Analysing the 'good old days'

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.

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.

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.

Investigating downloading goods and services

Items that family has downloaded;

1. itunes software
2. Music
3. Films
4. Microsoft office
5. Real players
6. Media players
7. Google toolbars
8. edexcel syllabus's etc..

Why downloaded instead of buying the physical goods;

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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...
6. 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;

1. 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...
2. They take to long to download sometimes because they are so large
3. There is no way of checking quality before downloading
4. Some software that seems necessary to download ends up being useless and just takes up memory for doing nothing.
5. 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.

Investigating government services online

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/index.htm
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'.

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.

Exploring learning objects and simulations

http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk/stories/ The areas 'personal computers and imformation networks' through to the 'dot com gold rush', in the making the modern world website achieve there purpose by offering a wide range of factual information, that backs up there story on the technological advance of computers and the internet, and how these advances changed lifestyles, and created a whole new market.

The timeline achieves it's purpose by splitting computing/internet history down into 8 clear subsections which give information on;

• Personal computers and information networks
• The early internet
• Early home computers
• Picking winners
• WWW
• Global computer industries
• Dot com gold rush
• Conclsusion

These sections then explain the History of the making of computers and internet, who?, where?, when? etc... , the realisation of the power that a computer has and could have, importance of internet and what it will change and improve in the modern world, the effects IT will have on the world/businesses, and then they round all the information off into a conclusion providing more factual information on software, computer, and internet advances.

This site is also a good online education website because it shows the information in ways that differ and provide more interaction with the user so it becomes easier to learn and not a really impossible task to be able to give a conclusion on the information provided and whether it fulfils it's purposes.

Investigating Online banking

The purpose of online banking is to offer customers of banks extra services e.g. Finding balances, making payments at anytime day or night, or even text message (SMS) banking. The use of IT in banking has opened up many new areas such as; offset mortgages, credit cards being linked to accounts so that payments can be made immediately, and account sweeping so that funds can be transferred automatically between accounts to ensure that the lowest possible fees are paid. As a result of the constant updates of new software and updates available to online stores or banks businesses are looking to become more reliant on there online pages. This is because they reduce overheads dramatically because fewer assistants are required and even further if retail premises or high street branches are not required there will be a big decrease in the companies outgoings, but before businesses can make there online services there main source of dealing with customers they need to be able to guarantee 100% safety of customers money/products etc...


Halifax and Nationwide are examples of businesses offering a Online banking service; they provide customers with good online bank accounts that can be used very easily, and for a regular user they can provide a very quick and easy form of banking. But they still can not guarantee 100% safety for your money, because there are so many fraudsters around using illegal set ups like phishing which can be very convincing and can be completely out of the banks and your control. Then as safety precautions the bank can offer a SMS service as some way of a constant feedback and sort of safety precaution. This is not very convincing and seems a bit dodgy to me because you could have your money stolen relatively easily and you are the one that provides all the details they need to log in to your account and start stealing your money, before you have even got the text and realised whats happening it would probably be to late.

How might online banking be improved in the future?

1. Safety - accounts need to be alot more reliable for users so they can trust that there money is safe and they are definitely not going to robbed in the future possible ways for online banks/stores to ensure safety could be;

- Making some sort of internet hologram that all the websites will have to have that can not be forged because they are so hard to make . So if users go on to a site with a funny looking hologram they can choose not to use it.

- More complex user id's which involve a hi-tech voice recognition password or something similar. So banks can start selling a online banking kit e.g. special software, headset, microphone, picture scanning etc...

Visiting eBay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/ EBay is an American company, it is an online auctioning and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell goods and services worldwide.

