Chapter 9 Societal Impacts of IT Solutions
Question - 21 : - Differentiate between hackers and crackers.
Answer - 21 : -
Differences betweenhackers and crackers are as follows:
| Hackers | Crackers |
| A hacker is a person intensely interested in the arcane and recondite working of any computer operating system. | A cracker is one who breaks into or otherwise violates the system integrity of remote machines with malicious intent. |
| Hackers obtain advanced knowledge of operating systems and programming languages. | Having gained unauthorised access, crackers destroy vital data, deny legitimate users service, or cause problems for their targets. |
| Hackers constantly seek further knowledge, freely share what they have discovered and never intentionally damage data. | Crackers can easily be identified because their actions are malicious. |
Question - 22 : - Write a short note on social networking.
Answer - 22 : -
It is a grouping of individuals into specific groups, like small rural communities or a neighbourhood subdivision, if you will. A social networking service is an online service, platform or site that focuses on facilitating the building of social networks or social relations among people.
e.g. people who share interests, activities, backgrounds or real life connections. When it comes to online social networking, Websites are commonly used. These Websites are known as Social Sites. The most popular social sites are currently Facebook, MySpace, Orkut etc.
These Websites provide users with simple tool to create a custom profile with text and pictures. Typical profile includes basic information about user, atleast one photo and possibly a blog or other comments published by the user. It may include videos, photos albums, online applications as in Facebook or custom layout (in MySpace). After creating a profile, user can send message to other users and leave comments directly on friends’ profiles.
Question - 23 : - Write the benefits of ICT in education and healthcare.
Answer - 23 : -
Benefits of ICT
ICT has become an integral part of our daily life. And, it has benefited the common man in various ways in every field of life. Some of them are as follows:
In Education
The main purpose of the strategy for ICT implementation in education is to provide the prospects and trends of integrating ICT into the general educational activities.
Some benefits of ICT in education are as follows:
1. There is no time boundation on an individual for getting educated by a teacher. A person can attend a class anytime and anywhere.
2. Teachers can create interactive classes and make the lessons more interesting.
3. Generally, students find images and graphical representation of concepts, more interesting as compared, to the theoretical knowledge. And, using ICT, teachers can explain even the most complex concept in a very simplified manner using graphics, videos and animations.
4. An individual can learn on pace he/she is comfortable.
5. Learning resoures can be accessed remotely.
In Healthcare
Some benefits of ICT in healthcare are as follows:
1. Automated hospital information systems can help to improve quality of care.
2. Decreased costs of treatment.
3. ICT has significantly enhanced the services being provided and brought behavioural changes.
4. This technology helps doctors, hospitals, the general public and all other medical care providers.
5. Pharmaceutical industry is the industry that enjoys the biggest benefits of ICT.
6. ICT has made E-Health possible.
Question - 24 : - "Virtual schools are better than traditional schools.” Write reasons to support this statement.
Answer - 24 : -
A virtual school is a learning environment offered entirely on the Internet. All student services and courses are conducted through Internet technology. The virtual school differs from the traditional school through the physical medium that links administrators, teachers and students. It refers to an institution that is not “brick and mortar” bound.
Advantages
The advantages of virtual schools are as follows:
1. Individualised instruction for all students.
2. Lessons can be taught in a way that benefits students with various learning abilities.
3. More time can be spent on lessons that are more difficult for students.
4. Flexibility for the students to learn whenever and wherever they want.
5. Students are self-directed and mature quicker as they manage their studies.
6. Students can access learning 24 hours a day and learn at their own pace.
Disadvantages
The disadvantages of virtual schools are as follows:
1. Undisciplined students will not succeed in the online environment.
2. Puts more stress on the parents to provide guidance and tutoring.
3. Parents need to monitor the student all day long as opposed to dropping the student at school where the student is monitored by teachers and staff.
4. Students are more isolated and might not developed properly socially.
5. Students would not receive personal one-on-one time with teachers.