The Impact of Computers on Society
Introduction
The following activities can be used for any of the computer studies courses. Students should learn to consider carefully the effects of possible future computer applications. They should also understand the role that they may play in shaping future developments related to computers. Discussions should encourage students to examine the use of computers in society from both an individual and global perspective. These activities can be used to meet some of the course expectations under the strand Impact and Consequences.
Activity 1 – Group Activity
Groups of students will be asked to identify as many examples as they can of the impact that computers have had on society. The following list of “areas of impact” will be provided to the student (in a hand-out) and they will be required to come up with a number of examples in each division.
Activity 1
AREAS OF IMPACT OF COMPUTERS ON SOCIETY
AREA: EXAMPLES:
Personal Impact:
Community Impact:
National Impact:
Global Impact:
Future Impact:
The following is a list of the societal impact of computers that the students may have identified.
Personal Impact
• privacy and personal rights
• data banks, computer terminals, data security
• employment
• job opportunities, new careers, the need for retraining
• business transactions
• automated billing, credit cards, interac, consumer spending
• the replacement of people through automation
• robots, word processing
• the impact that a machine has on a human
• pro and con
Community Impact
• employment
• traffic control
• urban planning
• law enforcement
National Impact
• communications media
• the use of information for control
• vote counting
• electronic funds transfer
• stock-market transactions
• defense
• surveillance
• national data banks
• employment
• shifting patterns
• telecommunications
•...