Life in the Information Age- Entertainment

IT development has had a massive impact on entertainment in today’s society. Many technologies are still developing and will continue to develop every day. Entertainment in today’s society is lot different in what it was before the development of IT. The development of games is huge in today’s society as it contributes in money making business and gives many people jobs. The way we listen to music, the way we watch movies, the way we take pictures and even the way we read books has completely changed due to the fast development of ICT. The way these changes affects us will depend on how quickly we can adapt and how willing or eager we are to learn.

Games
Ever get bored of just playing football outside in the park with your friends or you’re too grown up to play hide and seek? Then the development of games will suit you perfectly. The gaming industry have developed so quickly that there are now 8th generation of gaming platforms, from the Magnavox odyssey platform in 1972 to the most recent one like play station 3, Xbox and Wii. Every year, popular gaming companies like Nintendo or Play Station tries develop their old platforms to a brand new one with new features. Different people have their own favourite platform, some like ps3 and some like Xbox. Both platforms are the most popular at the moment and both have the same ambition, to make gaming more accessible and more enjoyable.

Video games have been on the market for the last 30 years, it is seen as a unique form of entertainment. Gaming platforms firstly started off as for entertainment for children but as it developed, many manufacturers are now also targeting teenagers and young adults. Before most games are children like, for example the Super Mario games, friendly games with little or no evidence of violence shown but today there are now many games that are only available for people over 18, violence are evident in these games and this could affect the way people think. This is a disadvantage of having these types of games. But there are many games available therefore there is also a game that will suit you and due to this, gaming industries makes tons of money. Motion capture hardware in consoles is the new-ish feature that is developed. This requires the gamer to actually control their player and move around, these types of games are gradually becoming common.

Video games make large amount of money each year. In 2004, according to the Entertainment Software Association, gaming in the USA brought in more than $7 billion in sales and this number has doubled in the last ten years. According to the Motion Picture Association of America, the US box office for 2005 was $8.99 billion, this show how gaming industry is keeping up or catching up with the movie industry. Furthermore, one game called Grand Theft Auto: Vice City generated 1.4 million sales in its first 3 days being on sale, this shows that gaming industry was in its peak, but it’s not also been like this, when the Sony PlayStation 3 was first launched, it was actually losing money due to the costs of the parts, the research needed, and development, manufacturing and other. The only profits they were getting came from selling their games. This proves how quickly the gaming industry has developed and that gaming industry is at its highest point at the moment. It also shows that gaming is one of the most popular forms of entertainment in today’s society and how powerful in terms of money it came be.

There is also a big argument about how video games affect social life. Some people argue that gaming improved their social life as they can share or play games with family and friends but some say that they become anti social and their behaviour changes. But for my point of view, I think that playing video games does not make you anti social. It’s becomes a normal hobby for everyone and your friends and family can also get involve. There are also games that help your brain, teach you to cook, dance and others, these games can be enjoy with your friends and families. And with these reasons, I have come to the conclusion that no, it does not make you anti social.

There are also games on smart phones, there is a thing called “Apps” where you can downloads different type of games and forms of entertainment. Apps are now always present if you get smart phones.

Before the development of IT there would no digital games at all; their only gaming entertainment would have been sports, a game of football cricket or rugby. The development of IT shows how much it has affected entertaining people in case of gaming or playing. There are now varied types of games you can play which are gives everyone a chance of playing and being entertained.

Music
The biggest development in music industry is the MP3, MP3 stand for MPEG Audio Layer 3. MP3 is the one that revolutionised the music world; it enabled companies to build many more digital music technologies. MP3 is a format using a form of audio compression that makes music file smaller with little or no loss of sound quality; it’s a common audio formation for the transfer and playback of music on digital audio player. MP3 was designed by the Moving Picture Experts Group or MPEG, MP3 only involves audio compression unlike MPEG-1 and MPEG-2. By using MP3 you can shrink down the original sound data from a CD by a factor of 12, without losing sound quality.

Timeline - History of MP3

• 1987 - The Fraunhofer Institut in Germany began research code-named EUREKA project EU147, Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB). 
• January 1988 - Moving Picture Experts Group or MPEG was established as a subcommittee of the International Standards Organization/International Electrotechnical Commission or ISO/IEC. 
• April 1989 - Fraunhofer received a German patent for MP3. 
• 1992 - Fraunhofer's and Dieter Seitzer’s audio coding algorithm was integrated into MPEG-1. 
• 1993 - MPEG-1 standard published. 
• 1994 - MPEG-2 developed and published a year later. 
• November 26, 1996 - United States patent issued for MP3. 
• September 1998 - Fraunhofer started to enforce their patent rights. All developers of MP3 encoders or rippers and decoders/players now have to pay a licensing fee to Fraunhofer. 
• February 1999 - A record company called SubPop is the first to distribute music tracks in the MP3 format. 
• 1999 - Portable MP3 players appear. 