The major services provided by eBay are;

• A service for buying and selling goods.
• Which can then be reported on etc...Working on a crediting system, once a user has setup an account and begins to sell products, the buyers of the merchandise can give feedback on the product e.g. if the user has bad feedback then you know not to buy off them, and if the user has good feedback then you know they are trustworthy and provide quality goods and that it is safe to buy off them.
• Providing a relatively safe way of online shopping, because eBay is strictly monitored and accounts need quite alot of setting up, which take alot of personal details so if the customer uses eBay in the wrong way they are easily tracked down and appropriate measures are taken against them.
• Advertising products

eBay does not really have a target audience because so many different products are advertised and sold which are specific to all kinds of audience. Although it can be said that it is only available to be used by people old enough to use a credit card that can be used to buy things online with, it is easy for a minor to find what they want and then nag their parents for long enough until they give in.

The auction process on eBay; The person selling the product will start with a minimum asking price, this can then be lowered, matched, or highered by the customer, then if others are involved the auction will carry on going until people are out bid or the provider of the product accepts someones offer and the product is sold. eBay fulfils the auction process very well because it monitors closely the money being payed for products with programs like pay pal and other various software monitors which will step in when a illegitimate product is being sold or far too much money is being offered for a small product e.g. game/concert tickets. The benefits of this service is it provides a quick easy online store, most of the time provides quality goods, it is monitored closely, and customers and sales people have to meet alot of safety requirements. The limitations of the service range from; dodgy goods being sold, not every deal made can be closely monitored, sometimes the details people provide are false, and professional con-men can use the site to their advantage (phishing etc..).

eBay is so successful as a shopping model because it has become known world wide as a quality, reliable service. That provides quality goods and easy ways of finding if the person you are buying from is genuine or trustworthy. eBay also advises users of dangers of buying online but also reassures people by stating there security measures and sanctions that can be carried out therefore increasing peoples trust in the website but not of the people selling the products.

Automatic Transaction Machine

Today i went to the bank and used my card in the ATM machine too put a cheque into my bank account. ATM machines work on a series of commands decided by the user, the use of ICT has increased the ability of ATM machines e.g. you can top your phone up through it, print balance statements etc....

The ATM is a very good time saving piece of technology, they save you from having to go into the bank everytime you need anything done. The increasing amount of tasks the ATM's can carry out is making them very useful and time saving which is perfect for the modern world today (constantly rushing). I think more machines like these should be developed through all sorts of different areas in society because they are so useful, work 24/7, and make small tasks very easy and quick.

Weather forecast

To find the weather forecast i went through the link in the active book. It took me to the bbc weather forecast home page http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/ I then followed a link to a five day forecast http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/5day.shtml?world=0008 on this page it presents the weather in a table which is very easy to read and it holds alot about the weather to come in the next five days;

The digital divide

The theory behind the digital divide is the concept that other countries are developing and becoming more ICT reliant and doing very well out of it, while the poorer countries sort of follow slowly therefore causing a divide in developed ICT nations and those who are undeveloped. Although trying very hard the smaller, poorer nations are bound to slip behind because they do not have the amount of resources and money available to them as others may have; geographical, political, philosophical, ideological, and cultural barriers exist that make it difficult or impossible for these solutions to be transferred effectively, so for the poorer countries getting the materials they need is a very hard job and can only then result on them falling behind a rapidly ICT growing world.

Although there is no claim that any nations are worse of than others at the moment, as we know we are at the start of a digital age ICT is becoming more developed, clever, and helpful every year and as these slow progressions in ICT are made the poorer countries are only going to fall further behind that of the richer countries therefore resulting in the poorer countries divided from the rich resulting in who knows what?

Online news/help/search forums

Today I found a webpage with a blogger news group forum on it, the story is about beating censorship, and telling the world what is happening under the military junta's veil of secrecy. By using blogger sites growing numbers of burmese monks and people are by bypassing the regimes control. This shows how the use of ICT can act and give aid, to people suffering, the writers on these forums have had to use very complex proxies and hacking skills to even get through the strict censorship put on the internet by the junta risking there lives to try and get the truth out to the world by giving eye witness statements about the harsh military regime. Stories and news forums like this show how the use of ICT is rapidly growing and how it allows freedom of speak where ever you are, you just need to have a relativly high knowledge of ICT to be able to know how to hack through firewalls or whatever the burmese regime where using.

