Personal, Business, and Economic Applications of Technology - Research Paper Example

Fair Usage of Technology Affiliation INTRODUCTION What is fair use of technology? In what ways can humans make use of the technology at their disposal with care and responsibility as priorities? Although research indicates that humans require to be as efficient in their daily activities as possible, the level of efficiency is measured on how resources available to humans are used and applied in developing a rather sustainable lifestyle. From school to work, the technology exists in the simplest form such as the use of Smartboards in classrooms to the application of information systems within the corporate sector. On a daily basis, technology is applied to ensure that personal lives can be improved through the use of health-related technological inventions such as health care technologies as well as faster means of completing complex tasks. Computing systems have evolved to pave the way for innovations aimed at ensuring an increase in productivity at the technical level (Roberts, 1996). While personal and business related reasons trigger the use of technology in daily human lives, it is the duty of humans to ensure that the application of available technologies is aimed at stabilizing the economy through the implementation of economy supporting innovations such as smart warehouse information systems for the management of inventory. However, since the uses of technology differ with the type of technology at hand and the platform it is applied on, it is fairly difficulty to identify whether the development of personal life, business environment, or the economy, in general, has anything to do with the responsible use of technology. Therefore, this research paper identifies personal, business, and economic applications of technology citing specific examples and how they can be used reasonably to limit adverse side effects of technology use such as illegal online transactions facilitated by fast broadband connections. RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1. How is fair use of technology implemented at the personal level? 2. How is fair use of technology applicable in the business environment? 3. What role does fair use of technology play in developing the global economy? LITERATURE REVIEW Fair Use Policy Business organizations whose management deems it a strategy to distribute service-related resources fairly impose the fair use policy. As a strategy to ensure the fair distribution of services, these business managements look forward to allocating resources they can sustain. Hence, as a way of ensuring that customers and society members can responsibly make use of technologies, these business management confuse the fair use of technology with restrictions to use technology fairly. Among the findings on the topic of fair use policy, business application of technology can be associated with an unfair or unethical use of technology. For instance, some developed nations as well as developing nations, have telecommunication service providers who cap certain services such as internet services to certain speed such that other subscribers within the network can be served equally with the available resources. However, the use of technologies such as connectivity services under company-imposed restrictions fails to register users or implementers of such policies fair users of technology (Castells, 2007). Net Neutrality Net Neutrality is a politically motivated means of making society members adherent to certain limits to their use of the internet. Net Neutrality assumes that it is the right of every human to access the same resources as any other individual. On the hand, the concept appeals to political entities who think development starts with the regulation of services freely available to the public. Thus, following the government vision of attaining a crime-free society and the associated mission of making Net Neutrality law, the fair use of technology is an unlikely voluntary (customers may not choose without cohesion) milestone. To assess whether the fair use of technology can be attained at the personal, business, and economic levels, voluntary actions promoting or signaling fair use technology such as improving service delivery systems are considered (Free Press, 2014). Personal Application The use of technology at the personal level does not stop at academic work for students or office work for the working society members. Technology at the personal level involves the use of various innovations and inventions that are meant to make life better. However, while some inventions include the internet, their effects on the larger society are mixed with a significant applicability associated with positive role in the development of a more efficient social environment. Among the responsible uses of technology include low level social application such as online shopping, computing platforms for simulating functional models, and performing calculations among other personal domestic appliances such as sanitary technologies for cleaning personal space – vacuum cleaners, washing machines, cookers, cooling systems etc (Bush, Bush, & Orr, 2010). In the field of academics, technology is used responsibly when students make use of technical resources at their disposal to ensure that their performance meets their expectations. Additionally, teachers and instructors use technology as a method of ensuring efficient and reliable use of virtual libraries to recommend readings that save time and improve overall performance of the class. However, while it is assumed that the availability of technological resources within the academic environment may be responsible for improved academic excellence, it is also observed that the available technology has to be directed towards the realization of specific academic developments. Thus, the responsible application of technology for personal use in the academic sector includes the censorship of non-academic sites such