Mohammed AL-Qubtan

Monday 7 April 2014

The Digital Devide

The Digital Divide

Define Digital Divide.

A) Digital Divide is a gap between those who use the ICT in their life and those who doesn't. In another word, its Information Literacy.

Those people maybe cant afford to buy a hardware, or don't have the enough knowledge to use it.

Identify the main effects of digital divide on society.

A) The society that have no ICT skills cant use the tremendous amount of information in the web to educate people. People cant use the positive impact of ICT to explore in the web.

The lack of ICT unable a society to compete to a developed one, thus falling behind in economic standers which lead to low income for the society. This lead to some living issues such as: Hunger and poorness.

On the other hand, societies that have internet access and impressive ICT skills are controlling the world. The use of e-commerce and e-banks are making the people life much easier and enjoyable. They have enough time to develop more and more and expand the digital gap significantly.

Explain a real case study on bridging the digital divide gap.

A) The bridging of digital divide gap took place in Uganda.

A group of people installed a Question Box to places where no internet access was there and connected that question box to someone with internet access to answer different type of question about health, farming, fishing and more. The system was efficient, easy to use and helpful.It was like an Expert System.

People benefited a lot from it. For example, some farmers were having a diseases issue in their bananas. That disease was spreading in all the bananas destroying the crop, which was the only food sources for the farmers and their families. Fortunately, after using the question box and asking experts about the problem, they solved the problem by eradicating virus in the bananas, therefore saving life of many families.

References:

1- http://www.dividedbytechnology.co.uk/impacts.html

2- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_divide

3- http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2014/jan/24/digital-divide-access-to-information-africa

Monday 24 February 2014

Impact of ICT

This is a report on how ICT affected a person in his life.

He claims that ICT changed his life in both negative and positive way. "  Technology may have improved but people and society has not. New devices create new challenges but also risks ", he said.
Copyright © 2014 by Mohammed AL-Qubtan

It also seems to him that ICT made his social connection pretty easy by the inventing of E-mails and mobline phones.

He says that his life depends on ICT. In home, collage and also his future. He thinks that his career needs technology. " My everyday life uses technology in some form, it can’t be stopped. " he said.
Copyright © 2014 by Mohammed AL-Qubtan

He also had a case study on an old woman. It has clear that technology changed her life. It entertained her more that people. "   old people today are still being amazing at the simplest technology we have such as pausing live TV with the remote. " He said.

Reference: http://halesowen94.blogspot.com/2011/12/how-ict-has-changed-my-life.html

Copyright © 2014 by Mohammed AL-Qubtan

Sunday 23 February 2014

Online Services and Health and Safety

1- Identify the main health issues.

A) Eye Strain: This is caused by looking at a monitor which is a constant distance away. The muscles that focus your eyes do not move, and so get tired and painful. Eye-strain can also cause headaches.

This problem can be solved:

1- Look away from the monitor at regular intervals – re-focus on distant or close objects to exercise the muscles in the eye.

2- Take regular breaks.

B) Carpal tunnel syndrome: Carpal tunnel syndrome is a progressively painful hand and arm condition caused by a pinched nerve in your wrist.

Solution: Your health care provider may suggest the following:

1- Wearing a splint at night for several weeks. If this does not help, you may need to wear the splint during the day as well.

2- Avoid sleeping on your wrists.

3- Placing warm and cold compresses on the affected area.

C) Back and Neck Ache: This is usually due to having a bad sitting posture.

Solution:

1- Use an adjustable, ergonomic chair, and take the time to set it up properly.

2- The computer keyboard and monitor should be at the correct height for the seated person (keyboard lower than the elbow, top of monitor at eye level).

3- Take regular breaks: get up, walk around, stretch your muscles.

2- Identify the main safety issues.

A) Trailing cables: Connecting lots of wires in one cable, which is placed in wrong places, example: Front the door.

Solution: Place cables inside cable ducts, or under the carpet / flooring.

B) Over loaded power sockets: When too many power cables are plugged in one socket, it may get overloaded and cause electric shocks and fire.

Solution: Simple avoid plugging to many cables in one socket.

Copyright © 2014 by Mohammed AL-Qubtan

References:
1- http://www.igcseict.info/theory/6/health/
2- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-induced_medical_problems

Monday 17 February 2014

Online services and Security and privacy of data

Identify the main security aspects in the below categories:

1- Need to protect confidentially of data.

