Introduction:
Welcome to my blog my name is Oliver Rhodes, I am a level 2 student at Halesowen College writing about the social, ethical and legal aspects of IT.
Social aspects of IT:
- Local communities- IT can bring people together in many ways, these include social media. This could impact someone positively because they can make new friends on social media, connect with local communities and talk to people who may share similar interests.
- Economic effects- IT can effect the economy positively and negatively. The one way it affects the economy is with money. This can be a good thing or a bad thing for certain people, for example it is very easy to set up a business online as it is very easy to make a website and buy something, an example of this is eBay all you have to do is set up an account, and then you can buy and sell products. You can also advertise your business in many ways. You can advertise your products on social media or you can have a link to a certain website, these are called affiliate link. You can also send people emails advertising products to get them to buy them.
- Due to products being cheaper online business are going bust as people can just order the products online. The owner of the business is rent to rent the shop out, they need to buy lighting, heat, water and electricity. They also need to insure the building. They also need to pay the staff for their wages. Finally, they might need to pay some sort of tax. However online you don’t need to pay half of these things but made electricity bills as you are probably working from home.
- Sustainability – Sustainability is when you keep something going , for example Reduce, Re-Use, Recycle. For example when a computer breaks you can re use it for parts instead of just throwing it away.
Legal aspects if IT:
- Copyright- Copyright is when you assign a piece of writing, a photo or a video to yourself. When you assign a piece of media to your name it’ll last 70 years in your name.
- Plagiarism- Plagiarism is when you steal someones idea, words or writing to then pretend like it is your own work Writers who plagiarize commit serious legal and ethical violations.
Ethical aspects of IT:
- Privacy of information- Privacy of information is when an individuals information or data is kept private. For example medical records have to be kept private for a individual otherwise it could be used against them if someone who shouldn’t have the data get a hold of it.
- Unequal access of information- Unequal access is when specific things are available for one person but not another. For example if one person is allowed to access social media and another isn’t that is unequal access as one that person cant access social media. Unequal access can also be a good thing, this can be seen when someone has access to something like school records, they can use this for their own gain as they can give them self a good grade on the school records.
Why is the blog good at conveying information to a wide audience?
- Who can access your blog? Anyone in the world can access your blog as long as they have internet connection and the blog is public.
- What type of information can be included? You can include: Text Images, Videos and audio. All these are classed as multi-media.
- Editing and publishing a blog? Editing is when you can change your blog very easily even if it is published, all you need to do is log in and edit the previously saved copy of the blog. It is also very easy to publish a blog which is also just as easy as clicking a button to make the blog public to everyone.
Is there anything your blog doesn’t do well?
- Is it difficult to make a blog entry? It is not difficult to make a blog entry as all you need to do is sign up and then you can start writing your blog.
- How easy us it to update an existing entry- Updating a existing blog is very easy to do, all you need to do is log in and click the update button on an already existing blog, write what you need to update and then you can re upload the new blog.
Safety and security:
- Passwords/ log in details- Passwords and login details are what keeps your account in your possession. For example when you’re asked to log in you will be asked for an email and password to show that it is the account owner. Passwords can have different variations to them, they can have lower
- Emails to register your account- Emails register your account so that you can access your account, for example when logging into an account you will be asked to verify your account via your email.
- CAPTCHA – CAPTCHA also known as completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.
What makes email safe to use?
- Securing personal data- An email is safe for securing personal data because only the email owner can use the email meaning their personal data is safe.
- Data protection- Email is safe to use for data protection because you are the only one that can use the email which means you are the only one who can access your data.
- Firewalls- A firewall system is used to prevent unauthorized access to your email so people cant access your email and data.
Improving accessibility in a blog :
- Choice of colours- 3 colours max otherwise its too busy. Colours also must be appropriate to the theme, for example if you’re doing a specific topic for your blog you would set a themed colour. Colours chosen will put the reader “in state” they can change your mood.
- Choice of text size- The choice of text size would be important for the readers of my blog due to certain viewers maybe having troubles with their eyesight. So that these types of viewers can read my blog I would need to make my text big so that it is readable and the text is not too small.
- Contrast of text and background- I also need to consider the colour of the text towards the colour of the background
- Choice of text front
- Inclusion of images
- Tooltips for text readers
Social, Ethical and Legal aspects of IT 