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Societal Impacts of Computers


 Learning Outlines
After studying this chapter, the readers will be able to:

  1. Identify common uses of computer in our society.
  2. Explain the role of computers in various fields.
  3. Expalin the impacts of computers on organizations and individuals.
  4. Explain the societal impacts of computers.

Concept
After decades of slowly expanding behind the scenes, computer technology has suddenly exploded into public view and seems to be tightly woven into the fabric of our lives. It has made great inroads in our everyday life and thinking. It is also transforming the organization in which we work, the kinds of skills available, and the skills needed to succeed. Millions of computers are used in all areas of modern life - in science, technology, business, industry, leisure and entertainment. They are also the tools for learning, recreation and are a perfect communication medium. They are spreading further and further into our daily lives. In today's world of globalization, computer technolgy has made it possible to interconnect the entire world. Finally, computer technology is also helping people overcome challenges. 

Impact of Computer Usage
Computers have become the technical foundation of information systems. They are spreading further and further into our daily lives. It has invaded all types of workplaces, from offices to factories. The practical applications of computers are endless. A broad classification of its uses in varied fields are explain below:

Computers in Education
Computers are used as teaching aids, reasearch tools and analyzing systems in educational institutions. Teachers use computers to organize and prepare course materials. Teachers may use picture, graph and graphical presentations to easily illustrate a difficult concepts. Nowadays more and more educational institutions are using computer-assisted instruction systems. It offers interactive instruction on a one-to-one basis and can be automtically modified to suit the user's level of ability. Educational software has become a major influence at all levels from elementary schools to universities. Elementary and secondary schools are using computers to play multimedia educational programs and to teach kids to explore the Web for information. A computer's voice recognition capabilities and its connection to the Internet makes it possible for distance learning. 

Computers at Home
Computers have already changed our lives at home. New gadgets such as automatic washing machines, dishwashers and microwaves have made our lives easier. Many of the educational software programs are used by children at homes. These programs enrich students' knowledge and skills. Encyclopedia, dictionaries, telephone directories and medical references are now available in optional disk which contains multimedia capabilities. Internet connections also provide electronic mail, discussion groups, and other communication options for home users. Apart from learning, computers also offer a new form of entertainment. They are used for playing computer games.

Computers in Industry
Modern factories and industries cannot work without computers. They control huge numbers of machines, especially robot-type devices for creating, assembling and testing products and their components. Computers also help humans to control complex machines, such as power stations, ships and spacecrafts. Rows of levers and switches can be replaced with computers that take care of routine task automatically. This leaves the human operator free for more important decisions. Many industries now use Computer Aided Design (CAD) to develop product and Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) to produce them. Computers are used for inventory control, planning and process control.

Computers in Medicine
Computers have played very important role in growth and improvement of health care. They are used in medicine to keep the records of patients' case histories, diagnosis and treatment of diseases. They are also used to monitor vital data during surgery in the operating theatre. They provide a complete, accurate, up-to-date and readily available source of information about patients' health. Many medical scanners for exploring inside the body only work because of computer power. They are also used to monitor the availability of bed, staff payroll, hospital accounting, patient billing, drug inventory and location of doctors and patients in large hospitals. They have reduced the barriers of distance and time via telemedicine and on-line access to laboratory test results and medical researches.

Computers in Law and Order
Computers are used by lawyers to research and store volumes of cases and judicial proceedings in the computer. Law enforcement agencies from local police to international organizations use computers to store information about criminals and suspected criminals. Minute details of speech intonation, physical characteristics, criminal habits and finger points can be matched for accurate detection through computers. Computer systems are used in conjuction with video cameras to provide internal surveillance and to ensure the saftey of prisoners and officers.

Computers in Entertainment
Computers have now become an important part of the entertainment industry. They are widely used to create special effects in movies. They are used in editing movies and multimedia presentations. They help in composing, editing, recording and reproducing music and sound effects. They are used in sports to analyze the movements of sports persons and to find faults in the movements and optimize the movements so that maximum efficiency is achieved. They are used by sports professionals to analyze their techniques to find their strengths and weaknesses. They are used to simulate games and to try out different game strategies. 

Computers in Banks
The banking business has been revolutinized by computer technolgy. They are used for various tasks such as online enquiry of customer's balance, cheque verification, udating the balance, calculating interests and printing customer statements. Many leading banks have installed Automated Teller Machines (ATMs). These enable the customers to draw money from accouts, transfer money, obtain bank statements, etc. All these can be done using a special plastic card which is inserted into the input device of a computer. This also eliminates the need for a clerk.

Computers in Government 
The government uses computers to manage its own oeprations and also for e-governance. The websites of the different governemnt departments provide information to the users. Computers are used for the filling of income tax return, paying taxes, online submission of water and electricity bills and for the access of land record details. Today's police cruisers are equipped with laptop computers and wireless internet connections that enable officers to search for information on criminals, crime scenes, procedures and other kinds of information.

The list of applications of computers is so long that it is not possible to discuss all of them here. In addition to the application of the computers discussed above, computers have also proliferated into areas like investments, stock trading, accounting, ticket reservation, military operations, meteorological predictions, social networking, business organization, police department, video conferencing and book publishing. 


Impact of Computers on Organizations and Individuals 
  • Computer increases productivity and reduces the need for technical experts, with fewer managerial levels and fewer staff. Computerization may result in reduction of clerical type of jobs since the amount of work that a person using a computer can do is more that that done by a number of persons.
  • The number of professional and specialists could decline in relation to the total number of employees in some organizations as intelligent and knowledge-based systems grow.
  • Computer technology have recently been applied to the automation of tasks. Computers have taken over a lot of boring, repetitive and time consuming, as well as dangerous jobs. Increased productivity due to streamlining of work has led to improved standards of living.
  • One of the most exciting and fastest growing applications of computer technology within communication is the internet. The internet is a large public computer network through which computers can exchange information at high speed. The internet has given a great amount of flexibility in the office work environment.
  • Knowledge is power and those who control information and knowledge are likely to gain power. The struggle over who controls information resources has become a conflict in many organizations. In some countries, the fight may be between corporations that seek to use information for competitive advantage and the government. Elsewhere, governments may seek to hold onto the reins of power by not letting private citizens have access to some information.

Societal Impoacts of Computers 
  • An increase in organizatinal efficiency my result in more leisure time for workers. The workplace can be expanded from the traditional nine-to-five job at a central location to twenty-four hours a day at any location. This expansion provides a flexibility that can significantly improve the quality of leisure time, even if the total number of leisure time is not increased.
  • Computer has brought abouto major improvements in health care delivery, ranging from better and faster diagnoses, to expedited research and development of new drugs, to more accurate monitoring or critically ill patients. One technolgy that has made a special contribution is artificial intelligence. Recently, surgeons started to use virtual reality to plan complex surgeries and used a surgical robot to perform long distance surgery.
  • The students can use computers to access vast knowledge bases on almost any topic, search archieves of information and even take online courses. Computers can store student responses, evaluate his performance and then direct him to the next learning unit. Computers also make learning more interactive and enhance the enjoyment of learning.
  • People can access information and communicate with others from their homes. As a result many companies have started giving flexible timings to its employees, and even freedom to work from home.