Since the building of A41,42 will be closed for Staff to join "Staff of the Year Award Presentation" We'll make our class online only. The student ,who post the following home work within 30th of Dec,08 will get 100% attendance. Those who post after 1st of January 09,will get 50% of attendance.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year..See You Next year...
Home work for 24th of Dec,08:
1.Read the posted article and answer these following quetions .You may use other sources of Information to support your answers with references in APA styles;
a.How would ICT help NZ maximizing potential her human capitals in these following categories
• Ageing population
• Low population growth
• Increased proportion of Māori and Pacific Island peoples
• More youthful nature of Māori and Pacific Island peoples
• Negative net migration
• Increasing income disparity
• Less than ideal skill base, and
• Narrow export base.
b.What are ICT accessibilities of New Zealanders?
c. How ICT used for Education in NZ?
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The Social Impact of Information Technology
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[ Last Updated 20 February 2006 ]
Short Description A Briefing to the Minister for Information Technology.
Document Status
• Archived
A Briefing to the Minister for Information Technology
17 December 1999
Contents
• Introduction
• Background
• ICT as an Enabler of Social and Economic Well Being
• Demographic Imperatives
• Access to ICT
• Integrated Within Overall E-Commerce Strategies
• New Zealand's Situation
• Progressing the Issues
Introduction
1. This overview summarises a discussion paper that is being prepared on the social and economic implications of limited access to information and communication technologies (ICT), that is, issues which arise from individuals, communities and locations not having optimal access to ICT.
2. The paper looks at why an ICT literate population with optimal access to and use of ICT is important for New Zealand's economic and social well being. The paper explores available information on the likely nature of New Zealand's issues around lack of access to ICT (digital divide) and information from overseas, which is useful for thinking about the New Zealand situation. The paper suggests how government could progress towards a better understanding of the nature of a digital divide in New Zealand and the best means to resolve it.
Background
3. The Internet in particular and ICT generally are key components in New Zealand's efforts to become an information-driven, knowledge based economy. As more of the world comes online, the Internet offers New Zealand an unparalleled opportunity to diversify and become more competitive as a trading nation: to increase entrepreneurialism and employment. Its importance is reflected in government's focus on promoting e-commerce and e-government.
4. The success of e-commerce and e-government increasingly rests on there being e-citizens and e-communities, that is ICT literate people and a "wired" country. E-citizens are ICT literate people with optimal access to ICT. A large e-citizen base provides most likelihood of developing the entrepreneurs, knowledge workers, managers, consumers, students and innovators, essential for a thriving knowledge economy.
5. E-commerce growth (which includes government business) is outpacing expectations with one commentator - Nicholas Negroponte - forecasting over a billion people on the Internet by the end of next year. The global online population this year is over 200 million. Recently it was estimated that the American Internet economy contributed 1.2 million jobs and over $301.4 billion dollars to the American economy overall. A recent Australian study found that e-commerce could boost employment by 0.5 percent and drive up real wages by 3.5 percent. Conversely wages for those not skilled in ICT are likely to be lower and employment options increasingly limited - across sectors.
ICT as an Enabler of Social and Economic Well Being
6. ICT enables individuals and communities (cultural, ethnic, shared interest and geographical) to enhance their social and economic well being, and participate more actively in society and the economy, internationally as well as nationally. Enterprise/employment creation, health, education/ learning, access to justice, interactions with government, and personal contact between people are increasingly being ICT enabled. Over time they will be ICT dominated.
7. To compete globally, not only against developed nations such as the US, Britain, Canada, Ireland and Australia but also developing nations utilising ICT and the Internet to great effect (such as India, Mexico, East Caribbean), New Zealand needs to maximise the number of people/ businesses/places utilising ICT effectively.
Demographic Imperatives
8. Certain features of our demographic and economic profile suggest that if we wish to achieve growth rates similar to our competitors and improve employment opportunities, we will need as much of our human capital as possible, in all locations, to be maximising their potential. Pertinent demographic and economic factors include our:
• Ageing population
• Low population growth
• Increased proportion of Māori and Pacific Island peoples
• More youthful nature of Māori and Pacific Island peoples
• Negative net migration
• Increasing income disparity
• Less than ideal skill base, and
• Narrow export base.
Optimal access to ICT and ICT literacy are increasingly essential for maximising human capital potential.
Access to ICT
9. Access to ICT is defined quite broadly. It covers not only the issues around physical and financial access for the broadest range of people and locations but includes also having all groups in society seeing the relevance and potential for benefiting from ICT, and there being meaningful content.
10. Access can be through home, school or work, or through a range of community locations. It includes an adequate technical infrastructure in all parts of the country, and people developing the skill base necessary for optimum use of ICT. Becoming, as one commentator has put it "cyber-authors" rather than cybercouch potatoes: people who use ICT to improve their economic and social circumstances rather than just passively consume ICT provided content.
