itgs

Telecommuting

2009-06-08T00:34:00.000-07:00

Link to Article

Sunday June 7 Grid

2009-06-06T21:20:00.000-07:00

Link to Article

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Smart-grid-power-lines-move-apf-15458087.html?.v=3

COMMENTS:

Sunday May 31 2009 Server Sales Off

2009-05-30T21:15:00.001-07:00

LINK TO ARTICLE

COMMENTS

Tuesday May 26 DNA DATABASE

2009-05-25T21:18:00.000-07:00

Link to Article

COMMENTS

May 24, 2009 Medical Records

2009-05-23T21:13:00.001-07:00

LINK TO ARTICLE

COMMENTS

Work for Monday Ap 26 Grade 11

2009-04-21T04:16:00.001-07:00

Go to Click site-

Watch program and

REVIEW in 100 words each 2 stories from click and post them on YOUR Blog.

I will be monitoring from Cairo.

This is an important part of your grade for participation.

CLICK TO SEE SHOW

Work for Thursday Ap 23 Grade 11

2009-04-21T04:11:00.000-07:00

Sunday Ap 19

2009-04-18T21:28:00.000-07:00

Link

Comment

Sunday April 13 Power Grid Attack

2009-04-11T21:10:00.000-07:00

Link to Article

Comment

Sunday March 29 Fargo-Facebook

2009-03-28T21:11:00.000-07:00

Link

Comments

Sunday March 22 Cell Phone Data

2009-03-21T21:04:00.000-07:00

Link

Comment

Sunday Mar 15 Web Privacy

2009-03-14T21:03:00.001-07:00

Link to Article

COMMENTS:

REPORT MARCH 11, 2009

2009-03-10T22:53:00.001-07:00

Your Name

Group Name

Group Number

URL of Group Wiki

1) Review of Readings on Horizon Report and GROWN UP DIGITAL

2) Links to all Delicious Tags

3) Cut and Paste of info added to Wiki

ALL POSTED AT YOUR BLOG LABELED

REPORT MARCH 11, 2009

Smart APPS Sunday March 8 2009

2009-03-07T20:11:00.000-08:00

Link to Story

Comments

March 1, 2009 Cloud Computing

2009-02-28T20:18:00.000-08:00

Link to Article

Comment

Monday Feb23 Travel Records

2009-02-21T21:00:00.000-08:00

Link to Article

Comment

Sunday Feb 15 Skype

2009-02-14T20:19:00.000-08:00

Link to Article

omment

Thursday Feb 13 Amazon Kindle

2009-02-11T20:31:00.000-08:00

Link to Article

Comments

Monday February 9 2009 Microsoft Quick Fix

2009-02-08T20:59:00.000-08:00

Link to Article

Comment

Sunday Feb 8 2009

2009-02-07T20:15:00.001-08:00

Link to Article

Comments:

Sunday February 1 Wi Fi Virus

2009-01-31T20:14:00.001-08:00

Link to Article

Comments:

Sunday jan 25

2009-01-24T20:26:00.000-08:00

Link to Article-

Comment

Sunday JANUARY 18, 2009

2009-01-17T20:05:00.000-08:00

Music Downloads-Link to Article

Comment

Sunday Janurry 11, 2009

2009-01-10T20:08:00.000-08:00

Link to Article

COMMENTS

Sunday Janurry 4, 2009

2009-01-03T20:13:00.001-08:00

Hotels of the Future

Comments

Sunday November 30 VIRTUAL WORLDS

2008-11-29T20:18:00.000-08:00

lINK TO ARTICLE

COMMENT

Sunday November 23 LEISURE

2008-11-22T20:04:00.000-08:00

Link to Article

COMMENTS

WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 19

2008-11-18T20:19:00.003-08:00

Link to Article

Comment
Google, iPhone and the Future of Machines That Listen
By John Markoff

How do you talk to a search engine? In Googlish, of course.

Google’s new speech recognition service for the iPhone, which I wrote about last week and which was released on Monday, understands you most accurately when you speak to it just the way you enter queries into the Google search box. That makes sense, because the system’s accuracy comes from the billions and billions of typed queries that Google has recorded over the years.
Google’s voice search software for iPhones. (Peter DaSilva for The New York Times)

So don’t bother with polite formalisms like “What is the best pizza restaurant in San Francisco?” Simply say “best pizza restaurant San Francisco.”

After all, you’re talking to a dumb machine — or perhaps several, distributed across multiple states.

The accuracy is far from 100 percent, and probably not even 95 percent (Google execs demurred when I asked if they had any meaningful accuracy statistics). My experience is that it captures your voice query substantially more than half the time, and that in itself is a revelation. It also makes the usual sampling of funny mistakes. (My favorite was my inability to get it to recognize “Camp Unalayee,” which I attended as a teenager. It would usually respond “Camp Ukulele.” But heck, unalayee is a Cherokee word that means “place of friends,” and ukulele is in the dictionary.)

Yet after five days of using the service it still seems better than any speech recognition system I have used to date. It may even signify an inflection point — speech recognition that is more useful than typing.

I was initially intrigued by the Google Mobile App because I have been following the progress of speech recognition research since the early 1980s. Progress in this field feels like watching paint dry. Yet the industry’s visionaries have been unanimous in saying that we will talk to machines — and they will understand us — someday.

It was probably in 1983 that researchers at SRI International demonstrated how they could control simulated battleships with voice commands (“go left,” “go right,” “stop,” that sort of thing). Evolution has been slow because it turns out that recognizing speech is a really, really hard problem. There are all the complexities of language, plus accents and background noise.

In the past decade, however, progress has accelerated. The stakes are very high and there are a number of big and small players. The search giants Google, Microsoft and Yahoo all believe speech recognition is a prerequisite for the era of mobile computing. And there are lots of others including I.B.M., Nuance and Vlingo that are developing speech technology.

Although Microsoft hasn’t dominated in this area yet, the company has been investing heavily in research in the field going back to the 1980s. Last year it spent close to $1 billion to acquire Tellme Networks, a company based in Silicon Valley that supplies speech recognition for the phone directory and operator assistance market.

“You want to be able to interact with your phone just like you would with your mom or friends,” said Dariusz Paczuski, senior director for consumer services at Tellme. “Voice is a great interface and it can simplify interactions more than anything.”

Everyone agrees that in mobile applications, speech is the obvious user interface. Whether it’s on a BlackBerry, an Android phone or an iPhone, typing will always be error-prone and frustrating.

If one company makes a major breakthrough in voice, it is potentially a major threat to its rivals, because a “speech interface” could potentially allow one company to simply take over a handheld device developed by another company.

For some time we seem to have been stuck at the stage where speech recognition works, but just sort of. Perhaps we are at a moment like the one when A.T.M.’s were first introduced. At first most people said they preferred interacting with a human bank teller. Then, overnight it seemed, everyone realized that the bank teller relationship wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Now most of us never set foot inside a bank. How long before people find that it is more efficient to deal with a robot on the phone than a human?

Enough with the future-gazing. Right now there is something compelling about saying “backpacking trails Trinity Alps California,” and being taken directly to a Web site listing all of the best ones.

Sunday November 16 Internet Duty

2008-11-15T20:07:00.000-08:00

Link to article

Comment

Sunday November 9 Fly by Wire

2008-11-08T20:11:00.000-08:00

Link to Story

Comment

Thursday Nov 6 Digital Planet

2008-11-05T19:55:00.000-08:00

Link to Article

COMMENT

Sunday November 2 Trojan Virus

2008-11-01T05:49:00.000-07:00

Link tio Article

Comment Please

Thursday October 30 Smart Roads

2008-10-29T21:02:00.001-07:00

Link to Article

Tuesday October 28 Cloud Computing

2008-10-28T00:35:00.000-07:00

Link to Article

Sunday October 26 Broadband Limits

2008-10-25T21:03:00.000-07:00

Link to Article

THINK of a solution

Thursday Oct 23 Families

2008-10-22T21:19:00.000-07:00

Link to Article

Sunday October 19 Phones

2008-10-18T21:12:00.001-07:00

Link to Article

Thursday, October 16 Car Phones

2008-10-15T21:17:00.000-07:00

Link

Wednesday October 15 Robots

2008-10-14T21:19:00.000-07:00

Link to Article

Sunday October 12 Phishing

2008-10-11T21:01:00.000-07:00

Link to Article

please comment

Wednesday October 8 Car Controls

2008-10-07T21:09:00.000-07:00

Link to Article

Tuesday October 8 Automobiles

2008-10-06T21:19:00.000-07:00

Leading The Green Charge

October 6, 2008 Newsweek Edition: U.S. Edition
Section: Enterprise
ENERGY
Page: E14
Author: Christian Caryl and Akiko Kashiwagi Volume 152, Issue 14

Japan's automakers are zooming ahead in the eco-car race to market.