Portable media player or digital audio player is a device that is capable of storing and playing digital media such as videos, audio, images etc. On the other hand, analogue portable audio players play music from cassette tapes, or records. Often digital audio players are sold as MP3 players, even if they support other file formats.

I can’t imagine us in today’s society listening to music in long playing vinyl records but they argue that vinyl records’ sound quality is much better than MP3s. Over the last few years, the sale of vinyl records has come up.

Doesn’t listening to music always put you in a good mood and cheer you up? Just putting the earphones in and ignoring the rest of the world is the best thing you can do. The quick development of IPod’s and other music technologies is great but there is also a negative side to it. People argue that by putting an earphone you are more likely to have deafness issue. Hearing loss is more common than ever before, an estimated 55 million people have lost some high frequency hearing according to a new study. The question is, does listening to IPods can cause hearing loss? The most common answer you would get is it probably depends on how long you listen to music and how loud it is.

This is an article discussing the effects of listening music from portable music player.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-18532179-ipods-can-make-you-deaf.do

Before the development of MP3, the only form of entertainment available is live, like theatre plays, concerts etc. Many people still enjoy watching live concerts but the beauty of portable music player is that it’s always available and you always have a choice of what you want to listen to.

Video Players/Digital Video
VCR or Videocassette recorder is one of the first forms of video players. VCR is an electromechanical device that uses removable videocassette that contains tapes for recording audio and video from television so that the images and sound can be played back. Most domestic VCRs are equipped with a television broadcast receiver for TV reception, there features began as uncomplicated mechanical but were later replaced.

From VCR, out come VHS or Video Home System. VHS is a consumer level analogue recording videocassette standard developed by JVC. After VHS, there were other successors, the like of VCD, DVD and the latest one Blu-ray disc. VCD is the first one alternative that is in a CD sized disc, the durability of VCD depends on the production quality of the disc and its handling and the data stored on a VCD does not degrade. DVD video formats were firstly introduced in 1996 in Japan and to the US in 1997 and then 1997 in Europe. There is no doubt that DVD’s has better quality than VHS but VHS is still widely used. The commercial success of DVD has been prevent by many factors like it has a reputation for being unreliable, the risk of scratches and cracks and the compression compound , MPEG-2 video compression can result in visible artefacts such as mosquito noise and ringing. A Standard VHS will not suffer from any of these. Blu-ray disc is the newest optical disc format; this is designed to be the successor to DVD. A single Blu-ray disc can hold up to 128GB of information.

Digital video refers to the capturing and storage of moving images that can be display on computer screens. Before the digital era, you have to convert a video from analogue to digital in order to play it on a computer monitor.

Before, there would be no such thing as digital video or Blu-ray disc. Blu-ray disc and digital video makes it easier for us to watch or record something quickly without the hassle of needing to convert it etc. It enables us to watch TV or movies in good high quality. Before the development of all these, in around 1950’s all they have is a TV and it’s in black and white. They also cannot record or play any DVD’s; they just watch what ever in on TV. I think that the development of VHS and all of its successors is really important and it had a massive impact on use. It changed the way we see and watch films and it becomes more entertaining.

E-Book

Does anyone actually read books anymore? Do we think that reading books are just for old people? Well I think you are wrong, you could argue that it’s not technically “reading a book” but they have now developed E-Book or electronic book. I think they made this to make reading more appealing to everyone, teenagers or older people. Electronic book is a book length publication in digital from that consist images, text or both and published through, produced on and readable on computers and other devices.

Compared to ordinary books, e-books have many advantages:

• offers over 2million free books for download, e-book websites can also translate books into other languages 
• an e-book may be readable in low light or even total darkness 
• Have the ability to display motion, enlarge or change fonts 
• The production of e-books does not consume paper and ink. 
• Probably the most important of all is that Compared to printed publishing, it is cheaper and easier for authors to self-publish e-books. 