11. The digital divide is the gap between the information haves, i.e. those who have adequate access to ICT such as computers and the Internet, and the information have-nots, i.e. those who have limited or no access for either socio-economic or geographical reasons, or because of disabilities. As use of ICTs is becoming increasingly integrated into the normal processes of daily and business life, the negative impact of the digital divide on the cohesion of society is likely to become much more acute.
Integrated Within Overall E-Commerce Strategies
12. In order to establish and retain lead positions for their countries in the electronic revolution, lead knowledge economy nations have integrated national access to ICT as a key part of their overall information society/economy strategy. They seem universally of the view that only with a fully ICT literate population will their nations be truly competitive. Having sections of the population and areas unable to access ICT is viewed as posing threats to both social and economic development, and ultimately national cohesiveness. Accordingly they have developed a range of policy responses and solutions to increase the likelihood of having a fully ICT literate population.
13. However recent research from the United States suggests that despite a concerted effort by governments, the ICT industry and community leaders to open up access to ICT, the digital divide has actually widened over time. In America it is likely to be Blacks, Hispanics, low-income families, the unemployed, sole parent households (particularly those headed by females), and people living in the inner city and rural areas who are experiencing the digital divide.
14. The issue is deemed so significant that the US government held a national summit earlier this month to explore how to overcome it. President Clinton will focus his next set of New Market visits (to communities which have not participated in America's economic growth) on the digital divide, and look for partnerships between the private and public sectors to enable more children and adults to utilise ICT to best effect.
New Zealand's Situation
15. While New Zealand has a record of early adoption of ICT (ATMs, videos and the Internet) adoption of new technology cannot be imposed nor will it necessarily be financially possible for all. For people who can prioritise their income to include ICT, for them to do so may require them to better understand both the push factors (decreased opportunities in industrial age occupations) and the pull factors (increased opportunities for learning, entertainment, employment, leisure, purchasing, social and family contact). However, there are likely to be groups of people and people in certain locations who, despite understanding the push/pull factors, are unable to gain adequate access to ICT, either at home, work or through a community access site, or develop ICT literacy, for a number of reasons. If overseas evidence holds true for New Zealand, reasons will largely centre on cost.
16. While information on different groups' ability to access ICT in New Zealand is limited, what information we do have suggests that any digital divide occurring in New Zealand is most likely to be amongst the following groups and areas:
• Māori
• Pacific Island peoples
• those with lower incomes
• sole parents
• people with low or no qualifications
• those who are unemployed or underemployed, and
• those in locations without a sound telecommunications infrastructure, such as parts of rural New Zealand.
17. Internet connectivity is usually through land-based telephone wires (although this is changing). While over 97 percent of New Zealanders have access to the telephone, this percentage is less for Māori, Pacific Island and low income families. While the 1998 HES survey showed nearly 30 percent of New Zealand households overall had computers, only 23 percent of Māori households and 17 percent of Pacific Island peoples households had computers.
18. Internet use is around 50 percent overall but is less for those on low incomes and those with fewer educational qualifications. Variations in Internet use are best explained by age, household income and employment status. Very little Internet access information is available on ethnicity and none that correlates education, income and ethnicity, or looks at location against income.
19. While a recent study showed that 43 percent of farmers had computers, a reason that fewer use the Internet is that electric fences interfere with the sending of data down telephone lines which makes e-mail and data transfer difficult if not impossible.
Progressing the Issues
20. If, from a government perspective, it is agreed that the move to an information-driven knowledge based economy and society, and a more socially inclusive society, is advanced by all of New Zealand having widespread ICT literacy and access, then several issues have to be considered.
21. The first is whether widespread ICT literacy and access will happen as a result of a competitive ICT market producing goods and services which all can and want to access. Currently there is no robust information on whether or not this is likely to happen. A point to note here is the extraordinary pace of ICT research and development which means that changes in the nature and costs of Internet access happen rapidly.
22. If an ICT inclusive society were to be added to other crucial elements of progress which government plays a role in advancing, namely economic growth, social stability and good governance, and enhancing ICT literacy and access were an agreed way of achieving this, then the question arises about the best way to do this: the respective roles of government, the private sector, the community sector, and groups and individuals themselves.
23. The first step to progress this issue is to undertake research on the nature of any current or likely future digital divide in New Zealand. Research would include the current situation re. technical infrastructure, and community-based access to ICT, and assessing relevant overseas strategies and solutions, and testing out some possible responses.
24. With sound information about the problems, opportunities and options, government will be well placed to develop an effective strategy to ensure all New Zealanders, and all areas in New Zealand, have adequate access to ICT and maximise ICT literacy. With an ICT literate population and widespread access to ICT New Zealand will be on a sounder footing to compete with other knowledge economies and promote an inclusive society.