Honda's new FCX Clarity feels like a perfectly ordinary car—which may well be the most shocking thing about it. Slip behind the wheel and press the pedal, and the car accelerates with satisfying punch. But after a few minutes of cruising, you'll notice that something's missing. The only engine noise is a whir so faint that you can actually hear the tires swishing along the asphalt. That's because the Clarity is a hydrogen-fuel-cell car, one of the most advanced in the world. It's the first to be certified by the Environmental Protection Agency here in the United States, and the first to be delivered to retail customers (though on a leasing basis). As for CO2 emissions, the only exhaust is a trickle of water. And perhaps most important is what stands behind it: a factory that's ready to produce thousands of the vehicles once the market is ready. Most of Honda's competitors, by contrast, are still bringing concept cars to the auto shows. The Clarity is just one of a number of next-generation green automobiles that are beginning to come off assembly lines in Japan. Such vehicles have been around for years, but almost always as one-off utopian designs or experimental models that were designed mainly to attract good press. Now Japanese automakers are entering the green-car mass market, in many cases years before their competitors. Nissan plans to introduce an electric vehicle to the United States and Japan by 2010. Toyota is road-testing a plug-in hybrid it plans to launch in 2009. (There's unconfirmed buzz that it may use solar power as well.) Mazda will offer the world's first hydrogen-gasoline hybrid in Japan by next March. All these companies are benefiting from close cooperation with electronics manufacturers, component makers and suppliers that are helping to push Japan to the forefront of green-car technologies. "Globally, Japanese companies are definitely at the top right now," says Mike Omotoso, an analyst for J.D. Power and Associates. In large part, Japan's lead in green-car technology is an outgrowth of its old austerity. Japan, an oil-poor country, was obsessed with energy efficiency long before global warming made it a worldwide fixation. Now it's seeing the payoff. It's impossible to tally the direct economic effect of the green-car race, but it's huge and likely to grow. The Prius is already the world's most popular green car. By 2015, Goldman Sachs expects the hybrid-vehicle market (including plug-in hybrids) to grow to 2.5 million, up from 500,000 in 2007, with Toyota and Honda in the lead. Analysts say plug-in hybrids, which run on a battery alone for a short range, are the vehicles that will gradually ease drivers out of the gasoline age. Goldman analyst Kota Yuzawa says hybrids could account for 5 to 10 percent of operating profits for Honda and Toyota in 2010. Toyota is already seeing benefits as its costs of producing the Prius, now in its second decade, drop sharply. Virtually every car company in the world is ramping up intriguing green-car projects. GM plans to debut the plug-in hybrid Volt in 2010, but it is coming up from behind against Japanese rivals that work in often-exclusive national supply networks, as they have for decades. Japanese carmakers aim to protect their edge by joining forces with makers of electronics and batteries. Toyota's joint venture with Panasonic (which is majority-owned by the car company) has already made it one of the world's leading battery companies. Similarly, Nissan recently increased its stake in its joint venture with the battery firm NEC. A.T. Kearney's Eiji Kawahara says that even if Japan does not come up with the next big breakthrough in battery design, the technology for putting it into mass production will likely be Japanese. Mitsubishi's new electric car, the i MiEV, offers another illustration of why Japan leads. Until now, many electric vehicles have been limited by range, meager acceleration and long charging times. The four-door i MiEV boasts a range of 100 miles per each full charge (compared with 25 for a GM Volt), and, as a recent test-drive around Tokyo showed, its pickup in urban traffic rivaled a gas-powered car. Other new electric vehicles—like Tesla's much-hyped roadsters—may offer even better performance. But in stark contrast to Tesla—an innovative but tiny start-up—Mitsubishi is reaping the benefits of a tie-in with leading Japanese battery maker GS Yuasa that has the two companies preparing for mass production of state-of-the-art batteries by the end of 2009. Already the i MiEV's battery weighs in at a mere 450 pounds (compared with 1,000 pounds for Tesla's model), and the effect on cost is dramatic. Mitsubishi plans to start selling i MiEVs in Japan at the end of next year for a price of about $28,000 (after planned subsidies of about $10,000)—compared with a cool $100,000 for a Tesla. Mitsubishi also says it's close to perfecting "quick charge" devices that would bring the battery up to 80 percent of capacity in half an hour—letting drivers recharge their cars in the supermarket parking lot while shopping. The secret to making better batteries lies less in incremental innovation—something the Japanese are traditionally good at. Japanese battery makers and automakers have been collaborating since the late 1990s. Both sides use the word suriawase, meaning "coordination and integration." Slowly but surely, these relationships are coming together to give Japan an edge. Though Ford and GM have been loudly touting hybrid vehicles of their own, those are estimated to be much more expensive, and U.S. manufacturers are already turning to the Japanese for batteries that offer the necessary staying power. Batteries are only one part of a green automotive-components industry, which also includes electric motors, inverters and the like, which Japan already dominates. Some analysts estimate the market for hybrid components alone could triple to $5 billion by 2012, and reach $9 billion by 2015. "Japan now has a huge potential to become a world supply center," says Yozo Hasegawa, author of "Clean Car Wars." Japan's push for green-car dominance is also spilling over into the materials sector. Japanese steelmakers have for years been innovators in ultralight and high-strength steel. Toray, a carbon-fiber pioneer that provided material for the Boeing Dreamliner fuselage, is experimenting with making carbon fiber inexpensive enough for cars. High-tech materials some day could reduce the weight of a car by half. A superlight sports car produced by Ken Okuyama Design will soon start selling in Japan; the K.O 7, using carbon fiber and aluminum generously, weighs just 1,650 pounds. (The K.O 8 is still in the concept stage.) Of course, by betting heavily on the green-car technologies, Japan could find itself with a bad hand. It's certainly missed forecasts in the past—when, for example, Japanese mobile-phone companies ended up backing the wrong standard in the early 1990s, largely shutting themselves out of the global cell-phone boom. The lithium-ion batteries that Japanese companies are investing in now have plenty of limits, and it's always possible that nimble non-Japanese entrepreneurs could figure out a better technology. It's unclear which of the new technologies will triumph. Hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicles like Honda's Clarity face serious challenges because not only are they costly, but the fuel stations and infrastructure to power them would have to be built from the ground up. While electric vehicles are able to tap into existing power networks, they, too, remain costly, and even the best batteries don't offer the range of a full tank of gasoline. Lithium-ion batteries also have a tendency to overheat, potentially causing fires; some manufacturers have had to recall lithium-ion laptop batteries for just that reason. Don Hillebrand, director at Argonne National Labs in Chicago, warns: "This is a time of great potential and huge risk. Those leaders today may not stay leaders, because rules are going to change quickly." Even the popular hybrids are still a niche product. But as far as Japanese carmakers are concerned, gasoline is no longer where the action is. Hillebrand believes that green technologies are changing the industry in an unprecedented way. If Ford invented modern car manufacturing when it built the first assembly line for the Model T, says Hillebrand, then the emerging green technology represents "the second invention of the auto industry." And right now, it's the Japanese who are leading the charge. Copyright (c) 2008 Newsweek, Inc.
Record Number: 1238F39CB68D1A68

Monday Sep 22 Train Spotting

2008-09-21T23:01:00.000-07:00

Cell-phone ban sought for Calif. train operators

September 16, 2008 Associated Press News Service, The
The state's top rail safety regulator said Monday he would seek an emergency order banning train operators from using cell phones, as federal investigators sought to determine whether the engineer of a commuter train was text messaging before a crash that killed 25 people.

Michael Peevey, president of the California Public Utilities Commission, said some railroad operators have policies prohibiting the personal use of cell phones, but they're widely ignored. "Our order would make it the law and we'll go after violators. We owe it to the public," he said.
The collision on Friday between the Metrolink commuter train and a Union Pacific freight train was the deadliest rail disaster in the U.S. in 15 years. Metrolink has blamed its engineer for not heeding a red light signal designed to prevent such wrecks.
Federal rail investigators said Monday that tests at the crash site showed the signals are working properly and there were no obstructions that may have prevented the engineer from seeing the red light.
"The question is, did he see it as red?" said Kitty Higgins, a board member for the National Transportation Safety Board. "Did he see it as something else? Did he see it at all?"
The federal agency said it will now review whether engineer Robert Sanchez was text messaging. Investigators did not find a cell phone belonging to Sanchez in the wreckage, but two teenage train buffs who befriended him told KCBS-TV that they received a text message from him a minute before the crash.
Metrolink prohibits rail workers from using cell phones on the job, but there is no existing federal regulation regarding the use of cell phones by railroad employees on the job, Federal Railroad Administration spokesman Steven Kulm said.
Higgins said her agency issued a subpoena Monday to get the engineer's cell phone records. She said Verizon Wireless has five days to respond to the subpoena request.
As NTSB experts prepared to conduct a simulated crash test on Tuesday, some commuters-many wary and emotional-returned to the rail line on the first day of service after the accident.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa tried to reassure them the trains are safe.
"I want to dispel any fears about taking the train," he said. "Safety has to be our No. 1 concern, and while accidents can and do happen, taking the train is still one of the safest and fastest options for commuters."
About a dozen bouquets were strung the length of the loading platform at the Simi Valley station as passengers boarded buses and were shuttled to the Chatsworth station, bypassing the tracks still being cleared of wreckage.
Regular commuters said the train load was much lighter than usual.
Higgins said she expects all rail service to be restored by Tuesday afternoon.
The NTSB said the commuter train, which carried 220 people, rolled past stop signals at 42 mph and forced its way onto a track where a Union Pacific freight was barreling toward it. Higgins said the commuter train engineer, who was among the 25 dead, had failed to stop at the final red signal. The crash also injured 138 people.
The collision occurred at a curve in the track just short of where a 500-foot-long tunnel separates the San Fernando Valley neighborhood of Chatsworth from Simi Valley in Ventura County.
Jerry Romero, who normally takes the Metrolink home but skipped it Friday to pick up a bicycle, said he was disturbed by texting reports.
"That would be pretty disturbing in respect to what we're going through as a society, this fascination we have with gizmos," he said.
In 2003, the NTSB recommended that the Federal Railroad Administration regulate the use of cell phones by railroad employees on duty after finding that a coal train engineer's phone use contributed to a May 2002 accident in which two freight trains collided head-on near Clarendon, Texas. The coal train engineer was killed and the conductor and engineer of the other train were critically injured.
The California Legislature last month sent Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a bill that would outlaw texting while driving. According to the Governors' Highway Safety Association, four states have banned texting while driving-Alaska, Minnesota, New Jersey and Washington-and similar laws are under consideration in 16 other states.
Audio recordings of contact between Sanchez and the conductor on Metrolink 111 show they were regularly communicating verbal safety checks about signals along the track until a period of radio silence as the train passed the final two signals before the wreck. The tapes captured Sanchez confirming a flashing yellow light before pulling out of the Chatsworth station.
The train may have entered a dead zone where the recording was interrupted. Investigators tried to interview the conductor about the lapse Monday, but he declined because a company representative was not able to be present, Higgins said. He is still hospitalized with serious injuries.
A computer indicated the last signal before the collision displayed a red light, and experts tested the signals Monday and determined they were working properly.
On Tuesday they planned to take actual Metrolink and Union Pacific trains to recreate the events leading up to the accident and to test the signals further.
Higgins said the weight of the trains on the track and the sight distance between the two trains will help experts collect more data.
Investigators planned to back the trains away from the point of impact to determine the point at which the engineers could no longer see each other.
"It's really a process of elimination," Higgins said. "That's why we're out testing the signals. We're looking at the track, we're examining the equipment, we're looking at what issues that might have been with the engineer and the other crew members."
Associated Press writers Jeff Wilson, Christina Hoag and John Rogers contributed to this report.

