How much does Technology impact society and culture?

We live in a developed world and the growth and popularity of the technology means that we are constanstly online or connected with other people.

When we wake up in the morning,check our phone for the time and/or mixed calls and texts. When we go the bathroom, we may have options on our shower head to automatically set the water temperature for us instead of having to do it manually. When we enter most cars nowadays, there is a handy sat nav near by,so we no longer have to ask people for directions or look at a map. When we finally enter our work place, we will most definitely use the internet to find out something or even use it while we our on our break.

An average day consists of different types of technology that we rely and depend on without us even realizing it.



Jon Dovey and Helen Kennedy say that '' 'Technicity' is the interconncctedness of identity towards technology competence. People's tastes, aptitudes, and propensities towards technology become part of a particular 'identity'. This indentity then becomes a basis of affiliations and connections with like-minded others. Our particular habits with, for, instance, mobile phones, iPods, computer games or DVD collections can become expressions of our 'technicity.' ''

For example, If I wanted to play a game on xbox with my friends, I could connect with them online through my 'gamertag' which would monitor myself and my friends score. I could even connect with complete strangers too, simply because we share the same interests in games.

We are already starting to live in a world where we are judged based on how many pieces of technology we have. Phones, iPods, game soles ect. The growth of technology and the interent has made it easier to advertise products and create brands. For example, the use of the apple brand has increased through the use of technology.

Is there such thing as Privacy anymore?

We live in a world where information is stored about us and the the things we do throughout the day is monitored. The places we go to can be seen on CCTV or through out oyster cards and the things we buy can be monitored through the things we pay for on our debit cards. Our passports have information on every single place we have travelled to outside the UK and we also have databases on our teeth, medical health, and any criminal records we may have.

We are even monitored by the websites we visit through the use of cookies. If a stranger found all these details about you, they could easily build a quick profile about you and you could become a victim of identity theft.

Privacy has also become a bigger issue since the rise and popularity of social networking sites. People are willing to share more information about themselves online, leaving them at risk to strangers. For example, facebook was originally a site for friends to connect and share with each other, but a lot of people accept friend requests from people they don't actually know. Leaving your profile public for all to see could mean that a potential employee could browse through your pictures and wall posts to get the real view about you before they decide whether or not to take you on for the job.


Here are some stories about the isses surrounding our privacy online

What are the advantages and disadvantages of Operating Systems?

Open source software is described in Kavanagh’s ‘Open Source Software: Implementation and management’ (2004) as ‘software that must be distributed with source code included or easily available, such as by free download from the internet. The License of this software will not restrict others from disrupting the code or modifications and derived works under the same terms.

In simpler terms, open source software allows anyone to create and or edit on software that already exists.

Users of open software are at an advantage as they are able to control and understand technology rather than being controlled by technology or software makers. For example, Android apps are open and free to be developed by members of the public whereas iPhone apps cost money to be developed and users will have to pay to use it as they are copy right restricted. As android is not regulated, their apps can be subject to viruses and bugs. However, improvements can be made on an android app by members of the public. Once an iphone app has been developed, it is rarely edited or re created.

Copy left is helpful to recognized programme developers as it allows users to help in developing it, whilst stopping people from copying and closing off the source codes and passing it off as their own.

However, operating systems such as Wikipedia can cause problems because it is part of user generated content and is not regulated. The fact that anyone can come and edit information means that the information provided may not always be correct

How do incoherences affect a game?

When we play a game, we are expected to abide by the rules. When we understand the rules of the game, we expect certain things to happen. For example, in pacman, when we eat fruits, we expect the ghosts to to move slower giving us the change to eat more yellow dots and gain points to the next level. But what happens when things happen in a game that we don't expect to happen? For example, when we are playing a racing game, if we crash our vehicle into the wall and the car doesn't get damaged or bounce back on us on the screen we will be surprised, and concept of cause and effect will be questioned.

Another example would be if, in an action game, a grappling rope will hold on to one thing, but not another. This will frustrate us as we have to find another means to navigating around the space that we have been given. Other times,there may be glitches or bugs in a game that prevent us from experiencing the game in its best quality.