The session this week covered everything related to ICT, which stands for information and communications technology. This term, as was written in Wikipedia, “stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals), intelligent building management systems and audio-visual systems in modern information technology. ICT consists of all technical means used to handle information and aid communication, including computer and network hardware, communication middleware as well as necessary software.”
As always, Prof played a video to warm up the lesson. Though I had heard of Kinect, a gaming technology that frees players from using or touching the console, before, this was the very first time I saw that technology to be adopted in reality.
Chillingly amazing, isn’t it? The most radical fear of humankind – loneliness – is not going to bother us anymore in a very near future thanks to this awesome yet still under experimentation and development technology. Hiring a maid or a baby-sitter will be no longer necessary since children will be able to be taken care of and accompanied by “so-called” friends at their age. Elderly, especially those with Alzheimer, will also benefit from the project since not only will they have a confidant to talk to but they will also be freed from burdensome tasks such as taking the medicine at the right time. However, some impediments, as someone said during the discussion afterwards, may arise as well if this kind of technology is abused. For instance, if children spend too much time with the virtual world of Kinect, they may find it hard to engage in real-world activities and more dangerously, fail to differentiate Kinect from the real world.
The session continued with Prof’s elaboration on ICT. He gave an insight into some areas such as mass media, wireless and several other forms of ICT. Among them rose cloud computing as the sun of present online system. Cloud computing, according to Prof and one presenter in the session, is a kind of technology that enables the user to obtain information, software and shared resources as well as store date online without knowing precisely the physical location. Mediafire, a website allowing the people to upload or store their data and files online without losing a penny, is a typical example. Thanks to this technology, an enormous amount of money which is supposed to be used to buy external storage devices such as USB or external hard drives; maintain or upgrade the computer system within companies and et cetera, are saved and hence helps to enhance the performance of businesses.
The individual presentations were indeed quite engaging, the last of which I believe was the best I have ever heard since week 1. Shaak touched on free digital goods and mentioned a lot of interesting information, including “Freemium”. The term may sounds strange at first but basically, it is just a fancy name for the strategy of the software providers allowing consumers to use the trial version of their products to have a better idea of what the products are like before deciding whether they want to go on purchasing the full-version products. Frankly this is a very creative way to promote the products since it allows the consumers to meddle with real yet fully developed software or in other words, forms an interaction between the customers and the products. Still, the hackneyed problems that come along with this method of advertising is that consumers, who always want to obtain new things without putting their hands in the pocket, may be tempted to conduct piracy. My brother was once a target of this strategy when he played an online game for free at first but later became so into it that made him spend quite a sum of money to boost the level of his character in the game!
“Today’s real borders are not between nations, but between powerful and powerless,
free and fettered, privileged and humiliated.”
- Kofi Annan, Former Secretary-General of the United Nations –
This saying is actually the most valuable gift I get from this session, however intriguing other previous information iare Kofi Annan once again reflected the deep-rooted fact that there will never be fairness in this world. The planet will always be divided into the advanced part the lagging-behind part, even though people are trying hard to bridging the gap between them the rest. Borders between nations after all are just imaginary lines and it cannot prevent people from interacting with each other. It is the prejudice against one another that hinders people from truly coming to one another and living equally.
To wrap up, it is quite obvious that ICT is the first term or image that comes to our minds when we hear of technology. The reason is simple, ICT is like a catalyst that helps to speed up and facilitate the way people communicate with one another, and communication, undoubtedly, is an indispensable and vital part of our lives. The session was generally quite informative and engaging. However, the class could have become more engaged in debating or discussing if some more open questions had been raised, such as:
1. How can one succeed in the knowledge economy?
2. What will it take to capture the full potential of the ICT/Knowledge Revolution?(this question was originally asked by prof but there were not too many answers)
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