home work 7

Home work for 24th of Dec,08

Since the building of A41,42 will be closed for Staff to join "Staff of the Year Award Presentation" We'll make our class online only. The student ,who post the following home work within 30th of Dec,08 will get 100% attendance. Those who post after 1st of January 09,will get 50% of attendance.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year..See You Next year...

Home work for 24th of Dec,08:

1.Read the posted article and answer these following quetions .You may use other sources of Information to support your answers with references in APA styles;
a.How would ICT help NZ maximizing potential her human capitals in these following categories

• Ageing population
• Low population growth
• Increased proportion of Māori and Pacific Island peoples
• More youthful nature of Māori and Pacific Island peoples
• Negative net migration
• Increasing income disparity
• Less than ideal skill base, and
• Narrow export base.
b.What are ICT accessibilities of New Zealanders?
c. How ICT used for Education in NZ?


http://www.med.govt.nz/templates/MultipageDocumentTOC____16813.aspx
The Social Impact of Information Technology
print this page


[ Last Updated 20 February 2006 ]

Short Description A Briefing to the Minister for Information Technology.


Document Status
• Archived
A Briefing to the Minister for Information Technology
17 December 1999
Contents
• Introduction
• Background
• ICT as an Enabler of Social and Economic Well Being
• Demographic Imperatives
• Access to ICT
• Integrated Within Overall E-Commerce Strategies
• New Zealand's Situation
• Progressing the Issues
Introduction
1. This overview summarises a discussion paper that is being prepared on the social and economic implications of limited access to information and communication technologies (ICT), that is, issues which arise from individuals, communities and locations not having optimal access to ICT.
2. The paper looks at why an ICT literate population with optimal access to and use of ICT is important for New Zealand's economic and social well being. The paper explores available information on the likely nature of New Zealand's issues around lack of access to ICT (digital divide) and information from overseas, which is useful for thinking about the New Zealand situation. The paper suggests how government could progress towards a better understanding of the nature of a digital divide in New Zealand and the best means to resolve it.
Background
3. The Internet in particular and ICT generally are key components in New Zealand's efforts to become an information-driven, knowledge based economy. As more of the world comes online, the Internet offers New Zealand an unparalleled opportunity to diversify and become more competitive as a trading nation: to increase entrepreneurialism and employment. Its importance is reflected in government's focus on promoting e-commerce and e-government.
4. The success of e-commerce and e-government increasingly rests on there being e-citizens and e-communities, that is ICT literate people and a "wired" country. E-citizens are ICT literate people with optimal access to ICT. A large e-citizen base provides most likelihood of developing the entrepreneurs, knowledge workers, managers, consumers, students and innovators, essential for a thriving knowledge economy.
5. E-commerce growth (which includes government business) is outpacing expectations with one commentator - Nicholas Negroponte - forecasting over a billion people on the Internet by the end of next year. The global online population this year is over 200 million. Recently it was estimated that the American Internet economy contributed 1.2 million jobs and over $301.4 billion dollars to the American economy overall. A recent Australian study found that e-commerce could boost employment by 0.5 percent and drive up real wages by 3.5 percent. Conversely wages for those not skilled in ICT are likely to be lower and employment options increasingly limited - across sectors.
ICT as an Enabler of Social and Economic Well Being
6. ICT enables individuals and communities (cultural, ethnic, shared interest and geographical) to enhance their social and economic well being, and participate more actively in society and the economy, internationally as well as nationally. Enterprise/employment creation, health, education/ learning, access to justice, interactions with government, and personal contact between people are increasingly being ICT enabled. Over time they will be ICT dominated.
7. To compete globally, not only against developed nations such as the US, Britain, Canada, Ireland and Australia but also developing nations utilising ICT and the Internet to great effect (such as India, Mexico, East Caribbean), New Zealand needs to maximise the number of people/ businesses/places utilising ICT effectively.
Demographic Imperatives
8. Certain features of our demographic and economic profile suggest that if we wish to achieve growth rates similar to our competitors and improve employment opportunities, we will need as much of our human capital as possible, in all locations, to be maximising their potential. Pertinent demographic and economic factors include our:
• Ageing population
• Low population growth
• Increased proportion of Māori and Pacific Island peoples
• More youthful nature of Māori and Pacific Island peoples
• Negative net migration
• Increasing income disparity
• Less than ideal skill base, and
• Narrow export base.
Optimal access to ICT and ICT literacy are increasingly essential for maximising human capital potential.
Access to ICT
9. Access to ICT is defined quite broadly. It covers not only the issues around physical and financial access for the broadest range of people and locations but includes also having all groups in society seeing the relevance and potential for benefiting from ICT, and there being meaningful content.
10. Access can be through home, school or work, or through a range of community locations. It includes an adequate technical infrastructure in all parts of the country, and people developing the skill base necessary for optimum use of ICT. Becoming, as one commentator has put it "cyber-authors" rather than cybercouch potatoes: people who use ICT to improve their economic and social circumstances rather than just passively consume ICT provided content.
