TWC Session 5

Brief Overview/Summary

Technology has been extending the human-being’s capabilities and re-writing the concepts of who we are and what we have. An important and crucial technological development would be the development of Information Communication Technology, because it brings people all over the world closer, and resulted in us being more inter-connected than ever. ICT brought about a highly inter-connected world and individuals can thus harness this relationship to make collective decisions that can make the world a better place. Have we used enough of today’s technology to help build a better world? After today’s lesson, I learned that it is apparently not. Digital divide is still apparent, and people in developing countries need to have equal access to digital information to change their lives.

Interesting Observation and Ideas

In the lesson, several key ICTs were discussed, namely, the Mass Media, Internet, Social Network, Gaming, Wireless Technology etc. The internet has perpetuated many important changes of the world and has led to the revolution of how we communicate and perceive information. Gone were the days where information were only transmitted via a few selected channels. Instead of one-to-many, the social media revolution has allowed many-to-many conversations and diverse ideas to be communicated all around the world at incredible speed. The lesson today also covered the amazing would-be capabilities of Web 3.0, which will simplify our lives so much more, making daily living more efficient. On top of our smart phones, in the future, there will be smart homes and smart appliances, technology will literally be part of us, which is kind of cool. However as we get more connected we are also exposing ourselves to the lack of privacy. This is not so cool.

Secondly, the ‘digital divide’ is being highlighted in class today. It refers to the inequality between groups/countries in terms of the access to ICT. ICT is a powerful tool to change lives, eradicate poverty and help elevate the position of developing nations in this knowledge-based economy. Without quality access to information on the web, the gap becomes larger as the rest of the developed world progresses leaving those without relevant knowledge behind. I am surprised to note that ICT has a huge role to play in changing the lives of many.

Key Takeaway Points

ICT has become so powerful in a span of a few decades that many things achieved were considered unimaginable in the past. Take the internet for example; previously, communication were relied on traditional medium, now Internet opened doors to so many forms of interaction and spreading of information. This high-speed sharing of information is rapidly changing the world, the economy and our values. The human needs are getting more sophisticated and we are no longer satisfied with what we have, constantly looking for innovation that will make our lives easier.

For Session Two, I wrote this in Issues for Further Discussion: “I was hoping for the lesson to cover more about how technology can be harnessed to enable a more well-balanced world not just growth of countries in economic power, but also growth in spirituality (not religion) and humanity (awareness of the plight of the world). These issues deserve more air-time for discussion because the world seems to be fixated on innovation for the purpose of benefiting economically and keeping up with global competition. Maybe in the lessons in the future, such areas would be covered.”

I am pleased to learn that ICT is one way people can reach out to one another to spread knowledge and skills to the rest for them to cross the digital divide. The important thing is to make telecommunication affordable and to build wireless systems cheaply and deploy them everywhere.

Famous spiritual leaders would advocate that we are connected and inseparable, because what happens to one entity may affect the other. Through ICT, I hope to see a rise in universal spirituality and for people to see that we can have the power to affect others positively because of this “expanding concept of what it means to be human”. (John Naisbitt)

Issues for Further Discussion

In Katty’s presentation about The role of ICT in Sustainable Development, she posed a question whether the promotion of ICT will gear the rest of the world to a more “westernised” culture. I would think that communication is two-way, for example in a communication between an Asian and an American, both are learning of the cultures of each other, ICT helps to speed up such exchange and the result is a more “Globalised” culture, instead of a “westernised” culture.

However I wish to discuss more on how ICT has produce such a globalised culture  and whether consumerism / capitalism has a role to play in it. For example, everyone around the world recognises the big M logo from Macdonalds, to what extent did ICT help to propagate such visuals to every corner of the world?

Personal Rating

Class is enjoyable and informative as usual, most importantly, we are beginning to touch on what it means to be human in this era of rapid digital revolution, such knowledge will definitely help me cultivate a better self. I would rate today’s lesson a 9/10.