Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency

Not to be used for teaching

About this unit

This unit helps you understand how far ICT systems affect everyday life. This unit explores how individuals as well as families, clubs and societies, work teams and community groups use ICT, in their personal, social and professional lives. Some individuals and groups do not have access to ICT, yet ICT still affects their lives.

New ICT products and applications are constantly being developed and the pace of development is very fast. You will explore how and why ICT can have negative as well as positive effects.

You will consider how developments in technology have influenced and may continue to influence areas, such as:

• Business,
• Working styles and new employment opportunities
• Legislation,
• Entertainment and leisure,
• Personal communications,

This unit builds on the contents of units 1 and 2, and also your wider knowledge and experience of ICT.

What you need to learn

Available technologies

You will need to know about the wide variety of technology that is available to access and exchange information and carry out transactions. You will learn about:

• Internet technologies eg. world wide web, e-mail, multimedia, encryption
• Internet connections eg. modem, ISDN, ASDL, broadband
• Mobile telephone technologies eg. SMS, WAP
• Digital broadcasting
• Personal digital assistants (PDAs) and organisers
• Storage media eg. DVD, minidisk
• Touch screen technologies

You will also learn about the development of the specialised hardware and software associated with the above

When investigating the effects ICT has had on different groups or contexts, you should also consider those who do not have access to ICT.

How ICT is used in business

You will need to understand how ICT has affected how all sectors of the economy do business and how in turn this affects customers, including the effect of the speed with which transactions can be done. For example:

• Customers buying from home - online shopping and banking, comparing products and services such as travel, financial products, online auctions
• Technical services -, customised databases, security
• Call centres and customer enquiries
• Advertising and marketing

How ICT has affected work styles

You will need to investigate how ICT has changed work styles. For example, you could investigate:

• the places in which people work - where people work, how business practice has changed
• people's work patterns - use of e-mail, mobile phones, laptops
• what ICT skills and training employees require - specialist ICT packages, new technology
• the way people interact at work - how does ICT affect communication between people, eg using e-mails instead of talking directly to each other
• the types of jobs available -eg. ICT has automated many "traditional" jobs from office work to manufacturing, but has created other specialist jobs such as website designers, software and hardware engineers

Despite many of the possibilities that ICT could offer, the changes are often less than predicted by ICT specialists

Legislation

Legislation is enacted by Government to protect people from the harmful effects of ICT.

You should be aware of legislation that covers working with ICT, including:

• Data Protection Act (1998)
• Computer Misuse Act (1990)
• Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (1989)
• Health and Safety at Work Act (1974)
• Health and Safety Regulations (1992)
• Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (2000)

You do not need to know the detail of the Acts or regulations, but you should understand the reasons for their introduction. You should understand who is affected by the legislation, what protection it offers and what aspect of using ICT is affected. You should also be aware of EU regulations on the use of computers and the Internet Code of Practice.

You should be aware that ICT has delivered many benefits, but that it has also created opportunities, for example, for:

• International fraud
• The misuse of personal information
• Intrusion such as "spam", chat rooms, viruses

How ICT has affected personal communications

You will need to investigate how ICT has affected the way in which people go about their daily lives, for example:

The Internet

• People have a wide range of products and services to choose from
• They have access to businesses all over the world
• They can buy products on-line easily and have access to a range of "internet only" special officers

Mobile phones

• Contacting people 'on the move'
• Personal security, including alerting emergency services
• The cost and ease of keeping in touch with others
• The use of WAP technology to access the Internet
• Disadvantages of mobile phone use - eg high tariffs, overuse, nuisance of using phones in public

Entertainment and leisure

• The range of technologies available - eg DVD, CD ROM, Minidisk, MP3
• How the development of ICT is affected by the consumer's changing needs and tastes - for example, more realistic computer games

Education and lifelong learning

• Access opportunities for people from varied locations
• The range of learning opportunities available
• Access to up to date and comprehensive research materials

How ICT is used in community activities

You will need to investigate how ICT is used in community activities, including:

• Cyber cafés and other public access points eg. public libraries
• On-line discussion forums, eg interest and pressure groups, lobbying
• Information services, eg. museums, libraries, finding a venue
• Public transport and travel information eg. arranging itineraries
• Satellite positioning systems used in outdoor pursuits eg. sailing

ICT and people with special/particular needs

There are large numbers of people who need to use ICT adapted to their particular needs, in order to have improved quality of life.

You will learn how ICT can offer improved access to those with:

• sensory impairment
• physical disability
• limited mobility
• learning difficulties
• language difficulties
• multiple disabilities

You will investigate how ICT can enable people with special/particular needs to access and exchange information and carry out transactions, using standard technology, such as:

• Vibrate alert telephones and pagers
• Video conferencing
• SMS
• Online shopping

You will investigate what specially-adapted ICT hardware and software is available, such as:

• Incoming speech amplifiers and induction loops
• Speech synthesisers and voice recognition systems
• Environmental control systems

The changes that ICT brings to this group in society mirrors changes that the industry brings to other user groups, such as schools and colleges, rural groups, and official agencies.