Its mean that information should only be seen by those people who are authorized to see it.
Encryption is ICT technique used that confidentiality of data in online systems.
Ordinary data is converted into a secret code and it requires a secret key to decrypt it.

Copyright © 2014 by Mohammed AL-Qubtan

2- Shop security.

User and payment data are encrypted when they are transferred using the Internet.
They are Two types of Key:
1- Public Key: Its a key used to sent massages to everybody.
2- Private Key: Its a key given to an individual person to decryt the encrypted massage sent to him by the Public key.

3- Online Banking.

1- Transaction numbers ( TANs ) : Passwords which are used once.

2- The bank asks the uses to type some parts of his password, so the hacker cannot get the whole password.

3- Providing the customer with a handheld chip and PIN device which generate single-use passwords.

Copyright © 2014 by Mohammed AL-Qubtan

4- Online shopping.

1- Use the Encryption techniques.

2- Use the (Https) secure prefix to their URL to ensure to the customers that they are using a secure online store.

3- Using the Protocols: SSL and TLS in encrypting a massage between a client computer and a server.

References: Apllied ICT book

Copyright © 2014 by Mohammed AL-Qubtan

Data security & Legal issues

Q1- What is the Data Protection Act ?

A1) The Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) is a United Kingdom Act of Parliament which defines UK law on the processing of data on identifiable living people.

Q2- What is Information Commissioner?

A2) It is a title given to a government regulator in the fields of freedom of information and the protection of personal data in the widest sense. The office often functions as a specialist ombudsman service.

(( An ombudsman or public advocate is usually appointed by the government or by parliament, but with a significant degree of independence, who is charged with representing the interests of the public by investigating and addressing complaints of maladministration or violation of rights )).

Q3- What is the data controller?

A3) Its a party who, according to domestic law, is competent to decide about the contents and use of personal data, regardless of whether or not such data is collected, stored, processed, or disseminated by that party or by an agent on its behalf.

Q4- Who are the data subject?

A4) A data subject is an identified or identifiable person to whom the personal data relate, or an individual who is the subject of personal data.

Q5- Who are the data users?

A5) The data users are people which are responsible of a data and only have the rights to use it.

Q6- What is personal data?

A6) Personal data is any recorded information about an identifiable individual, such as a person's religion, age, financial transactions, medical history, address, or blood type. The term includes both identifying personal information and non-identifying personal information.

The Eight points of the Data Protection Act:

1- Personal data shall be processed fairly and lawfully.

2- Personal data shall be obtained only for one or more specified and lawful purposes, and shall not be further processed in any manner incompatible with that purpose or those purposes.

3- Personal data shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purpose or purposes for which they are processed.

4- Personal data shall be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date.

5- Personal data processed for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes.

6- About the rights of individuals e.g. personal data shall be processed in accordance with the rights of data subjects (individuals).

7- Appropriate technical and organisational measures shall be taken against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal data.

8- Personal data shall not be transferred to a country or territory outside the European Economic Area unless that country or territory ensures an adequate level of protection for the rights and freedoms of data subjects in relation to the processing of personal data.

References:
1- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Protection_Act_1998

2- http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/business-english/information-commissioner

Sunday 16 February 2014

Online services

Online Services

1- Define online services.

A) Its using the Internet to provide services for its users.

There are three main areas for online services:

1- Paying to organisations for the provided services.

2- Online shopping

3- Online banking

2- Describe the effects of them on society.

Advantages:

1- It makes the bank transaction easier.

2- Online stores are usually available 24 hours per a day.

3- Helps the disabled people, for example, they dont need to go to a certain shop to buy a PC.

Disadvantages:

1- It makes people lazy to work and move.

2- If there is any security problems, the buyer credit card information could get stolen.

3- The business only work via internet, so if it goes down, it will stop.

Wednesday 12 February 2014

How does online shopping operate

Home-Work

Q1) Draw a flowchart and explain to represent the online shopping process.
From e-bay:

A) Explanation:

1- Purchasing goods:

There are four main steps for purchasing goods:

A- Decide which online shop to use:

The most important thing is to choose a trusted website which sells what you need.

B- Browsing product categories:

Choose the category that you want. For example if you wanna a computer, click on " Electronics "

C- Using the virtual shopping basket:

He can record or keep all his wanted items in the basket or cart, and he can add or remove from it too.

When the customer finishes, he goes to check-out stage.

D- Going to check out:

He has to register and then choose the method of payment.

Then he choose how the goods will be delivered and confirm the order.

The Flow chart :