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2.Newscard
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Bussakorn Lert-itthiporn
ID: 512-9501
News Card No.7
Blog 'miracle' saves Christmas for hard-luck family
CNN - cnn.com
25 December 2008
(CNN) -- A family facing foreclosure is anything but a unique story in these troubled economic times.
But this is a happier story of one family whose financial ruin was averted by the actions of a friend, the compassion of strangers, the networking power of the Internet and the holiday spirit of giving.
"This is our Christmas story," said Ebony Sampson. "It's going to be told for generations and generations to come."
Sampson, who lives in Aberdeen, Maryland, with her husband, Daniel, and their two young children, has overcome more hardship than one person should ever have to face. When she was in the 10th grade, she lost her entire family in a horrific car accident. Raised by a grandmother in New York, Ebony eventually used some life-insurance money from her parents' death to buy the home in Aberdeen, near where she grew up.
But in June, Daniel got sick. After several tests, his doctors concluded that he was suffering from salmonella after eating a tainted tomato. As a new employee of Bank of America, he had not accrued enough paid time off to keep his job as a credit-card account manager.
Suddenly, the sole breadwinner in the Sampson household was out of work. Though the Sampsons received unemployment checks from the government, the money wasn't enough to make ends meet.
First came the shut-off notices from the electric company. Then one of their cars broke down. One morning, Daniel woke up and looked out his bedroom window and saw his truck was missing. It had been repossessed.
With no job, no car and no income, the Sampsons got another surprise: Ebony Sampson learned she was eight weeks pregnant.
The Sampsons returned home from church, where they are practicing ministers, on a Sunday in November to find a stranger knocking on their front door. He wanted to put a bid in on their house. Ebony told him their home was not for sale. The next day, the Sampsons were notified that they were facing foreclosure unless they could come up with $10,000 in the next two weeks to bring their mortgage up to date.
"Once we received that letter, it was like, 'Oh my God, what are we going to do?' " Daniel Sampson said. "I don't think anyone in their right mind would receive a foreclosure notice and not be rattled by it."
Somehow, the couple maintained their sense of humor. Ebony Sampson called one of her oldest friends, Jaki Grier, and jokingly asked her if she had $10,000. Jaki told her, "Sure, just let me open up my invisible purse!"
But then Grier got an idea.
A self-described geek, Grier started blogging years ago. Since then, she's contributed to a magazine's Web site and regularly posts thoughts and life happenings on her LiveJournal page. So, she published Ebony and Daniel's story, along with a link where people could make a donation.
At the most, Jaki thought she could raise enough money to help the Sampsons pay a security deposit on an apartment after their home was auctioned.
But donations started pouring in. Within 24 hours, Grier's blog had raised $1,000, far exceeding her expectations. People started linking to Grier's blog from sites across the Internet and around the country.
Attorneys posted legal advice. Others in similar situations offered sympathy. One woman sent a donation with a note that said she had just lost her own home but wanted to help anyway. Another woman wrote that she didn't have a car but would walk to her grocery store with a jar of change and donate it to the cause.
Yet another e-mail came from a woman who was unemployed, with no job prospects. She donated a dollar.
With every donation, the total raised ticked higher and higher on Grier's blog.
"Everybody wants to give to a charity, but so many times when you give to a charity you don't really see where your money goes," Grier said. "At least with this, you saw the little [donations] ticker go. I think that made people excited."
Four days after Grier's blog post, she had raised $3,400 -- enough to repair the Sampsons' car. That night, Grier went to bed ecstatic. The next morning she checked her PayPal account and was stunned to find the balance had ballooned to $10,900.
In the time it took Grier to take the donation link down from her blog, the balance had reached $11,032. In just five days, she had raised enough money to save her friend's home. A Baltimore TV station, WBAL, caught wind of the story and put it on the air. Someone contacted Daniel Sampson and offered him a job interview.
"It's been overwhelming," Daniel Sampson said. "For me, out of all the donations [we] received, it was a little kid [who] came knocking on the door early Saturday morning ... with a five-dollar bill in his hand. He just came up to the door and said, 'Here you go, mister.' Then he just walked away. I was, like, speechless. He couldn't have been more than 8 years old."
Now Daniel and Ebony Sampson will be able to enjoy Christmas much more than they thought they would just a few weeks ago. They say that once their children are grown, they'll tell them the story of how one holiday season they came within days of losing their house. They'll spend this Christmas full of thanks.
"It doesn't seem real to me, and so I just thank everyone out there that cares," Ebony Sampson said. "There really was no hope for us. Then, out of nowhere, just the kindness of strangers, just people that came and, you know, provided for us. Jaki was our beacon of light that led them to us.
"It's a personal blessing. It's a personal miracle. It makes you understand what the season is all about."
