Entertainment

Entertainment has been affected by digital technology thorough out the distribution and production. Almost every are in entertainment has been touched by digital technology. This technology allows us to be more creative such as creative works of radio, music, CD’s and Games. These types of entertainment can be stored using little memory on digital devices and easily transferred from one digital service to another.

Types of entertainment in the information age

FILMS: going back to the 70’s and 80’s we notice that the standards of films were low tech. There was nothing like CD’s/DVD’s before the information age. Some of them are usually in white and black. But the introduction of high standard technology has had a major impact on films, the quality of films are now of high standard. 3D films are now well recognised. Today, the media has had a major influence in 3D’s film. Advertising for new films are now more high tech. Films can be sent multiple location simultaneously in digital forms this means that film release dates can be brought forward and DVD realises and broadcast distribution can be brought closer to its original date, this means that there would be more funding movie and more choices.

Advantages
Once they are bought, they can be put on different devices
Cheaper to purchase than DVD’s

Disadvantages
Bad quality films
File size often too large

Portable devices: which includes I-pod, Mp3 player and CD players? All these are useful and are al source of entertainment. I-pod device are widely used today by lots. People now own one this is as they are very versatile in what they can do such as: listening to music, playing games and watching films/TV programmes. These all can be viewed and listened to through these pieces of technology.

MP3: universal allows people to share or download music in the format of mp3 files. MP3 allows you to listen to music on the go; they are tiny players which you can upload your personal music on. Mp3 players such as IPOD’s are very popular pieces of software with loads of different mp3 players on the market. MP3 players are other pieces of technology which has been updated, with MP4 player now being introduced. MP4 players as well as playing music also allow you to play video while on go. Videos can be easily downloaded from online sites such as I-Tunes, although they are very expensive when downloading. MP4 players are one of the most recent sources of entertainment as they allow user to watch their favourite films while out and about. MP3 Became very popular due to the sharing which takes place over msn and chats rooms using attachment without any cost. Apple is the a manufactured of iPod’s they launched their first 1st I-Pod in 2001 which grew instantly in a big success , since 2001, apple are constantly upgrading I-pods to various sizes, designs ,memory capacity and types.

Televisions: the first worked with analogue signals. Analogue signals were received by aerial attached to TV’s. Analogue signals were very poor and had low signals. But over the years it had improved. Aerials were then planted on rooftops to increase signal strength, making TV more enjoyable. But now, analogue signals are becoming a thing of the past since the introduction of digital signals. Digital radios are much better than analogue because the signals are much clearer. The same thing is being done with T.V’s. The newer flat screen TV’s have digital receivers built in, meaning that they can pick up digital. However, in the UK, the switchover from analogue to digital won’t happen until 2012. The digital switch over is where all analogue signal in the UK will be switched off leaving only digital signals being received. The digital switch over means anyone who uses an analogue TV will have to upgrade their services using either satellites, cable, Arial or Broadband. There are implications to this switch over however, as the analogue signal is being switched off everyone has to make sure that they can receive digital, which can be very expensive and a long process to switch.

Digital cinema
Cinemas have been around for since 19th century. The first cinema consisted of a projector and a piano. The movies played were silent movies; this is why there was someone playing the piano to add music to the movie. But now, movies have sound in them, and cinemas are fitted with surround sound speakers, creating a more realistic viewing experience. But now, a lot of cinemas show 3d movies require special glasses to view them. Together with surround sound, 3d movies can now be watched like never before. Digital cinemas have the same concept, but instead of projecting the movies form a reel of film, the movies are projected from a digital storage device. Digital cinemas are much better because they save space when it comes to storing films.

Software’s: allows us to play around with things such as music, software’s has made it possible fro people to easily mix and create their own song. People using this technology can use the highly developed technology to create backing tracks by selecting a music style. With the use o software, you can upload you photos and edit them. With the use of Photoshop, you can change your photos and change colours in the style you want it. It gives you the option of changing the colour, over and under exposing photos, changes the contrast of the pictures, chopping the pictures and many more options are available. Before Photoshop, I found it impossible to get the right look I wanted for my photo.