E-books is kind of a new invention therefore it’s not perfect and it does have its draw backs

• Printed books remain readable for long time whilst e-books may need to be copied or converted to a new carrier or file type over a period of time 
• Ordinary books can provide visual appeal whilst e-books cannot provide the physical feel of the cove and the original printed work 
• A book will never turn off and would be unusable or unreadable only if damaged, on the other hand, e-books battery can switch it off and once you've dropped it or damaged it you cannot use it again. 
• The cost of an e-book is 100th the amount you have to pay for a book 

One of the first e-book readers is called the Rocket eBook, when they created this they thought that they were opening a new chapter in publishing history but unfortunately they were too early. It wasn’t until Amazon tied Kindle to a network and made it possible to browse and purchase eBooks with just a click that is when the new chapter actually began.

Amazon Kindle
Amazon kindle is an e-book developed by Amazon.com; it uses wireless connectivity to enable users to shop, download, and browse. Newspapers, magazines, blogs and other digital media can be read through this. The newest version of Amazon kindle is the Kindle fire.

In the last three months of 2010, Amazon announced that in the United States, their e-book sales had surpassed sales of paperback books for the first time

Nook

Nook is a brand of e-book reader developed by book retailer Barnes and Noble. Nook is based on the android platform. The original Nook includes both Wi-Fi and 3d wireless connectivity; the latest nook e-book is the Nook Colour.

Kobo eReader

Kobe eReader is an e-book reader produced by the company Kobo Inc. There latest e-book is the Kobo Vox eReader.

This article talks about the different type of e-books and its strength and weaknesses. This is good for deciding which e-book would suit you best.
http://www.ebookreadersreview.co.uk/

This is an article discussing how e-books have overtaken ordinary books.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1388779/The-end-paperback-Kindle-ebook-sales-exceed-print-sales-time-ever.html

This show how quickly e-books have revolutionised and how popular it became in such a short period of time. I’m sure in no time at all; everyone would own an eBook instead of an ordinary book.

Life in the Information Age- Employment- Case Study

Over the last 40 years, ICT has changed the world. Employment has been immensely changed due to Life in the Information Age. Many industries had to adapt to use new technologies and brand new industries have developed. Technologies have completely revolutionised the employment or job industry.

How jobs were affected
The introduction of ICT has led to massive change in working hours; some people may now find themselves working at evening, nights and weekends. Customers can now call in the evenings until 3am and obviously someone has to be there to take the calls. Customers can now also buy variety of stuff online at midnight and someone has to be there to make sure that the website is working properly and that there isn’t any problems. ICT definitely changed the way people work, sometimes it’s a good change but sometimes it’s a bad change.

The development of ICT has led in many new jobs being created 

• Network technician 
• Computer programmer 
• Website designers 
• ICT teachers 

Examples

Accounting is a good example of how jobs have changed due to new technologies. Before, accountant would keep track of all paperwork or financial records manually and this was a full time job for most people. They would have found this job very difficult as it involves thing such as counting papers manually, writing financial and keeping track of financial records manually. This was a very time consuming job. All calculation has to be done by hand therefore they could easily make mistakes without knowing. Then the introduction of calculators came along, this helped to speed up the work involving calculations and this also helped reduce some mistakes. 

When computers came along, it has massively transformed the way companies handled their paper work and the way the keep track of their financial records. All of these changes mean that large number of employees had to be re train to use the new technology. The computer made their job so much faster and more reliable.

Call centres was also affected by the changes in technologies. Previously, when a customer needed to talk to someone in a company they would usually be able to phone and they will be put through to the person who could help them but companies did not like this because it means that when an employee is talking to a customer they are not doing their job which basically means that they are wasting their time. But ICT have made it possible for call centres to create a large room or office when the all the staff do is take telephone calls from customers and help them but this also means the companies have to pay more money but they are willing to take this disadvantage as they know that by doing this their other stuff will not get disturbed therefore it’s more efficient to them.

The development of new technologies wasn’t always a good thing. It also has it disadvantages but the main disadvantage it caused was that some people lost their jobs. Thousands of people have lost their jobs over the last decades. We all know that ICT can make jobs faster and accurate therefore some jobs like secretaries, office clerks that count wages etc have lost their jobs. There are people who just don’t want to give up their jobs and therefore have to train again in order to use the new technologies. Although training is expensive, it’ll be worth it in the end as it gives people the chance to keep their job and open up new jobs available for them.

Life in the Information Age- Education- Case Study

In today’s society, can you imagine school without the use of ICT? Imagine teachers teaching without the use of ICT? I guess your answer is no. Education has drastically changed throughout the year due to the change in ICT. ICT had a massive effect on how we learn today these changes the way we live and additionally it opens up opportunity for others to change their lives. Before the changed and development of ICT, education was very different 30 years ago. I don’t think I can imagine me learning without the use of ICT. ICT helps students to have wider resources and it gives different ways to learn.

