
  but their time may be freed up so that they can
  give more individual attention to each student.

13
Social Impact Information Storage and Retrieval

• For the past five centuries, all important
  information was stored in written or printed
  documents.
• These documents, usually books and magazines,
  were kept in libraries.
• Libraries are beginning to store information in
  other ways such as Optical disks.
• Optical disks can store large amounts of data.
  For example, an entire encyclopedia can fit on
  one fifth of an optical disk.
• Using a computer, you can instantly locate the
  information you want in the encyclopedia.

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Social Impact - Information Storage and Retrieval

• More importantly, you do not need to travel to
  the library to get the information.
• Some computer data can now be sent over telephone
  lines and you can access it from your home using
  a home computer.
• The same might be done for a catalog with items
  for sale. You select the item you want to buy and
  the system automatically withdraws the amount
  from your bank account and ships the purchase to
  you.

15
Information Storage and Retrieval What will be
the effect on society?

• Retrieving information in this way will make it
  easier for researchers to gather information.
• On the other side of the coin, there will be far
  more information available to the average person.
• We will have to become more selective about what
  we choose to read or view. Otherwise, we will
  suffer from information overload.

16
Social Impact Leisure Time

• What did people do with their spare time before
  television.
• We read books, listened to the radio, talked to
  families and friends, and entertained ourselves
  with hobbies.
• Now, TV and computers have become the ways many
  people entertain themselves.
• People do not go visiting as often as they did
  years ago.