Sunday Sept 21 Google and GE

2008-09-20T21:58:00.000-07:00

Link to Article

After commenting, SPEND rest of class finding possible Portfolio Article that relates to BUSINESS and TECHNOLOGY that was published after March 1, 2008.

Copy URL so you can discuss in class tomorrow.

Tuesday Sep 16 Dubai Airport

2008-09-15T22:04:00.000-07:00

Link to Article

Monday Sep 15 WEb Future

2008-09-15T00:28:00.000-07:00

Link

Sunday, Sept 14 Galileo

2008-09-13T21:52:00.000-07:00

Link

Wednesday Sept 10- Your Turn

2008-09-09T22:03:00.000-07:00

Find an article
Provide URL (copy/paste
Comment

Tuesday Sep 9 Digitizing Newspapers

2008-09-08T23:04:00.000-07:00

Link to Article

Link to Alternative Article

Monday Sept 8 Sony Batteries

2008-09-07T23:05:00.000-07:00

Link to Article

Issues: Reliability and Employment

Sunday September 7, 2008 Identity Theft

2008-09-06T21:58:00.000-07:00

Link to Article

Post Comment

Discuss:
Authenticity
Security
Preventative Measures
Impact on Society

Thursday Sept 4 Bandwidth

2008-09-03T22:05:00.000-07:00

Link to Article

Wednesday Sept 3 Intel TV

2008-09-02T22:00:00.000-07:00

Link to Article

Tuesday Sept. 2, 2008 Google Browser

2008-09-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

Click HERE for article

Monday Sep 1- Mobile Phone Future

2008-08-31T23:44:00.001-07:00

Click to Read and comment

Internet Explorer Gets Makeover-August 31, 2008

2008-08-30T05:27:00.000-07:00

Read the article and write a 100 word response.

Article Link

Assignment for week of March 16-20

2008-03-15T06:41:00.000-07:00

For the 4 areas of Impact that we will be studying

1) Health
2) Science and the Environment
3) Government and Politics
4) Education

(Try and cover one area of impact each day)

Find 2 articles for each topic and review them for me giving the following information:

Name of Article
Area of Impact
Ethical Issue Involved
Problem that this issue presents to Society

POST This information daily at your BLOG and I will check it over the week.

If you need help understanding these areas of impact go to the website:

http://itgsqa.qataracademy.wikispaces.net/Areas+of+Impact

2008-03-05T21:34:00.000-08:00

Sunday Feb 24 2008 Workers View Records

2008-02-23T20:20:00.001-08:00

Take a look at this article

Yahoo-Snooping Workers

What is the solution to this problem?

Sunday January 13, 2008 Article

2008-01-12T20:15:00.000-08:00

Rethinking the Recommendation Engine

July 2007 Business 2.0 Section: What Works: The People and Companies that Get It
E-Commerce
Page: 40
Author: Erick Schonfeld Volume 8, Issue 6
WEB SALES PITCHES ARE GETTING BETTER, THANKS TO NEW PROGRAMS DESIGNED TO SELL YOU STUFF YOU DIDN'T EVEN KNOW YOU WANTED.
ONLINE SHOPPING RECOMMEN dations are the Internet's answer to the old-fashioned upsell. "You like that red Prada hobo bag? You'll love this black canvas number from Dolce & Gabbana." And apparently they work. Consumers last year spent $220 billion online , according to Forrester Research analyst Sucharita Mulpuru, who estimates that recommendation systems can account for 10 to 30 percent of an online retailer's sales.
This, naturally, suggests that there's yet more money to be made by offering even better product suggestions. Amazon.com popularized the practice a decade ago with a system that suggested items to customers based on what they and others like them had previously bought — or even just window-shopped for. As online shopping scales up, however, the limitations of Amazon's approach are starting to become all too apparent. One reporter who purchased two backyard animal books as a gift — the only books on the topic he's ever bought — complains that three years later Amazon is still recommending that he buy Squirrel Wars: Backyard Wildlife Battles & How to Win Them. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos says he is not exactly sure why this happened but views personalized recommendations as a "key differentiating factor" for his company. Amazon's engineers are constantly working to make the system better, he says. "If we have 66 million different customers, we want to have 66 million different stores."
But even as Bezos fine-tunes his existing system, several new companies are determined to beat him at his own game. Moreover, they have already started to hire out their sophisticated sales tools to other online retailers.
ChoiceStream is one of the largest newcomers, with more than $10 million in revenue. But scrappy startups like Aggregate Knowledge and CleverSet are also gaining customers. All three are focused on "discovery" — selling people goods they didn't know they wanted. And all three work on the premise that you need more than a customer's old shopping list to get him to buy new stuff.
Take CleverSet, currently being tested by big-name retailers like Drugstore.com, Sephora, and WineEnthusiast.com. CleverSet's engine analyzes consumer purchases by product descriptions, prices, ratings, and dozens of other attributes. The software organizes the information into a relational database and then offers products with similar attributes, even if they're not big sellers. Buy a book about camping in Alaska, for instance, and it might suggest a subzero sleeping bag.
CleverSet also tracks how visitors click through a site and makes educated guesses about whether they're browsing, researching, or buying — knowledge it uses to close the sale. So far, the techniques seem to be paying off: CleverSet CEO Todd Humphrey claims that the 75 online retailers using his engine are averaging a 22 percent increase in revenue per visitor.
ChoiceStream uses a similar approach, especially for movies, music, and the like. The company has painstakingly categorized 40,000 films by more than 50 attributes; these allow its system to match movies by genre, actors, plot type, and more. For instance, if you like the movie Babel, it might suggest that you check out Do the Right Thing. At first glance, the Brad Pitt vehicle set in Morocco and the Spike Lee movie set in Brooklyn might not seem to have much in common. But ChoiceStream's engine knows that both are complex, unpredictable, suspenseful, and based on sociopolitical themes; each plot is heavy on character transformation and delivers a twist.
That matchmaking logic can help lead viewers to niche titles they otherwise wouldn't have considered, something that's helped Blockbuster compete with Netflix in online DVD rentals. Since Blockbuster adopted ChoiceStream, cancellation rates have fallen and subscribers have nearly doubled the number of movies on their order lists. "We think the technology is more accurate than anything we have looked at," says Shane Evangelist, general manager of Blockbuster Online.
The discovery market has turned out to be lucrative; many industry insiders think it will eventually be as important as basic search. "Discovery is when you don't know what you are looking for to start, but you know it when you see it," says Paul Martino, CEO of Aggregate Knowledge, which is backed by $25 million from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and DAG Ventures.
Aggregate Knowledge soon will offer cross-site recommendations. Searching a newspaper site for stories about the Valerie Plame CIA leak, for example, can lead you to a site devoted to the old TV series MASH, a send-up of bumbling buffoonery perpetrated in the name of national defense. In the fall, Martino plans to launch a discovery network that will make connections between online media consumption and online buying. "We can make use of your news browsing to make better product recommendations," he says. If that blurs the line between recommendations and advertising, that's fine with Martino. It's one of the ways he plans to make money from the service; product suggestions will become highly targeted ads that consumers will discover without ever typing a search term.
[BOX]
IF YOU LIKE THIS ...
... THEN YOU MIGHT LIKE THIS
What do Brad Pitt and Spike Lee have in common? ChoiceStream matches Babel and Do the Right Thing because each offers suspense, a sociopolitical story line, and a surprising twist.
[BOX]
THE NEW MATCHMAKERS
Amazon suggests items based on what you've bought or browsed before. These startups take a deeper look.
ChoiceStream
Suggests movies, songs, and other products by figuring out which attributes the buyer values
Clients:
Blockbuster, Comcast, iTunes
CleverSet®
Scans product descriptions, prices, and customer ratings to offer up items related in unlikely ways
Clients:
Currently being tested by Drugstore.com, Sephora, and others
Aggregate Knowledge
Uses a supercomputer to find connections between products and consumers, even across multiple sites

Wednesday January 9, 2008

2008-01-08T22:49:00.000-08:00

Workplace Internet abuse expands
Topics:
government employees
government, state
Internet
policy
audits
Internet filtering software
Connecticut
Advanced reading level Reading Level (Lexile): 1420L
Citation format:

July 15, 2007 Connecticut Post (Bridgeport, CT) Section: News
Author: KEN DIXON kdixon@ctpost.com

KEN DIXON kdixon@ctpost.com. "Workplace Internet abuse expands" Connecticut Post (Bridgeport, CT)2007-07-15: .School Library Collection By NewsbankOnline. Infoweb by Newsbank, Inc. January 9, 2008.
HARTFORD - In yet another sign of our increasingly digitized society, Internet use among state employees has doubled over the last three years and, with it, comes the increased potential for abuse.