Comment:
In this story, Blog shows as a way to share information/story to the public, from the small group to bigger group – in their own social network, across country, and even worldwide. Through the donation link, people donate their money. One of the points we should consider when we see such stories from Blog or receive information from forwarded email about people in need of help; we have to consider the validity and creditability. For example, we can call the number provided in the information we receive. Since sometimes it is very difficult to find out whether the stories on internet are true or not.
Thitima Chawla
ID 5129514
Title: UK behind in global rush to broadband.
Source:http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology
Author: Robin McKie DEC 28, 2008
Britain is falling badly behind the rest of the world in the use of broadband technology and the consequences could prove disastrous for education, health care, entertainment and the fight against global warming, one of the country's leading computer experts has warned.
Professor Christopher Bishop, chief scientist at Microsoft Research Cambridge, who will present the Royal Institution Christmas lectures this week, said the government now needed to launch an urgent programme to install fibre-optic cables across the nation and boost the country's broadband capacity.
If we are looking for a government project that would stimulate the economy in the short term and help combat the impact of the credit crunch, while also bringing long-lasting improvements to the nation's infrastructure, and then we could do no better than rewire the nation with fibre optics.
The failure to begin a national programme to replace telephone copper wires with fibre-optic cables several years ago was now having a serious impact. "We can now shift huge amounts of data speedily around the country but cannot move it for the last mile into people's houses because there is not enough bandwidth in our domestic telephone cables, the only effective route we have for taking broadband signals into homes and small businesses. This is beginning to have serious consequences."
In other countries, particularly in the Far East, fibre-optic cables - which can carry vastly increased amounts of data compared with copper phone cables - have been fitted to homes, schools, local hospitals, doctors' surgeries and small businesses. These are now giving teachers, doctors, householders and businessmen access to vast amounts of online data. Doctors can study patients' x-ray images and detailed health records; schools can download lessons illustrated with complex diagrams and video images, while video-conferencing may soon start to replace business trips, said Bishop. "This last advantage is particularly important because less traveling will mean less carbon dioxide will be emitted into the atmosphere.
It was also vital that Britain ensured a supply of good computer scientists from its schools and universities in the next few years. "There are some really exciting advances in the pipeline - including the development of machines that can see and identify shapes with the sophistication of humans. That will bring about all sorts of changes, from development of PCs that can recognize faces reproduced on digital photographs to machines that will be capable of highly complex design work."
It was the need to stimulate interest in computing that led Bishop to approach the Royal Institution to present this year's lectures. "This is the first time in the 183-year history of lectures that 'thinking machines' have been the series’ key topic," he said.
The Royal Institution Christmas lectures were launched in 1825 by physicist Michael Faraday. Apart from a gap during the Second World War, they have been held every year since. The lectures were first televised in 1966. A key feature of each set of lectures has been the inclusion of demonstrations and audience participation, a considerable problem if you are talking about computers.
Bishop and his team have gone to considerable pains to get round this problem and this year's lectures include demonstrations of the making of jellyfish ice-cream with liquid nitrogen, the swinging of 14kg metal spheres to within millimeters of Bishop's head and a personal appearance - via a video link - by Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft.
Bussakorn Lert-itthiporn
ID: 512-9501
The Social Impact of Information Technology
A. How would ICT help NZ maximizing potential their human capitals?
With the support in using ICT effectively and increasingly from government and cooperation of other sectors through out the country, they promote, strengthen, and solve problems in order to benefit and maximize their human capitals in all areas. ICT provides services and information to the people to uplift the growth of economy and social well-being. There are trainings for people to develop their ICT skills, integration of ICT in education, and cooperation between business sectors, government and schools in order to be able to compete with other countries and prepare New Zealanders for the future changes.
B. What are ICT accessibilities of New Zealanders?
The ICT accessibilities of New Zealanders are widespread, however limited to some groups categorized as the digital divide. The digital divide is the gap between those who have access to ICT and those who do not have. The digital divide groups most likely are Maori, Pacific Island peoples, those with lower incomes, sole parents, people with low or no qualifications, those who are unemployed or underemployed, and those in locations without a sound telecommunications infrastructure, such as parts of rural New Zealand, according to “The Social Impact of Information Technology” (2006).
According to this article and the summary section in ‘Statistics New Zealand’ 2009, there are similarities in the following points:
* Total household income had the single largest effect on internet accessibility.
* Qualification was an important variable determining internet connection in a household.
* One-parent households with dependent children were less likely than all other household types to access the Internet at home.
* Lower internet access in the older ages.
* When the effects of income were removed, household Internet access was the same regardless of whether the occupants were in full-time or part-time employment (42 percent).
* Households situated in the small rural areas of NZ were the least likely to benefit from opportunities associated with access to the Internet, with only 25 percent of them connected.
