How Information Systems has influenced my personal and student life
Being introduced to computers in high school, I learnt that they
have become an important part our lives whether we like it or not. With information
systems, I had a friend when I needed one.
With my love for reading, there are books with which I would like
to own but fail to due to financial reasons and them being from other
countries. I had to find another way to feed my obsession and had done that by
online reading. In my years as a teenager, I had stumbled upon an application
called Wattpad, one where authors and
readers can communicate about their love for literature. This platform provided
me with books from up and coming authors and those who have been in the game
for too long, it is where I had found Colleen Hover and Anna Todd. I could read
any book I desired and have a heart to heart with the author and other readers.
There are also other web sites, which include Good reads, iBooks and Google
Books. With websites such as Amazon, purchasing books from other countries
became a reality, if a book is not in your nearby book store one now only had
to order it online. This helps us book lovers as we do not have to spend more
money on transport and just order the required book and it gets delivered.
Information system also played a role in the music industry, as I would
listen to music, now I do not have to buy a collection of CD’s and listen to
every song. With Applications like iTunes, Google play music and Spotify I can
download any song I desire and not listen to the whole album. I had gained an
extra friend in what has become popular amongst humans, social networks, these
offer a user a platform to engage with many people at the same time. I can be
able to catch up with my friends and plan dates of meeting with them through
applications like WhatsApp and Facebook. I can also be able to catch up with
what is happening around the world with twitter and be in the know if my favourite
musicians and authors are releasing anything.
When it comes to my studies there is a downside to it, just as
there is a positive. Having these many applications and love for all they
offer, I sometimes lose myself in that world and fail to complete some of my
work. This is a habit I have been fighting against, balancing my studies and
the online world. One thing I will never take away from it though is that it
has made studying easier. For example, in a lecture we don’t have to write
sessions on boards, we now have the pleasure of them being projected using a
white board and a data projector. This helps in saving the time it takes for a
lecturer to write, and to use that time giving us the required knowledge. This
shows that it affects in a positive way and has its negatives.
How can UWC utilise the technologies I leaned about efficiently
Having theses technologies, we now know that we use them so that
they can better our daily lives. It is in our best interest to make sure we
make use of them to help ourselves more
There is one thing, amongst others, a student hates more than
anything, a lecturer who is not invested in what they are doing. This can be
achieved in so many ways, or you may find that the lecturer is invested but
does not have the necessary means to show that. I had found lecturers who speaks
softly and not loud enough, even though they are speaking to a large audience. This
would be fine if there were microphones that are being used to carry out the sound. UWC could make sure that each lecturer has their own microphone, microphones are
input devices, you make a sound and it is transformed to speakers which are
output devices. There are different microphones that can be used including those which
are hooked in your ear and one does not need to carry them in their hand all
the time. These ones provide the user with the comfort of moving around the
room without being limited by any chords.
The human brain has a lot to deal with, it is always working and
thinking, now having to have to always remember to sign a register in class one
can forget that and end up being marked absent for that lecture. There are
still classes who use papers for register and have them circulating around. I can
imagine that this also takes up too much admin to have to account for each
student who has signed and capture them to a system. I believe these classes
can utilise the modern ways of taking roll call. They can use the student card
and a card reader. A card reader is a data input device that reads data from a
card, this can be, amongst others, a magnetic stripe reader. This would save
time for all the parties involved.
There is nothing frustrating than standing in a long que waiting
to print after you had a long day. Not only do you wait in a que but you must
login to a computer, login to your student account and what adds to the frustration
is when you are running late and must get to class in time or going somewhere. I
believe this can be helped by UWC introducing those big printers which have an embedded
card readers and touch screens on them. This would be both input and output
device. A student would have to login to any computer available here on campus,
and send the intended document to printers across campus. What a student would
need to do would be to just place the card on the card reader that is on the
printer and the data that is on the card would be projected on the screen. They
would have the pleasure of selecting which document to print and if they had
made a mistake of sending the wrong document in the computer, then they would
be able to not select it to print out. If a student somehow forgets their
student card, the printer would have an option for the student to manually
enter their student number with their pin, and the same data that would be
projected when using a card would appear. I believe that this would at least
bring something positive.
How Information Systems can enhance the way things are done in my community and home environment
It is no secret that our parents find it hard to adapt to the
changing of technology. They depend on us to teach them how everything is
operated and to be patient with them, I know my parents could use the
knowledge.
Having to be away from home I am always home sick and wanting to
have a chat with my family. I could call them of course but that would require buying
airtime every time I want to call them and that is where the problem begins. I would
also like to be able to see them, or just have the luxury of texting them. this
can be achieved if they would adapt to the changes and download an application
for that, WhatsApp. This way I would be able to talk to them, and call using Wi-Fi.
This would also mean that I can video call and be able to see them and at least
that would feel a lot better. This could also help them in keeping in touch with
their loved ones, they would buy a suitable data bundle and not have to worry
about not having airtime whenever there is a problem that needs to be solved
ASAP.
In my community, there is a local library, the downside is that it
does not have Wi-Fi. Now I know many people would abuse this, but I believe if
it can be monitored in censoring what it can be used for, it would be of great
help to the community. Data is expensive and we do not always have money ready
in an instant in case something comes up. There are school children,
matriculants who would like to apply for bursaries and schools, yes there are
computers, but those are only about five meaning they are limited. With Wi-Fi,
one can also use their cell phone to connect and they would be sorted. I think
this would bring about positive influence and help improve the daily lives of
those residing in the community.
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