A recently released review of the Department of Environmental Protection by the state Auditors of Public Accounts found that nearly half the computers tested had visited unauthorized Internet sites during 2004 and 2005.

State software prohibits departmental and agency computers from millions of sites, including adult-content and Internet auctions, although DEP computers didn't get the latest upgrade until last year, according to the state Department of Information Technology.

But DEP computers were routinely found to visit state, national and international newspapers, mail-order merchants such as L.L. Bean, travel sites, automobile manufacturers, private e-mail services and dozens of others.

Nineteen of the 42 DEP employees with Internet access, who were randomly selected among hundreds of employees by state auditors, were found to have viewed out-of-bounds sites.

Amid hundreds of auditor's work pages reviewed by the Connecticut Post, were records of a senior engineer in the DEP's waste-management bureau who visited several Web sites for brides from the former Soviet Union.

The site womenrussia.com was visited 2,062 times; Ukraineloves.com received 761 hits; and honestmarriageagencies.com was visited, via the employee's computer, 279 times during a period of time that was unspecified in the audit reports.

Auditors recommended that the DEP enforce the state's so-called acceptable-use policy, which prohibits employees from using computers for anything but state business.

While this supposed "zero-tolerance" policy on Internet use is the rule, the growing ubiquity of computers at home and the workplace may be giving the more than 53,000 state employees some flexibility to use Internet connections for personal use during breaks and lunch.

Employee union leaders and some state officials believe it's time to rethink ethical issues on personal and work-related uses of state equipment, including what they believe to be an "unrealistic" policy prohibiting any personal use of state computers.

Few state workers have been disciplined for Internet excursions, although in April, Veterans Affairs Commissioner Linda S. Schwartz was reprimanded, the agency's financial manager was fired, and a dozen people in her department were found to have misused state computers.

Nuala F. Whelton, communications director for DOIT, said the acceptable-use rules were last updated in May 2006. "There was an attempt made to make it reasonable," Whelton said. "You need rules to govern state resources for non-governmental purposes and from DOIT's perspective, our concerns in this area are primarily security."

The department provides filters and monitors the use of computers for 576 state departments and agencies, including 18 that joined during the last year.

More than 91 categories of Internet sites are filtered and blocked, including 20 million pornography, social-networking and recreation sites, Whelton said, adding that in the fiscal year that ended on June 30, state software blocked 5.7 million attempted visits to non-business-related sites. In the 57 agencies making up the executive branch, which has about 40,353 employees, there are about 25,000 Internet users, who are subject to DOIT's internal policy.

She said the filters are tailored to the needs of various state departments and that the rewritten policy balanced the needs of the state with the rights of state workers.

She warned that malicious Internet sites could install spy ware in the state's computer system.

State usage of the Internet has increased sharply, from 45 megabytes per second three years ago, to 65 megabytes two years ago and 90 megabytes last year, Whelton said.

"People are using the state web site to unprecedented degree," she said. "Tools to control usage have to be available for security as well as other reasons."

But Robert G. Jaekle, of Stratford, one of the state's two auditors of public accounts who supervised the regularly scheduled staff investigation of the DEP, said last week that the Internet landscape is a lot different now than when usage rules were first developed in 1999.

"If it's fantasy baseball someone's playing on state time that's one thing, but from my perspective, is the use of the Internet for non-business related purposes adversely affecting the performance of the employees?" Jaekle said in an interview.

"If it's on a break, a lunch period, is it that different from reading a novel for 20 minutes or playing your own hand-held video game? To me, it's not," Jaekle said. Jaekle has the feeling that agency officials are evolving away from the specificity of the rules.

"In the scheme of what priorities agencies have to do, I believe it's not a policy that's enforced," Jaekle said.

He recalled that there were similar examples of DEP non-work-related Internet excursions found in the audits of 2002 and 2003, but he couldn't remember similar instances of any other recent audits of state departments and agencies.

Dennis Schain, communications director for the DEP, agreed that although the audit of the department was released on July 3, the 2004 and 2005 period covered was at least a full year before the agency joined the overall state system, with DOIT's more-effective filtering and blocking abilities.

"We adhere to the overall state policy," Schain said. "If there's a need and interest for changes, it's for others to decide."

As for the engineer who surfed the Web for a potential Russian bride, Schain said he's still on the job, but he and others whom auditors found to violate the rules, were warned.

"In the cases where auditors identified improper use, supervisors were informed and were asked to discuss the matter with employees and to make certain they were fully aware of the state policy," Schain said.

Thomas H. Morawetz, who is the Tapping Reeve Professor of Law and Ethics at the UConn Law School, said last week that if workplace productivity is not affected, the supervisors should give employees leeway when it comes to personal use of the Internet during the business day.

"My sense is that it seems more common sense than ethics," he said, adding that the official state policy almost invites the possibility of abuse.

"The line's there, but it's an extremely hard line to draw and impossible to enforce," Morawetz said. Morawetz believes the state policy is outdated and the exact nature of an abuse would have to be defined more clearly in terms of what an employee may be doing on the Internet that is taking them away from their work duties.

"It just doesn't make sense," he said. "Anyone would be vulnerable under those guidelines." The computer is incidental to the issue, he said. "It's about abuse and deception and would have to be measured in terms of something inconsistent with carrying out the overall duties one is employed" to perform, Morawetz said.

He recalled that about 20 years ago, when he was starting out on the law school faculty, there was a telephone policy that not only prevented UConn employees from calling out of their offices on personal business, but they could not even accept calls that were not work-related.

A colleague then wrote a widely circulated memo intimating that - in an age before caller ID - someone would have to be clairvoyant to know whether an incoming call was business-related or not.

He warned that the current regulation of Internet use invites the potential for abuse by supervisors and managers who could ignore indiscretions of favored employees and target others for disciplinary action.

"It's only with computers that these policies seem to make sense because they're complicated and expensive," Morawetz said. "When we have pretty flawed laws like this one, the only way the laws can survive is if the people who enforce them decide not to enforce them or enforce them rarely."

Larry Dorman, spokesman for AFSCME Council 4, which represents 17,000 state employees, said last week there have been occasional disciplinary actions that extend to termination proceedings over alleged computer misuse.

"It's a very difficult and ambiguous issue to confront," Dorman said. "In the end you have to have common sense on the part of the employer and employee."

The union warns members to be careful when it comes to computers and the Internet.

"Ultimately, as advocates of the workers, we remind our members that the computers are owned by the boss, so whatever you're doing can be monitored by the employer," Dorman said. "The 'zero tolerance' approach is totally unrealistic and not reflective of what's going on in today's work place."

"There needs to be flexibility on the part of the employer," Dorman said. "We're certainly examining it from the point of contract negotiations."

But in an age of increasing around-the-clock dependency on technology, iron-clad rules may become as outdated as a dial-up Internet service.

(c) 2007 The Connecticut Post. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Media NewsGroup, Inc. by NewsBank, Inc.
Record Number: 11A6D42ECBA84C78

BBC Article Tuesday January 8 2008

2008-01-07T21:41:00.000-08:00

Please respond with regard to social implications

Yahoo and Mobile Use

Tuesday November 27

2007-11-26T21:15:00.001-08:00

Read and comment.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7108627.stm

PortfolioCover Page Details

2007-11-24T20:29:00.002-08:00

Your Name

Today’s Date

Title of Portfolio

“Article Portfolio is based upon” That Article’s date (after March 1 2007)

Area of Interaction is “Arts, Entertainment and Leisure’

WORD COUNT (MUST BE 900-1000)

Too Much Internet Demand

2007-11-20T22:35:00.001-08:00

1. Look at article on Internet Demand and post comment

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7103426.stm

2. Complete all filming for movie

3. Sunday is last date to hand in portfolio for comments

Tuesday November 20

2007-11-19T21:10:00.000-08:00

Today we will:

1. Read and Post a comment about BBC article on Amazon reader

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7101392.stm

2. Work on Portfolio or Powerpoint Presentation or Movie

Class Readings

2007-09-08T06:57:00.000-07:00

Virtual worlds opened up to all
Virtual worlds open up to blind
Google calls for web privacy laws
Mobile system promises free calls
Mobiles for the 'world's poorest
Gadgets Ruin Films
Facebook Opens Files to Outsiders
Mobile phone technology turns 20

Case Study 2007

2007-05-16T08:16:00.001-07:00

GOOD LUCK

REMEMBER TO MARK YOUR ISSUES:

1) FIRST ISSUE

2) SECOND ISSUE

And skip lines between issues

If they don’t tell you how many issue to discuss ALWAYS discuss 2.

ALWAYS ALWAYS EVALUATE IF THEY ASK YOU>

IT’S WORTH AS MUCH AS THE DESCRIPTION OF THE ISSUE

AN Evaluation is simply a comparison of the the two issues and saying one is better because it’s more feasible or better for society in the long run.

Podcasting is defined in the case study as a method of publishing audio and video programs via the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a feed of new files (usually MP3s). It became popular in late 2004, largely due to automatic downloading of audio on to portable players or personal computers.

A Podcast is simply an audio or video that has been transferred from someone else’s computer to your computer. It can also be transferred to your portable player (ipod). Most podcasts are simply received by clicking a button on the screen that sends it to your computer as a video or audio file. These files are in compressed forms that usually are called mpegs or MP3 for music

The process of creating a podcasts requires a digital camera or microphone. Some sound or video editing software. Transferring the audio or video file to a server and then using the internet to advertise and allow people to download the broadcast. The RSS feature allows individuals to click on a button and automatically subscribe so that every new version of the Podcast is ssent to you.