Other general uses of I.T in world issues, times of crises, and as help to family and friends;

For example Sky tv have set up things called tickers before to make sure that when people are involved in accidents the family have some way of knowing there okey because text messages or e-mails can be sent via sky.

Specialist blogs are always set up after disasters so people can have or find a way to reach a relative, son, daughter, or friend.

BBC take big roles in setting up bulletin boards to help find missing people by keeping records of conversations and offering a site that can help you contact missing people.

As you can see online blogs, forums, bulletin boards are very popular through out the internet today and are used over a wide range of topics and areas of interest to the genral public which can also offer really helpful searches, records of peoples computer use and where etc....

BBC posting

Today i posted a comment on the BBC website to say that i really enjoyed watching match of the day, there was some really good games, and the highlights were really good they cut out all the boring bits and showed all of the really good goals!

Bulletin boards, conferences, communites, and newsgroups

Bulletin boards have been around since (BBSs) since 1978. BBSs have ivolved over the years to what they have become now; boards which can be used by businesses as advertisement of FAQ's also for software updates and advertisements, accesed through the w.w.w, downloading, uploading, and sometimes used for uploading of images and files. Ezboard, sparklit active board or yahoo groups are all examples of speciallist and general purpose discussion forums based on the structure of the more developed BBSs.

Its relativly easy to host a specialist forum using free or commercial software. Newsgroups like BBSs, are an old part of the internet, but still very effective ways of displaying/advertising information and still are used by many people. They can be read using spacialist newsreader programs, but now they are generally used with a standard browser. There are different parts in news groups organised by hierachy, a number of providers, including google, ae currently looking at ways to make groups more accesible to a non-technical audiance.

Blog This!

Today I tried uploading the blog this button into my toolbar but couldn't find the link through my google options i used this website http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=41469&query=adding%20web%20links%20to%20blog&topic=&type=f which has step by step instructions on how to find blog this and use this but because i couldnt get the blog this! tool i had to give up and write a post about my troubles finding it instead.

Sending e-mail

20/09/07 I sent an e-mail to a group of driving insrtuctors yesterday, using a link from a drviving instructors website which would compare and let the driving instructors know i am looking for lessons, this morning i received a call from one of the instuctors offering me a free lesson just to see if i wanted to do my lessons with her or not.

Instant Messaging and Chatrooms

Instant messaging and chatrooms are a good way of keeping in contact with friends, making new friends, and finding information e.g. songs, pictures, news. Although the two are alike they differ in big ways becasue instant messaging is alot safer; you choose your friends and only really accept people you no where as chatrooms are open to every body; anyone can get your address and talk to you sometimes this can be very dangerous because criminals may use it as a way of disguising there identity to trick people into believing that there something there not.

I use instant messaging and chatrooms regularly and have never had any problems with weird people adding me or trying to talk to me, its just if you use it in the proper way and dont talk to people you know you shouldnt be it can be very safe and only a place where you talk to friends.

E-mail

Last lesson we spoke about e-mail inboxes(SMTP), outboxes(POP3), html, IMAP, and how useful and popular e-mail has become.

E-mail is so popular because it is so quick and efficient, it keeps a permanent record of communications and is very easy to use. Also it features lots of time saving devices e.g. attachments, you can send large pieces of data through e-mails very easily.

Text messaging

Today i sent mesages to a few people just to see what they were doing or finding out work that was in for monday(My birthday! wooooo!) because I took thursday and friday off due to illness.

Online services

I am setting up this blog as part of my GCE in applied ICT because we have been set a project on online services and the information age.

I will be using this blog as; a log of my activity and use of ICT over the time period assigned, a personal audit of all my communications (e-mails, text messages, phone calls, online chatrooms e.g. MSN, Facebook), and as a means of recording my research and investigations into the information age.

