The paper based systems employed in the 1970's could of been improved by office applications like excel spreadsheets and databases e.g. the introduction of formulae and employees using computers more in their work so that tables did not need to be constantly printed out and paper use and waste made very high also mistakes could of been avoided because office applications provide spell checkers, formulae etc... The tables could also of been made more effective if they were used on a computer to enter the data because they could of been edited to be specific to a certain sale and the originals could of been saved as the starting format of all the tables and if any extras were needed to be added it could of been done easily without having to create or print out a whole new table.
The advantages of these office applications over that of the paper based systems were that excel could provide users with ways of using formulae e.g. additions, subtractions, divisions etc.. could all be done by the computer by you setting a simple formulae on the table or cell so that when figures where typed a running total could be kept and the use of calculators made useless. Databases could hold mass amounts of information which would be easy to navigate through and to use which would also display the information in a better more business like format than that of the hand written paper based system. If I were to pick one office system for the business to adopt it would have to be excel spreadsheets because they, in my opinion are easier to use, formulas easier to set up etc.. and just the way that information is presented I find better and easier to read and use and make corrections to if needed.
Secretaries' and typists' employment opportunities were affected by the advent of these new office applications because the computer could now do there job of re-writing the tables to neaten them up because the office applications had neat fonts that looked better than peoples hand writing and spell checker could be used to make sure no spelling mistakes had been made.
Many new job opportunities were opened up with the introduction of office applications, because the use of IT became apart to most people that this is the way that business was going and to become a specialist in IT would open up many new career paths because businesses were striving to be the most technologically advanced and they wanted employees that could use there ever improving technology to its full extent e.g. call centres now are a good example of this because they employ many workers, but they must have IT skills to be able to be part of the workforce, now most businesses have a call centre so millions of new jobs are opening.
Thursday, 15 November 2007
Monday, 5 November 2007
Impact of new working styles on Ambulance workers
The increase of the use of ICT in ambulance services has revolutionised the working styles of ambulance workers because new systems have been introduced to replace crackly old ones that are more effective, time efficient, and trustworthy. This is because the systems are now installed with hi-tech software like satellite tracking, which provide centre staff with geographical information which can then be used to contact the ambulances closest to the location and result in a rapid response to the call, Geographical analysis is also being used so ambulances can be situated in locations in the stations allotted area so instead of ambulances waiting in the station for a call they are already out on the streets in a specific area waiting for a call to say there has been an accident in that area they are in therefore shortening the response times of ambulances and resulting in ambulance stations increasing there trust performance because they can get to the public alot quicker, also technology is being used to control roster systems (call-in) so the ambulance stations can be working with the exact numbers of staff required the whole time and make running shifts alot easier to control and record.
When the systems where fist implemented through out the UK there was a high level of distrust from the workers to the new system because they thought it was not ready for such a huge task, to be able to manage all the ambulances and causalities in an area, also they were not to confident in relying on a computer because they had been dong there jobs well before they introduced the computer systems and thought they didn't need a computer to tell them how to do their job. I can understand why they felt like this because for example the Geographical analysis systems used to place ambulances in the most efficient places possible would leave ambulance workers out in places where they didn't really know where they were and didn't understand how sitting in a random place decided by a computer and satellites would help them to get to a casualty quicker because they did not know the area well enough, a more sensible idea would be to fit the ambulances with satnav so they can be guided to the location from where they are without the need of putting in the address etc... it could all be controlled by the satellite and the staff back at the ambulance centre,therefore leaving the ambulance workers to get to the location and do what they do best. There were also other drawbacks with the systems like the system crashing and the backup system not being good enough to cope with the task because it had not been tested enough. Testing of the new systems was a big problem at first, they were far to eager to get there new amazing piece of technology to work before they were 100% certain that they knew it would work and that if it were to crash or fail/run out of memory etc... it could use a backup system well that would work and be able to carry out all the tasks that the primary system could, whilst trying to find solutions to the problems with the primary system and get it back up and running again. Trust was also a key point that they needed to work on before introducing the systems because the systems were put in with staff expecting them to fail and not be able to do what they had been assigned to do, workers should have been assured that the systems where there to help them do their jobs not do there jobs for them. The systems would obviously need some getting used to and tweaking but they should never of been introduced until they knew that all aspects of it were running perfectly or near perfect as a result workers were put off the idea of the new systems until the real potential of the systems started showing itself in the results of trust performance and other recorded ambulance efficiency figures.