You can receive podcasts in two ways. You can have them come to your computer itself and will be in an application (for most people Itunes). Or the second way is to have a web based podcatcher where the podcasts are stored remotely but you can access them from any computer through the WEB.

Many people advertise their podcasts in their BLOGS or personal page on the internet that is updated regularly.

Good Examples of PODCASTS:

Education:

Grammar Girl –A weekly short lesson on English usage. Very popular.

Coffee Break Spanish: Some people from Canada with 10 minute Spanish Lessons.

News:

Democracy Now is an alternative news show that has a liberal point of view.

Every News Network BBC, AL Jazeera NBC CBS CNN all have very regular news podcasts

Entertainment: Many Music Podcast: Individual artists to Companies like EMI

Most radio Station have shows that are podcast

When Discussing your experiences, talk about a few of these podcasts.

You also must talk about the visit top the AL Jazera station, as a potential for storing massive amounts of video that could be used for global podcasting since they have offices in 4 countries.

In general discuss how individuals can take an alternative point of view especially in places like China and Africa and make their opinions known, This can have an impact on society.

Globalization is obviously a big issue with everyone being able to share information.

Intellectual Property rights are affected because you have to site your sources for material.

Privacy is a consideration because people can broadcast information about you more easily and you have no way to stop them.

The future of podcasting is that it is predicted to grow because more and more people are getting internet access and are interested in alternative points of view.

Here is an example of last years Paper 3 about hotel management

Answer all the questions.

N06/3/ITGSX/HP3/ENG/TZ0/XX

The following questions refer to the Dissan Hotel case study. Responses should include conclusions and

specific examples from your research and investigation into the case study.

1. Online hotel reservation systems require guests to use credit cards to pay for bookings.

(a) Identify three items of information from a credit card that are generally required by

an online hotel reservation system. [3 marks]

(b) A padlock icon is sometimes displayed at the bottom right of a web browser window

. Explain its significance. [3 marks]

servers is secure, even if someone gains unauthorized access to the system. [3 marks]

2. Hotels such as the Dissan are increasingly attempting to provide Internet connectivity for their guests. This can be achieved by the provision of WiFi.

(a) Define the term WiFi. [1 mark]

(b) Identify two hardware components of a WiFi system other than the user’s computing

hardware. [2 marks]

common problems that guests may experience. [4 marks]

3. Responses to this question should include specific examples from your research and investigation into

the case study.

The following reports can be produced by a hotel management system.

• room occupancy analysis (graphical and totals)

• room service (services ordered by guests in their rooms)

• customer sources (where customers heard about the hotel)

• evening meals (if applicable)

• best customers

• Internet bookings.

(a) choose one of the reports from the list above and explain how data may be captured

for this report. [3 marks]

(b) choose any two of the reports from the list above and discuss how they could help

a hotel increase the profitability of the business. Include conclusions and specific

examples from your own research and investigations. [11 marks]

Good Security Answer for DISCUSS

2007-05-14T06:25:00.001-07:00

Security Issue

One of the ethical issues involved in this situation is security of the information. This issue is very complex and includes how the information is stored, who has access to the information, safeguards for protecting the information from outsiders and even access to information within the organization.

All important digital information must be stored in databases that assure the information will not be lost or used for purposes that were not intended. The first measure is to have reliable computers that keep the integrity of information and that are regularly tested for accuracy. This insures that the information stored is accurate.

This information needs to be kept from outsiders who may wish to illegally acquire it. This can be achieved by having secure firewalls that individuals must pass through by proving that they have access to the information. This is achieved by passwords and biometric sign-ins. This is the first safeguard to information. Another level of protection comes through coding or encrypting the information so that even if it is acquired, it can not easily be used by the wrong persons.

Inside the organization, information is meant for some people but not all individuals. To insure this separation of authority, each individual is assigned to user groups that have different privileges. Some users can see all fields, while others can only see certain fields. An example of this would be at a bank where the teller can see balances, but an officer can see credit history.

Although security is an important issue, there are problems associated with it. Organizations must constantly update equipment, programs and procedures to insure safety. This can be very expensive and time consuming. In addition, all individuals who are responsible for security of data must be educated and trained about new threats and protective policies. Despite the disadvantages, security is of the utmost importance to any organization. If customers cannot feel that information is safeguarded they will not trust a company.

Good Privacy Answer

2007-05-14T06:24:00.001-07:00

Privacy has become a very serious issue in the last few decades. As more and more information about individuals is digitized, there is a need to safeguard access to it. Because information is in digital form, it can be sorted and arranged very easily as well as transferred from computer to computer instantly.

Companies and governments need clear and updated policies regarding the use of databases. Individuals should have the right to know that a database exists, what types of information, and who has access to it. Individuals should also have the right to refuse the sharing of this information with others. Companies can use anonymous grouped information but not specific facts related to a person.

Companies have a responsibility to assure the accuracy of databases. The information needs to be kept up to date and uncorrupted. Safeguards must be in place to back up and check the data on a regular basis. An example of this is with credit information which can change regularly and affect individual’s finances.

Companies should also have a policy about how long information is kept. A suggested limit would be three years. After this time, a company would have to ask permission again from the individual to continue to keep and use the information. AN example of information that changes over time is internet addresses because individuals change organizations and internet service providers every few yeas.

Overall, as databases grow, the need to insure privacy grows. As computer processing speed and power increases, these databases can be put together to provide a very precise picture of an individual. A person’s name or an identification number can link a great deal of private information together that could be dangerous in the wrong hands.

Excellent Glossary Link

2007-05-09T00:06:00.000-07:00

Click on this link to see glossary of technical information

http://www.amersol.edu.pe/hs/technology/itgs/GlossaryofTerms.asp

Answering Paper 2

2007-05-07T23:00:00.000-07:00

Again remember the principals from paper 1

If they ask to describe you must state what you are describing in a clear sentence and THEN PROCEED to state something about the technical use of the issue.

If they ask you to Explain, you must
State the issue and then a scenario or example of what you are talking about.

But When they ask you to Discuss
you must evaluate: It is best to so this by choosing some issues like
GLOBALIZATION EQUALITY OF ACCESS PRIVACY EMPLOYMENT TRAINING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

and then talking about examples and STAKEHOLDERS

If they don't tell you how many social or ethical issues ALWAYS WORK WITH 2(TWO) and then spend a paragraph evaluating the more important of the two

If you want the highest points you need to RAISE THE ISSUE TO A HIGHER DIMENSION by
introducing your opinion and justifying it creatively

Answering Paper 1

2007-05-07T22:50:00.000-07:00

When Asked to Identify: You do not need to use complete sentences but do not use Company names:
Microsoft Word is a "word processing program"
Photoshop is an 'image processing program"
Microsoft Publisher is a "desktop publishing program"
Moviemaker is a "digital media program"

If they ask to describe you must state what you are describing in a clear sentence and THEN PROCEED to state something about the technical use of the issue.

If they ask you to Explain, you must
State the issue and then a scenario or example of what you are talking about.

Use as much space as they give you and write more if room allows lower down on paper.

Training/Employment Answer

2007-05-05T02:19:00.000-07:00

The increase in the use of this technology will inevitably lead to more employment. The history of technology companies in the last 20 years is that simple but useful applications can create thousands of jobs. Examples of this range from small companies that produce one product to larger companies such as Microsoft that employ thousands.

In addition to the increase in employment there is usually an accompanying increase in training in education for these employees which yields more employment. This need for training is usually ongoing and not a single event.

The increase in employment has positive social gains in that it attracts a more educated population to an area to fill these needs. In addition, the resulting benefits include taxable profits which can help a community. Individual employment leads to purchases within a community such as houses and automobiles which help the local economy.

A negative side of the increase in employment in one area may be a loss of employment in another area. This can be compensated for by retraining and education for those who need new jobs. The overall impact of labor changes can be positive if everyone’s concerns are taken into consideration.

To bring this discussion to a higher level it is important to understand that in the history of society no major change is reversible. We cannot go back to an agricultural society or a simple machine based economy. Once an economy moves to a higher level it must find ways to sustain itself. In the case of an information society “training for new jobs” is the most important condition. My analysis of the current situation is that those countries that have the best training approaches will have the best employment and economic conditions.

ITGS Abbreviations

2007-05-04T07:12:00.001-07:00

ITGS Abbreviations

This is a list of ITGS abbreviations used in the course.

