Lecture 1: Social Context of Computing Flashcards
Introduction
The advent of ?, ?, and ? has considerably expanded the invasion of computers and computer-related equipment from workplaces, homes, and schools, into planes, trains, and automobiles.
- Internet
- wireless communication
- mobile computer technology
Introduction
The widespread use of computers and computer technology in its present form has also resulted in a shift in computer usage.
Computer started as ?, now also embraced as ?.
utilitarian tool
social tool
Introduction
Playing this double role as ?, the computer has become an integral part of our social fabric.
utility and entertainment tool
Introduction
Two worlds have been created for humanity which augments our familiar environment and makes our daily activities easier and more enjoyable.
- the unreal world of entertainment
- a real computer technology-driven world
Introduction
Predictions regarding the influx of computer technology into the workplace, schools, and the home.
- it will enhance our intelligence
- it will improve our performance
Introduction
Ever since the beginning of the industrial age when technology started entering the workplace and homes, the aim has been to ? it and help make us wiser and more productive.
utilize
Digital Divide
The technological inequalities among people in one country and between countries, commonly known as the ?.
Digital Divide
Digital Divide
The digital divide debate has been raging,
centered on a number of key critical issues including ?, ?, and ?.
- whether there is such a thing as a digital divide
- indicators that should be used to measure such a divide if it exists
- best ways to close such a divide
Digital Divide
In its most basic definition, it is a discrepancy in access to information technology.
Digital Divide
Digital Divide
There are a multitude of causes and enablers, and as long as these exist in any society, the ? will exist.
Digital Divide
Digital Divide
Studies have pointed to ?, ?, and ? factors as influencing the digital divide.
social
economic
geographic
Digital Divide
Following are the enablers of the digital divide: ?, ?, ?, ?, and ?.
access
relevant technology
humanware (human capacity)
infrastructure
enabling environment
Digital Divide
The enablers fuel the following causes of the digital divide: ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, and ?.
geography
age
education
income
race
ethnicity
Digital Divide
? is a crucial component in the digital divide.
Access
Access
Such obstacles may include, but are not limited to, ?, ?, ?, and ?.
(examples only)
- costs involved in acquiring the technologies
- availability of free or low-cost facilities in the neighborhood
- ability to travel to places where there are low-cost access points
- having the capacity
needed to utilize the technologies.
Access
These obstacles can broadly be grouped into five categories: ?, ?, ?, ?, and ?.
geography
income
ethnicity
age
education
Digital Divide
There is a big digital divide between the rich, industrialized countries and the poor, less industrialized countries.
Geography
Geography
The ?, geographically are more deprived of the access to information although ? has improved this situation a lot in the last few years.
poor, developing countries
mobile technology
Geography
According to ?, the status of global digital inclusion needs a lot to be desired.
Notari
Digital Divide
According to recent studies, ? is the greatest predictor of Internet and other ICT technologies’ use.
household income
Income
The key findings featured in the report presented the three information communication technologies, namely ?, ?, and ?.
broadband at home
Internet use
mobile phones ownership
Digital Divide
One’s ? has a great influence on ICT access.
Ethnicity
Ethnicity
Although there has been no comprehensive study of global ICT access based on ethnicity and race, there have been limited but revealing national studies.
(true or false)
True
Age
There is a myth that ? use computers and the Internet far more than any other age group.
young people
Age
There is also conventional wisdom that ? do more surfing of the Internet than any other age group.
young people under age 18
Age
? reports that ? 18–29-year-olds own a cell phone.
Smith
9 in 10
Age
These ? are significantly more likely than those in other age groups to engage in all of the mobile data applications as follows:
(give examples)
young cell owners
- send or receive text messages
- use phone to take pictures
- send photos or videos to others
- access the Internet on their mobile device
- play music on their phones
Age
There is growing evidence that this love for ? is also growing fast among the 30–49-year-olds.
mobile devices
Education
Reports showed that the ? one achieves, the more likely one is to use computer and therefore, the Internet.
higher education
Education
When we talk about ?, people’s understanding has shifted from using computers, cell phones and Internet access to having an Internet-able mobile device.
