session 5

With increasingly more and more knowledge generated or discovered, conventional means of disseminating knowledge such as books are no longer sufficient to meet the great demand. An alternative route is required such that knowledge can be easily accessible. Information and communication technology (ICT) as we can see from its name, it means any kind of technology that already exist to help individuals, businesses and organisations use information. Written by Professor Shahi, ICT is the catalyst that facilitates the knowledge revolution. Why is it a catalyst? I feel that it is because ICT has not only made access to information easier, but also speed up the process of generation of knowledge. When people get to access more knowledge, they tend to widen their scope and perspective. In this way, new ideas are more easily synthesize.

When we talk about ICT, the first thing that comes to our mind is internet. Internet is so prevalent in our society now that it is almost impossible to find a middle-income-family without a computer. In this session, Professor Shahi asked a question that has never stuck my mind before. Should internet be a human right? In the third world countries, where having 3 meals a day is dream, do they need internet? To them, is internet considered as a luxurious good? I feel that there is no right or wrong answer to this question. If a country is so poor that even having a meal is a dream, what is the use of internet? Can it fill their empty stomach? On the other hand, some people may argue that giving them internet is something like teaching people how to fish. If we only supply them the food and not the technique to get food, they will not be able to get out of poverty. I will say that it all depends on the circumstances. For people who are on the verge of starving to death, of course supplying them food is priority. For those who are able to survive, but is in poverty, then supplying them internet, getting to come in touch with the rest of the world will be a good idea.

One of the topic that caught my attention in class on Monday is Cloud computing. Given that there are more and more projects nowadays, students like to use applications such as drop box or Google documents. However, I didn’t know that there is specific name to this kind of applications, which is known as Cloud computing. Given in an article: “Cloud computing is an Internet-based technology through which information is stored in servers and provided as an on-demand service to clients, possibly jointly with the traditional form of access.” After looking at this definition, this first thing that came to my mind is since the information is stored in the server, wouldn’t it be unsafe? Maybe the information might not be accessible to the rest of the public, but I doubt that this information is safely protected against the person or organization controlling the server. This might be the reason why certain companies or industries, which do not allow their information to move outside the companies' firewall, are not willing to adopt cloud computing. Furthermore, there is still the question of whether this system is reliable or not, as who knows maybe the system might crash or come in contact with virus, which can lead to detrimental consequences. On the other hand, I do not deny the convenience and benefits brought about by cloud computing. Therefore, I feel that the companies should use cloud computing in a selective manner. Important or confidential information should be stored in the companies’ own hardware. For the rest of the information, why not use cloud computing given its advantages?

For this lesson, I will rate it as 7/10. I particularly like the presentation on “Why I am quitting Facebook?” I guess this is the situation most the Facebook edicts will have to face. Checking photos, friends, playing Facebook games, replying messages, all these applications made Facebook more interesting, but also more time consuming. I feel that this link to the quote Professor Shahi mentioned in the previous lesson, about how technology is easy and people are hard. Facebook is meant to create bonds between people. Who knows why the results turn out to be this way?