AI
Artificial intelligence

ASCII
American Standard Code for Information Exchange

ATM
Automated teller machine

CAD
Computer-aided design

CAI
Computer-aided instruction

CAL
Computer-aided learning

CD
Compact disk

CD-ROM
Compact disk read-only memory

dpi
Dots per inch

DTP
Desktop publishing

DVD
Digital versatile disk

EDI
Electronic data Interchange

EFT
Electronic funds transfer

FTP
File transfer protocol

GB
Gigabyte
GIF Graphic Interchange Format

GUI
Graphical user design
HTML Hypertext Markup Language

HTTP
Hypertext transfer protocol

IP
Internet protocol
JPEG Joint Photographic Expert Group

KB
Kilobyte

LAN
Local area network

MB
Megabyte

MHz
Megahertz

MIDI
Musical instrument digital interface

MP3
MPEG audio layer 3

OCR
Optical character recognition

OMR
Optical mark reader

PDA
Personal digital assistant

PDF
Portable document format

RAM
Random access memory

ROM
Read only memory

RTF
Rich text format

SSL
Secure socket layer

TB
Terabyte

TCP
Transmission control protocol

UPS
Uninterruptible power supply

URL
Uniform resource locator

VPN
Virtual private network

VR
Virtual reality

WAN
Wide area network

WWW
World Wide Web

Section 2

2007-05-04T07:08:00.000-07:00

TGS Section II : IT Systems in a Social Context
2.1 Basics: Hardware and Networks

2.2 Applications

2.3 Communication Systems

2.4 Integrated Systems

________________________________________
2.1 Basics: Hardware and Networks
2.1.1 Systems Fundamentals
Social and ethical issues
Students must study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of IT systems. These may include among others:
• health issues and ergonomics related to the use of hardware
• increase in teleworking and the virtual office,
• password protection, security, biometrics and authorized access
• the economic value of information
• greater dependence of organizations on IT
Knowledge of technology
In order to study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of IT systems, the systems must have an understanding of related technological concepts. These may include among others:
• advantages and disadvantages of analogue and digital data
• key terms like data, information, and hardware.
• operating systems
• responsible computer use
• a responsible and systematic approach to implementing or upgrading IT systems
________________________________________
2.1.2 Networks
Social and ethical issues
Students must study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of networks. These may include among others:
• vulnerability of networks to intrusion
• ability to filter incoming data,
• need for interface standards
• implications of network failures
• need for network use policy
• ability to filter incoming data
Knowledge of technology
In order to study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of networks the student must have an understanding of related technological concepts, such as:
• e-commerce
• security measures
• types of intrusion like viruses and hacking
• encryption and SSL
• key terms like LAN and WAN.
________________________________________
2.2 Applications
2.2.1 Software Fundamentals
Social and ethical issues
Students must study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of software. These may include among others:
• interfaces adapted for the disabled
• bug-free software
• software piracy
• globalization of software
• use of password protection to prevent unauthorized access
Knowledge of technology
In order to study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of software, the student must have an understanding of related technological concepts. These may include among others:
• key terms like software and shareware
• GUI, command-line interface, and voice recognition.
________________________________________
2.2.2 Databases and Spreadsheets
Social and ethical issues
Students must study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of databases and spreadsheets. These may include among others:
• privacy of information in different cultures
• rights of individuals with respect to the storage of personal data,
• ethical issues related to the collection and use of personal data
• ethical issues related to the selling of data stored in databases.
Knowledge of technology
In order to study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of databases, the student must have an understanding of related technological concepts. These include:
• design and creation concepts like updating data
• storage and access concepts such as data mining and data matching
• presentation concepts such as special purpose databases in libraries or encyclopedia systems.
In order to study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of spreadsheets, the student must have an understanding of related technological concepts. These include:
• design and creation concepts like cell, cell format
• storage and access concepts such as data transfer between a data base and a spreadsheet.
• presentation concepts like select print, use of appropriate graph or chart and special purpose spreadsheets
________________________________________
2.2.3 Word Processing and Desktop Publishing
Social and ethical issues
Students must study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of word processing and desktop publishing (DTP), such as:
• social impacts of speech-enabled input / output
• economic effects of DTP on business
• the effects of word processing and DTP on the workplace like job loss.
Knowledge of technology
In order to study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of word processing and desktop publishing, the student must have an understanding of related technological concepts, such as:
• word processing versus page layout
• appropriate use of templates
• effective use of word processing functions
• appropriate use of fonts, white space and line spacing to create output which communicates effectively
________________________________________
2.2.4 Images, Sound and Presentations
Social and ethical issues
Students must study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of images, sound and presentations, These may include among others:
• multimedia, slideshows, virtual reality, games,
• copyright issues
• biased information
• reliability of data
• surveillance and privacy.
Knowledge of technology
In order to study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of images, sound and presentations, the student must have an understanding of related technological concepts. These include:
• design and creation concepts such as data integrity and storage
• storage, processing and access concepts such as file formats, loading time, and portability.
________________________________________
2.2.5 Modeling and Simulations
Social and ethical issues
Students must study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of modeling and simulations such as:
• reliability of predictions based on computer models like in global warming
• security issues involved in military simulations
• social impact of reliance on simulations to examine issues of public policy
Knowledge of technology
In order to study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of modeling and simulations, the student must have an understanding of related technological concepts, such as:
• key terms like model and simulation
• faulty or hidden assumptions
• processing power needed to create complex models
• visualization of information
• correspondence of the model with reality
________________________________________
2.2.6 Tutorials, Training and Wizards (Assistants)
Social and ethical issues
Students must study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of tutorials, training, and wizards, such as:
• balance in responsibility between an individual and an organization for training
• the need for IT companies to consider global and cultural diversity when preparing training and tutorial software
• the requirement of organizations to provide training when implementing change
Knowledge of technology
In order to study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of tutorials, training, and wizards, the student must have an understanding of related technological concepts, such as:
• key terms such as tutorial software, training software, wizards and assistants
• using wizards, assistants and online assistants and web sites.
________________________________________
2.3 Communication Systems
2.3.1 The Internet
Social and ethical issues
Students must study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of the Internet, such as:
• ethical considerations relating to the use of encryption and, to workplace monitoring
• social impact of global viruses and dependence on the Internet
• reliability of the information
• etiquette rules for appropriate behavior when using the Internet
• ethical considerations relating to workplace monitoring
Knowledge of technology
In order to study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of Internet the student must have an understanding of related technological concepts, such as:
• e-mail
• viruses
• global databases
• encryption methods
• features of a web page
• the limiting effect of bandwidth
• means for blocking access to information
________________________________________
2.3.2 Personal and Public Communications
Social and ethical issues
Students must study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of personal and public communications, such as:
• social effects of telecommuting
• effect on the environment of personal communication devices
• social effects of telecommuniting
• social effects of widespread use of teleconferencing and video conferencing
Knowledge of technology
In order to study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of personal and public communications, the student must have an understanding of related technological concepts, such as:
• face-to-face communication versus via technology
• mobile phones and associated services and uses
• personal mobile devices such as laptops and PDA
• key terms
• undetected intrusions into IT systems
top
________________________________________
2.4 Integrated Systems
2.4.1 Robotics
Social and ethical issues
Students must study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of robotics, such as:
• social and economic effects of replacing people with robots in the work place
• ethical decisions regarding the use of robots in situations that endanger human beings
• social impact of human interaction with robots
• reliability of robotic devices
• social impact and ethical considerations regarding the use of robotics in medicine
Knowledge of technology
In order to study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use robotics, the student must have an understanding of related technological concepts, such as:
• key terms
• why robots don't have android human-like forms
• processing power in relation to the capabilities and limitations of robots
• the capabilities and limitations of robots with respect to vision, touch, sound and movement
________________________________________
2.4.2 Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems
Social and Ethical Issues
Students must study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of artificial intelligence and expert systems, such as:
• implications of creative production by computers using AI
• responsibility for the performance of an expert system
• social impact of using smart machines in every day life
• responsibility for the performance of an expert system
Knowledge of technology
In order to study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of artificial intelligence and expert systems, the student must have an understanding of related technological concepts, such as:
• key terms
• storage requirements for AI
• processing requirements for AI
• collection / creation of a knowledge base
• storage requirements for common-sense knowledge
• identifying domains that are suitable for expert systems

Syllabus

2007-05-02T02:22:00.001-07:00

The syllabus contains all the material needed to unserstand the course. The important pafges are included here.

Section 1: social and ethical issues

The widespread use of IT raises questions about social and ethical issues that shape the world today. Students should become familiar with all the social and ethical issues described in this section. Teachers should introduce the social and ethical issues as appropriate using the integrated approach illustrated in the diagram at the beginning of the syllabus details. In this way students can examine social and ethical issues that are raised when IT systems are used in a range of areas. The use of IT is likely to bring both advantages and disadvantages, both costs and benefits, and students should study the impact of IT in a critical way. It is important that examples are drawn from the local, national and global level.

1.1 Reliability
Reliability refers to the operation of hardware, the design of software, the accuracy of data or the correspondence of data with the real world. Data may be unreliable if it is entered incorrectly or if it becomes outdated. For example, a medical record that becomes dissociated from the patient it refers to becomes unreliable. The reliability of machines, software and data determines our confidence in their value.

1.2 Integrity
Integrity refers to correspondence of data with itself, at its creation. Data lacks integrity when it has been changed accidentally or tampered with. For example, a hacker might change driver licence data resulting in arrests of innocent people.

1.3 Security
Security refers to the protection of hardware, software, machines and networks from unauthorized access, alteration or destruction. Security measures include restricted access to machines and networks and encryption of information. The degree of security of information systems determines society’s confidence in the information contained in the systems.

1.4 Privacy and anonymity
Privacy is the ability of individuals and groups to determine for themselves when, how and to what extent information about themselves is shared with others. At its extreme, privacy becomes anonymity, which might be called for in some contexts but is dangerous in others. For example, discussion of a delicate subject might require anonymity, or at least privacy. On the other hand, anonymity could also conceal the perpetrators of criminal, terrorist or computer hacking acts.

1.5 Authenticity
Authenticity means establishing the user’s identity beyond reasonable doubt. Authenticating the user is crucial in many situations, particularly in business and legal matters. A simple example of authentication is user login onto a network. A more advanced example would be the use of encrypted digital signatures in a business transaction.

1.6 Intellectual property
Intellectual property includes ideas, discoveries, writings, works of art, software, collections and presentations of data. Copyrights, trademarks and patents legally protect intellectual property, but easy and accurate duplication methods made available by IT can undermine such protections. On the other hand, the same methods create opportunity for inexpensive dissemination of information.