Digital Inclusion
Education
In the last 12 years, digital inclusion still fervors ?.
high education
Digital Divide
The computer-driven technological revolution has brought the countries of the world closer together.
Technology
Digital Divide
In their study of the digital divide, Rodriquez and Wilson observed that all developing countries, including the poorest, are improving their access to the use of ICT.
Technology
Technology
The acquisition of technological skills and therefore the development of a good technological base depend a great deal on relevant inputs that include ?, ?, and ?.
investment capital
infrastructure
humanware (human capacity)
Technology
The capital investment in technology is usually in the form of ? and ?.
hardware
software
Technology
As noted by Rodriguez and Wilson, the quantity, quality, and maintenance of these technologies are still a big problem.
Hardware
Technology
There is a serious regression in hardware acquisition and maintenance.
Hardware
Technology
Computer components, for example, are being acquired, but they are being disposed of at probably the same rate as they are acquired.
Hardware
Technology
ICT parts are very expensive in a number of developing countries because either governments levy high tariffs on imports to raise local revenue or they impose luxury taxes because they are classified as luxury items.
Hardware
Technology
ICT products are also expensive because most outlet owners are not indigenous people; they are foreign investors who usually raise prices to cover their local and infrastructure expenses plus profits.
Hardware
Technology
Along with the problems presented by hardware are the problems of ?.
Software
Technology
For ICT equipment to be helpful, it must have a good and relevant ?.
Software
Technology
In many developing countries, there is very limited humanware to have ? locally produced. In addition, they do not have enough money to source the ?.
(same answer)
Software
Technology
Most ICT ? in developing countries comes with the bulk of the donated ICT equipment. But more often than not, the ? shipped on donated company computers rarely meets the needs of the recipients.
(same answer)
Software
Digital Divide
The availability and easy access to ICT, as Rodriguez and Wilson pointed out, are only a partial solution to a complex problem.
Humanware (Human Capacity)
Digital Divide
This is likely to remain the case until there is a corresponding degree of technical capacity and knowledge acquired by the people intended to use the technologies so that they can maintain the equipment and derive value-laden outputs.
Humanware (Human Capacity)
Digital Divide
The first problem is the lack of ? in developing countries to maintain the equipment. There is a shortage of teachers, technicians, and institutes to train them.
Humanware
Digital Divide
The next challenge is to ensure that people can gainfully use ICT to add value to local inputs.
Humanware (Human Capacity)
Humanware (Human Capacity)
Human capacity development is complex usually consisting of many parts including: ?, ?, ?, ?, and ?.
(examples only)
- Creating awareness of the potential for ICT to meet one’s needs
- Creating, developing, and strengthening capacity to use information and ICT effectively, using local inputs
- Building capacity to produce and package information so that it adds value to local inputs
- Ensuring ongoing technical capacity development and developing a format for knowledge and information sharing
- Preventing the local capacity from being drained to other, usually developed countries.
Humanware (Human Capacity)
The challenge, therefore, in tackling ? is to deal with each of these issues so that the locals using ICT may find meaningful answers to their local problems.
Human Capacity Development
Digital Divide
For us, ? will mean fixed communication structures.
Infrastucture
Infastructure
In those countries with good ? like electricity, telephones, good roads, and airports.
fixed communication structures
Infastructure
The enormous difficulties in the logistics of reaching people located in remote rural areas highlight the necessity or lack of good ? that are crucial to the development of ICT.
fixed communication structures
Infastructure
ICT access enablers have all been hailed in advancing global communication. But in order for them to work, there must be a ? in place.
basic communication infrastructure
Infastructure
So if digital communication is to be developed, ? such as telecenters, civic centers, and Internet or cyber cafes must be opened up where there are none and expanded where there are a few.
ICT-accessible points
Digital Divide
As Rodriguez and Wilson noted, there are many countries with similar levels of per capita incomes and economic structures exhibiting widely varying ICT performances. There are no good explanations for this except for the existence, or lack thereof, of ?.