C. How ICT used for Education in NZ?
In the article ‘Narrowing the Digital Divide in New Zealand’, it shows the objective of education of current government vision that states, “…all learners will use ICT confidently and creatively to help develop the skills and knowledge they need to achieve personal goals and to be full participants in the global community” (Ministry of Education, 2002). “In order to achieve this, the strategy outlines the need for firstly, the fostering of a deeper understanding of the role of ICT in developing the essential skills of the curriculum, especially higher order thinking. Secondly, extending the capability of teachers and school leaders through cluster based and online professional development activities. Thirdly, building partnerships between schools, government, communities and business. Finally, developing and delivering quality online learning resources, and enhancing the effectiveness and sustainability of infrastructure (Ministry of Education, 2002).”
“The Ministry of Education and advisers alike, see the integration of teaching and learning as crucial to moving forward and achieving further gains. To date to achieve its aims the Ministry of Education have implemented a number of strategies aimed at empowering New Zealand teachers and leaders to successfully use and integrate the equipment in their schools. One of the associated problems with such an initiative as this, and others that are web based is the issue of bandwidth. In New Zealand schools, for either financial reasons or geographical location, are not all able to currently access the high-speed bandwidth to make effective use of resources. Businesses are cooperating with the New Zealand education sector the New Zealand government made the licensing agreement with Microsoft to ensure that all schools could have free access to the latest software and teaching tools (Jones, 2002). The integration of ICT in education is obvious.
Kay
News card.
HEALTH AND TECHENOLOGY
How laptops cause infertility in men. Business men and teenage boys could be risking their fertility by using laptop computers, research suggests. Drug use, alcohol, smoking, obesity, chemicals and radioactive materials have been linked to decrease in sperm count. Now the growing popularity of laptops could also negatively influence sperm production. Men, who balance laptops on their thighs while working, may unwittingly jeopardize their chances of having children. Heat generated by the laptop is transferred to the scrotum, where temperature can rise several degrees, putting the users within the danger zone for testicular dysfunction. And for the growing segment of the working world for which laptops are almost indispensable, a dilemma may emerge on whether to be productive at work, or at bedroom. To keep the testicles at the ideal temperature –and for greater comfort-men naturally sit with their legs further apart than women. When working on a laptop, however, they will adopt a less natural position in order to balance it on their laps, which results in a significant rise in body heat between their thighs. The combination of heat generated by the computers, and the posture needed to balance the equipment on the lap leads to raise in temperatures around the scrotum.Past research shows that higher scrotal temperatures can damage sperm and affect fertility. And the introduction of new technologies such as Bluetooth and infrared connections-which provide wireless links to the internet-has resulted in a growing number of men using the machines on their laps other than at a desk. Laptops can reach internal operating temperatures of over 70 degrees celsius.With the increased popularity in use of laptops; it is prudent that we revisit notes of some past studies. A research project from the state university of New York found that the heat from a Laptop can elevate the scrotum temperature by up to 2.8 degrees, killing the sperms. Scrotal temperature increase of more than one degree Celsius above baseline temperatures can have negative effects. This is a worrying situation to the significant proportion of over 200 million people who use laptops worldwide daily. Since laptops have become more popular with young men and teenage boys due to continued improvements in power, prize and size, it is important to be safe than sorry. Meanwhile, it may be worth placing your laptop on the table or moving it as far away from your testicles as in workplace.
Thitima Chawla
ID 5129514
The Social and Economical Impact of ICT.
A)How would ICT help NZ maximize its potential in human capitals in these following categories:
Ageing population – ICT could help maximize potential human capital in this category by allowing ageing people to develop economically by helping them open online business or something related to e-commerce so they can work from home or at the very least monitor the work from home. They could also work for companies which allow them to work from home as they would be connected to the Internet and would be able to work as if they were in the office itself. In this way, they could contribute to the economy even though they may be restricted by physical barriers.
Low population growth – ICT could also help people to be more connected socially. Nowadays, the popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace is booming and people can connect here online and find more friends which in turn could lead to romantic relationships. Also, all regular websites nowadays have the comments section and here also while leaving comments on the same website, it is possible to find a love interest with a common interest.
Increased proportion of Maori and Pacific Island peoples – Maori and Pacific Island peoples can benefit a lot from ICT. ICT leads to enterprise and employment generation which can help increase the potential of Maori and Pacific Island peoples. Maori and Pacific Island peoples can become more contributive to the economy of the country through the various benefits provided by ICT.
More youthful nature of Maori and Pacific Island peoples – The Maori and Pacific Island peoples are mostly young. Such young people have a better understanding of ICT and can utilize the systems in a much better way. The benefits of ICT can be optimally utilized enabling the human capital of the area to reach their highest potential.
Negative net migration – New Zealand has a low population growth but has the benefits of negative net migration. More people in the country will mean that more people are available to utilize ICT effectively and efficiently for the benefits of all. More people are there to reap the benefits of ICT taking human capital to a much higher potential.