as those related to adult-entertainment trends (Bush, Bush, & Orr, 2010). In addition, academic institutions limit the access to video and music files deemed pirated as a means of protecting students from unlawful use of the resources made available to them. On the other hand, students make use of online resources on the go with their handheld computing devices to access academic resources as well as keeping in touch with their families and friends. Finally, the use of technology for working individuals involves the use of devices that update the user regarding schedules, responsibilities, and objectives among other productive uses. Among these technologies include personal computers utilized for freelancing tasks, technical analyses, storage of important files such as images and videos of special occasions. These applications show that technology can be used responsibly to improve the lives of individual users with their personal activities and meaningful obligations. Business Application Businesses vary in terms of size, market position, target customers, and market share. However, in order for companies to grow, they outsource resources such as investment funds from investors. Through the sale of stocks, companies raise funds to invest in a variety of operational opportunities. However, it is the duty of the respective companies to invest in useful technologies. Due to the nature of contemporary business environments, businesses must invest in technologies such as big data analysists, information systems, and inventory management systems to ensure that they create value to shareholders and other stakeholders such as employees and the society in general (Decherney, 2007). Through responsible application of technology in the business environment, businesses are able to increase their production capacities such that they do not fall short of meeting predicated and actual demands. Additionally, since companies must take care of shareholder investments, it is their duty to ensure that research and development gives them the best strategies to grow investor value. Through the application of information systems, companies are able to collect and analyze data such that they are able to operate efficiently based on informed decisions following data trends. Responsible use of technology ensures that companies collect relevant data while at the same time analyzing it with reliable technology such as supercomputers to look for trends (Bush, Bush, & Orr, 2010). Companies that have been using technology responsibly, such as through the monitoring of stock markets as well competitor strengths, enjoy better performance as their decisions benefit the company. However, some business activities are associated with bad use of technology where responsibility and care are not priorities. Among such business activities include online transactions that have promoted higher chances of fraud and dishonest (Dhar, & Sundararajan, 2007). In addition, businesses that use communication media such as social media for advertising can offer wrong information to the customers to entice them. Nevertheless, one solution to this business-associated concern is to use technology responsibly such that wrong or doubtful information can be verified online. At the business level, authentication of business promotional strategies requires a connection between the vendor and the users of the product. Thus, by providing links to products and related information, e-commerce can rely on the internet as a resource to not only improve individual businesses but to also direct customers to such businesses (Dhar, & Sundararajan, 2007). Economic Role Technology is nothing more than a competitive tool in modern economic sectors which thrive for the development and growth of companies to control the markets (Roberts, 1996). Technology at the economic level looks into the application of technological innovations in improving the GDPs of various nations around the globe. Traditionally, long travels were associated with international trade which required entities to move to and from one place to another in order to strike and complete a business deal. One major area where technology directly contributes to transfer of wealth between nations is Foreign Exchange policies and the associated banking systems. Transfer of funds as a developmental resource puts into consideration the role of technology in keeping track of changes in currency rates, opening and closing of financial markets, and weighing economic value of various nations with reference to natural resources and capacity of exploitation. With these classes of information available at the executive branches of various governmental departments and organizations, cross-national trade as well as free-trade zones come as result of technical application of technology. Trade among nations depends on the distribution of resources as well as cost of acquiring them. With communication technologies such as satellite signals, world economies are able to keep track of Gold prices and other precious metals’ which trade at the highest level of the financial markets. With television and online programs such as Bloomberg’s financial overviews, it is observed that technology in the form of communication, electronic devices, information systems, and the internet is harnessed to facilitate information disbursement essential for investors around the globe. Without technology, cross-national trade would be difficulty and risky. Responsibly, technology is used to communicate share prices, company performances, leadership strategies, historical changes, future prospects, and competitive power to current and potential investors for publicly traded companies (majority of multinationals are publicly traded companies). However, since privately owned companies also compete in the same market place as the publicly traded companies, they also rely on information technology to keep tap of the market trends. Through analysis on both the sociopolitical environment and financial markets, these companies, both public and private, can make critically beneficial decisions in either being proactive or reactive. Companies left behind by technology are less efficient that those adapting to technological changes. An example of such companies is Kodak which failed to initiate a change from film cameras to digital cameras such as its competitor, Fuji Film (Jayachandran, Sharma, Kaufman, & Raman, 2005). For individual companies that contribute to the GPD of their corresponding countries, responsible use of technology ensures that decisions limit the negative effects associated with either a proactive move or situations requiring critical planning. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION V.H (5) H (4) N (3) L (2) V.L (1) Personal Use Question 1 37 30 14 11 8 Question 2 41 28 10 11 10 Question 3 39 27 12 11 11 Question 4 39 26 10 13 12 Business Application Question 1 32 30 14 13 11 Question 2 41 25 12 12 10 Question 3 38 26 10 14 12 Question 4 40 26 13 11 10 Economic Role Question 1 40 23 14 14 9 Question 2 43 19 15 13 10 Question 3 38 28 11 12 11 Question 4 39 25 19 10 7 Table 1: Questionnaire Quantitative Results Part A: Personal Use of Technology (Table 1) A. What is your daily use of Technology? Rate it According to the outcome of the conducted study, approximately 67 percent of the people involved in the personal daily use of technology, have an extremely high dependency on the internet as compared to the 19 percent with a lower dependence on the use of technology. Also, 14 percent were neutral describing a situation where the presence or absence of technology did not affect them in any way. B. How do you rate the role of technology in your life? Based on the results of the conducted study, 69 percent of the sample revealed that technology played a significant role in their lives. However, 21 percent of the sample revealed that technology was not necessary in their lives, while, for 10 percent of them, technology was neither important or unimportant. C. How do you rate the daily use of the internet by people near you, friends and family? Corresponding to the results obtained from the conducted study, 66 percent of the sample rated their families, friends, and the people around them as persons who use the internet most of the time. Although, 22 percent of them expressed that their family, friends, and the people around them, rarely use the internet, while 11 percent of them were unable to rate the use of technology, among their family, friends as well as the people around them. D. How do you rate your responsible use of technology? On the other hand, 65 percent of the sample rated their use of technology to be highly responsible, while 25 percent rated their use of technology to be irresponsible. Also, 10 percent were not sure whether they used the technology responsibly nor irresponsibly. Part B: Business Application of Technology A. Do you have any business use for technologies around you? How do you rate the use? Also, the results of the conducted study reveal that 62 percent of the sample utilized the internet for business purposes hence they depended highly on technology. Moreover, 23 percent of the sample, had no use business use for the technology around them, while 14 percent, carried on with their business with or without the use of technology. B. How do you rate your use of technology in carrying out business operations? In regards to the results of the conducted study, 66 percent of the sample of the survey, reveal that they rate the use of technology in their business operations very highly. In fact, only 22 percent of the sample rated no significant use of technology in their business operations while 12 per cent are completely unaffected by or without the use of technology in their business processes. C. How do you rate the overall daily use of technology? Regarding the survey, 64 percent of the sample ranked the overall daily use of technology high, which reveals a significant dependence on technology, while 26 per cent rarely used technology, let alone on a daily basis. Also, 10 percent were unlikely to use or not use technology on a daily basis. D. Do you think corporations use technology responsibly in the 21st-century business environment? How do you rate your association? Concerning the results of the survey, 66 percent of the sample gather that corporate businesses utilize technology responsibly, while 21 percent of them, expressed that corporations used technology irresponsibly and 13 per cent were unassociated with the responsible or irresponsible use of technology among corporations. Graph 1: Visual Representation of Questionnaire Responses Part C: World-view on Technology (Graph 1) A. How often do you associate developed economies with technology? According to the visual presentation of the questionnaire, the results indicate that 63 percent of the sample, significantly correlate the use of technology with developed economies. In contrast to that, 23 per cent never associated the developed economies with the use of technology, while 14 percent of the sample, neither associated or dissociated the use of technology with developed economies. B. How do you rate the use of technology to increase national GDP? In regards to the results of the questionnaire, 62 percent rated the use of technology to be a significant contributor to the GDP, while 23 percent rated the use of technology to be a non-factor in regards to the GDP. Also, 15 percent of the sample could not link whether the use technology affects or does not affect the GDP. C. Can you associate the fair use of technology to differences in economic? How do you rate this association? The representation of the survey concludes that 66 percent of the sample of the survey rate a close association between the use of technology with the differences in economies. However, 21 percent do not associate the difference in economies with the use of technology. Also, 11 percent of the sample are expressive on