Enabling Environments
Digital Divide
An ICT-? are environments in which ICT can thrive.
Enabling Environments
Enabling Environments
There are several things that can bring about such an environment, including ?, ?, and ?.
- Politics
- Public Policy
- Management Styles
Enabling Environments
According to Rodriquez and Wilson, ICT thrives in a good political environment.
Politics
Politics
According to Rodriquez and Wilson, ICT thrives in a good political environment that ensures: ?, ?, ?, and ?.
(examples only)
- A climate of democratic rights and civil liberties conducive to ICT adaptation
- Respect for the rule of law and security of property rights
- Investment in human capacity
- Low levels of government distortions
Enabling Environments
Governments must put in place streamlined regulatory policies for the importation and licensing of ICT technologies.
Public Policy
Enabling Environments
Laws must be enacted and enforced uniformly so that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other organizations interested in investing in ICT economic activities do so with ease.
Public Policy
Enabling Environments
New competitive policies such as the liberalization of the telecommunication and energy sectors must be developed, and the sectors must be staffed with competent managers with appropriate expertise.
Public Policy
Enabling Environments
These ICT regulatory policies need to be efficient, predictable, and easy to understand.
Public Policy
Enabling Environments
Licensing bodies need to be efficient and staffed with professionals. In addition, there must be government support for taxing policies. Finally, there must be transparency in government to create a moral bar for the rest of the country.
Public Policy
Overcoming the Digital Divide
? is one of the agents of development, countries and policy makers are making every effort to expand the ?, thus degrease the digital divide within countries and across the globe.
(same answer)
Digital Inclusion
Overcoming the Digital Divide
But minimizing the digital divide requires considerable efforts and a plan in addressing the following types of access: ?, ?, ?, and ?.
(enumeration and short description)
- Physical access - being able to obtain access
- Financial access - having the means to meet the costs
- Political access - creating the political environment
- Cultural access - availability of images and language to carry over the digital inclusion
ICT in the Workplace
The ? has been the most vigorously pursued concept since the industrial age.
Automation of the Workplace
ICT in the Workplace
Despite the original fear that ? would mean the end to human work, except in a few areas, ? has proceeded hand in hand with increases in employment numbers. This is, of course, not to deny that ? has caused some human displacements in the workplace.
(same answer)
Workplace Automation
ICT in the Workplace
We can define an ? as a technology-augmented office with knowledgeable employees. The technology in the environment may include computers and computer-driven devices.
Electronic Office
ICT in the Workplace
The evolution of the ? began with industrialization but took giant steps beginning in the 1950s with rapid advances in computer technology and telecommunications.
Electronic Office
Electronic Office
The workplace has been undergoing a rapid transformation of its own. Increasingly, office job descriptions at all levels and in all professions are being transformed to incorporate computer and telecommunication skills.
(true or false)
True
Electronic Office
Two factors have been and are still fueling the growth of the electronic office. The first is ?, to counter the rising costs of office operations, which according to Olson and Lucas have been increasing faster. The second is the ? to handle the ever increasing complexity and modernization of office communication and decision-making processes.
- increasing productivity of office employees
- acquiring of technology necessary
Office on Wheels and Wings
The advent of laptop computers, tablets, cellular phones, and personal digital assistants (PDAs) have accelerated the ? of the office.
mobility
ICT in the Workplace
The ? is home to increasing type of employees who work very briefly in their corporate workplaces, are mostly on the road, and often telecommute using personal or company provided equipment.
Virtual Workplace
ICT in the Workplace
According to Snizek, the most important element of the ? is the use of computers and other telecommunication devices to link up employees and the massive worldwide databases of vital information and other human resources.
Virtual Workplace
ICT in the Workplace
More workers opting for the ? will also increase vital information flow into the company and corporate offices, which may lead to companies gaining a higher level of vital data, employee expertise, and experience from colleagues around the globe.
Virtual Workplace
Virtual Workplace
The virtual workplace’s increasing popularity is mainly due to recent changes in computer and telecommunication technology and organizational changes as a result of ?.
corporate downsizing and outsourcing
Virtual Workplace
There are some difficulties already visible both in the employee and employer communities.
