ABSTRACT
Technologies can help make our world fairer, more peaceful, and more just. Digital advances can support and accelerate achievement of each of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals – from ending extreme poverty to reducing maternal and infant mortality, promoting sustainable farming and decent work, and achieving universal literacy. But technologies can also threaten privacy, erode security and fuel inequality. They have implications for human rights and human agency. Like generations before, we – governments, businesses and individuals – have a choice to make in how we harness and manage new technologies.
Keywords: Sustainable Development Goals, poverty, erode security
1. INTRODUCTION
According to Waddell (2013) technology is application of knowledge to the practical aims of human life or to changing and manipulating the human environment. Technology includes the use of materials, tools, techniques, and sources of power to make life easier or more pleasant and work more productive. Whereas science is concerned with how and why things happen, technology focuses on making things happen.
IT can be defined as including “all modes of information collection, processing, storage, and dissemination” (Dehning, Richardson & Zmud, 2003) and has been influencing business operations ever since. Through its increased diffusion in many aspects of our lives Yoo (2010), new kinds of applications become possible by combining and integrating multiple technologies that are accessible anytime and anywhere (Streibich, 2013).
These digital technologies are therefore defined as “combinations of information, computing, communication, and connectivity technologies” (Bharadwaj, El Sawy, Pavlou, & Venkatraman, 2013). Among the biggest emergent digital technology trends that are driving dramatic changes in the infrastructure of many organization spanning different industries and sectors are cloud computing (e.g., remote access to centrally provided information), social media (e.g. online interactions in social networks), mobile technology (e.g. smartphones and tablet PCs) and big data (e.g., use of huge amounts of data for predictive analytics) (Lucas, Agarwal, Clemons, El Sawy, & Weber, 2013).
Digital technologies have enabled rapid pace of product and service innovations, shorter product life cycles, and crossboundary industry disruptions, which requires new forms of business strategies Setia, Venkatesh, & Joglekar (2013). For example, in the financial industry, internet and mobile technologies have fundamentally altered the traditional way of investing in stocks. The user experience moved from making phone calls to a full service broker to placing electronic orders. This enabled new organizations such as electronic stock exchanges and e-Trade to emerge and forced major stock exchanges into mergers that totally change the traditional structure of the industry (Lucas et al., 2013).
Digital technologies have advanced more rapidly than any innovation in our history – reaching around 50 per cent of the developing world’s population in only two decades and transforming societies. By enhancing connectivity, financial inclusion, access to trade and public services, technology can be a great equalizer.
According to United Nation (n.d.) in the health sector, for instance, AI-enabled frontier technologies are helping to save lives, diagnose diseases and extend life expectancy. In education, virtual learning environments and distance learning have opened up programmers to students who would otherwise be excluded. Public services are also becoming more accessible and accountable through blockchain-powered systems, and less bureaucratically burdensome as a result of AI assistance. Big data can also support more responsive and accurate policies and programmers.
However, those yet to be connected remain cut off from the benefits of this new era and remain further behind. Many of the people left behind are women, the elderly, persons with disabilities or from ethnic or linguistic minorities, indigenous groups and residents of poor or remote areas. The pace of connectivity is slowing, even reversing, among some constituencies. For example, globally, the proportion of women using the internet is 12 per cent lower than that of men. While this gap narrowed in most regions between 2013 and 2017, it widened in the least developed countries from 30 per cent to 33 per cent.
The use of algorithms can replicate and even amplify human and systemic bias where they function on the basis of data which is not adequately diverse. Lack of diversity in the technology sector can mean that this challenge is not adequately addressed.
2. IMPACT DIGITAL ON WORK
Throughout history, technological revolutions have changed the labour force: creating new forms and patterns of work, making others obsolete, and leading to wider societal changes. This current wave of change is likely to have profound impacts. For example, the International Labour Organization estimates that the shift to a greener economy could create 24 million new jobs globally by 2030 through the adoption of sustainable practices in the energy sector, the use of electric vehicles and increasing energy efficiency in existing and future buildings.
Meanwhile, reports by groups such as McKinsey suggest that 800 million people could lose their jobs to automation by 2030, while polls reveal that the majority of all employees worry that they do not have the necessary training or skills to get a well-paid job.
There is broad agreement that managing these trends will require changes in our approach to education, for instance, by placing more emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; by teaching soft skills, and resilience; and by ensuring that people can re-skill and up-skill throughout their lifetimes. Unpaid work, for example childcare and elderly care in the home, will need to be better supported, especially as with the shifting age profile of global populations, the demands on these tasks are likely to increase.
