Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to lesson four on Cultural Impacts.

Part of this unit on the Impact of Technology.

In this lesson, you will define downtime and explain the associated impacts on an organisation.

Explain what is meant by the digital divide and measures to reduce its effect.

And finally, you will identify positive and negative aspects of the use of mobile technology.

In this part of the lesson, you'll consider the cultural impact of technology on a group of stakeholders.

Imagine that your school has decided to go completely paperless and utilise cloud storage for learners records.

On the worksheet, consider the impact it would have on different groups of learners and teachers.

Use the following prompt questions to help you.

What about homework? What about learners with additional needs? What are the legal implications of cloud storage of learners data? Are there any positives and negatives? And are there any other things to consider? Pause the video now to complete the task.

When you are finished resumed the video.

There are many different points you could have made, but these are just a few model answers that you could have had.

It is better for the environment not to print out worksheets and produce exercise books and textbooks.

The initial setup is expensive with continued licencing and hardware maintenance costs.

Material could be very up to date rather than using textbooks, which become outdated.

The school may need to consider that not everyone has a device at home.

Also, should work be expected to be done outside of the classroom? The accessibility features to adapt to user's requirements might be useful.

However, some learners might find it difficult to navigate between questions and materials on presentations.

Learners would become very proficient at using computers, which would also be very beneficial for job prospects.

The school would need to be very careful about adhering to the General Data Protection Regulation.

In particular, careful about the security of data on the cloud and have developed strategies for keeping data only when necessary.

What does the term cultural impact mean? Culture relates to the ideas, customs and social behaviour of a society.

Impact means to have an effect on something.

Therefore, the cultural impact of technology means how we do things differently and interact differently because of technology.

We can examine the cultural impact by looking at, the impact of technology on our daily lives, the digital divide and globalisation.

So what is the cultural impact of technology? Let's consider an example.

If you were given a piece of history homework to research a timeline of medical innovations without access to the internet, you may painstakingly have to visit a library to find the one or more books or magazines with the information you were looking for.

That is of course, assuming these materials were available or even existed, or were even up to date.

While using the internet to do your homework seems commonplace, this helps you to appreciate that the internet has changed the way that you do things.

It has influenced our culture.

In this next part of the lesson, you will understand what is meant by downtime and its effects on individuals.

Downtime describes situations where an organisation loses some or all of its IT systems for a period of time.

This could be for any number of accidental or deliberate reasons, including planned maintenance, or system upgrades, power or internet service provider failure, cyber attacks, human error and natural disasters.

Sometimes when web servers are experiencing downtime related issues, 404 error codes are displayed in a web browser.

It's time for another task.

On the worksheet complete the downtime crossword.

For example, two across is an unavailable service can have a negative impact on the reputation of an organisation.

The correct answer to two across is brand damage and customer loss.

Let's try another example.

The clue one down is protect your organisation from what, beginning with the letter M? The correct answer to one down would be malware.

Pause the video now to complete the task.

When you are finished, you can resume the video to continue.

Good work, how did you get on with that? Here are the answers.

Three across was use strong passwords to protect your data? Five across was keep copies of all vital databases.

Seven across was backup data regularly.

Eight across was avoid phishing attacks.

Nine across was systems that are down cost money to repair and recover.

Three down was downtime is estimated to cost UK businesses 2,140 pounds per minute through wages and lost sales because of lost productivity.

Four down was if a business loses data, it can have a catastrophic effect on its ability to trade.

Six down was keep devices safe and secure.

In this next part of the lesson, you will begin to understand the digital divide and work through examples of its impact.

The digital divide is a division that exists between people who have access to and can use technology and people who don't have access or cannot use it.

As a society, we are eager to take advantage of information technology to improve our lives, but we risk leaving Some of the less privileged members of our communities behind.

The concern is that although technology can be useful, our overreliance on it can risk leaving some members of our communities behind.

In addition to our upgrade culture, means that each year, something new comes out and getting it becomes a fashion issue.

Some of the people who were impacted by the digital divide include people who live in rural areas, people who live in developing countries, low-income households, people with poor computer skills, the elderly, and some people who have disabilities.

To mitigate against it would be a way to limit its effect against these groups.

For example, people who live in rural areas may be limited by slower internet speeds and delayed access to repairs.

The effect of this is that they will have limited access to rapid information and opportunities to generate wealth.

What they need is investment in better internet and telecommunication infrastructure.

For some elderly people, it may be challenging to adapt to new technology or even prioritise it.

This can result in social isolation and limit access to online services, which are becoming more and more the norm.

For example, some hospital appointments are arranged or rebooked online.

