Global Divide

Digital Divide


The Digital Divide refers to the automatic and easily recognized contrasts between different groups. This refers to whether or not they have access to the knowledge of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) or even if they can use the information. The Digital Divide is withing different countries and would consist of individuals, households, businesses and geographical areas.

There are three main Digital Divides: Global, Local and Bridging. I will be talking about these three in more detail.


Rich and Poor


This literally is the statement that you either have money, or you don't and so that you therefore do not have the technology. This is the main divide, this is because without having money to buy the technology you simply can't afford it and the latest technology is increasing in price because it is so high tech.


Urban and Rural


Urban - "the urban popularity"
Rural - "remote rural areas"


This basically mean that you live on the country side or in the city. And dependent on this you will be more likely to have internet connection. If you live in the country you will be likely to have bad WiFi reception whereas if you were to live in the country you would be likely to have a relatively good WiFi reception, this is because in the city they are more developed and it is expected to have internet connection.


Educated and Uneducated


This is the statement of whether or not you are educated with technology or not. The majority of the country will be highly likely to be 'educated' this is because we have grown up with the usage of the internect so we have become acustomed to the technology. However if you live in a county that having a WiFi connection is not likely then you will be labeled 'uneducated' as you do not know you're way around a computer.


Global Divide


The "global digital divide" is essentially a geographical division. The digital divide is a term used to describe the differences that countries have which either have access to the internet, or don’t.There are three main global divides which are: rich and poor, urban and rural and educated and uneducated.


Examples of Global Divide would be things such as:

• Internet Cafes
• Mobile Phones
• ECommerce
• Shipping Goods

All of these things will be found in the UK and will in fact be an expected thing and we would take all of these things for granted as we have had these things for years. However there are countries that are not accustomed to things such things as they do not have the facilities or the money to do so. However the servers in which we need when we are using computer technologies are situated in India.

Local Divide

The Local Divide is referring to the speed of the internet and the comparisons across the country meaning that in the same country there will be people who will have a better and faster connection than someone else, who is in the same country. As well as the speed of internet comparisons the Local Divide also refers to the resources you have as some people will be able to afford a higher priced piece of technology whereas another might only be able to afford a standard piece of technology, if any at all.

Because technology is increasingly being used, for simple tasks such as homework, it is extremely important to have a computer as well as an internet connection because a lot of homework now-a-days, will be set and the resources that the pupils will need will be found on the internet, so without the use of the internet simple tasks such as homework won't be able to be done. Where some people will only be able to afford a computer and a stable dial up connection there are people who will earn a lot more who are able to afford a laptop as well as a WiFi, which would enable them to be portable when working, whereas if you have a computer and a dial up you would have to stay in one place, other wise you will lose your connection.

Advantages of the Local Divide:

• The ways in which people used to find out information will still be used
• We wouldn't become dependent on technology

Disadvantages of the Local Divide:

• We are becoming dependent on technology
• Because people don't earn enough they don't get the chance to use the technologies
• A divide is formed simply because you don't earn enough

I am lucky enough to go to a school that has been funded so that it can become an IT school. This has enables be to become accustomed to using technology, especially as the subject that i do are very computer based subjects, without the use of technology i wouldn't be able to do the simple tasks that i do, including homework. 

Roughly, my school has 800 computers which the pupils within the school are able to use and do in many of their lessons. Technology is always changing and we are constantly having to keep up to date with the latest updates. If you don't keep up to date with the latest technology you will soon become computer illiterate and will not be able to use the technology.

Bridging The Divide

Because there are people who aren't up to scratch with technology there are people who chose to help them, to become up to scratch with technology, to enable them to get computers and even just to help them learn how to use computers. My school has recently sent off computers which used to be used in my school to Africa as they are a county who are computer illiterate as they have not got the chance to learn how to use computers.

Tesco Vouchers

In recent years the supermarkets such as Tescos have been giving out computer vouchers which your school will collect and they will then be able to get more computers. The way in which this works is that when you spend over a certain amount in Tescos you get vouchers. The way in which the Tescos i shopped gave out a voucher for every £10 pounds you spent. This helped out schools that could not afford to get computers and helped to bridge the gap.

