EMPOWERMENT TECHNOLOGIES

MODULE 10
WHAT’S MORE
GOOD, BETTER, BEST
Infographic

GOOD BETTER BEST

(Enumerate the good points in the (Which aspects of the infomercial (What is the best lesson that you got
infomercial) needs improvement?) from the infomercial? How did it affect
you?)
 The aspect of a successful  Infomercial are good for those
informercial is to be absolutely products which require detailed  I learned the information’s, uses,
genuine. Naturalness is the key. explanation about their features as and importance of each of them. It
Sometimes the performers overdo they can run as a regular length can affect me by how I see the
it or the message is way too television program. In the print infomercials.
naughty. Create a personalized media, infomercial appears as a
communication and not a reality separate supplement.
show.

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES

Write an essay on the topic “How can ICT help in social change?”.

"Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Social Changes and Transformation"

Considering the world being a global village, Information and communication technologies (ICT) have
become more valuable entity in all aspects of life. Over thirty years, the use of ICT has fundamentally changed
the practices and procedures of nearly all forms of exertion surrounded by business, governance and education.
In recent years, many organizations and governments have worked to increase frankness and clearness in their
actions on how Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are understood by many people as a cost-
effective and suitable means to promote candidness and social changes in E-government, E-learning and social
interaction in particular. Some of these individual efforts have received considerable attention on the issue of
whether these ICT-enabled efforts have the ability to create a substantive social change in approaches toward
transparency or not.

In this Essay, I reviewed multidisciplinary literature concerning the role of ICT on social changes and
transformation and identify some viewpoints regarding the nature of the role ICT played in social changes and
transformation toward innovation. My review suggests that ICTs research, in spite of its incredible theoretical
abilities to study technology innovation in relation to socioeconomic context, remains weak in forming
conclusive arguments about IT-enabled socioeconomic development as a result of digital divides.

ICTs are indisputably important part of our social setting today. The term ICTs has been used to
embrace technological innovation and merging in information and communication transforming our world into
information or knowledge societies. The rapid development of these technologies has fainted the boundaries
between information, communication and various types of media. The fast-tracking merging between
telecommunications, broadcasting multimedia and ICTs is the driving force that gradually changes many
aspects of our lives, including knowledge dissemination, social interaction, economic and businesses, politics,
media, education, health, leisure and entertainment.

The development of a society mostly depends on the access to information. The Information and
Communication Technologies (ICTs) greatly ease the flow of information and knowledge offering the socially-
marginalized and unaware community an extraordinary chance to attain their own rights socially, economically,
educationally and politically. Despite ICT’s massive potential, the current global information outburst has had
surprisingly little impact on development activities and access to practical information for rural communities,
local people and forefront development workers in developing countries.

The emergence of Internet, World Wide Web, mobile cell phones, digital television, and several other
new electronic devices pertaining information and communication technologies (ICTs) are opening a fresh
passageway for transforming the way we live, work, learn, communicate and also provides a strategic
opportunity of diverse and significant social and economic benefits to people across the globe.

According to H.T Mazumder “social change may be defined as a new fashion or mode, either modifying
or replacing the old, in the life of people or in the operation of a society “.

Social change can be referring to a transformation of culture and social organizations/structures over time. We
are aware that in a modern world, a society is never static and that of social, political, economic, and cultural
changes occurs constantly.

But how does ICT contribute to Society or Social Changes Development?

The impact of ICT is extensive. As a matter of fact, we experience its effect in our daily lives. It is
however important to note that the benefits are of ambiguous with some being harmful and other being
beneficial. On this paper, I decided to mention few not all on the benefit of ICT toward social changes and
transformation.

The social transformations that could result from the increasing use of ICTs depend strangely on verdicts
made by organizations and individuals outside our household, many of whom have great economic leverage,
political power or technical expertise. To increase the consent potential of ICTs, it is important to understand
some of their basic features, which make them a unique kind of technologies. ICTs are general purpose
technologies and this means that they have a standard use through a huge collection of sectors and activities.
With gradual society-wide adoption, GPTs lean towards to disrupt existing social systems and recreate new
ones in their place. Below are some of the social transformations via ICTs,

 Entertainment
With the advent of new technologies, the world of entertainment is constantly evolving. Digital broadcasting
has completely changed the way we experience television and radio with more interactive programming and
participation. Digital cameras, scanners, and printers have enabled more people to experiment with image
production. Computer gaming has also been an important influence in the development of graphical interfaces.
Technology has been at the forefront of changes in production and distribution of music, as well as the way in
which people can access and listen to music.