whether there is an association between the use of technology with a difference in economies or not. D. Given an opportunity, how inclined would you be in implementing fair use policies such as Net Neutrality? It is evident in the visual representation of the essay, that 64 percent of the sample feel highly inclined to implement the fair use of policies such as Net Neutrality. Although, 17 per cent did not feel inclined at all, and 19 percent were neither inclined or not, to see to the implementation of the proper utilization of policies such as Net Neutrality. Conclusion Fair of use of technology means the responsible application of technical innovations at the personal, business, and economic levels. Personal use of technology involves communications, studying, and keeping up with work related updates among other uses. Business wise, technology is applied to ensure that companies opting for equity funding are able to make informed decisions to protect investor interests. Additionally, technology plays an important role in facilitating international trade. Through foreign exchange systems as well as financial markets’ analysis and reporting, multinational companies that affect GDPs of their respective home nations are able to choose; based on how social, political, & economic conditions favor investments in various pro-opportunity nations. This research found out that more society members use technology in all aspects of their lives; be it personal communication with friends & family, business transactions at the corporate level, and analyzing market and industry trends at the global scale. Through technology, educational systems are much efficient with academic institutions taking the responsibility to censor, through web applications, sites containing non-academic content. In terms of business, big data analysis among other essential uses of information technology shows that contemporary business models are much efficient based on accurate model made possible through technical applications. Finally, this research identifies that large organizations as well as nations make use of technology to observe industrial and market trends at a global scale. This approach allows these entities to choose where to invest and who to trade with respect to social, political, and economic atmospheres of prospective targets. 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Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4137185 Dhar, V., & Sundararajan, A. (2007). Issues and Opinions: Information Technologies in Business: A Blueprint for Education and Research. Information Systems Research, 18(2), 125–141. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/23015398 Free Press. (2014). Net Neutrality: What you Need to Know Now. Retrieved online on November 20, 2015 from http://www.savetheinternet.com/net-neutrality-what-you-need-know-now Jayachandran, S., Sharma, S., Kaufman, P., & Raman, P. (2005). The Role of Relational Information Processes and Technology Use in Customer Relationship Management. Journal of Marketing, 69(4), 177–192. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/30166560 MacDonald, L., Vásquez, S., & Caverly, D. (2002). Techtalk: Effective Technology Use in Developmental Mathematics. Journal of Developmental Education, 26(2), 36–37. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/42775118 Roberts, K. (1996). Fair use of technology. Science Scope, 20(1), 40–41. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/43179577 Von Lohmann, F. (2008). Fair Use as Innovation Policy. Berkeley Technology Law Journal, 23(2), 829–865. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/24120888 APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE Disclaimer: This questionnaire is intended to establish your position on the fair use of technology and results for academic merit and would not be used commercially in any way. The paper is purely based on personal opinions or experiences and promotes research ethics in that it does not ask you to state your personal information such as name, license number, address, occupation, marital status. However, it requires that you state your age to establish whether opinions differed from participant to participant based. Please supply the most appropriate answer from the list. Only one answer can be selected per question. Thank you Part A: Personal Use of Technology A. What is your daily use of Technology? Rate it 5. Very High 4. High 3. Neutral 2. Low 1. Very Low B. How do you rate the role of technology in your life? 5. Very High 4. High 3. Neutral 2. Low 1. Very Low C. How do you rate the daily use of internet by people near you, friends and family? 5. Very High 4. High 3. Neutral 2. Low 1. Very Low D. How do you rate your responsible use of technology? 5. Very High 4. High 3. Neutral 2. Low 1. Very Low Part B: Business Application of Technology A. Do you have any business use for technologies around you? How do you rate the use? 5. Very High 4. High 3. Neutral 2. Low 1. Very Low B. How do you rate your use of technology in carrying out business operations? 5. Very High 4. High 3. Neutral 2. Low 1. Very Low C. How do you rate the overall daily use of technology? 5. Very High 4. High 3. Neutral 2. Low 1. Very Low D. Do you think corporations use technology responsibly in 21st century business environment? How do you rate your association? 5. Very High 4. High 3. Neutral 2. Low 1. Very Low Part C: World-view on Technology A. How often do you associate developed economies with technology? 5. Very High 4. High 3. Neutral 2. Low 1. Very Low B. How do you rate the use of technology to increase national GDP? 5. Very High 4. High 3. Neutral 2. Low 1. Very Low C. Can you associate fair use of technology to differences in economic? How do you rate this association? 5. Very High 4. High 3. Neutral 2. Low 1. Very Low D. Given an opportunity, how inclined would you be in implementing fair use policies such as Net Neutrality? 5. Very High 4. High 3. Neutral 2. Low 1. Very Low Read More