(examples only)
- lack of collegiality and of community spirit
- lack of belonging that affects employees and eventually undercuts their loyalty and hence their effectiveness
The Quiet Revolution: The Growth of Telecommuting
Studies show that the largest number of workers doing their work outside their primary place of work does it in ?.
their homes
The Quiet Revolution: The Growth of Telecommuting
As office technology improves, a large number of workers outside the self-employed professions of artists, writers, and craftspeople are potentially able to work at home. This is being helped further by the shift in global economies from ? to ?.
manufacturing based
information based
Categories of Telecommuters
There are three categories of telecommuters.
- those who use their homes as an adjunct to their conventional office jobs
- those who use their homes as the base for their business
- those who have full-time jobs with large companies but prefer through their own initiative to work from home
Categories of Telecommuters
First category: Workers who use their homes as an adjunct to their conventional office jobs.
(describe)
- white-collar jobs in areas such as management, research, market studies, and education
- highly motivated
- occasional work at home is a flexibe alternative
Categories of Telecommuters
Second category: Workers who use their homes as the base for their businesses.
(describe)
- telemarketing, small start-up companies, and human services such as child care and elderly care
- less educated and less likely to use a fully equipped electronic home office
- more likely to use a telephone and a computer without much data transmission
Categories of Telecommuters
Third category: Workers who have full-time jobs with large companies but prefer through their own initiative to work from home.
(describe)
- computer programmers, sales specialists, editors, writers, and those whose work depends on a high degree of creativity such as artists, musicians, and composers
- mixed bag of highly educated, independent, and specialized workers and those who are not so highly educated but very talented and skilled
Company Role in Telecommuting
? is a revisit to the cottage industry of the fifteenth through eighteenth centuries in Europe: raw materials were dropped off at the workers’ cottages, and finished products later picked up for market.
Home Office
Company Role in Telecommuting
On the issue of classification of work, the study found that work with possible measurable milestones is most suited for ?.
telecommuting
Company Role in Telecommuting
On the issue of identifying individuals most suited to ?, the study found that people who usually need less supervision at the office and those who do volunteer work are the most suited to ?.
(same answer)
telecommute
Company Role in Telecommuting
? tend to be paid less because their pay is based on output, which makes output the real mechanism of monitoring ?.
(same answer)
Telecommuters
Effects and Benefits of Telecommuting
An employer–employee arranged ? is supposed to reap benefits for
both parties.
home office
Effects and Benefits of Telecommuting
The value of benefits from home office arrangement depends on individual circumstances as discussed by Kraut and reported as follows:
(enumerate and describe)
- Gender - women would draw maximum benefits from telecommuting arrangements with their employees, if their primary objective for telecommuting is to take care of their families.
- Nature of work - in types of work where supervision is not as intensive, there is a high degree of latitude for one to make decisions. However, jobs that are supervision intensive are less likely to be moved into home environments.
- Labor supply - when there is a limited supply of one type of workers, companies try to find innovative ways of attracting and keeping workers in those limited-supply areas.
- Age - in sales, young people are more productive outside of offices than older workers. In management, older people are more productive in offices than outside offices.
Effects and Benefits of Telecommuting
The benefits of telecommuting for both employees and employers are summarized as follows:
(examples only)
- Individual benefits from telecommuting because he or she immediately eliminates the time, trouble, and expense of physically commuting to work
- Benefits of telecommuting also translate directly and immediately into more discretionary time, less stress, and general health improvements
- More autonomy in work decisions, more control over time, and more flexibility in job variations
- Less commuting expenses on an individual
- More quality time with family
- Employers benefit from the extra productivity
- Employers also save on expenses through having fewer employees
- Telecommuting helps the best and satisfied employees stay longer, thus saving on recruiting and training costs
- Society benefits from telecommuting through benefits to the environment
Effects and Not So Benefits of Telecommuting
Telecommuting is not all positive, however. Among the issues that negatively
affect the company image are ? and ?.
employee morale
alienation
Effects and Not So Benefits of Telecommuting
Issues that negatively affect the company image are:
(examples only)
- lack of professional contacts => employee’s morale may suffer => productivity falls
- public perception of the company
Employee Social and Ethical Issues
?, the concept implies the idea of massive layoffs because offices with intelligent machines may require fewer people.
