INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (COMPUTERS)

Information Technology (computers)

Information Technology (computers)

1:

Information Technology is changing the way we work! Over the last decade computers have made a grave difference to work, home and social life. With new software and hardware being developed all the time, everything from everyday activities to advanced functions and tasks are becoming easier to perform.

With computers affecting the workplace, the insecurity of job losses is a main threat to people in the community. With most people coming to terms with the computer itself, it is the extra responsibilities, and worries concerning work, the Internet, the e-mailing and people taking advantage of situations, that society is thinking twice about before embarking into the 21st century with technology. (Allen, 1994)

The unemployment rate in Australia is something that people young and old worry about. With the lack of jobs already and the progress computer technicians are making with high advanced computer features, people are feeling insecure with the thought of being replaced by machines. Although computer technology is broadening I believe it will be a long time before machines will run the world. Just like the famous saying 'behind every great man there is a great women', I believe behind every computer there will always be a user.

2:

Before computers were available to the general public, privacy was easy to maintain, with organisations and individuals able to store documents and information in separate locations, on credit files and records. Life was fine and it was easy to decide what was common knowledge and what was kept private. But with the giant capacity of computers today, large amounts of data can now be stored at one location. Individuals and organisations all use one main database, thus allowing the risk of information being deleted, tampered with or stolen. Society sees this as a crime, which infringes on the rights of personal privacy. The government clearly states, and is backed up by Geof Bailey who wrote Just is Right, a two unit Legal Studies course for SACE STAGE 1 'that under the law of human conduct a civil wrong, is a wrongful act or omission which infringes a person's rights and liberties.' These rights include the right for privacy. (Shelly, 1999) The infringement of individual rights play a major part in the legal system, but seem to be forgotten when technology is involved. On Friday, 12th February 1999 Jodi Upton from The Detroit News reported a story called 'U-M medical records end up on Web.' The article states 'Thousands of University of Michigan health system patients had personal and medical information released over the Internet without knowing it'. The records had been online for two months before a student had accidentally stumbled over it. In a professional place such as a hospital, patient's records needed to be secured safely for the benefit of the individual.

The new challenges presented by technology are likely to be driven by the next generation of 'digital natives', the generation that has grown up with technology. They are the 'native speakers' of the digital language ...