Increasing income disparity – ICT could help people to find new revenues of income stream because the potential is limitless. The disparity arises because those that have access to ICT are more open to new ways of maximizing their revenue and can find new ways to make revenue so once others are connected, they can also find new ways to do so. Those that have the benefit of ICT have a huge advantage over those who don’t as they have access to vital information beforehand in terms of business news or in new ways of doing something.
Less than ideal skill base – ICT could enable those that are working during the day to go online and take courses whereby they can learn a new skill which can benefit them in the real world. There is also a massive amount of information available online regarding each and every subject in detail so with proper research, it is possible learn many new skills such as learning new languages and so on.
Narrow export base – New Zealand currently has a narrow export base which is one of the areas where improvements can lead to a much better economy. ICT can lead to an increase in the number of commodities available for export through enterprise development and better contacts with the outside world. When the total amount of exports is more than the total amount of imports, the economy will improve maximizing human potential.
B)What are ICT accessibilities of New Zealanders?
Access to ICT does not only mean having the ability to use ICT, it also includes ways to use ICT in the most beneficial way. It can be said that this definition of access to ICT is not a narrow perspective but offers a much wider viewpoint. ICT in New Zealand can be accessed through many locations such as home, school, work and so on. The people should not just be passive users of ICT but should also contribute information to ICT. People with access to ICT will have an advantage over people without access to ICT in this modern world increasing the social divide. New Zealand started out quickly in the race for ICT but it could not be available to everyone due to technological and financial reasons. The main reason for low access to ICT would have to be financial. More than 97% have access to telephone, nearly 30% have computers and internet use is about 50%.
C)How ICT used for Education in NZ?
Teachers who have access to ICT have vast amounts of information available on their particular subject. They can research their topics online and find more and better material to teach their students. They can be better equipped to transfer information to their students in the classroom. Teachers can have up to date information about their subject matter instead of teaching the same old material to their students. Students can research their work online. They can gain more information than is taught to them in the classroom. They can use the internet as an additional tool for their education. People who, for some reason, cannot go to a proper educational institution can take online courses. This is how New Zealand uses ICT for education.
Excerpt of ICT, New Zealand
The success of e-commerce and e-government increasingly rests on there being e-citizens and e-communities, that is ICT literate people and a "wired" country. E-citizens are ICT literate people with optimal access to ICT. A large e-citizen base provides most likelihood of developing the entrepreneurs, knowledge workers, managers, consumers, students and innovators, essential for a thriving knowledge economy.
The global online population this year is over 200 million. Recently it was estimated that the American Internet economy contributed 1.2 million jobs and over $301.4 billion dollars to the American economy overall. A recent Australian study found that e-commerce could boost employment by 0.5 percent and drive up real wages by 3.5 percent. Conversely wages for those not skilled in ICT are likely to be lower and employment options increasingly limited - across sectors.
To compete globally, New Zealand needs to maximise the number of people/ businesses/places utilising ICT effectively. Optimal access to ICT and ICT literacy are increasingly essential for maximising human capital potential. Access to ICT is defined quite broadly. Access can be through home, school or work, or through a range of community locations. Becoming, as one commentator has put it "cyber-authors" rather than cybercouch potatoes: people who use ICT to improve their economic and social circumstances rather than just passively consume ICT provided content. Becoming, as one commentator has put it "cyber-authors" rather than cybercouch potatoes: people who use ICT to improve their economic and social circumstances rather than just passively consume ICT provided content. The digital divide is the gap between the information haves, i.e. those who have adequate access to ICT such as computers and the Internet, and the information have-nots, i.e. those who have limited or no access for either socio-economic or geographical reasons, or because of disabilities. As use of ICTs is becoming increasingly integrated into the normal processes of daily and business life, the negative impact of the digital divide on the cohesion of society is likely to become much more acute.
In order to establish and retain lead positions for their countries in the electronic revolution, lead knowledge economy nations have integrated national access to ICT as a key part of their overall information society/economy strategy. Accordingly they have developed a range of policy responses and solutions to increase the likelihood of having a fully ICT literate population.
However recent research from the United States suggests that despite a concerted effort by governments, the ICT industry and community leaders to open up access to ICT, the digital divide has actually widened over time.
While New Zealand has a record of early adoption of ICT (ATMs, videos and the Internet) adoption of new technology cannot be imposed nor will it necessarily be financially possible for all. For people who can prioritise their income to include ICT, for them to do so may require them to better understand both the push factors (decreased opportunities in industrial age occupations) and the pull factors (increased opportunities for learning, entertainment, employment, leisure, purchasing, social and family contact). However, there are likely to be groups of people and people in certain locations who, despite understanding the push/pull factors, are unable to gain adequate access to ICT, either at home, work or through a community access site, or develop ICT literacy, for a number of reasons. If overseas evidence holds true for New Zealand, reasons will largely centre on cost.