Outreach

Outreach is held at St Phillips church in Sherwood, they offer a once a week course which is free and the they would be given the choice of what they wanted to do. The majority of the people there would do things ranging from using word to using photoshop and movie maker. Outreach was created that people of all ages could get help using computers however the people that go are not students or people in education. All of the people that go to outreach are computer illiterate so going to this course also helps to bridge the gap and give a chance for everyone to use technology to the best of their ability.

Crime and Crime Prevention

When serious crimes occur, masses of information is sent to the incident room; which is set up by the police. This has had to happen because the amount of crime that has happened in recent years has increased dramatically and there are many different types of crimes and also different procedures which would be chosen to deal with each one.

Computers and Crime Prevention

• Fingerprint Recognition
• Facial Recognition System
• CCTV
• Police National Computer (PNC) 
• Speed Cameras

Cyber Crime

• Phishing
• Hacking
• Computer Misuse Act
• Data Protection Act

Fingerprint Recognition
Fingerprint recognition is when you match two fingerprints together, this helps to verify someones identity and to know who they are. However it is only in the last 10 years that the fingerprint scanner was introduced and the reason behind it being created was to help solve crimes. Because of the increasing amount of technology used it would not take long to find a match of identical fingerprints, however when they would first inspect fingerprints it would be by hand, not by computer and could take a while to finally find a match. As well as having computer based sanners for finding the matches the people that are identified would be stored on a database whereas before the use of technology the data collected would be stored within a paper base system.

Facial Recognition System
This is a computer application which automatically identifies and verifies a human being and will give you personal information about them, that you would need to know. The way in which they capture the persons face is either by: digital image or a video frame. This would be another way of solving a crime as you would would be shown an image or a video and then with the facial recognition technology you would be able to identify who the person is relatively fast. This again will all be computer based because of the new technology, because of this technology it makes solving crimes a great deal easier as you will be shown possible matches and then you would be able to come up with a final identity.

CCTV
CCTV cameras, otherwise known as closed circuit televisions are the usage of cameras. The cameras are situated in places that are in need of being monitored, these places would include: in shops; to prevent theft and many more. The first usage of CCTV cameras was in 1942 and after then it was used worldwide in places such as: banks, airports and schools. The tapes in which contain the video footage are kept so that if there has been any problems to do with suspicious behaviour or even theift they have evidential proof which they would take to the police, and they would then use their facial recognition systems to track down who it it and with the use of both these types of technology the criminals will be found a lot sooner.

Police National Computers (PNC)
This is the piece of technology that holds data and personal information about everyone in the country. The only people that have access to these files are the police and they are only used if they feel it necessary. It was created in 1974 and can only be used for 14 hours a day throughout the year. The way in which the data is shared is through a secure network, this is important as the information stored on the database will need to be protected to that everyones personal data is secure.



Speed Cameras

The usage of speed cameras have been enforced largely within the last few years, this is because more and more people are ignoring the speed limits and in case of accidents and to import a level of security because as soon as the car goes past the camera takes a photo, which identifies the cars number plate and sends the photograph straight to the police station, where they continue the speeding ticket in which the speeder will receive through the post. However there are some circumstances in which you can pay up to half of the speeding ticket if you pay it within a certain amount of time.

Phishing
phishing is when you try to acquire a persons personal information, these would include such things as: usernames, passwords and credit card details. A common way in which the 'phisher' would access your data would be by email, you would receive an email and if you are to open any attached documents they will harm you and give the fisher the ability to access all of your personal data so that they can then see your credit card details and when in the wrong hands this could be very harmful to you as you don't know who it is that has your information.



Hacking

Hacking is when someone accesses all of your personal data without authorisation and or acknowledgement. When hacking you would need to so so over a network so in order to be more protected from hackers you would need to be on a secure network and have security software and even then problems such as hacking can occur. Hacking would include the same type of things that phishing does but also the changing of documents, viewing of internet history, and also accessing the accounts that the user has.

Computer Misuse Act
Because of all the fraud that happens the Computer Misuse Act was introduced. The ways in which the Computer Misuse Act was created for are for things such as: copying of coursework, deleting files or stealing money and many more. Because of the Computer Misuse Act it makes it illigal to carry out any of the above things and if you were to do so then you would risk the chance of being caught and serving a penalty.

Data Protection Act
Because of the increasing amount of data that is used and stored about us it is important for all of our personal data to be secure. If our data is not secure then it could get into the wrong hands and can be used against us and depending on what information they receive about us, they could pretend to be you and buy things, which would get you into trouble.