Study done by Melián‐González (2019) Digital technologies have deeply pervaded the economy and society, and, in turn, the world of work. Twenty‐five years ago a worker would have been amazed by some of the current characteristics of the labor market and company practices. Thus, progress in information technologies has potential effects on the number of workers who telework. Some technology‐ based practices of present‐day companies can unfavorably affect their employees’ wellbeing. In addition, there is a new labor market, the digital labor market, where individuals work through Internet platforms. Simultaneously, there is a debate about automation because there are signs that the traditional labor market is being shaken by the more advanced information technologies.
3. IMPACT DIGITAL ON DATA
Today, digital technologies such as data pooling and AI are used to track and diagnose issues in agriculture, health, and the environment, or to perform daily tasks such as navigating traffic or paying a bill. They can be used to defend and exercise human rights but they can also be used to violate them, for example, by monitoring our movements, purchases, conversations and behaviours. Governments and businesses increasingly have the tools to mine and exploit data for financial and other purposes.
However, personal data would become an asset to a person, if there were a formula for better regulation of personal data ownership. Data-powered technology has the potential to empower individuals, improve human welfare, and promote universal rights, depending on the type of protections put in place.
4. IMPACT DIGITAL ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media connects almost half of the entire global population. It enables people to make their voices heard and to talk to people across the world in real time. However, it can also reinforce prejudices and sow discord, by giving hate speech and misinformation a platform, or by amplifying echo chambers.
In this way, social media algorithms can fuel the fragmentation of societies around the world. And yet they also have the potential to do the opposite.
5. IMPACT DIGITAL ON CYBERSPACE
How to manage these developments is the subject of much discussion – nationally and internationally – at a time when geopolitical tensions are on the rise. The UN Secretary-General has warned of a ‘great fracture’ between world powers, each with their own internet and AI strategy, as well as dominant currency, trade and financial rules and contradictory geopolitical and military views. Such a divide could establish a digital Berlin Wall. Increasingly, digital cooperation between states – and a universal.
6. IMPACT DIGITAL ON LEARNING
In a study done by Higgins, Xiao, & Katsipataki (2012) the role of technology in education has been an important question since the potential of computer technology to transform Skinner’s teaching machines was recognised in the 1960s. It remains an important issue today with debates about the impact of technology on our society, the implications of quick and easy online access to information for knowledge and learning and the effect of technology on young people’s social, emotional and physical development frequently in the news. It is therefore important to take stock of what we know about the impact of digital technology on education from what we have learned over the last fifty years.
The main approach used to evaluate the impact of technology on teaching and learning in schools has been where pupils’ attainment across a range of tested curriculum outcomes has been correlated with the quantity or quality of technology which was available or which they experienced in their institutions (see, for example, Watson, 1993; Wenglinsky, 1998; Weaver, 2000; BECTA 2003). In the USA, only a small relationship between computer use in the school curriculum and improvement in pupils’ test scores was found in a longitudinal study (Weaver, 2000). At this very general level, computer use makes very little difference to pupils’ achievement. In the UK, study done by (Harrison et al. 2004) identified statistically significant findings positively associating higher levels of ICT use with school achievement at each Key Stage, and in English, Mathematics, Science, Modern Foreign Languages and Design Technology. An association between high ICT use and higher pupil attainment in primary schools was also reported in an earlier Teacher Training Agency study (Moseley et al. 1999, p 82) though the interpretation by the research team was that more effective teachers (and more effective schools) tended to use more innovative approaches, or chose to use the ICT resources that they had more appropriately, rather than that the technology itself was the cause of the differences in pupil performance.
7. IMPACT DIGITAL ON SOCIETY
Patel (2018) found that digital technologies have a huge impact on society. Digitization is affecting every industry on areas like financial policy, employment and competition. Digitization is not a new phenomenon. For many years, this concept has encompassed technological developments in general, especially in information technology. The impact of digital economy is being felt in many areas. For instance, some of the services and products that were previously analogue, such as travel arrangements, music, film, translations and media are becoming digital.
In the case of public means of transportation such as taxis, companies like UBER using digital technology to develop new business models and communicate in new ways with customers. New services are also developing within a number of industries. An example is the use of cryptocurrencies in the financial services sector and the use of digital payment services like PayPal and Skrill among others.
Due to digitization, things such as vehicles, machines, household appliances and clothes among others, are equipped with built in computers and sensors. This has significantly raised our living standards. Although the rates of inflation and unemployment are high, people are eating better, living more comfortably and dressing better.
Digital technology also has a positive impact on the fundamental aspects of our culture, including health care, law enforcement, art, education, mobility and religion. For example, the technological advancements in the health care industry have provided doctors with the opportunity to treat patients in a virtual environment by using mediums like video conferencing. Video conferencing also plays an important role in the legal environment. It enables judges to listen to the cases of criminals who cannot enter courtrooms because of security reasons.