Office Automation
Employee Social and Ethical Issues
Stripping an employee of job skills as a result of changes either in job content or procedures.
Diskilling
Employee Social and Ethical Issues
Diskilling, according to Attewell et al., can either be ?, in which case the skill content of the job decreases over time, or ?, in which very few people gain the skills needed for the job, causing either low-paying jobs or layoffs.
intraoccupational
entraoccupational
Employee Social and Ethical Issues
Several factors have prevented layoffs and diskilling from happening; among them are the following:
(examples only)
- willingness of employees to retrain and use the newly acquired technology
- more efficient production techniques lead to expanded operations and added growth, which leads to more hiring of employees
- in anticipation of automation, more employees are usually hired to cope with the new technology and to handle the expanded work capacity
Employee Social and Ethical Issues
According to Attewell et al., computerization has led to ? of employees rather than diskilling.
Reskilling
Employee Monitoring
The shift in the economies and the stiff competition have resulted in a shift in ? to bring more efficiency and quality in the established economies.
Management Styles
Employee Monitoring
? is characterized by a top-down autocratic style of management in which the manager—literally from the top floor —commanded the activities of the factory workers on the factory floor with almost omniscient and demeaning power.
Theory X
Employee Monitoring
? put more faith and empowerment in the hands of the employees. The style was hierarchical with the employee ranks broken down into small semi-independent units. Each unit was headed by a supervisor. The supervisors themselves formed another top-down hierarchy ending with the top management.
Theory Y
Employee Monitoring
?, or scientific management, is commonly known because of its hierarchical structure. It gave more flexibility and partial decision-making powers to employees at different levels of the management hierarchy.
Theory Y
Employee Monitoring
A new technique in the works is called ?. It is aimed at keeping worker in line, just like all other management styles, but with “voluntary” compliance by workers to company management policies and practices they would normally have questioned or challenged.
Fear Management
Employee Monitoring
? uses both worker surveillance and control as enforcement means. ? is transmitted to workers through policies like “downsizing”, “contingent work force”, and “outsourcing”.
Fear Management
Fear
Employee Monitoring
? is using a wide array of surveillance gadgets and techniques including polygraph tests, drug tests, handwriting analysis, honesty tests, electronic monitoring, mind control, etc.
Management
Workplace Privacy and Surveillance
Ever since the Industrial Revolution, workers have been ? for performance evaluation because it has been used as the basis for pay and for decisions about employee advancement.
monitored
Workplace Privacy and Surveillance
? has also been employed to control employees and impose overall discipline in the workplace.
Monitoring
Workplace Privacy and Surveillance
As workplace modernization picked up speed with advances in technology, the techniques and debate surrounding employee surveillance intensified. The battles were fought on two fronts:
(explain briefly)
- those who see monitoring as good management control tools with plausible reasons such as increased production, more accurate assessment of employee performance, greater organizational control, immediate feedback, more flexibility
- those who see surveillance as an outright transgression of employee privacy, causing problems such as stress, decreased job satisfaction, an affront to human dignity
Workplace Privacy and Surveillance
Employers collect information from employees through two channels.
- First channel - voluntary, employees surrender information through forms
- Second channel - private information the employer gathers through surveillance
Workplace Privacy and Surveillance
Invasion of privacy does not mean collection of information on an individual without the individual’s knowledge but rather the ? of collected information on an employee without legitimate reason or interest.
disclosure
Workplace Privacy and Surveillance
An employer can gather information from the employees with whatever means as long as that information is not used maliciously.
(true or false)
True
Workplace Privacy and Surveillance
Once a company has gathered that information about individuals, it can model its ? around the characteristics exhibited by these individuals.
market strategies
Electronic Monitoring
? is generally the monitoring of employees using electronic devices like video cameras, computer equipment, audio devices, and many other concealed gadgets.