Internet connectivity is usually through land-based telephone wires (although this is changing). While over 97 percent of New Zealanders have access to the telephone, this percentage is less for Māori, Pacific Island and low income families. While the 1998 HES survey showed nearly 30 percent of New Zealand households overall had computers, only 23 percent of Māori households and 17 percent of Pacific Island peoples households had computers.
If, from a government perspective, it is agreed that the move to an information-driven knowledge based economy and society, and a more socially inclusive society, is advanced by all of New Zealand having widespread ICT literacy and access, then several issues have to be considered. The first is whether widespread ICT literacy and access will happen as a result of a competitive ICT market producing goods and services which all can and want to access. Currently there is no robust information on whether or not this is likely to happen. A point to note here is the extraordinary pace of ICT research and development which means that changes in the nature and costs of Internet access happen rapidly. If an ICT inclusive society were to be added to other crucial elements of progress which government plays a role in advancing, namely economic growth, social stability and good governance, and enhancing ICT literacy and access were an agreed way of achieving this, then the question arises about the best way to do this: the respective roles of government, the private sector, the community sector, and groups and individuals themselves. The first step to progress this issue is to undertake research on the nature of any current or likely future digital divide in New Zealand. Research would include the current situation re. technical infrastructure, and community-based access to ICT, and assessing relevant overseas strategies and solutions, and testing out some possible responses. With sound information about the problems, opportunities and options, government will be well placed to develop an effective strategy to ensure all New Zealanders, and all areas in New Zealand, have adequate access to ICT and maximise ICT literacy. With an ICT literate population and widespread access to ICT New Zealand will be on a sounder footing to compete with other knowledge economies and promote an inclusive society.
Obama administration should lead energy transition
Obama administration should lead energy transition
R.K. Pachauri, an engineer and economist by training, is director-general of The Energy and Resources Institute in New Delhi, India, and a corecipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his role as chief of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The IPCC periodically issues consensus reports on the science of climate change. Senior editor Janet Raloff spoke with him about changes he hopes to see from the Obama administration.
Pachauri: In the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC [2007], we tried to bring out the finding that there’s enough observed evidence to say warming of the climate is unequivocal and that over the last five decades or so, the bulk of that warming has taken place as a result of human actions. So the world is getting to see that climate change is not something in the distant future. It is already taking place and will only accelerate if we don’t reduce greenhouse gas emissions and use energy more efficiently.
How much do you expect the current recession to affect government climate-protection policies?
The financial meltdown is a major distraction. And it’s serious all over the world. So I realize that to talk about climate change, right now, and what needs to be done to meet this threat is perhaps going to fall on deaf ears. But this financial crisis is not going to take away the reality of climate change.
Once this meltdown sort of settles, I expect there’s going to be a period of deep introspection. People are going to start looking at some of the things that are fundamentally wrong. Like energy waste. Like importing huge amounts of foreign oil.
What timetable do we have for staving off catastrophic global change?
We [in the IPCC] have estimated that to stabilize global temperature increases at just 2° to 2.4° Celsius, we have only about seven years to turn around global emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. By 2015 they’ll have to peak. By 2020, we’ll need to put in place a 25 to 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. That’s a huge challenge.… But I believe these emissions reductions are possible. We’ve carried out assessments of the sort of mitigation strategies needed and find that the costs are really minimal. The necessary technologies are here.… There will be some discomfort during the transition to lower-carbon technologies, but at the end of the day, we’ll be better off. And our children will be much better off.
The United States has not led the world in climate-controlling policies. How problematic is that?
At the 2007 global climate change conference in Bali, the United States refused to sign on to the declaration [for commitments to curbing greenhouse gas emissions]. Toward the end of the meeting, a delegate stood up from a little country called Papua New Guinea and told the U.S. negotiator: “You either lead or get out of the way.” And there was thunderous applause.
The U.S. was completely isolated.
In a world where the United States is a declining superpower, in relative terms, remaining on the outside will result in a huge loss of prestige, of political credibility — and, I would say, market opportunity.
President-elect Barack Obama has the opportunity to use the power of the pulpit and make a big political issue of the fact that its addiction to oil is hurting the U.S. in a variety of ways.
What would you have Obama do?
The president should lay down a target that within seven years the U.S. will reduce oil imports by 50 percent. And that doesn’t mean go out and drill in Alaska or everywhere else.
In terms of innovation, the U.S. still has a unique ability to lead and work toward energy independence. [Obama] needs to bring about a major energy transition.
On the supply side, he can expand the use of nuclear energy and develop more renewable technologies. Of course, there also needs to be more research and development. And incentives can help drive a transition to more efficient use of energy in buildings, more visionary automotive designs and greater development of alternatives to cars — such as efficient high-speed trains that link major cities.
