How ICT Technology Supports Individuals, Business and Legal Data - Case Study Example

Report On The Current Status Of ICT Hardware and Software Affiliation Table of Contents Introduction………………………………..........................................................Page 3 Current Scope Of ICT Hardware and Software………………………………...Page 3 How Modern ICT Technology Assists Individuals…………………………….Page 4 How ICT Technology Supports Business and Legal Data……………………..Page 5 Conclusions………………………………..........................................................Page 6 References………………………………............................................................Page 7 Introduction This Overview sets out to do three things. Firstly, illustrate the scope of hardware and software currently in use and the technological advances taking place. Secondly, to provide an illustration, by reference to the Millennium Development Goals, how the nature of computer systems assists individuals effectively to undertake their responsibilities both personally and within business contexts. Thirdly, through the citation of the concepts of Cloud Computing and Big Data, the identification of the nature of business systems and legal data which are supported by computers and the development of networking and communication. Current Scope Of ICT Hardware and Software An excellent overview of the current state of development is found within Anon [Anon. n.d. ICT For Sustainable Development : Defining A Global Research Agenda. Information and Communications Technology Overview. [Online] Available : http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rtongia/ICT4SD_Ch_2--ICT.pdf]. Thus document states that ICT currently accounts for approximately 6.6% of accumulated world gross domestic product, and also makes the point that, despite what one might read in the broadcast media, developing countries in general are fully abreast the ‘richer’ countries in ICT adoption, One might almost say that, not having an existing infrastructure to replace, developing countries, particularly African ones are able to simply implement., for example, mobile telephony immediately, without having to worry about existing landlines. The document also makes the fundamental point that ICT is so much more than computers, the internet and telephony. ICT falls into two main areas. The first is those applications that rely upon traditional data communications channels (even the internet!) and which also are reliant upon the human recipient to receive, collate and interpret that information. However, this first, one might say, traditional area of applications is now being superseded by the second, which is built around what the document calls Human Independence, where information is received, collated and processed according to a series of rules that have been previous defined in the manner of a Structured Query Language (SQL) database query. An obvious example of this is intelligent environment control systems that keep the temperature, humidity and air circulation in large office buildings within pre-defined limits without further human intervention. That said, the outstanding engineering problem in the future will be how to integrate ICT applications of both types into a seamless whole that will solve the stated ‘pains’ without vast amounts of skilled and relatively (despite the best efforts of the world’s educators!) ICT practitioners. In view of the continually and dramatically increasing number of such fundamental problems that must be solved, it is vital to recognise that technology, in both terms of hardware, such as generic laptop and tablet computers, right down to entry-level machines such as the Raspberry Pi, and freely and even cheaply (such as the LINUX operating system and open-source user applications) software, that practitioners at all levels must adopt what is known in the ICT arena as a Black Box approach, where a piece of hardware and it’s associated software are simply regarded s the chosen means of solving a particular problem, rather than a piece of technology as such. As things stand, it is very hard to define the current scope of ICT hardware and software, as new developments on both fields, right down even into the very materials processors are made of, and the new generation of particularly Asian software engineers are finding new and more elegant ways of solving business and personal problems on an almost daily basis. How Modern ICT Technology Assists Individuals The best way of summarising [Anon - Page 3] this is to consider ICT in terms of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - which apply to First World countries such as Britain at least as much as to what have been traditionally been regarded as ‘developing countries‘. To begin with ICT helps in the achievement of the Poverty Eradication MDG by facilitating market access and competitiveness and in reducing transaction costs for industrial and agricultural enterprises at all levels. It also serves to increase the participating in the global economy of all economies - or at least those countries whose industrial and economic policies are oriented towards exports rather than internal consumption! ICT, when constructively used(!) greatly facilitates the educational process by improving the training of teachers, particularly on a distance learning basis (particularly relevant to Britain’s more remote communities!) and in increasing the efficiencies, in terms of both function and performance of the administrative and policy-making processes within education ministries. Another educational area where modern ICT helps the population in general is the stated MDG of increasing the overall educational level of young women in particular. This MDG is usually associated with developing countries, but applies with equal force within Britain. It is only too apparent that the educational level of young women is quite inadequate in all areas - which seems to be a relatively recent phenomenon! For example, the National Railway Museum holds several hundred photographs (prints of which may be purchased by Gender Studies researchers) taken by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway towards