ICT Lesson #14 - Women and IT in Sub-Saharan Africa

In the article Dr Mayuri states that "A reliable power supply to operate the computers, a well-functioning telephone network to transmit data, foreign currency to import the technology, and computer-literate personnel are all prerequisites for the successful use of IT" are all things africa does not have enough of and needs more of to improve it's IT. However, the number one thing Sub Saharan Africa needs to do to make the most out of it's IT is to use existing technology as effectively as possible. Although there is limited IT currently, starting again everytime new technology comes out is not wise, and africa should instead focus on making the most out of what is currently available to them.

ICT Lesson #13 - The Wrong side of the digital divide

There are many countries (such as Chad, Mali and Niger) on the wrong side of the digital divide, and there are many reasons for this. First of all, these countries are also generally less economically welathy than first world countries such as the US, and creating the ifrastructure in those countries to support fast internet and telephone lines is not a fiscal priority, due to the large number of more serious issues such as their population not having access to basic food or electricity. This creates a problem since being on the wrong side of the digital divide is a self sustaining issue, as the longer they stay on the wrong side the further behind they will get and the more resources will be needed to correct it. This creates a serious ethical issue in both those countries and first world countries as to what the correct step is.

ICT Lesson #12 - The Digital Divide

The digital divide is a serious issue, and some countries are on the wrong side of it, such as Guinea chad and Niger.. This is because there is a large infrastructure problem in those countries, where the necessary phone and electricity lines are missing to provide the necessary power and internet to those countries for them to power and connect their Internet devices to the internet. This creates a serious problem, as it means limited few have access to the internet, and with more and more vital services (such as booking, job searching and information) being on the internet, it creates a divide between those who can access the resources, and those who can not.

 Unfortunately,this divide also affects wealth, as many wealthy people can pay to have the necessary infrastructure built, but the poor can not, and as the internet can create more wealth this widens the gap between the rich and the poor in those countries. To fix t6he issue of the digital divide, public computer and internet resources must be made available, and the necessary power and telephone lines built to allow and citizens to pay for a private line, or the divide will get larger and larger.

ICT Lesson #11 - Entertainment

Entertainment has evolved over the past 100 years on a massive scale, as people have more free time with which to occupy. To capitilise on this free time, more and more mediums for entertainment are being developed. For instances, in the 1900's the only form of entertainment was newspapers and social interaction and now we have a plethora of entertainment with technology, and game consoles, computers and televisions.

ICT Lesson #10 - My Journey to Tottenham

In this lesson we learnt about using the intenret for navigation, and to test this we planned a journey from Bedford to tottenem court road, in london by car

As the image shows, it takes 1 hours 10 minutes to get to tottenham court road.

For contrast, I did the same journey, but via public transport (train) departing one hour from now (15:00)

ICT Lesson 9 - Government Spending

Today we are researching e-governments and the digital divide. The government is looking to save money by taking their services online
There are four components to a goverment website, ranked by order of usefulness to a consumer

 - GovernmentIn addition, the govement is trying to save 1.3 thousand million by moving services traditionally done via phone and physical locations to online websites. This is possible because the cost to the goverment for keeping staff employed, having a physical building and more is very great when compared to the simple cost of a domain and website hosting, allowing them to save massive amounts of money by moving their services online rather than keeping physical locations.