The Impact of Information Technology on Work and Society

Governments

How has the development of information technology influenced the way Governments operate?

The “government” of a nation will be comprised of many varied institutions. However developments in information technology has helped governments to improve their “service” to their citizens. Advances in Database technology for example have enabled the governments of various countries to collate and monitor statistical information that they can use to combat fraud, manage the economy in a more informed way.

Information Technology has also had a major impact on the defence capabilities of governments. This covers both a government’s capability towage war and their intelligence gathering capability. Advances in weapons technology and weapons design has increased the effectiveness of various governments’ armed forces. For example it would have been impossible to design aeroplanes such as the B2 Bomber if it were not for the advances made in information technology. The B2 bomber relies on a “continuous curvature” design to minimise radar signature. It would have been impossible to design or build this machine without the development of computer modelling techniques.

Information Technology has also had a major impact on a government’s intelligence agencies. Encryption of sensitive information has enabled government’s to obtain added security. However attempting to decrypt information is also a major area of work for those employed by the government.

Governments also have had to have a renewed care towards their sensitive information. The proliferation of Internet technologies has led to stories such as that highlighted below:

“The Web becomes the focal point of British politics as a list of MI6 agents is released on a UK Web site. Though forced to remove the list from the site, it was too late as the list had already been replicated across the Net. (15 May 1999)” (http://info.isoc.org/guest/zakon/Internet/History/HIT.html)
The advance of information technology has also led to a need for new legislation to be introduced, for example in the United Kingdom the Data Protection Act of 1998. The governments data protection act Web Site gives the following eight rules regarding personal information:

1. It must be fairly and lawfully processed;
2. Processed for limited purposes;
3. Adequate, relevant and not excessive;
4. Accurate;
5. Not kept longer than necessary;
6. Processed in accordance with the data subject’s rights;
7. Secure;
8. Not transferred to countries without adequate protection.

(http://www.dataprotection.gov.uk/principl.htm)

Commercial Businesses

How has the development of information technology influenced commercial businesses?

The advances in information technology have heavily influenced commercial businesses in several ways. The most important role of information technology in a commercial business however is to provide a commercial advantage. Advances such as computer aided design, relational database technologies, spreadsheets, and word processing software all provide a commercial benefit to the business, as does automation of manufacturing processes (as Sara-Lee did in 1964).

It is beyond the scope of this report to go into detail about how the various software developments can be used to provide a commercial advantage, other than increaseing the productivity and innovation of the workforce.

It is interesting to note however that as different businesses compete with each other, the commercial advantage one can have over another may depend primarily on it’s use of information technologies. For example being able to extract information as to what the customer really wants and how to provide for that want can provide a significant advantage. This extraction of information is facilitated and indeed made possible by the technology used to store and manipulate this information. As the hardware and software mechanisms used to store and manipulate the information become more sophisticated and quicker the business can utilise its stored information to maximise it’s commercial advantage.

The use of information technology to monitor a businesses performance can also enable the business to highlight areas where they are not making the most use of their resources. The use of information technologies can also increase the businesses income through advertising in the various available forums. Advances in information technology over the last thirty years have lead to the television for example being more widely used today than thirty years ago (e.g. the introduction of transistor based televisions reduced costs while increasing reliability).

News & Media organisations

How has the development of information technology influenced the way news and media organisations deliver content?

Due to the nature of news and media organisations, the information technologies have particular relevance to them. As noted earlier “Information technology is the technology used to store, manipulate, distribute or create information”. News and media organisations are intimately acquainted with each of these elements of information technology. However this report will focus on the distribution and creation of information.

Developments such as the Internet and satellite television have created new medium and audiences through which and to which these organisations can disseminate their information.

Given the situation thirty years ago the developments that we have seen have enabled the news and media organisations access to more people, they have a wider audience. The audience however now has a wider, global choice. News reports can be received which highlight many different sides of an international conflict for example than was possible before. The relative cheapness of being able to publish information on the Internet for example means that virtually anyone can publish information accessible anywhere in the world.

Educational organisations

How has the development of information technology influenced the way educational resources are provided?

As information technology has developed over the last thirty years, educational establishments have been influenced in various ways. The most obvious example has been the introduction of information technology related courses. These courses are introduced to try to satisfy the demand that society has for qualified people to develop these information technologies.

The developments that have occurred in information technology have also had other influences on educational establishments. As was discussed earlier about news and media organisations, educational organisations also have a goal to distribute information from a source (lecturer, books, on-line resources etc.) to the student. The processes by which educational establishments distribute information have become increasingly diverse, and the effectiveness of the process has also improved.

The distribution of information is not the only concern of educational establishments. For example one of the aims of Universities is to create information. This “creation” is done by research. Information technologies have enabled researchers to access a wider source of information than previously available through such technologies as the Internet (the original ArpaNet being set up primarily to assist research). The Internet and other related technologies such as electronic mail, also enable collaborative projects to be undertaken between geographically distant groups.

Work Processes

How has the development of information technology influenced the interactions between institutions and individuals from the individual point of view?

Developments in information technology in the last thirty years have led from institutions with large single computers being able to only accommodate one user at a time, to a point now where powerful computing power is available to individuals rather than an organisation. Thirty years ago computers were much larger than now, often filling large rooms. The move from individuals in an organisation (whether commercial or academic) not having access to computing facilities to a position where users could have a link to computing facilities first began with Fernando Corbató’s CTSS operating system (the first multi user operating system), giving users the impression they had possession of a computer. (In fact their terminals were sharing time on the computer with other terminals).

Further development in this area occurred with the introduction of several developments. These included developments such as mass-produced mini-computers such as the PDP-8, which enabled more institutions to obtain computers at a lower cost than be fore. Later developments such as the personal computer, have brought computing power even closer to the individual in the organisation. And as graphical user interfaces have evolved from the early experiments at Xerox PARC to the Windows operating system, the individuals in an organisation can even more easily harness computing power. This leads to an increase in the individuals ability to complete tasks quickly and efficiently.

Social

How has the development of information technology influenced the interactions between individuals?

Interactions between individuals have been enhanced by the development of information technologies. New channels of communication have been opened between people in the last thirty years. These developments have been assisted by such projects as the ArpaNet. The forerunner to the Internet. The ArpaNet was commissioned as an aid to research between various institutions. This institutional use was also accompanied by an unofficial use between individuals. The ArpaNet hosted mailing lists, some of which individuals used to communicate with each other on non-institutional business. These included the science fiction mailing list (http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/writings/hacker-history/hacker-history-2.html)

As other developments occurred, such as the widespread availability of modems and personal computers became more widespread, the general population was integrated into what is known as the Internet.

Individuals then have the ability to interact with other individuals through such developments as e-mail, chat-rooms and the Usenet.

This proliferation of Internet technologies has enabled people with disabilities such as those who are blind or visually impaired, physical disabilities or others to be able to enjoy access to sources of information and ways of communicating they may not have had the opportunity to have used before.

As Christopher Murphy wrote “Of greatest importance to disabled people, perhaps, is the ability of the computer and modem to immerse them into a world that might otherwise be off limits. A disabled person using a computer has access to vast amounts of information at his fingertips. People with disabilities can tap into practical disability-related information or converse with other disabled people. Not only that, they can also enter the mainstream. With the help of these computer devices and advanced software many disabled people can be just as competitive as anyone else.”

(http://courses.cs.vt.edu/~cs3604/lib/Disabilities/murhpy.AT.html)