To limit the impact against this group, they too will need investment and better internet and telecommunication infrastructure.

In this part of the lesson, you will consider the cultural impact of technology.

The interactions we have with our mobile phones are exciting and attention grabbing.

In an instant I can have at my fingertips, a selection of new stories, articles, photos, and videos that have been specifically curated to suit my tastes.

The engaging and stimulating content that is available to us on mobile technology, provides our brain with constant reasons to engage with it, so much so that we can also become addicted, feeling bored when we are not constantly entertained.

How do you think mobile technology has changed the way that we interact? For the next task, complete the comprehension activity about the cultural impact of mobile technology.

Complete the statements about the following passage.

Mobile technology and its associated applications have changed the way that we interact.

But whether this has been a positive or a negative effect is a difficult question to answer.

The mobile phones we carry with us offer exciting and engaging experiences wherever we go.

With a couple of clicks on our screen, our brains are stimulated and this makes us feel good.

Overexposure to quick-fire entertainment can cause problems when we undertake a task that requires concentration or it feels as if it lacks immediate value.

We can become bored more easily.

This Leads to some people becoming addicted to their phones and the stimulation that they provide leading some to conclude that this has a negative effect on how we interact in the real world.

Users should be mindful of the amount of time and attention they give to their phones and of the effect the phones have on them.

Some developers are creating applications to help users develop good habits.

Apps such as Headspace encourage mindfulness in their users, while some, like Pokemon Go encourage users to get outside and explore.

Mobile technology also has a direct effect on the way that we build connections and how we interact with those closest to us.

Social media and mobile technology are inseparably linked.

These sites allow users to interact with others regardless of their geographic proximity.

Some use it to keep in touch with family and friends that they would otherwise struggle to communicate with.

Mobile technology allows us to communicate much more easily as most devices are internet connected and can be used in very remote locations compared to traditional desktop computers? The newsfeed is a common feature across social media, in which an algorithm selects the most important posts for you to see.

This feature allows you to catch up with hundreds of your friends in minutes or so it feels.

Some users report that the newsfeed makes them feel lonelier or jealous of their friends who appear to be having a better time.

The developers of social media sites need to consider the effects on mental health that come from content driven by their algorithms. Mobile technology has changed the way that we interact with each other.

And some people are now more likely to connect through their phones than in person.

These connections are not always beneficial.

Pause the video now to complete the task.

Resume the video when you're finished.

Well done.

Let's go through the answers to see how well you did.

Statement one was mobile technology and its associated applications have changed the way we interact.

Statement two was mobile phones are designed to give us exciting and engaging experiences.

Three was overexposure to quick-fire type of entertainment can cause problems. Four was as a result, we become bored more easily.

Statement five was users should limit the amount of time and attention they give to their phones.

Statement six was some developers have designed applications that help users develop good habits.

Seven was, mobile tech also affects how we build connections.

Eight was, social media and mobile technology are inseparably linked.

Statement nine was, newsfeeds are a common feature across most social media platforms. And finally algorithms drive social media sites and can have an adverse effects on mental health.

How many did you get correct? Let's move on.

In this final part of the lesson, you will explore a little bit more about globalisation.

Globalisation is the process by which the world is becoming increasingly interconnected as a result of massively increased trade and cultural exchange.

But how has technology contributed to this? For your final task, on the worksheet, give three specific examples of everyday technologies with explanations.

An example technology is email, which has sped up communication.

This technology enables documents to be sent quickly around the world between businesses.

Pause the video now to complete the task.

Good work.

There were many different examples you could have given here.

So here are some other answers for you to consider.

Using the internet for personal use encourages people to exchange their views and experiences globally.

It allows free speech and the distribution of a variety of views across the world.

Note that some countries find this so confronting that they restrict access.

For example, as of December 2019, Iran, China and Russia were also restricting or planning to restrict global access to the internet for what they claim is a preservation of their societal values, cultures, or to prevent political interference from others.

Next we have the use of the internet for business.

Here technology has been a driving factor in the process of globalisation.

Improvements, in recent years in computer hardware, software and telecommunications have greatly increased people's ability to access and distribute product information.

As a result, we are able to browse purchase and have delivered products we simply would not have had access to previously.

Finally, and one of my favourites, music technology.

It enables the mixing of cultural influences between countries.

Producers and artists are able to use low cost technology to record music which can be remixed or added to by other artists.

There are many examples online of where musicians have through the power and flexibility of technology, been able to collaborate on a global scale.

Thank you so much for watching.

Don't forget to complete the exit quiz for this lesson to assess your understanding.

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