Advantages of ICT in Education today’s society

• Use of ICT makes everything faster, more efficient and easier 
• You can hold data or information for a long period of time 
• Track students’ records 

Disadvantages of ICT in Education today’s society

• Some teachers/ students not being able to use technologies like computers 
• Some teachers like the old ways of teaching, the use of blackboards etc 
• Cost quite a lot to buy all the technologies 

I use ICT in everyday of my school life; ICT has a tremendous affect on students. With me being a student, I could easily list what kind of technologies or ICT tools we use in school and how these affect our learning. The uses of ICT help the work rate go higher.

Top 5 list of technologies we use in Schools

Computers- currently we have about 7 computer rooms in our schools. We also have computers in every room in our school. This show how important and how much students and teachers are relying on a computer in today’s education. I think that computers are one of the main technologies in school due to it being flexible; you can do many things with it. You can do some research, do some work, communicate and more. Computer s also enables students to communicate with teachers if needed and teachers communicating with other teachers if necessary. Computers also have many software and websites that a student and teacher can use in order to help them with their education. Educational websites like bitesize and mymaths are most used within students. Online registration is also done computers, this saves time and more convenient for teachers which mean more time for lessons. Also a programme called SIM is used in my school, this is used by teachers. This programme contains information or date about students and with just one click all information, report, reviews, grade etc throughout the school years of that student will show in your computer screen. Computers are like the new library, it holds all information a student need.

School today is very different in how it was 50 years ago. With no or little developed computers 50 years ago, the way students learn would be different. They would use different sources like library and books to get information they needed

Interactive Smart boards- instead of black boards, Interactive Smart boards are now the main technology that teachers use in school. Interactive smart boards enable teachers to write and show information that students needs. It has many different features like changing writing colour but the main feature of it is that it is connected to a computer which means that the students are able to see what’s on their teachers’ computer. The documents that are stored in the computer will be seen in the smart boards, which mean that teachers can now plan their lesson in a computer. This also means that you can control the board by using a mouse. For teachers these interactive smart boards are vital for their teachings and are their main tool in teaching.

Smart cards- every lost some money or misplaced them? Couldn’t find your keys? Well, instead of having the danger of losing your money or keys, smart card is used in order to reduce the danger of losing something important furthermore it makes paying in the canteen or paying for trips so much faster and efficient and opening doors/gates so much quicker. Additionally smart cards are very portable and very secure, you can put in your wallet and it wouldn’t take much space at all. This card will have your picture in it when you swipe it when paying which means that nobody else can or could use it apart from you.

Before, students wouldn’t have this kind of cards at all. This is a massive development not just in school but in other places as well.

VLE- virtual learning environment is used in school. VLE is downloaded or a software in a computer. VLE allows student to communicate with teachers through email, allows student to access videos, helpful links are also put in there by teachers and worksheets. Furthermore you can access your hard drive in school computer through VLE when using your home computer or laptop. Additionally, teachers could also set up work through VLE which would save time.

Before, there would be no such thing like VLE. In order for students to communicate with their teachers, they will need to come and find them at school. This just show how easy it is for students in today’s society to communicate and get help from their teachers.

Security Cameras/CCTV/Surveillance- protection and security is a massive thing for and in school. Safeness is one of the most important factors in school and having surveillance camera ensure this. We have surveillance cameras all over my school; this shows how important the school take the safeness of their students and this increase the sense of safeness in school. Having security cameras not just give students peace of mind but the staff too. Reduction in property damages, vandalism would hopefully decrease due to having security cameras and this would maybe cause better behaviour as student knows that they are being monitored.

Before, there wouldn’t be an surveillance camera at all therefore it would have been hard to keep track of what’s going on all over the school. This device is very important and helpful for school now a day. This show how far technology has come and how important it can be.



As a student you get so many advantages in case of using or buying ICT. For example you can get cheap hardware or software like Photoshop etc, you can also get discounts from Apple and Microsoft and more. This show how ICT is being used by students effectively and how companies help students in order to get good deals. This is very helpful for students as being in University is very expensive today, therefore every penny save is worth it and needed.

Overall, all of this shows how much education was affect by the fast development of ICT. It shows the massive difference between student’s life before and student’s life now. Personally I don’t think I would have been able to get through school with the use of ICT, ICT is now very important in students life and I’m truly amaze how students before ICT was fully developed learned and got through their whole school life.