I hope the new president also will convene a meeting of world leaders to talk about what needs to be done in ushering in a new energy future. That would have symbolic importance, especially since U.S. technologies influence goals and aspirations across the globe. If the U.S. is slow in making a transition to cleaner energy, I think it’ll affect everybody else’s resolve.
If I get 20 minutes with the new president, I’m going to … tell him that ‘as leader of the strongest nation on Earth, you have a responsibility to lead the world in change. Please consider it a moral responsibility.’
Kay
How would ICT help NZ maximize its potential in human capitals in these following categories:
Ageing population –These people are helpless so if ICT could help maximize potential human capital helping them and they can work from home. Even they can’t trouble anymore and yet they can communicate with the people around and they can see and visit on line those new places. They can’t move fast physically but they can sit and think and give advice to the office and companies. They don’t feel bored anymore and they will feel that they can still do something even they are weak.
Low population growth – ICT could also help people to be more connected to the whole world people. If they want to fine the new friends also they can still search and make friends with people from different lands. Even romantic friend can fine in the web side.
Increased proportion of Maori and Pacific Island peoples – From ICT they have give a lot of income and profit from that. Maori and Pacific Island peoples can become more contributive to the economy of the country through the various benefits provided by ICT.
More youthful nature of Maori and Pacific Island peoples – Young people are more familiar with the internet and understanding of the ICT. So they can contribute more to the future and country can get much help from the new generation or these young people.
Negative net migration –There is low population so the migrant workers are benefit from this land . Migrant workers are more effectively and in benefit in using the ICT. The migrant workers are benefit in the New Zealand using ICT.
Increasing income disparity – ICT can help people to search work and can do a lot of business with the on line services. Because ICT give new ways to help people to find work and new way of making business like on line buying and selling.
ICT help to give a lot of information and widen their mind to see and do many advantageous.
Less than ideal skill base – ICT can help those who are in less skill in using net work and some are also enable in using internet courses . Some can fine easy way to use and work on line. There are many ways of learning and to develop their skills to studying by themselves.
Narrow export base –ICT can lead to an increase in the number of companies to help export and import work are available through this and can contact with the whole world to see which export and import is better for them to benefit and for the growth of the Economic.
B)What are ICT accessibilities of New Zealanders?
New Zealand use ICT but not everyone can use internet cause lack of Technology and not available for all the people.
C)How ICT used for Education in NZ?
Those teachers are interested and try to improve in their teaching and they will try to search information on line and give their students to search on line work, because they don’t want to go in teaching old method way. That is also additional tools for their students. In this way the student will also learn from the web they will be in up to date in the study . Those who are interested in learning on line course also can take. That’s the way NZ teachers are using in education.
In answering these three questions:
A: How would NZ ICT help maximize potential human capital?
B: What are the ICT accessibilities forNew Zealanders?
C: How is ICT used for Education in NZ?
I have a hunch that the problems facing New Zealand are no different from those faced by other countries that have adapted to the Internet age. Of course, ICT is now ubiquitous, it has become essential and is part of everyday life. It uses ICT to develop or resolve the following factors:
- An ageing population
• - Low population growth
• - Increased proportion
• - Negative or positive net migration
• - Increasing income disparity
• - Less than ideal skill base
• - Narrow export base.
The development of ICT through the Internet is closely related to the degree of development of each country, the social inequality between men and women, young and old, between rich and poor, educated and uneducated. However, it is not enough to give Internet access to everyone. It will also have to educate people to use it so that it is used effectively. We will have prepared an entire generation of people to enter the ICT era. To do this, the state must play an increasing role in national education in the field of ICT so that it appears in the curriculum of schools, colleges and universities. Teachers are the pillars for students. They must be trained to transmit their knowledge to students, Therefore, it is important that teachers are appropriately educated.
Physically, it is also''democratize''the high-speed Internet, access. The Internet should be accessible for everyone.
I fear that access to ICT is not beneficial to everyone because we live in a world too unequal. I compare ICT in education; today, the right to learn is still not for everyone, especially in the ''South countries''. Access to ICT is only for the well-informed or educated. We'll have to fight to ensure access to ICT as well as that of democracy. But how to ensure equal access to e-learning, e-commerce, e-government, e-communities ; in short the existence of a community of e-citizens?
Be careful when you open your gifts ; especially if the present is high-tech! A survey by the firm Accenture in six European countries found that 20% of in-store returns are due to accidents at the time of unpacking. The reasons cited by consumers who report that the gifts were damaged or broken during the first use (44%), or they do not work as expected (28%). Yet, only 5% of returned products are actually malfunctioning. In France, the return rate is 12% against 10% on average.
Our compatriots refer to 48% that the operation was not satisfactory. In total, the return of electronic products would cost 7.3 billion euros each year for manufacturers and distributors. To avoid this, "the vendors could, for example could contact customers within twenty-four hours after the purchase, for some product categories," said Jean-Laurent Poitou, head of global electronics sector and Hi-Tech Accenture.
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