Information and Communication Technologies - III

Information and Communication Technologies -III

• Paper Code: MDC0300603

Social Media Plateforms

• Social media refers to interactions among people, sharing and/or exchanging information in virtual communities and networks.
• Social media platforms are online services or websites enabling users to create, share, and interact with content.
• Platforms include blogs, micro-blogs, wikis, social networking sites, photo-sharing sites, instant messaging, video-sharing sites, podcasts, widgets, virtual worlds, and more.
• The Office of Communications and Marketing manages Facebook, X/Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube accounts.
• Social media platforms facilitate content creation, sharing, and aggregation amongst virtual communities and networks.
• Common features include online platforms enabling users to create and share content and participate in social networking.

Cyber Ethics

• Cyber ethics examines moral, legal, and social issues at the intersection of computer/information and communication technologies.
• This field is also referred to as Internet ethics, computer ethics, and information ethics.
• Cyber ethics is "a branch of ethics concerned with behavior in an online environment."
• It is the "exploration of the entire range of ethical and moral issues that arise in cyberspace."
• Cyberspace is the electronic worlds made visible by the Internet.

Breaches of Cyber Ethics

• Cyberbullying: A form of bullying via internet technology, often social media, where individuals are mocked based on their physical appearance, lifestyle, or preferences. Teenagers/youngsters are often victims.
• Hacking: Stealing personal or organizational information without authorization, often resulting in data breaches that involve sensitive information such as passwords and bank details, passed to unauthorized third-party users.
• Copywriting:Claiming another individual's content or document as one's own, leading to plagiarism, a punishable legal offense.

Cyber Ethics Focuses

• Privacy: The content available online should not harm the moral, emotional, or personal ethics of individuals. Users should have rights to protect their information. Private information such as user contact details, addresses, and financial details must not be breached.
• IPR (Intellectual Property Rights): The owners retain full rights to the content posted online. No one can claim another's content as their own. Unauthorised content distribution is ethically incorrect and does not benefit the creator financially or otherwise.
• Security: Internet security is the most fundamental ethical right, and users should feel secure while using the internet. Only authorized users should access computer content. Confidential information must be safe.
• Accuracy: Online content must be accurate, as billions of users rely on it for facts and information. Inaccuracies can cause widespread misinformation.

Cyber Law

• Cyber law, also called IT law, covers legal informatics and oversees digital information circulation, software, information security, and e-commerce.
• It encompasses contract, intellectual property, privacy, and data protection principles.
• Software licensing is a controversial area.

Major Areas of Cyber Law

• Fraud: Laws protect consumers from online fraud, including identity theft and credit card theft.
• Copyright: Protects individuals and companies from copyright violations related to their creative works.
• Defamation: Covers civil laws protecting individuals from fake public statements, which can harm reputations.
• Harassment/Stalking: Online harassment and stalking violate criminal laws.
• Trade Secrets: Laws protect the trade secrets companies develop (e.g., algorithms, software etc).
• Contracts/Employment laws: These laws relate to the terms and conditions of using websites.
• Databases: Data management principles.

Databases

• A database is a structured collection of data stored in a computer system, usually controlled by a database management system (DBMS).
• Data querying and processing in databases is generally efficient because data is organized into tables using a structured query language (SQL).
• Databases are critical for organizations such as banks, universities, etc.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• AI is integrated seamlessly into various communication systems.
• It's applied to diverse areas of information technology, such as software development, data analysis, cybersecurity, and infrastructure management.

Machine Learning (ML)

• ML is a branch of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Computer science that uses data and algorithms to enable AI.
• The aim is to improve accuracy by gradually learning from data.
• This technology is used in optimizing machine performance using statistical methods on data, finding solutions to problems and creating predictions.
• ML is used to perform complex tasks relating to human intelligence in many communications systems.

Machine Learning Types

• Supervised Learning(SL): Using labeled input & output data, training a model to map new data to expected output values.
• Unsupervised Learning(UL): Identifying structures in unlabeled data based on commonalities and differences.
• Reinforcement learning(RL): An interdisciplinary area concerned with how an intelligent agent acts within a dynamic environment, aiming to maximize its cumulative rewards.

Major Social Media Platforms

• A list & associated user statistics for the top 10 social media platforms is available for the year 2024.

Data Model

• Data models: A representation of a database organisation describing entities and their interrelations within a given database.
• Entity: A group of similar data elements relevant to an organization.
• Attribute: The characteristics of an entity (e.g., a customer might have an address, phone number etc).

Database Security

• Implementing and maintaining database security involves protecting data from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, modification, or destruction.
• This is typically achieved through user/access levels, data encryption, and logical protections.
• Importance of database preservation: Data security is a vital aspect for data integrity.

Levels of Security

• Network Level: Security is at the network software layer in a communication or distributed database system.
• OS Level: Security associated with the operating system software used to manage a database.
• Database System Level: Security implemented within the database system itself for determining which parts of a database are accessible to which particular user.
• Program Level: Security can be implemented through software (programs) used to manipulate the data.
• Record Level: Security level where access or modification restrictions apply to a particular record in a database, enabling granular controls over data access
• Field Level: Security level applicable to individual fields within a database requiring that only certain values be permitted, e.g., salary.

Database Management System (DBMS)

• DBMSs are programs used for managing databases.
• They offer many tools and benefits in data analysis and decision making.
• Features include: data abstraction, privacy, integrity, data sharing and analysis, plus user functionality.

Importance of Data Encryption

• Encryption is important for protecting data integrity, regardless of how it is stored or transmitted.
• Data security is paramount. Even in "secure systems", unauthorized access is possible and there is a risk of compromised data.
• It helps to secure data when transmitted.
• Encryption provides an enhanced layer of protection.

Backup and Recovery

• Backup is critical for disaster recovery and continuity.
• Data must be periodically backed up to ensure data availability and to mitigate risks associated with failures and errors.
• The need for backup increases if there is a possibility of failures occurring simultaneously, e.g., earthquake, fire or hurricane etc.
• Two main types of backups are: immediate and archival backups.
• Immediate backups are readily available to mitigate risks if instantaneous data damage occurs.
• Archival backups are stored at a segregated site, to safely archive and maintain historical data records.

Transaction Recovery

• To execute a single database operation, many DBMS tasks need to be performed in the specified order to ensure consistency.
• A sequence of tasks performed in a particular order is called a transaction.
• The DBMS may commit an operation or "rollback" an operation if errors occur.

Database Administration

• DBAs have various responsibilities, such as database design/implementation, security, performance monitoring, backup/recovery, troubleshooting, user support, capacity planning, data management and software maintenance.

This quiz covers the fundamentals of social media platforms and cyber ethics as part of the Information and Communication Technologies curriculum. Explore various types of social media services, their functions, and the ethical considerations surrounding their use. Enhance your understanding of how technology intersects with society through this interactive assessment.