ICT and World Change
Information Communication Technology (ICT), as the term implies, refers to any technology that helps to disseminate or provide information. Call me bias, but I think that ICT is one of the greatest innovations of all time. It has brought us much convenience, introduced greater connectivity between countries and allows us to receive information at a faster rate. There are 2 types of ICT in particular that has caught my attention, namely the mass media and the internet as I have witnessed first-hand their development.
Mass media can be divided into two categories---traditional media (which consists of radio, newspaper, television etc) and new media (which includes blogs, social network etc). An issue that is commonly raised is this: Will traditional media become obsolete one day? My personal take is that it will not totally fade out of our lives, but dependency on traditional media will be reduced. New media is readily accessible especially with the increasing popularity of smartphones accompanied with wifi features. It provides us with ‘news on the go’, and with hectic lifestyles these days, such a concept will be well-received as opposed to traditional media. On top of that, news that new media provides are more updated and this is crucial especially for the finance sector. However, in terms of reliability, traditional media will still win hands down as the new media allows one to assume anonymity which emboldens them to post untruths.
What I find fascinating about the internet is the progression from web 1.0 to web 3.0 with its increasing interactivity. It’s amazing how the website can actually identify our area of interest and provides us with more information accordingly (web 3.0). Technology has certainly gone ‘smarter’, and I truly look forward to seeing how else web 3.0 can be developed.
As always, the positive is accompanied by the negative. ICT has sparked off concerns about the invasion of privacy, ‘mass mobilisation of hatred and prejudice’ (John Gage, Chap 1 Some Thoughts of How ICT could really change the World) and a widening of gap between countries as the powerful countries could use ICT to their benefit to extend and maintain their power while the poorer countries lack the means to exploit such technology. Such detrimental effects are inevitable and the best way to deal with it is to act in accordance to the “second law of technical change: Expect unexpected effects” (John Gage, Chap 1 Some Thoughts of How ICT could really change the World), that is to innovate further as we experience the unexpected effects. Also, ICT should be used responsibly as any mishandling will generate far-reaching implications due to the diverse cyberspace.
On a whole, I would give today’s lesson a rating of 8/10. Presentations by my course mates were rather interesting and refreshing.
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