Computer & Society Quiz - UGB03

Course Information

• Course title: Computer & Society UGB03
• University: Pharos University in Alexandria
• Faculty: Faculty of Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence
• Instructor: Dr. Hosam Selim

Social Informatics

• Definition: A study of the social aspects of computerization.
• Focus: Roles of information technology in societal and organizational change
• Focus: Influences of social forces and social practices on information technologies.
• Focus: Interaction (micro and macro) between ICTs and society

Introduction

• Questions about computerization's effects on society
• Questions concerning the internet's role in reshaping society
• Questions about telecommuting trends and workplace changes
• Questions about how computer/internet use might affect college enrollment
• Questions about how the internet changes medical information access
• Ongoing discussion about how computer-based systems and ITs generally reshape organizations and social relations
• Issues related to malfunctions and misuse – computer crime, software theft, hacking, viruses, privacy concerns, dependence on intelligent machines, and workplace stress, each impacting the computer profession.
• Computer systems are blamed for technological problems

What is a Society?

• Definition: A community, nation, or broad grouping of people with common traditions, institutions, and collective activities/interests.
• Interplay with ICTs: Society and ICTs are rapidly developing and often changing each other in surprising ways.
• Socialization: Learning social behaviors appropriate to situations.
• Digitization of interactions: Opens new ways to gather information previously unavailable.
• Includes examples like: interactions, education, medical issues

How is IT & Society Linked?

• Technological progress in computing and communications: Continuing at a rapid pace
• Decreasing costs of communications: Due to technological improvements and competition
• Support the dramatic increase in the power and use of ICTs

Impacts of Computers on Today's Society

• Greatest impact compared to other major technologies
• Integral part of daily life: Required for most jobs
• Enables achievements in many fields such as design, medicine, and space exploration.
• Make impossible tasks possible
• Improve daily life in several contexts.

Computer Crime

• New technology creates new crime opportunities
• Computer networks leave doors open to criminals: Stealing, manipulating data theft and potentially destruction

What is Social Computing?

• General term for computer science focused on the intersection of social behavior and computational systems.
• Social informatics: Body of research about the social aspects of ICTs.
• Definition of Social Computing: Systems that gather, process, use, and publish information across social groups (teams, communities, organizations, and markets)

Why Social Computing?

• Humans interact with expressions, gestures, spoken and written words
• Decision-making is influenced by social context
• Social conformity: People tend to follow what others are doing or saying

Social Computing Framework

• Listen (Social Listening): Analyze who, what, when, where and how using data sources for insights, product comparison/sentiment analysis, unusual occurrences, SME identification, and content analyses
• Engage: Align with business strategies, Respond to conversations for appropriate action, Relate analysis to business strategy and other business intelligence.
• Integrate: Integrate social insights with business strategy, Link enterprise data systems, analyze satisfaction numerical information

How Computers Can Be Used to Develop Society

• Tools in many contexts – including personal use, home banking/shopping, education, entertainment, healthcare, and agriculture

Infrastructure Basis of Social Computing

• Web, Database, Multimedia, Wireless, Agent, and Software Engineering Technology

Social Informatics Definition (SI)

• Body of research that studies the social aspects of computerization, including information technologies' roles in social and organizational change.
• Focus on the ways social organization of information technologies is influenced by social forces and practices.

Interaction

• Micro-level interactions: Interactions of ICTs and society, focus on individual and organizational applications, Human-computer interaction
• Macro-level interactions: General changes in society due to ICT introduction, issues related to the information society

Application

• Applications of ICTs in specific social science and humanities areas (e.g., computer modeling of social data, design of systems in public sector, social services, etc.)

Social Informatics is Problem-Oriented

• Focuses on "real-world" design, development, and use of ICTs.

The Value of Social Informatics

• Understanding the meaning of internet access and digital divide
• Effective use of computer networks by professionals sharing information about projects
• Extent to which ICT developments foster paperless offices
• Potential of ICTs replacing traditional media in K-12 classrooms

Work Processes Matters With Documentary Systems

• The application of social informatics to digital libraries and documentary systems
• Paperless office practices (laser printers)

Socio-Technical Systems

• Complex interdependent system components:
  • People; roles and relationships
  • Hardware (e.g., computers, networks)
  • Software (e.g., operating systems, applications)
  • Techniques (e.g., business models, decision-making schemes)
  • Support resources
  • Structures (e.g., data, access controls)

Social Informatics Themes

• Conflicting effects of ICTs
• Differential impact of ICTs on various groups
• Interrelationship between ICT design, implementation, use, and context

Key Social Informatics Issues

• ICT meanings and roles are highly context dependent.
• ICTs are not value-neutral.
• ICT use leads to varied, sometimes counterintuitive, effects.
• Ethical considerations and social consequences arise from ICT use.
• Technologies evolve and adapt over time.

Explore the significant impacts of computerization on society through this engaging quiz. It covers topics such as telecommuting, internet influences, and changes in organizational structures. Test your understanding of how information technology relates to various social practices and organizational transformations.