1.7 Equality of access
IT has the potential to offer universal access to information, regardless of distance, age, race, gender or other personal characteristics. However, the above characteristics, and cost, can also bar individuals or groups from access. For example, while telelearning brings previously unavailable opportunities to everyone’s doorstep, the cost of hardware, software or course fees might place the learning beyond the reach of an average person.

1.8 Control
As an instrument of control, IT improves reliability, accuracy and speed of systems. However, it can also be used to control people. An automatic aircraft landing system provides an example of increased reliability resulting from IT control. Employer surveillance of employees represents a new kind of control imposed on people.

1.9 Globalization and cultural diversity
Globalization means the diminishing importance of geographic, political, economic and cultural boundaries. IT has played a major role in reducing these boundaries. For example, any dramatic event anywhere in the world can be broadcast almost instantly by television or on the Internet. However, there is a fear that easier communication can become a source of cultural homogeneity. The new global village provides a worldwide cultural awareness, but may lead to less diversity.

1.10 Policies and standards
Policies are enforceable measures intended to promote appropriate use. They can be developed by governments, businesses, and private groups or individuals. They normally consist of rules governing access to, or use of, information, hardware and software. For example, a national policy on IT security would need to define what constitutes unlawful access to networks and how to treat transgression. Policies also affect the exchange of information, for example, by making it subject to copyright laws. In general, policies can promote or restrict access, modify behaviour or require the fulfillment of certain conditions prior to or during use.

Standards are social or technical rules and conventions that enable compatibility and therefore facilitate communication or interoperability between different IT systems and their components. They might govern the design and use of hardware, software and information. For example, communication protocols used on the Internet, the ASCII representation for characters, or the design of the printer port on a personal computer are all governed by standards.

1.11 People and machines
The interaction of humans with IT hardware raises all the issues encountered in this section, as well as additional ones such as the following.

• Who controls the design of technology and the pace of its introduction?

• How safe and effective is the design?

• Is technology going to extend human faculties and make work easier and more pleasant, or are machines going to displace humans and lead to mass unemployment?

• Is technology used appropriately, or should a better, possibly non-technological alternative be found?

• Which areas of human endeavour are best served by IT systems?

• Which social and ethical issues arise from a comparison of people and machines in the following areas: stamina, memory, accuracy, speed, analysis, synthesis, judgment, innovation, creativity?

Section 2: IT systems in a social context

In this section neither the social and ethical issues nor the technological concepts listed under knowledge of technology are exhaustive nor is the study of all of them compulsory. They are given as examples only.

Teachers should make a judgment on the level of detail and depth of study that is required to enable students to understand the social and ethical issues that arise in the areas of impact because of the use of information technology.

New technological developments during the lifetime of this syllabus will raise new social and ethical issues that will affect the areas of impact. Teachers should introduce these technological developments and related issues into the course as appropriate, using the integrated approach illustrated in the diagram at the beginning of the syllabus details.

2.1 Basics: hardware and networks

2.1.1 Systems fundamentals
Social and ethical issues
Students must study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of IT systems. These may include:

• the economic value of information

• environmental issues related to the production of computer components and supplies

• environmental issues related to the disposal of obsolete hardware and computer supplies

• health issues and ergonomics related to the use of hardware

• password protection, security, biometrics and authorized access

• issues related to viruses on both stand-alone and network systems

• greater dependence of organizations on IT

• increase in teleworking and the virtual office

• the need for ongoing training and retraining

• the economic and psychological implications of planned IT obsolescence in hardware, software and services, which has been forced on consumers by the IT industry

• organizational policies and standards, for example, e-mail, surveillance and monitoring policies.

© International Baccalaureate Organization 2006 13

Syllabus details

Knowledge of technology
In order to study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of IT systems, the student must have an understanding of related technological concepts. These may include:

• key terms—data, information, hardware components, for example, input devices, output devices, processing, storage, memory (RAM, ROM), MHz, dpi, bit, KB, MB, GB, TB, ASCII, compatibility, OCR, OMR, bar code, baud, verification and validation, encryption/decryption, firewall, virus, Trojan horse, worm, logic bomb, platform, peripheral

• use, advantages and disadvantages of analogue and digital data

• operating systems (multitasking, boot) and utilities, for example, defragment, disk format, virus scan programs

• responsible computer use (for example, regular back-ups, virus checking, security, storage, housekeeping)

• a responsible and systematic approach to implementing or upgrading IT systems, for example, analysis, design, implementation, testing, evaluation, training, policies and standards.

2.1.2 Networks
Social and ethical issues
Students must study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of networks. These may include:

• vulnerability of networks to intrusion

• ability to implement different levels of access

• implications of network failure, for example, banks, transportation, hospitals, schools

• implications of collaboration, groupware and data sharing

• threat of compromising data integrity in shared databases

• additional threats to privacy on a network compared with stand-alone computers

• the need to authenticate information

• intellectual property protection on networks, for example, site licences, file access

• equality of access for different groups and individuals

• ability to monitor users (surveillance); concerns of people regarding monitoring

• ability to filter incoming data

• ability to control personal, business, military, government operations over a wide geographical area

• increased globalization, for example, EFT, EDI, e-commerce

• need for interface standards

• need for network use policy.

Knowledge of technology
In order to study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of networks the student must have an understanding of related technological concepts. These may include:

• key terms—LAN, WAN, client, server, Ethernet, access, access permissions, login, password, firewall, sysadmin, UPS, EDI

• types of intrusion, for example, viruses, hacking, phreaking

• security measures

• network types, for example, Intranet, Internet, VPN

• encryption and SSL

• e-commerce.

2.2 Applications

2.2.1 Software fundamentals
Social and ethical issues
Students must study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of software. These may include:

• bug-free software

• software piracy

• interfaces adapted for the disabled

• language independence of GUIs, making computers accessible to a very wide range of users, including those with special needs, and very small children

• use of password protection to prevent unauthorized access

• globalization of software.

Knowledge of technology
In order to study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of software, the student must have an understanding of related technological concepts. These may include:

• key terms—software (application), shareware, public domain, freeware, commercial software, integrated software, user manual, registration card, serial number, warranty, copyright, licence
(multi-user, single user, site licence), compression/decompression, back-up, back door (trapdoor), upload/download, wizard, template

• GUI, command-line interface, voice recognition.

2.2.2 Databases and spreadsheets
Social and ethical issues
Students must study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of databases and spreadsheets. These may include:

• privacy of information in different cultures

• rights of individuals with respect to the storage of personal data

• social consequences of outdated or incorrect data stored in databases
• social consequences of the release of sensitive data stored in databases

• legislation on access and use of database information in different countries

• responsibility for the security of data stored in databases from different perspectives, for example, the developer, the user and the management of an organization

• accountability for the negative social effects caused by insecure databases

• ethical issues related to the collection and use of personal data

• ethical issues related to the selling of data stored in databases.

Knowledge of technology
In order to study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of databases, the student must have an understanding of related technological concepts. These may include the following.

Design and creation concepts

• Key terms—field, key field, record, search, query, sort, database management system, mail merge

• Flat-file database versus relational database

• Paper files versus electronic files

• Data redundancy and data integrity

• Updating data

Storage and access concepts

• Data transfer between a database and a spreadsheet

• Search and the use of the Boolean operators (AND, OR and NOT)

• Data mining/data matching

Presentation concepts

• Report generation

• Special-purpose databases, for example, personal information managers, encyclopedias, library systems

In order to study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of spreadsheets, the student must have an understanding of related technological concepts. These may include the following.

Design and creation concepts

• Key terms—cell, cell format (number, text, value, function, calculation, date, currency), row, column, label, macro, replicate, template, worksheet, “what if” questions, range, absolute and relative reference

• Paper files versus electronic files

• Reliability and integrity of data

Storage and access concepts

• Data transfer between a database and a spreadsheet

Presentation concepts

• Select, print and display area of a worksheet

• Use of the appropriate graph or chart for the meaningful representation of information

• Special-purpose spreadsheets, for example, inventory, budget

2.2.3 Word processing and desktop publishing
Social and ethical issues
Students must study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of word processing and desktop publishing (DTP). These may include:

• effects of DTP on the right to publish, for example, freedom of the press, free exchange of ideas

• economic effects of DTP on business

• intellectual property issues associated with reproduction and/or transformation of digitized text

• effects of word processing and DTP on the workplace, for example, job loss, deskilling, surveillance

• ergonomics/health impacts of word processing and DTP in the workplace

• social impact of speech-enabled input/output.

Knowledge of technology
In order to study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of word processing and desktop publishing, the student must have an understanding of related technological concepts. These may include:

• key terms—formatting, template, spell check, grammar check, ASCII/unicode, PDF, RTF, text

• word processing versus page layout

• appropriate use of templates

• effective use of word processing functions to streamline production of documents

• use of appropriate fonts, white space and line spacing to create output that communicates effectively.

2.2.4 Images, sound and presentations
Social and ethical issues
Students must study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of images, sound and presentations, for example, multimedia, slideshows, virtual reality, games. These may include:

• intellectual property relating to the copying and modifying of text, images, sound and video (fair use policies)

• copyright issues

• printed versus electronically published information

• health issues related to virtual reality

• multimedia solutions for disabled persons

• multilingual selection possibilities of CD-ROMs and DVD

• surveillance and privacy

• global access to information available on CD-ROMs versus Internet

• use of virtual actors in films

• biased information

• reliability of data

• social and ethical issues related to games.

Knowledge of technology
In order to study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of images, sound and presentations, the student must have an understanding of related technological concepts. These may include the following.