11. The digital divide is the gap between the information haves, i.e. those who have adequate access to ICT such as computers and the Internet, and the information have-nots, i.e. those who have limited or no access for either socio-economic or geographical reasons, or because of disabilities. As use of ICTs is becoming increasingly integrated into the normal processes of daily and business life, the negative impact of the digital divide on the cohesion of society is likely to become much more acute.
Integrated Within Overall E-Commerce Strategies
12. In order to establish and retain lead positions for their countries in the electronic revolution, lead knowledge economy nations have integrated national access to ICT as a key part of their overall information society/economy strategy. They seem universally of the view that only with a fully ICT literate population will their nations be truly competitive. Having sections of the population and areas unable to access ICT is viewed as posing threats to both social and economic development, and ultimately national cohesiveness. Accordingly they have developed a range of policy responses and solutions to increase the likelihood of having a fully ICT literate population.
13. However recent research from the United States suggests that despite a concerted effort by governments, the ICT industry and community leaders to open up access to ICT, the digital divide has actually widened over time. In America it is likely to be Blacks, Hispanics, low-income families, the unemployed, sole parent households (particularly those headed by females), and people living in the inner city and rural areas who are experiencing the digital divide.
14. The issue is deemed so significant that the US government held a national summit earlier this month to explore how to overcome it. President Clinton will focus his next set of New Market visits (to communities which have not participated in America's economic growth) on the digital divide, and look for partnerships between the private and public sectors to enable more children and adults to utilise ICT to best effect.
New Zealand's Situation
15. While New Zealand has a record of early adoption of ICT (ATMs, videos and the Internet) adoption of new technology cannot be imposed nor will it necessarily be financially possible for all. For people who can prioritise their income to include ICT, for them to do so may require them to better understand both the push factors (decreased opportunities in industrial age occupations) and the pull factors (increased opportunities for learning, entertainment, employment, leisure, purchasing, social and family contact). However, there are likely to be groups of people and people in certain locations who, despite understanding the push/pull factors, are unable to gain adequate access to ICT, either at home, work or through a community access site, or develop ICT literacy, for a number of reasons. If overseas evidence holds true for New Zealand, reasons will largely centre on cost.
16. While information on different groups' ability to access ICT in New Zealand is limited, what information we do have suggests that any digital divide occurring in New Zealand is most likely to be amongst the following groups and areas:
• Māori
• Pacific Island peoples
• those with lower incomes
• sole parents
• people with low or no qualifications
• those who are unemployed or underemployed, and
• those in locations without a sound telecommunications infrastructure, such as parts of rural New Zealand.
17. Internet connectivity is usually through land-based telephone wires (although this is changing). While over 97 percent of New Zealanders have access to the telephone, this percentage is less for Māori, Pacific Island and low income families. While the 1998 HES survey showed nearly 30 percent of New Zealand households overall had computers, only 23 percent of Māori households and 17 percent of Pacific Island peoples households had computers.
18. Internet use is around 50 percent overall but is less for those on low incomes and those with fewer educational qualifications. Variations in Internet use are best explained by age, household income and employment status. Very little Internet access information is available on ethnicity and none that correlates education, income and ethnicity, or looks at location against income.
19. While a recent study showed that 43 percent of farmers had computers, a reason that fewer use the Internet is that electric fences interfere with the sending of data down telephone lines which makes e-mail and data transfer difficult if not impossible.
Progressing the Issues
20. If, from a government perspective, it is agreed that the move to an information-driven knowledge based economy and society, and a more socially inclusive society, is advanced by all of New Zealand having widespread ICT literacy and access, then several issues have to be considered.
21. The first is whether widespread ICT literacy and access will happen as a result of a competitive ICT market producing goods and services which all can and want to access. Currently there is no robust information on whether or not this is likely to happen. A point to note here is the extraordinary pace of ICT research and development which means that changes in the nature and costs of Internet access happen rapidly.
22. If an ICT inclusive society were to be added to other crucial elements of progress which government plays a role in advancing, namely economic growth, social stability and good governance, and enhancing ICT literacy and access were an agreed way of achieving this, then the question arises about the best way to do this: the respective roles of government, the private sector, the community sector, and groups and individuals themselves.
23. The first step to progress this issue is to undertake research on the nature of any current or likely future digital divide in New Zealand. Research would include the current situation re. technical infrastructure, and community-based access to ICT, and assessing relevant overseas strategies and solutions, and testing out some possible responses.
24. With sound information about the problems, opportunities and options, government will be well placed to develop an effective strategy to ensure all New Zealanders, and all areas in New Zealand, have adequate access to ICT and maximise ICT literacy. With an ICT literate population and widespread access to ICT New Zealand will be on a sounder footing to compete with other knowledge economies and promote an inclusive society.


http://www.med.govt.nz/templates/MultipageDocumentTOC____16813.aspx