Although there were problems with the new systems at first now they have had time to settle in and be fixed to make sure they can do the tasks they are given.They are now showing amazing results in ambulance stations across the UK and there has been an increased rivalry between stations to get the best statistics possible for there response times, cardiac survival figures, and many other figures for example the staffordshire ambulance service has been awarded seven years running the lead position in national ambulance tables.
When the systems where fist implemented through out the UK there was a high level of distrust from the workers to the new system because they thought it was not ready for such a huge task, to be able to manage all the ambulances and causalities in an area, also they were not to confident in relying on a computer because they had been dong there jobs well before they introduced the computer systems and thought they didn't need a computer to tell them how to do their job. I can understand why they felt like this because for example the Geographical analysis systems used to place ambulances in the most efficient places possible would leave ambulance workers out in places where they didn't really know where they were and didn't understand how sitting in a random place decided by a computer and satellites would help them to get to a casualty quicker because they did not know the area well enough, a more sensible idea would be to fit the ambulances with satnav so they can be guided to the location from where they are without the need of putting in the address etc... it could all be controlled by the satellite and the staff back at the ambulance centre,therefore leaving the ambulance workers to get to the location and do what they do best. There were also other drawbacks with the systems like the system crashing and the backup system not being good enough to cope with the task because it had not been tested enough. Testing of the new systems was a big problem at first, they were far to eager to get there new amazing piece of technology to work before they were 100% certain that they knew it would work and that if it were to crash or fail/run out of memory etc... it could use a backup system well that would work and be able to carry out all the tasks that the primary system could, whilst trying to find solutions to the problems with the primary system and get it back up and running again. Trust was also a key point that they needed to work on before introducing the systems because the systems were put in with staff expecting them to fail and not be able to do what they had been assigned to do, workers should have been assured that the systems where there to help them do their jobs not do there jobs for them. The systems would obviously need some getting used to and tweaking but they should never of been introduced until they knew that all aspects of it were running perfectly or near perfect as a result workers were put off the idea of the new systems until the real potential of the systems started showing itself in the results of trust performance and other recorded ambulance efficiency figures.
Although there were problems with the new systems at first now they have had time to settle in and be fixed to make sure they can do the tasks they are given.They are now showing amazing results in ambulance stations across the UK and there has been an increased rivalry between stations to get the best statistics possible for there response times, cardiac survival figures, and many other figures for example the staffordshire ambulance service has been awarded seven years running the lead position in national ambulance tables.
Wednesday, 31 October 2007
Tool Man
John could use the following ICT to change and hopefully improve his working style;
PDA- he could use very easily to manage his time and make sure he is on track and keeping up to date with all his clients. PDA's are very useful to people working in trades that mean they are constantly on the go, because they act as a small pocket size personal computer; this is very helpful to John because he can store all his important information in the PDA's memory and set reminders that will come up to tell him where he needs to be or planned journeys that can connect through blue tooth, infrared to a tom tom satnav etc... Also when John is in trouble or running late he can use the PDA's Internet services to contact his client or help him to find the right road or address.
GPS- would also help John alot because it can help him travel around the country easily, this is because he can program peoples addresses in to his GPS and let the device navigate him to the location he has set it to, also if he was to take a wrong turn they can even find a new route or direct you back to the one you are on so there would be no chance of getting lost as long as he has got up-to-date software loaded in to it. He could also save him self alot of time by programming all the addresses in to the device the night before to come up one after the other so he doesn't have to sit around and mess about putting all the details in. He could just get to one address get his work done and when he gets back into the car it will automatically know where he is going next.
Laptop(with access to the Internet)- this would be very helpful to john because he could use it to record all sales he has done e.g. on already designed excel spreadsheets or databases making it easy for him to calculate his sales figures and the commission or wages he gets for selling a certain amount etc... Also by having remote access to his companies Internet or his own home Internet he could surf the web where ever he is as long as he is picking up a signal,also this means he can keep in touch with his company all the time through e-mail and he can send them his sales figures when ever he wanted or was asked to report on his position all for a fixed cost because he or his company would be paying a fixed line rental a month for their Internet use.
Mobile phone- this is an obvious one and not the most technologically advanced piece of equipment he could carry but it still is a very useful piece of information and communication technology, John would most likely of carried a mobile any way before lots of hi-tech gadgets were introduced to his job so he would be very familiar with it and find it a easy piece of technology to use if others were playing up or not responding well. Mobile phones are also a very good way of getting through to people and making sure they know you are coming, because they provide a personal one-to-one conversation unlike e-mail because you do not know if your e-mail has been read etc...