Other online services;

Communication;

Communication between friends and family across the world has been made really easy with instant messaging services such as msn messenger, blogs and other services such as bebo where you make an Internet page and share news and pictures with your friends and family.The target audience for these communication services are basically anyone who has an understanding of ICT and wants to communicate with friends and family, also make new friends by meeting people over the internet.The benefits of having these online services are, you can communicate with friends and family easily, and in the case of msn messenger it is free to do so as well. Also you can meet new friends and share photos and thoughts with them.The drawbacks to communication services are that people will just sit at home and chat to their friends over the internet, instead of getting out and talking to them in person, which is much healthier than sitting in front of a pc all day. Another drawback is phone companies such as BT might be loosing customers and/or money, because people are using the online communication services instead of phoning their friends and family on a phone.You don’t have to be too skilled to use services such as msn messenger, but to use services such as Bebo you will need a more in depth understanding of ICT, so that you can create the webpage and upload pictures. A possible enhancement to communication services online is, to have an online service that allows you to use all the services that many other services providers in one package.The non-internet alternatives to online communication are mobile phones and home phones, or letters and things like that.

Real time information;

Now that we are in the information age, where finding out information for almost anything is made really easy and quick via the internet. You can access things such as train time tables and traffic reports on the internet, on specific internet sites. Such as www.cityrail.info, which is a site that is devoted to helping people find out when and where a train is leaving from or going to. The target audience for real time information is the average working person or someone who is travelling to work or school, they may need to know what time the time turns up or if there are going to be any traffic on their route to work/school, so that they can plan a different route and still get there on time.

The benefits of real time information is that you can find out relevant information to your day, and make decisions based around the information you find out. A Possible enhancement for real time information is to have all the information such as train times, weather and traffic reports all on one site, to cut down the time for searching for information.

The non – internet alternatives to find out this information are train time tables, local newspapers, and at bus stations, you can also find out the weather via the T.V. and/or newspapers, also you can find out information about the traffic on the news on T.V. at a specific time in the morning or during the day.People don’t need too much of an understanding of I.C.T to access the information on these sites, because the procedure is so simple, and if they couldn’t access it they could ask someone who has a greater understanding of I.C.T.

E-commerce;

Commerce covers many online services such as shopping, banking and auctions etc. Commerce primarily expresses the fairly abstract notion of buying and selling. There are lots of online shopping services for you to use such as, Argos, Homebase and Wickes which are all DIY stores, there are also clothes stores and shoe stores such as Barrats. Also there are online banking services with banking companies such as Lloyds TSB, HSBC, Halifax and Barclays etc, which provide online services such as online banking, so that you can manage your accounts from the comfort of your own home. There are also many auction sites online, the main one being EBay, which allows members to buy and sell products in an online auction.

The target audience for commerce services are people who are interested in buying and selling online, also people who are quite busy and don’t have the time to go down town to buy the product can use the online services.

The benefits of having all these services available to people online is that it is time saving and makes people feel involved in something when they are buying or selling on auction sites such as Ebay. The drawbacks are it prevents shops that don’t have an online site for people to buy from, from getting as much business. a Possible enhancement for commerce services such as shopping are to make the shopping a 3D experience, where you virtually walk around the shop and buy what you want.

E-government;

e-Government (from electronic government, also known as e-gov, digital government, online government or in a certain context transformational government) refers to government’s use of I.T to exchange information and services with citizens, businesses, and other areas of government.

e-Government may be applied by the legislature, judiciary, or administration, in order to improve internal efficiency, the delivery of public services, or processes of democratic governance. The most important anticipated benefits of e-government include improved efficiency, convenience, and better accessibility of public services.

