Information Technology determines contemporary Social Change - Essay Example

Information Technology determines contemporary Social Change. Any technology aimed at providing updated information is referred to as ‘Information Technology’ (IT). Therefore in this context the best example of technology that establishes social change is ‘Internet’. Although the impact Internet has had on today’s society is hard to determine, but its influence can be easily visualised in various forms, through which it exists like telecommunications (TC), mailing systems like voice mail, electronic mail (e-mail), instant messaging, public network services etc. New technological advances have made clear that IT has inevitably changed people’s perceptions all over the world to understand reality and thereby creating opportunities to change that reality. IT has made it possible through voice mail to leave, receive and store verbal, messages for and from people all around the world. E-mail and instant messaging is also an effective way to communicate by sending and receiving messages. An optimistic view of this is that information technology promotes communication between people and must therefore help to spread social and international understanding. People who are thousands of miles apart, either literally or socially speaking, can communicate through ‘chat’ groups, bulletin boards or e-mail; they can obtain information on different ways of life through World Wide Web sites and even experience the ‘virtual reality’ of other ways of life through interactive programs. More efficient production using IT creates more wealth, which can be shared amongst all the groups concerned. It can thus be argued that the technology has a built-in bias in favour of reducing social and economic divisions. (Tansey, 2002, p. 214) Perrons (2004) holds the opinion that technology develops within specific sets of economic and social arrangements and technological possibilities are not realised automatically, that is social change does not automatically follow technology. Indeed the technology underpinning existed and was being implemented in the 1920s, but sustained accumulation did not follow. Changes were necessary in the prevailing mode of regulation, that is in the institutional arrangements within which individual and social reproduction takes place. (Perrons, 2004, p. 131) Perrons (2004) further states that the precise effects of e-commerce on economic and social development are contingent, varied and rapidly changing and therefore need to be explored empirically. The same processes or technologies that allow small firms access to world markets, which may enhance local development, simultaneously give peripheral consumers access to firms in the centre thereby facilitating the development of ‘superstar’ firms, and in turn potentially promote superstar regions. (Perrons, 2004, p. 180) In a broader spectrum IT helps telecommunications (TC) and networks to constantly implement to support organisational goals. Stair & Reynolds while providing an IT implementation example explains: suppose a business needs to develop an accurate monthly production forecast. Doing so requires a manger to download data from customers’ databases of sales forecasts. TC can provide a network link so that the manager can access the data needed for the production forecast report, which in turn supports the company’s objectives of better financial planning. (Stair & Reynolds, 2001, p. 146) The more individuals and organisations grasp the nature of the technology and its possibilities, the greater the probability they can influence the direction of change. A modest hope is that increased communication and a greater pooling of information should in the long run make it easier for people, organisations and states to reach, if not a consensus on what should be done, at least informed compromises on how to live together. (Tansey, 2002, p. 214) Presently, IT has enabled our social system to confront with social change in the following matters: Internet has enabled to understand and implement the concept of real-world systems in management, enterprise, industrial and social sectors, thereby creating more and more job opportunities. A new concept of work at home jobs has been emerged for those individuals who want to work independently in order to balance their home and work life. It is easy to understand the components of complex systems, including the interactions between components. (Tansey, 2002, p. 14) It is easy to assess feedback and feed-forward in a system description, through online assessment. Computerised systems has made it possible to determine systems to be represented by a variety of models and to what extent the choice of a model type depends on the reasons for producing a system model. (Tansey, 2002, p. 14) Computerised systems has set up boundaries to identify between ‘real’ and ‘virtual’ applications in such a way that viable systems have been identified. Computerised system has produced models that are sufficiently general to have possible applications beyond the original domain of system study. (Tansey, 2002, p. 14) Agreeing the scope of a real-world situation of concern and agreeing a course of action to produce an improvement Internet has enabled to influence the real world through videoconferencing, which enables people to attend a live conference by combining voice, video and audio transmission. Through this effort not only travel expenses and time reduced, but managerial effectiveness is also increased through faster response to problems, access to more people and less duplication of effort. Many businesses find that the document and application sharing features of the videoconference enhance group productivity and efficiency. Today many banks are using videoconferencing and benefiting from the social change IT has driven. (Stair & Reynolds, 2001, p. 148) One aspect of the impact of IT on communities, which raises some controversial issues, is the extent to which it can be seen as promoting or reducing existing divisions in society. These include economic divisions between rich and poor and social divisions between genders, ethnic groups (e.g. people of different national origins or religion) and races. Internet and technology has enabled families irrespective of cultural or racial influences to adopt changing lifestyle in work relations and management that have also altered the perception of families, the way thay consider themselves. (Tech2006) “An example of this is the usage of telecommunication devices, such devices are utilised by families to coordinate concerns and activities, that means IT has disseminated family roles irrespective of gender concern”. (Tech2006) IT is still on its way to modify the current global and social trends and in order to utilise the best of technological capabilities there is a need to examine international policies of IT at regional levels. (SSRC, 2006) References Perrons Diane, (2004) Globalisation and Social Change: People and Places in a Divided World: Routledge: London Stair M. Ralph & Reynolds W. George, (2001) Fundamentals of Information Systems Tansey D. Stephen, (2002) Business, Information Technology and Society: Routledge: New York. Tech2006 Accessed from SSRC, 2006 Accessed from Read More