Electronic Monitoring
Electronic Monitoring
It measures the quality and usually the quantity of work and the ability and effectiveness of the worker. It also measures the worker’s habits on and off the work premises.
Electronic Monitoring
Electronic Monitoring
? of employees is characterized by workers’ ignorance that they are being monitored, fear of the ever-watching eyes of the supervisor, and fear of how much that supervisor knows about them.
Electronic Monitoring
Effects of Electronic Monitoring on Employees
Employees in the nonmonitored group had a
different perception of their work than the employees in the monitored group. Two important issues emerge:
(explain briefly)
- an intended goal of a monitoring program may be clouded by a different goal perceived by the monitored group
- psychological effects on the monitored employees may be more severe than previously thought and anticipated
Consequences of Electronic Monitoring
Electronic monitoring also causes the following problems:
(explain briefly)
- Fear of job loss
- Reduced task variety - quota as measure of work
- Lack of individual initiatives - low-skilled, repetitive jobs
- Reduced or no peer social support - separate stations where gadgets can monitor in full view
- Lack of self-esteem - isolation, the monotony of work, the lack of creativity, and the lack of freedom
- Lack of interest in the job
- Lack of trust among workers, between workers and supervisors, and between supervisors and management - low company morale => low production levels
- Alienation - worker alienation as lack of worker freedom and control, purpose and function, and self-involvement in their work
Workplace, Employee, Health and Productivity
The productivity of workers depends on the quality of their ? state.
physical and mental
Workplace, Employee, Health and Productivity
According to Shepard, a worker has ? at work if he or she can vary the steps involved in doing the job, determine work methods and workload, and increase or decrease the speed at which the work is done.
freedom and control
Ergonomics
? is an applied science concerned with designing human–machine interactions that offer and maintain a safe, comfortable, healthy, and habitable work environment.
Ergonomics
Ergonomics
? studies the design of human work and production because when the demands for human performance of a task exceed human capacity then injuries start to occur and human wellness declines.
Ergonomics
Ergonomics
An ? results when the demand on a person to perform a task exceeds that person’s working capacity.
ergonomic injury
Repetitive Strain Injuries
? is a set of work-related musculoskeletal disorders caused by repeated and prolonged body movement resulting in damage to the fibrous and soft body tissues like tendons, nerves, and muscles.
RSI
Repetitive Strain Injuries
Recent studies have isolated some of the main causes of ? as repetitive motion, forced gripping, performance stress, alienation, static loading fixed posture, deviated wrists, and boredom.
RSI
Repetitive Strain Injuries
? attacks those body parts such as tendons, wrists, shoulders, nerves, and arms and sometimes the neck that receive tremendous stress exerted by body movements. This condition, which has come to be known by a string of names like occupational overuse syndrome (OOS), cumulative trauma disorder (CTD), carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), and upper limb disorder (ULD) causes serious pain and if not treated early may cause even permanent disability.
RSI
Repetitive Strain Injuries
When RSI is caught in time, it can be cured with proper care and prescriptions that emphasize changes in individual work styles and techniques. Among the suggested changes in work styles and techniques are the following:
(examples only)
- Use ergonomically correct work equipment.
- Use a light touch on the keyboard to place less stress on body parts. Also, keep the wrists straight in line with your arms.
- Take frequent breaks from your work. Once you get a break, walk around and do some
stretching exercises. - Educate yourself about RSI.
- If necessary reduce the time you spend at the computer terminal.
Repetitive Strain Injuries
Improvements in the design of human work and occupational environments can
result in benefits to the employee and the employer. Among such benefits are
the following:
- Reduced medical bills
- A higher level of self-esteem
- Increased productivity because of fewer employee errors. High attendance rate and retention skills increase per capita output.
Stress
Besides RSI, ? has also recently drawn public attention as a work hazard.
Stress
Stress
? is believed to have its origins in environmental inputs, and it appears through symptoms such as fear, anxiety, and anger.
Stress
Stress
Besides RSI, ? has also recently drawn public attention as a work hazard.
Stress