The possible disadvantages of John employing alot of ICT are he could have days were the technology is not working properly or it has contracted a virus or one of many data destroying items. He may also not be familiar with any of the products he has been given so he could just be wasting the money spent on them because he would never use them to their full working capacity or speed, meaning his company would have to pay for him to be trained with IT skills which they would not be so happy with because they would have to spend money that would provide no real return unless John adopted the training and new technology very well and used it to his full potential increasing his usefulness to the company as a salesman of there products.
PDA- he could use very easily to manage his time and make sure he is on track and keeping up to date with all his clients. PDA's are very useful to people working in trades that mean they are constantly on the go, because they act as a small pocket size personal computer; this is very helpful to John because he can store all his important information in the PDA's memory and set reminders that will come up to tell him where he needs to be or planned journeys that can connect through blue tooth, infrared to a tom tom satnav etc... Also when John is in trouble or running late he can use the PDA's Internet services to contact his client or help him to find the right road or address.
GPS- would also help John alot because it can help him travel around the country easily, this is because he can program peoples addresses in to his GPS and let the device navigate him to the location he has set it to, also if he was to take a wrong turn they can even find a new route or direct you back to the one you are on so there would be no chance of getting lost as long as he has got up-to-date software loaded in to it. He could also save him self alot of time by programming all the addresses in to the device the night before to come up one after the other so he doesn't have to sit around and mess about putting all the details in. He could just get to one address get his work done and when he gets back into the car it will automatically know where he is going next.
Laptop(with access to the Internet)- this would be very helpful to john because he could use it to record all sales he has done e.g. on already designed excel spreadsheets or databases making it easy for him to calculate his sales figures and the commission or wages he gets for selling a certain amount etc... Also by having remote access to his companies Internet or his own home Internet he could surf the web where ever he is as long as he is picking up a signal,also this means he can keep in touch with his company all the time through e-mail and he can send them his sales figures when ever he wanted or was asked to report on his position all for a fixed cost because he or his company would be paying a fixed line rental a month for their Internet use.
Mobile phone- this is an obvious one and not the most technologically advanced piece of equipment he could carry but it still is a very useful piece of information and communication technology, John would most likely of carried a mobile any way before lots of hi-tech gadgets were introduced to his job so he would be very familiar with it and find it a easy piece of technology to use if others were playing up or not responding well. Mobile phones are also a very good way of getting through to people and making sure they know you are coming, because they provide a personal one-to-one conversation unlike e-mail because you do not know if your e-mail has been read etc...
The possible disadvantages of John employing alot of ICT are he could have days were the technology is not working properly or it has contracted a virus or one of many data destroying items. He may also not be familiar with any of the products he has been given so he could just be wasting the money spent on them because he would never use them to their full working capacity or speed, meaning his company would have to pay for him to be trained with IT skills which they would not be so happy with because they would have to spend money that would provide no real return unless John adopted the training and new technology very well and used it to his full potential increasing his usefulness to the company as a salesman of there products.
Investigating downloading goods and services
Items that family has downloaded;
- itunes software
- Music
- Films
- Microsoft office
- Real players
- Media players
- Google toolbars
- edexcel syllabus's etc..
Why downloaded instead of buying the physical goods;
- Downloading itunes is a free service so you do not need to be going to the shop and buying the software, it acts as an online store once you have downloaded it. You can go through different areas to buy albums,single tracks, videos, etc... which then cost so it is in itunes interest to advertise downloading itunes as free, because it increases the amount of customers using their online stores and spending money in itunes once they have downloaded it. It is also the best music archive for downloading music to ipods,MP3's because it is easy to store your music in specific genres and is a very easy to use free download.
- I download music,videos,pictures,films through other websites that do not cost though, e.g. using bittorrents/mininova and other software that make it possible to download all the latest media for free. So I use these websites to save time and money because i get everything i wont for free and i simply have to find a good download and wait for it to finish.
- I downloaded microsoft office on my computer as well because I didn't see the point in going out and buying the software when you can simply download it off a official website that offers the software for free, so again it saves money.
- People I know also download real and media players because it is easier than buying them because they are constantly offered and easy to find and download.
- Downloading a google tool bar was a free download that google was offering that I do not think you could buy from a store because they simply wanted there search engine to be in a place permanently so people would use there search engine more than others because it is constantly there meaning you don't need to set it as your home page etc...
- I also downloaded the edexcel syllabus for my subjects because it is easier than buying books and it is offered for free.
Problems I have with downloading and consuming online files;
- Sometimes downloads are really bad quality or harmful to your computer, so if you are to download goods then you need good internet security to stop you from getting viruses, trojans etc...