the end of the Great War, recording the achievements of the Company’s women employees during the conflict. To see images of women running railway stations repairing railway wagons and working in the Horwich works paint-shop is really quite impressive, and certainly puts the efforts of modern feminists to shame! A particular intriguing example is Mrs. Martha Ormerod and her chain of coal yards and 300 railway wagons! As more men left for War Service, the women took over the railway station coal-yards as well, especially at the smaller locations on the L&YR network. Modern medical ICT plays a key role in the MDG aimed at improving general public health. ICT now plays (despite what one reads in the British press!) in maintaining patient records, developing and administering medical treatments (the subject for a study in itself!) and in disease prevention - AIDS is the example usually quoted, but TB is equally important, on the author’s opinion. Particularly given recent flooding events in Britain, foe example, modern ICT has a manor role to play in environmental sustainability. For example, remote sensing networks permit much more effective monitoring, resource management and mitigation of environmental risks. Modern ICT also helps in increasing both awareness of and access to sustainable environmental development strategies, particularly in water management and in the development of much more effective sanitation strategies. Modern ICT also greatly improves the transparency and monitoring (and hence compliance with) environmental regulations and also greatly increases the ability of decision makers and advocates al all levels to exchange information, both in terms of quantity and quality. How ICT Technology Supports Business and Legal Data Two overall ICT concepts current stand out regarding the support modern ICT gives to business and legal data : Cloud Computing and Big Data. Cloud Computing, devoid of all the sales jargon, involves holding the vast amounts of data that modern business and legal enterprises have generated and continue to generate in specialist Data Centres. Enterprises enjoy access to their data held at such centres - which is what all the jargon about Cloud Computing is all about! - and are able to access, collate and interpret this data by a process commonly called Data Mining, which is basically a fancy name for activating stored SQL procedures that reflect the requirements of the enterprise at that particular moment. In marketing their Cloud Computing products, the major vendors and Data Centre operators are basically selling is the benefit of allow an enterprise to hold, access collate and interpret it’s data far more effectively than that enterprise could do by their own efforts. This is particularly important for SMEs that cannot afford their own dedicated data Centres. Big Data is essentially another jargon term for the vast amounts of badly, if at all, structured data that enterprises have generated and continue to generate. The Big Data concept, as marketed by the major software suppliers - caveat emptor! - is to emphasise the truism that no single enterprise can hope to make sense, without professional, help(!), of the data they have amassed. Imposing some sort of structure on all this mass of data takes place in two stages : firstly, by use of what is called a mapping algorithm, which essentially generates a ‘road map’, if you like, on how the mass of data is arranged. The second stage is to use what is commonly called a column-based relational database management system (RDBMS). This works on similar principles to the commonly-available RDBMS products such as Oracle and Sybase, but is tailored to work with the mapping algorithm products marketed by the same manufacturer and is oriented towards working with large amounts of unstructured data. With their Big Data products, what the major software vendors is selling is essentially greatly improved access, collation and interpretation of an enterprise’s data. Conclusions These seem to be threefold. Firstly, the scope and variety of both hardware and software continues to increase almost daily, not so much in the power of individual products, but in the number of specialised products and the eas in which ther may be linked together. Secondly, modern ICT assists individuals particularly through, for example, the Millennium Development Goals, which, although they are usually taken to apply to developing countries, ally with at least as much force in relatively advanced and wealthy countries such as Britain. Thirdly, advances in ICT components and networking technology allow the successful implementation of the concepts of Cloud Computing and Big Data, which are essentially marketing expressions of the data storage, access, collation and interpretation that have plagued enterprises (banking is an excellent example) since at least the late 1970s. Overall, modern ICT has provided the solutions - it is now up to humanity to provide the questions! Reference Anon. n.d. ICT For Sustainable Development : Defining A Global Research Agenda. Information and Communications Technology Overview. [Online] Available : http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rtongia/ICT4SD_Ch_2--ICT.pdf Further Reading Levi Obijiofor, Sohail Inayatullah, Tony Stevenson. n.d. Impact of New Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) on Socio-economic and Educational Development of Africa and the Asia-Pacific : Private. A Pilot Study. [Online] Available : http://www.metafuture.org/Articles/icts.htm Anon. [June 2010]. ICT policies, programmes and research priorities in the 10 ASEAN countries. Supported by the European Commission and the ASEAN Secretariat. [Online]. Available : http://eurosoutheastasia-ict.org/files/2010/03/ICT_policies-programmes_priorities_SEA.pdf. The Gender Studies references were taken from:- Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Miscellany Noel Coates OPC 1983 ISBN 086093 188 9 [Plate 170 - young woman repairing railway wagon] Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Miscellany 2 Noel Coates Enanar Publications June 2006 ISBN 0 9553233 0 4 [Plates 249, 250, 251, 318] Read More