Grade 12 CAT - The Impact of Technology - Summary

THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY
Module 2.4




THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ON THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY
A few ways in which technology has an impact on the global community:
 People communicate on a global scale
 The flow of information is difficult to control and restrict
 Telecommuting is possible
 Computer fraud takes place
 Many people suffer from information overload
Definition of telecommuting
 Telecommuting is working from a remote location outside of a traditional office
 The Internet, faxes, phones, webcams and instant messaging are some of the technological
advances that enable this type of work arrangement
How to cope with information overload
 Learn to read quickly and accurately and to identify the key points in what you are reading
 Learn to analyse and compare sources
 Take a disciplined and structured approach to dealing with information
 Don’t add to the problem by unnecessarily forwarding information to others


HOW SOCIAL NETWORKING CONTRIBUTES TO THE IMPACT OF ICT
Social networking services
 They are free
 They require users to register to be able to use the services
 They encourage people to get as many other people to join as possible
 They can make money by gathering information about their users and selling that information
MySpace
 Combination between a blog and Facebook
 MySpace has become an online community where musicians, film studios and celebrities, etc.
communicate directly with their fans
Twitter
 Microblogging service
 Twitter allows people to send messages to their ‘followers’
 You can follow a specific topic by searching for a ‘hash tag’