Music is one of the most complicated topics that can be edited and played around when using digital technology. A person that may wish to record some music can simply upload it on their computer and software will allow the user to get rid of mistakes and provides the user with the best quality of sound possible. With music software, you can mix other types of music, incorporate different instrument in order to get desired tune.

Technology used in Education

ICT has revolutionised education all over the world. Firstly, it is a subject which indicates its new found importance in life. It is this importance and dependence on technology that caused us to claimed that we are currently living in the information age. In school colleges and universities all over the world, massive amount of technology are used in the teaching of students. Take a look at st Gregory; we see that there is at least a computer in every room and also more computers in computer rooms, study rooms and library. There are also projects and smart boards in every class room. In equal measure, the needs of education have provided the driving forces behind some of our most significant technological innovations.

INTERACTIVE WHITE BOARDS

The vast improvement of technology has altered the way that children learn at school, a number of products such as interactive white board have been introduced, improving the teaching methods of children from an early stage. The interactive whiteboard has becoming the replacement if the chalk board, it is said that 45% of lessons are now taught in front if the computer. The use of this has introduced the idea of multimedia into school, with educational videos now able to be screened. The use of such technology has offered an information space that allows student to engage in active collaborative.  The interactive nature of the smart board provides many practical uses for the classroom. Using smart notebook software, teachers can record each step of a lesson activity for student to review at a later time.

COMPUTERS/LAPTOPS:

Students now have access to laptops in some schools, if not some school allow pupils to bring laptops into lessons to type their work, this can be considered a major advantages, as work is less likely to get lost and notes tens to be neater. However with children now typing in lessons handwriting overall tends to be more untidy. Through the use of advanced computing and telecommunication technology, learning can also be qualitatively different. The process of learning in a classroom has become significantly richer as students have access to new and different type of information, can manipulate it on the computer through graphic displays or controlled experiments in ways never before possible and can communicate their rests and conclusion in a variety of media to their teachers. We know now- based on decades of use in schools, on findings of hundreds of research studies and everyday experiences of educators, technology have enhanced the achievement of all students, increases family involvement in their schooling, improve teacher’s skills and knowledge and improve school administration and management.

E-MAILS:

E-mail is a high importance in education. From the school year 7-11, email is used on regular basic. School emails can be very helpful when communication through other student and teachers. With the school emails, teachers can sent you and update of what you are missing in lessons, or what topics you should revise and also student can send teachers their work to teacher via emails. As an individual, we are all given our username, which automatically becomes our school email address. Through the use of school emails, we year 13 students have been able to stay in contact with Mrs Hunter. She updates us with important information and changes about various universities. Many school now use email to send out important messages to parents, this for many parents is more efficient as it is also instant and gives the parents acknowledgment on what is happening within the schools. A number of students often forget to pass on news letter and leaves it at the bottom of their school bags. Therefore, email is very efficient for the teachers, parents, student and the school itself.

Advantages of school emails: a way of communication and setting work.

Disadvantages: sometimes if email box is full, you can’t receive emails.

VLE:  which means Virtual learning environment are now being introduced in school. VLE are now being introduced into schools, which provides a same online intranet which allows pupils to have access to their work from home as well as a number of online resources. Homework and class work can be accessed from a student VLE, this allows student to keep up to date with their work. VLE can do so many different things; they can deliver lessons through videos,, or online hand-outs, they can do group interaction and tutorial through chat, conferencing and email, they can help management of work/assignment. The using of VLE has greatly improved the method of teaching as assignment can be done at home and also lessons can be taught there. The disadvantage of VLE is that those who don’t have access to internet at home will lose out more.

SIMIS

Sims is the easiest and most effective security information management system available.  This is a computer system used in school to keep contracts of all students’ reports. With this, you can see the history of a student since he/she came into the school. You can track performance, attendance, and behaviour etc. During the old days, information of student are kept in a paper based file, which has a disadvantages as it is easily lost. But with the introduction of SIMS, documents of an individual are kept for about 10years.