Design and creation concepts

• Key terms—animation, bit-map versus vector graphics, object-oriented, clip art, CAD, hypermedia, hypertext, pixel, resolution, MP3, MIDI, morph

• Data integrity

• Consistency in design elements

• Use of appropriate fonts, sound, images, video to convey a specific message

Storage, processing and access concepts

• File formats, for example, storage requirements, loading time, portability

• Sound, image and video capture and editing

• Updating and combining sounds or images at a later point in time to create a new work of art

2.2.5 Modelling and simulations
Social and ethical issues
Students must study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of modelling and simulations. These may include:

• reliability of predictions based on computer models, for example, weather, global warming

• economic effects of the use of models to design and test new products

• security issues involved in military simulations

• social impact of reliance on simulations to examine issues of public policy

• responsibility of the designer for accuracy of assumptions underlying the model

• ethical considerations involved in deciding when to use models or simulations to ensure human safety.

Knowledge of technology
In order to study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of modelling and simulations, the student must have an understanding of related technological concepts. These may include:

• key terms—model, simulation, feedback loop

• faulty or hidden assumptions

• extent and effect of the simplification of reality

• extent to which the phenomenon being modelled is understood

• processing power needed to create complex models

• visualization of information

• correspondence of the model with reality.

2.2.6 Tutorials, training and wizards (assistants)
Social and ethical issues
Students must study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of tutorials, training and wizards. These may include:

• the balance in responsibility between an individual and an organization for training

• the need for IT companies to consider global and cultural diversity when preparing training and tutorial software

• the requirement of organizations to provide training when implementing change.

Knowledge of technology
In order to study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of tutorials, training and wizards, the student must have an understanding of related technological concepts. These may include:

• key terms—tutorial software, training software, wizards and assistants, help menu and help features,
“Read Me” files

• using wizards, assistants and online assistants in the design and creation of a product, for example, desktop-published documents, slideshows, web sites.

2.3 Communication systems

2.3.1 The Internet
Social and ethical issues
Students must study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of the Internet. These may include:

• reliability and authenticity of information

• social consequences of addiction to the Internet

• social impact of global viruses

• social impact of dependence on the Internet

• etiquette rules for appropriate behaviour when using the Internet

• social impact of the domination of English as the main web language

• social impact of theft of identity through the Internet

• social impact of open access to unsuitable material on the Internet

• ethical issues related to misuse of the Internet, for example, spamming

• ethical considerations of IT-rich versus IT-poor nations as a result of differing access

• ethical considerations relating to the use of encryption

• ethical considerations relating to workplace monitoring.

Knowledge of technology
In order to study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of the Internet, the student must have an understanding of related technological concepts. These may include:

• key terms—Internet protocols, for example, HTTP, FTP, TCP/IP, cookies, listserv, web cam, Internet languages, netiquette, Intranet, URL, hyperlink, bandwidth, WWW, browser, search engine, e-mail

• means for blocking access to information

• features of a web browser

• comparison of Internet and Intranet

• encryption methods

• the limiting effect of bandwidth

• e-mail

• viruses

• features of a web page

• global databases

• online services, e-commerce, banking, health, libraries

• use of appropriate search engines.

2.3.2 Personal and public communications
Social and ethical issues
Students must study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of personal and public communications. These may include:

• the psychological consequences of people being in permanent contact

• ethical considerations of control as the result of using communications technologies

• social impact on health of the use of mobile devices

• effect on personal productivity of personal communications devices

• effect on the environment of personal communications devices

• social effects of telecommuting

• social effects of the widespread use of teleconferencing and videoconferencing

• social and environmental impact and ethical considerations of telecommuting

• social impact and ethical considerations of: distance learning, digital entertainment, global media and public information systems.

Knowledge of technology
In order to study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of personal and public communications, the student must have an understanding of related technological concepts. These may include:

• key terms—convergence, teleconferencing, videoconferencing, telecommuting, digital television, push–pull technologies

• mobile phone and associated services and uses

• digital entertainment versus live entertainment

• contents of digital entertainment, for example, violence, pornography and realism

• features of telecommuting, for example, environmental aspects, flexibility, productivity, business and social relationships

• face-to-face communications versus communications via technology

• minimum requirements to enable realistic teleconferencing and videoconferencing

• undetected intrusions into IT systems, for example, phone tapping

• personal mobile devices, for example, PDA, laptop

• emerging technologies as the result of convergence of computers and communications technology

• public information systems, for example, traffic control, security camera systems, public transfer information systems.

2.4 Integrated systems

2.4.1 Robotics
Social and ethical issues
Students must study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of robotics. These may include:

• social and economic effects of replacing people with robots in the workplace

• ethical decisions regarding the use of robots in situations that might endanger human beings

• social impact of human interaction with robots, for example, artificial pets, robots for the disabled and elderly

• social impact and ethical considerations regarding the use of robotics in medicine, for example, robotic surgery, computer-controlled prostheses

• reliability of robotic devices, particularly in life-threatening situations.

Knowledge of technology
In order to study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of robotics, the student must have an understanding of related technological concepts. These may include:

• key terms—robot, android, cyborg, sensors

• determining situations in which it is more appropriate to use a robot than a human being

• types of input/output peripherals used in various situations, for example, arms, fingers, voice, wheels

• reasons why robots are/are not designed as androids with human-like form

• the capabilities and limitations of robots with respect to vision, touch, sound and movement

• processing power in relation to the capabilities and limitations of robots.

2.4.2 Artificial intelligence and expert systems
Social and ethical issues
Students must study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of artificial intelligence
(AI) and expert systems. These may include:

• responsibility for the performance of an expert system—knowledge engineer, informant, programmer, company that sold it, the buyer/consumer

• value of the development of AI as a field, for example, whether it is an appropriate place to put economic resources

• ethical issues of various applications of AI, for example, replacement of human workers, handing decision-making tasks to a computer

• social impact of the use of “smart” machines on everyday life

• ethical issues related to military applications of AI, for example, smart weapons, reconnaissance, decision making

• implications of creative production by computers using AI, for example, Aaron, an expert system, creates visual art

• access to the knowledge base underlying an inference engine in an expert system, for example, whether people affected by decisions made using an expert system should have access to the rules by which the decision was made.

Knowledge of technology
In order to study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of AI and expert systems, the student must have an understanding of related technological concepts. These may include:

• key terms—AI, Turing test, parallel processing, machine learning, natural language, common-sense knowledge, agent, pattern recognition, expert system, knowledge base, inference engine, heuristics, fuzzy logic, knowledge engineer, domain

• storage requirements for common-sense knowledge

• processing requirements for AI

• collection/creation of a knowledge base

• creation of an inference engine (for example, if/then rules, fuzzy logic)

• identifying domains that are suitable for expert systems.

Section 3: areas of impact

Students at SL are required to study part A and a minimum of two other areas of impact chosen from part B. Students at HL are required to study all six areas of impact.

The use of real-life situations based on current issues is recommended as an appropriate vehicle for the study of the areas of impact. The topics given under each area are provided as examples only. Teachers should use any relevant topics that integrate the areas of impact with social and ethical issues (section 1) and IT systems in a social context (section 2) as illustrated in the diagram at the beginning of the syllabus details. It is important that examples are drawn from the local, national and global level.

Part A

The study of this area of impact is compulsory for all students.

3.1 Business and employment

• Transportation: reservation systems, luggage processing, navigation, scheduling and distribution, traffic simulation, smart roads and cars, fuel efficiency and traffic safety systems

• Employment: electronic employee monitoring, telecommuting, ergonomics and health, job obsolescence and retraining, online job search, employee surveillance

• Banking and finance: EFT, ATMs, Internet banking and brokerage, electronic cash, insurance

• International commerce: management of transnational corporations, business concentration

• E-commerce: teleshopping, online marketing, data mining, spyware

• Retailing, advertising, media

Part B

Students at SL are required to study a minimum of two of the following areas of impact. Students at HL
are required to study all five of the following areas of impact.

3.2 Education

• Telelearning: isolated and remote areas; use in hospitals, prisons, retirement homes

• Modification of hardware and software for special needs: voice recognition software, text-to-speech, special input and output devices, Internet resources

• Software in the classroom: science experiments, social studies modelling and simulation, instructional tools and media, computer-aided instruction, computer-aided learning

• School library systems: catalogues, security systems, online research

• Hardware in the classroom: laptops, notebooks, teleconferencing

• Software in school administration: record keeping, scheduling, Intranets, public information

• Training, tutorials, simulators

3.3 Health

• Telemedicine: service delivery to isolated and remote areas

• Electronic health records: privacy, data analysis, public health

• Diagnostic and therapeutic tools: robotic surgery, prosthetic devices, diagnostic software, drug development and marketing

• Medical advice on the Internet or a CD-ROM

• Monitoring patients

• IT solutions for disabled people

3.4 Arts, entertainment and leisure

• Digital art: electronic music, interactive visual art, desktop publishing

• Film: digital actor simulations, characters and animation

• Live arts: digital effects, choreography, lighting, marketing

• New media: DVD, CD, VR, stereolithography

• Broadcast media: digital radio and television, electronic news, magazines and books

• Toys and games: CD or online games, online gambling

3.5 Science and the environment

• Modelling and simulation: digital experimentation, demographic and environmental simulation

• Visualization: mapping

• Data search, collection, processing and analysis

• Forecasting

• Data logging

3.6 Politics and government

• Political process: voting and elections, lobbying, open government and free movement of information

• Government administration: record keeping, tax collection, policy implementation

• Legislation: policy development, enactment, enforcement and analysis

• Police: DNA data collection, video surveillance

• Military: cyberwarfare, smart weapons development, espionage

• Rebel and terrorist use of IT

Introduction

2007-05-02T01:21:00.000-07:00

This blog is created to help Qatar Academy ITGS students prepare for their final exams.
http://www.google.com