While e-government is often thought of as "online government" or "Internet-based government," many non-Internet "electronic government" technologies can be used in this context. Some non-internet forms include telephone, fax, PDA, SMS text messaging, MMS, wireless networks and services, Bluetooth, CCTV, tracking systems, road traffic management and regulatory enforcement, identity cards, TV/radio-based delivery of government services, email, newsgroups, online chat, and instant messaging technologies.

Education;

Online education sites such as bitesize helps students to study and learn information they need for their exams, bitesize is a very useful site because it offers many ways of revising the information you need for exams. I would probably rank it as one of the top sites for education on the web.

Also sites such as VLE’s or Virtual Learning Environments, helps students learn a very specific subject to the level they need, such as engineering to a level of distinction. The target audience for online learning sites are mainly students who are studying for qualifications from S.A.T.S to A level and above. I would rank this website 2nd out of all the online education websites i use because it offers such a wide range of information specific to many different subjects.

Another very useful education site is http://johndclare.net/ this is a site designed to help History students do the best they possibly can in their GCSE history classes. It provides nearlly all the information you need to have in your folder for revision, and also gives alot of help for doing coursework and getting a good mark out of it. I have ranked this website 3rd out of my favourite online education sites because it helped me alot during my two years doing History for GCSE.

A more recent website I have used could be http://www.jroscoe.co.uk/ which is a P.E website designed for AS to A-level, this is also a very good education website because it provides the user with all the information needed in each separate part of the course. The information is displayed colourfully and makes it very easy to read and use as revision, therefore earning it's place in my top 5 education websites.

http://www.reviseict.co.uk/as/ this is another very good website for online revision it contains lots of past paper questions and coursework help. This is a website that will become very useful to me further on in my course and I'm glad i have found it now so I can refer to it later.

The benefits of online education is that you can do more work at home and study for exams, online education sites also help you out with homework and coursework.You don’t need to be that good at I.C.T. to be able to use the online education sites, also if you are a student at school or college, you should be able to use the internet effectively enough to find out the information that you need.

A possible enhancement for online education is that you could have a virtual teacher talking to you on the computer, such as the virtual person talking on the search engine “msdewey.com”.There are non-internet alternatives such as study books from edexcel, also private tutors.

Business;

The internet has had a generally positive aid to businesses but we can still divide the ICT involved in business into positive and negative effects; Positive - Speed of communication has increased so information can be processed faster, holding more information can help with decision making,
businesses can reach a wider audience, employees can become more productive, the business can be more competitive, employees can work from home - reducing overheads, computers can do repetitive jobs, and it may be possible to reduce the workforce, therefore saving on costs

Negative; ICT equipment is expensive and needs updating often, not all equipment is compatible,
information may be less secure, people may lose their jobs, and staff will have to be trained to use the equipment.

In conclusion i could say that general ICT has had a very positive effect on business e.g. completely changing ways of communication(e-mail) and how jobs are carried out, you could even say it re-shaped the work force to become IT literate. Therefore showing this is only the start of what will become more developed ICT use in the years approaching the digital age.

Entertainment;

Online entertainment technologies I have used in the last three months;

• Online games
• BBC sport
• Radio
• Youtube
• Peekvid
  
  Because of the internet and online services, entertainment has been made easy to access. Entertainment such as music downloads, movie downloads and games have been made widely available from a number of websites.Games such as “World of War craft” have been a major success, generating millions of pounds from subscribers all over the world.These online entertainment and leisure services have affected our personal lives, because you no longer need to go out and by the music CD from a shop, you can just by the right to download the music from your computer. The same applies for movies as well.
  
  These services may also affect our social lives, because you may have met a friend or you may have gone and had your hair cut on the way down to the shop where you were going to buy the CD from. Online services that provide games for you to play on such as www.addictinggames.com and World of War craft, affect your social life because you could be playing the games with your friends and or family, in that case these online games may have a positive affect on your social life, but if you were stuck indoors playing the game on your own for hours per day, it would have a negative affect on your social life, because you aren’t getting out and meeting new people.