Additional information

How the students have benefited

There is a huge amount of information available on the internet for just every subject known to man, resources are endless. One advantages of internet is that it has endless resources for almost every topic. For people who struggle with books and find them time consuming, the internet is the answer. Today it is also required that students should use the internet for research. Teachers have starts given assignment that requires research on the internet. Teachers sometimes set work which can be difficult  to find in a text book and others may want the student to do wider reading, with the use of internet, information of all source are provided.

INFORMATION AGE

Information age is commonly known as computer age or digital age. In the period of 1970, technology began to develop. The information age was a period beginning in the last quarter of the 20th century when information became easily accessible through publication and through manipulation of information by computer and computer networks.

Information age has played very important roles in our lives. And this technology is advancing both in industry and home and they are also used by millions of people around the world. It has become necessary for everyone to have the basic knowledge about computer. Computers have invaded almost all fields.

A typical office in the 1980’s contains:
Type Writer
Filling cabinets
Telephones (higher people)
Computers (sometimes)

Modern offices contacts:

Computers

Printers

Telephone

Why is information age so important?

We are able to exchange information be it oral or visual.
Very much accurate, fast and can accomplish many tasks easily. Otherwise, to complete those tasks manually much more time is required.
It can do a very big calculation in just a fraction of a second.
Can store huge amount of data in it. But it can’t be compared to human brain

With the introduction of information age, Communication is another important aspect of and has been very easy through internet and email. Computer communicates using telephone lines and modems. Through email we can send messages to anybody in any part of the world in just a second while if we write letter then it will reach in some days. We are also able to exchange information orally and visually (video conferencing). The internet has made the earth a global village and above all, saves time. This wouldn’t be possible without the information age.


Computers have now become an integral part of corporate life. They can do business transaction very easily and accurately and keep the record of all profits and loss. Today computers can be found in very stores, supermarket, restaurant etc. Special soft ware’s is used in these computers to calculate the huge bills with seconds. One can buy and sell things online, bills and taxes can be paid online and can also predict the future of business using artificial intelligence soft wares. It plays very important roles in the stock markets

Today’s employers are looking for people who understand and can adapt to the characteristic of the information age. If a student has learned how to uses computer effectively upon graduation, they are a much more attractive job candidate. An Information literate individual with their strong analytical, critical thinking and problem solving skills can be expected to be an adaptable, capable and valuable employee, with much to contribute. Without the understanding of information age, most people are unemployable.

Bank: Before the information ages came about, accountant uses paper, pencil and calculator to solve money issues, but now, every bank uses computer to keep the record of all money transaction and other calculations. Moreover it provides speed, convince and security.

Health: Disease can be easily diagnosed with the help of computer and can also know about it cure. Many machines uses computer which allows doctors to view the different organs of our body like lungs, heart and kidney. There is also special software which helps the doctor during surgery. Computerization is now developed in use of dispensing drugs.

Advantages of information age

It is a time saving device and makes all kind of job more effective and easier.
Branches of science and industry make use of them, for example in factories computers controls assembly lines and in hospital-certain extremely difficult and precise operations.
The introduction of information age created the internet which has become nowadays the most important sources of a variety of information. It also enables student to increase their knowledge and develop their research skills.
Been able to use a laptop on the train allows engineers to be informed all the time.

Disadvantages
As communication are passed quickly through since the of information age, we see that people have used it to start riots etc.
A big risk of addiction. Particularly, young children and young people have become particularly addicted which can be harmful to the eyes
Our creativity decreases as we dependent on computer for every information

Case study
Before the introduction of computing, car repairs were done manually which was really difficult as it was hard to diagnosed problems accurately, it was mainly based on prediction. But due to the increasingly nature of technology, mechanics now uses sophisticated diagnostic computer to diagnose problems accurately and quickly. Without these, they would be unable to diagnose or repair a vehicle.
With the rapid advancement in technology, the mechanic’s job has evolved from purely mechanical, to include electronic technology. Because vehicle today possess complex computer and electronic systems, mechanics need to have a broader base of knowledge than in the past. The word “auto mechanic” is been used less frequently and is being replaced by “automotive technicians.” Fading quickly is the backyard mechanics who needs little knowledge of today computerized system.