- They take to long to download sometimes because they are so large
- There is no way of checking quality before downloading
- Some software that seems necessary to download ends up being useless and just takes up memory for doing nothing.
- If the site is not completly legal or it is easy to flaunt copyright laws you can get your self into alot of trouble through downloading stuff you shouldn't be.
Sunday, 28 October 2007
Investigating government services online
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/index.htm
Research on usefulness of government services;
Information services
Online reporting and advice
Research on usefulness of government services;
Information services
- Educating and learning- offers a wide range of information, for young and old people seeking; EMA, taking exams, student loans, adult learning. This provides a good informational service for online research/help.
- Money, tax and benefits up-to-date info. on all taxes etc...
- Travel and transport gives train times, bus times very informational and useful
- Crime, justice and the law provides people with more detailed information on crime, Justice and the law allows for people to see why these laws are followed up etc...
- Home and community keeps people up-to-date with flooding, repairs in there areas, problems for concern, nuisance in neighbourhoods, council tax.
- Motoring
- Employment
- Rights and responsibilities
- Environment and greener living
- Health and well being
Online reporting and advice
- Many of the information services also provide an area for online reporting and advice giving.
- Money, tax and benefits- people can be contacted e.g. phone numbers advertised
- Travel and transport provides route planners etc..
- Crime, justice and the law provides links to helplines the police...
- Motoring
- Employment
- Health and well being- can put you in touch with various helplines e.g. quite smoking, heart disease...
- Environment and greener living- also put you in touch with environmental groups near you, invite you to get involved.
Online booking
- Taking tests
- Leisure e.g. putting you in touch with theatres, paintball centres for booking parties, tickets.
- The site did not offer much in the way of online booking because it doesn't really supply users with activities that need booking.
Online payments
- You could find out information on the price of payments etc.. but I could find no real payment service that needed to carry out transactions because the site is not an online store it is more of a public information site.
Macromedia virtual classrooms
The exciting technology they use in macromedia's website is an example of e-learning and the future of it because ideas like virtual classrooms are just the beginning of online classrooms, I believe that this will also become a thriving new part of the internet like online banking, chat rooms etc... because the teaching will become more and more one to one and possibly provide a better learning enviroment even than school, which will sooner or later become a better more effective way of people to learn making the whole school and education experience a virtual one.
Virtual learning can offer special features that obviously schools can not but it is also the same vice versa until virtual classrooms become alot more technologically advanced. Virtual learning can be rewinded, paused, repeated, etc.. exactly, it is more relaxed, done at your own leisure, you use it becasue you want to learn more about a particular subject. But it does not offer alot of the essential education which a real classroom can provide like; one to one interaction, giving personal comparisons, comparing to real ife etc... basically virtual classrooms lack a personal approach, still seen as 'the person is using the computer to help them' instead of 'the computer is helping the person'.
Virtual learning can offer special features that obviously schools can not but it is also the same vice versa until virtual classrooms become alot more technologically advanced. Virtual learning can be rewinded, paused, repeated, etc.. exactly, it is more relaxed, done at your own leisure, you use it becasue you want to learn more about a particular subject. But it does not offer alot of the essential education which a real classroom can provide like; one to one interaction, giving personal comparisons, comparing to real ife etc... basically virtual classrooms lack a personal approach, still seen as 'the person is using the computer to help them' instead of 'the computer is helping the person'.
Using a Simulation
http://frog.edschool.virginia.edu/Frog1/
'Practice before dissecting' the site educates this purpose well because it makes you think I should look into what I am doing before I just start randomly cutting into the frog and conducting a bad experiment, because I wont even know what I am looking for. The site does this well because the page is easy to use and it shows that you need to be serious when doing experiments like this because they are very interesting, whilst adding in detailed photos and simulations of practicing models, to allow you to do some sort of revision before actually dissecting.
The general lessons that the site teaches about online simulations in education are that they are very useful and give a fun and interactive way of educating yourself on how to carry out a task in your learning enviroment and do well in it.
'Practice before dissecting' the site educates this purpose well because it makes you think I should look into what I am doing before I just start randomly cutting into the frog and conducting a bad experiment, because I wont even know what I am looking for. The site does this well because the page is easy to use and it shows that you need to be serious when doing experiments like this because they are very interesting, whilst adding in detailed photos and simulations of practicing models, to allow you to do some sort of revision before actually dissecting.
The general lessons that the site teaches about online simulations in education are that they are very useful and give a fun and interactive way of educating yourself on how to carry out a task in your learning enviroment and do well in it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