 Public services

Many of the nation's public services at federal, state and local council levels have become available through
online or ICT dependent facilities from the time when the Malaysian government embarked on its massive
transformation programmed in 2001 which gave birth to the current Malaysia as one of the giant countries in
Asia when talking about Social Changes and Transformation in ICTs infrastructures. Malaysian today can take
so many of the public services online. E.g., they can pay their driving licenses online, file their income tax
papers balance online and many other countless public services. Many of the government departments make
available application forms for one or another purpose online. A lot of countries embark on these online
services as a fruitful result seen from Malaysia.

 Financial services

Financial services go through huge changes in recent years as a result of the development of ICT systems. Jane
K. Winn* says “without information technology, financial markets couldn’t consistently acquire information at
the same time as their competitors”. For examples, internet allows access through use of sage or Microsoft excel
software to manage accounting activities, look at financial record when required, monitor and respond to
customers enquiries,

 Business

Businesses in today’s life have promoted a lot with the coming of ICT. Its impact cannot be over emphasized.
For examples ICT helps to increase productivity in business through the use of social Media’s platforms for
marketing and promotion. The use of websites now allowed companies to develop new and cheaper ways of
offering customers with opportunities of buying goods and services at their convenient time, and also enhance
the level of customer service. ICT, provides more efficient scheduling of man power and jobs through the
provision of a Human Resource software’s ERP’s System that streamline many of the task that took too many
hours to be completed manually,

 ICTs and social transformation on political moves

Indeed, the advent of ICTs set up a stage for considering political changes. ICTs tools are enabling governments
to change the way in which they function, including how they communicate and interact with their citizens,
which provides many new opportunities for reconfiguring who gets access to politicians and governments as
well as who politicians and governments can reach with their own messages. On the other hand, Citizens are
also able to employ ICTs tools to discuss issues in groups, Protest, organize campaigns, and seek to influence
public policy. It appears that as long as alliances and links can be built across a relatively large base of political
and economic elites, ICTs can be used as instruments of sustained dominance as much as further
democratization. ICTs can both be employed to increase statist domination, as well as establishing corporatist
ideologies through newer kinds of informational and communicational controls. For example, ‘E-voting’ using
direct recording electronic (DRE) voting machines or via the Internet can permit election processes to be more
efficient and eliminate the kind of margins for human error that might occur.

 The Domestication of ICTs

As Silverstone (1999: 251).[5] explains: ‘Domestication involves fitting and fixing the new into the familiar and
the secure, molding their novelty to the needs, desires, and culture of the family or household.’

With the invention of smart appliances, like other technologies, ICTs emerged with house hold appliances that
are embedded with microchips to ease so many hustles in our houses. Examples are programmable microwave,
washing machine, home security system, mobile telephones Etc.

 ICT Enhancing Education

ICT increases the flexibility of delivery of education so that learners can access knowledge ubiquitously. The
use of ICTs equipment’s can influence the way students are taught and how they learn as now processes are
learner driven not teachers driven. This process in turn would better prepare the learners for lifelong learning as
well as to improve the quality of learning.

Also, in line with geographical flexibility, technology facilitated educational programs and removes many of the
progressive constraints that face learners with special needs (Moore & Kearsley, 1996) [6]. Students start to
appreciate the skill to undertake education anywhere, anytime and anyplace. One of the most vital
contributions of ICT toward education is easy access to learning. With the creation of E-Learning platforms,
invention of search engines like Google, Web 2.0 technology, students can also have an easy access to resource
persons, mentors, experts, researchers, professionals, and peers- ubiquitously.

This flexibility has amplified the availability of just-in-time learning and delivered learning opportunities for
many more learners who previously were constrained by other commitments or socially marginalized.