Digital technology also has a negative impact on society. For instance, advancements in digital technology often lead to destruction of creativity. The introduction of new technologies can also impact the economy in a negative way. For instance, television can consume several productive hours that people have in a day. The long term consequences of digital technology are not always foreseeable.
Although digital technology can impact society in a negative manner, most of the impact is positive. It helps make our lives better. Digital Marketing Services also helps people become more efficient and this leads to increased productivity. Technology also enables us to save time and money. It has also worked well in uniting the world and transforming it into a digital village. This in turn assists people to overcome their racial, cultural and continental barriers.
8. CONCLUSION
In conclusion digital technology and its increasing prevalence have impacted human life radically in the last few decades. You can see the impact daily in homes, schools and offices. The impact of computer technology on our lives makes much sector change in word of work. Computer technology is such a big factor in everyone’s lives today. Also social networking is another great form of communication. people who live in different countries and want or need to contact with friends or people from across the world, they can just set up a personal profile on a social networking site and work from there doing this safely and securely for them. Computer technology is also in schools for basic training for computers themselves as people can now do online courses to further their education, fitting this into their own schedules.
9. REFERENCES
Becta (2003): Primary Schools – ICT Standards. An Analysis of National Data from Ofsted and QCA by Becta, Becta, Coventry. http://partners.becta.org.uk/index.php?section=rh&catcode=_re_rp_02_a&rid=13619
(accessed 31/10/08)
Bharadwaj, A., El Sawy, O.A., Pavlou, P.A., Venkatraman, N. (2013): Digital Business Strategy: Toward a Next Generation of Insights. MISQ 37(2), 471-482
Dehning, B., Richardson, V.J., Zmud, R.W. (2003): The Value Relevance of Announcements of Transformational Information Technology Investments. MISQ 27(4), 637-656
Harrison, C., Lunzer, E. A., Tymms, P., Taylor Fitz-Gibbon, C. & Restorick, J. (2004): Use of ICT and its relationship with performance in examinations: a comparison of the ImpaCT2 project’s research findings using pupil-level, school-level and multilevel modelling data. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 20: 319–337.
Higgins, S., Xiao, Z., Katsipataki, M. (2012): The Impact of Digital Technology on Learning: A Summary for the Education Endowment Foundation.
Lucas, H.C., Agarwal, R., Clemons, E.K., El Sawy, O.A., Weber, B. (2013): Impactful Research on Transformational Information Technology: An Opportunity to Inform New Audiences. MISQ 37(2), 371-382.
Melián‐González, S. (2019): The impact of digital technology on work. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3353258
Moseley, D., Higgins, S., Bramald, R. Hardman, F., Miller, J., Mroz, M., Tse, H., Newton, D., Thompson, I., Williamson, J., Halligan, J., Bramald, S., Newton, L., Tymms, P. Henderson, B. & Stout, J. (1999): Ways Forward with ICT: Effective Pedagogy using Information and Communications Technology in Literacy and Numeracy in Primary Schools Newcastle upon Tyne: University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Retrieved from: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00001369.htm
Patel, D. (2018): The Impact of Digital Technologies on Society. Retrieved from
Setia, P., Venkatesh, V., Joglekar, S. (2013): Leveraging Digital Technologies: How Information Quality Leads to Localized Capabilities and Customer Service Performance. MISQ 37(2), 565-590
Streibich, K. (2013): The Digital Enterprise – The Moves and Motives of the Digital Leaders, (1.ed). Software A.G., Darmstadt
United Nation (n.d.): The Impact of Digital Technologies. Retrieved from
Waddell, N. (2013). What is technology? Retrieved from https://www.cantechletter.com/2013/01/what-is-technology0103/
Watson, D. (1993): The Impact Report: an evaluation of the impact of information technology on children’s achievements. London: Kings College.
Weaver, G.C. (2000): An examination of the National Educational Longitudinal Study Database to Probe the Correlation Between Computer Use in School and Improvement in Test Scores. Journal of Science and Technology 9.2: 121-133.
Wenglinsky, H. (1998): Does It Compute? The Relationship Between Educational Technology and Achievement in Mathematics. Princeton, NJ: Policy Information Center, Research Division, Educational Testing Service.
Yoo, Y. (2010): Computing in Everyday Life: A Call for Research on Experiential Computing.
MISQ 34(2), 213-231
13 April 2020, 3.29pm
Contributor: Nurul Syazwani Muda
Tags:
Technology
Technologies can help make our world fairer, more peaceful. digital-transformation
ReplyDelete