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TECHNOLOGY

An Essay

By

VIKRAM KARVE

DEFINITION OF TECHNOLOGY



In our everyday lives, most of us use a number of words that we assume have a universal, agreed-upon, and accepted meaning for all people in all contexts.

Often, the more frequently the word is used, the more we take for granted that our usage is the only possible usage of the term.

One such popular word freely bandied about and very much in-vogue jargon now-a-days is “technology”.

Let us explore the meaning of the word “technology”.

The word “technology” comprises two parts – “technikos” & “ology”

The historical derivation of the term technology comes from the Greek word technikos, meaning “of art, skillful, practical.”

The portion of the word ology indicates“knowledge of” or a “systematic treatment of.”

Thus, the literal verbatim derivation of the term technology is literally “knowledge of the skilful and practical.”



However, this definition is too general in nature and we have to transcend this narrow view of technology since every technology starts from a human purpose, from the intention to satisfy some human need or behaviour.

Indeed, technology is the manipulation of nature for human purpose – yes, manipulation of nature, so let us use a slightly different definition of technology.

We will define technology as the knowledge of the manipulation of nature for human purposes.



This definition retains the notions of both knowledge and practicality (human purposes) but adds the new concept of manipulation of nature.

This implies that all practical or technical skills ultimately derive from alterations or manipulation of nature.

Technology depends on a base in the natural world (Science) but extends the natural world through the phenomenon of manipulation (Engineering).

Since we want to manipulate nature, the ability to predict what nature will do when manipulated is most useful, indeed imperative.

ETHICS OF TECHNOLOGY



By our very definition, technology manipulates nature for human purposes.

Technology manipulates nature.

Man is a part of nature.

By manipulating nature, man manipulates himself.

Thus, technology manipulates man, influences, even governs human behaviour, and in turn impinges on societal behaviour, traditions and culture.

Technology is an entity that intervenes in the life of human beings in multifarious ways, directly or indirectly, trying to alter behaviours.

Thus, Technology has an Ethical Dimension.

The very raison d’etre of technology is human purpose.

What is the fundamental purpose of human life?



Is it to increase standard of living?

Is it to improve quality of life?

Or is it to have greater satisfaction in life?

We can distill all these various aspects into a single holistic concept: VALUE OF HUMAN LIFE.

Thus, the cardinal aim of technology is to enhance the value of human life.



TECHNOLOGY and the VALUE OF HUMAN LIFE





Let us define the value of human life as the balance or ratio between satisfaction or happiness and pain or suffering.

In the context of this definition, the ultimate purpose of technology is to enhance the value of human life, with a long-term perspective, by maximization of happiness and satisfaction and a concomitant reduction or minimization of pain and suffering (physical, mental and emotional).

As a generalization, people want a better life.

A better life may usually mean things like freedom from want, access to and possession of at least some of the “nonessentials”, comforts or luxuries, good health, a reasonable life expectancy, the absence of emotional stress, satisfying human relations (resulting from gratifying work experience and meaningful interpersonal relationships), intellectual stimulation, and personally rewarding leisure activities.

HUMAN NEEDS and VALUES

Human needs and values change through time as technology advances.

Man tends to accept the fruits of new technology more readily (satisfaction, happiness, comfort) whereas he is reluctant to accept changes in his personal life.

Thus, social and cultural changes always lag behind technology causing a mismatch and disconnect which consequently leads to unhappiness, dissatisfaction, pain and suffering (emotional) and concomitant lowering of the value of human life.

A crude but practical way of classifying human values is to divide needs into those that are essentially physiological and those that are psychological.

Most new technologies cater to the physiological aspect by performing Dangerous, Dirty, or Difficult jobs (the 3 D’s) thereby enhancing the value of human life.

As regards the psychological aspect, an example pertaining to Information Technology (IT) may be in order.

Information Technology (IT) caters to two unique categories of psychological needs of humans:

Cognitive Needs – which refer to the human need for information so as to be ready to act or make decisions that may be required, and

Affective Needs – which refer to the emotional requirements of human, such as their need to do challenging work, to know their work has value, to feel personally secure, and to be in control.

Undue emphasis on cognitive needs and consequent neglect of affective needs may cause emotional pain that counterbalances the gains from technology and this may be detrimental to the “value of human life” as a whole.

TECHNOLOGY IMPACT ASSESSMENT

Effects and Consequences of Technology

In our haste to milk technology for immediate economic advantage, we often lose sight of the long-term consequences: the higher order and indirect effects, especially the delayed and unintended effects of technology.

The Sorenson multiple effect network methodology is a useful technique for an analyzing the impact and consequences of technology.

Let us introduce the term malefit to represent harmful effects and consequences of a technology in contrast with benefit as a useful output.

We may categorize the consequences of a technology [Effects vs Consequences] as:

EFFECTS CONSEQUENCES

(i)         First Order                  :           Benefits

(ii)        Second Order              :           Direct Malefits

(iii)       Third Order                 :           Indirect Malefits

(iv)       Fourth Orde
r               :           Unintended Malefits

(v)        Fifth Order                  :           Delayed Malefits

Such analyses definitely help in assessing the impact of various consequences of a technology on the value of human life in the long-term perspective in holistic manner.

Early identification of factors detrimental to the value of human life may prove useful in technology impact assessment to reduce mismatches and smoothen out incongruities.

CONCLUSION



We must not lose sight of our basic premise that the cardinal aim of technology is to increase the value of human life by maximising happiness and minimising suffering.

Ethical Technology Management comprises a harmonious blend of rational thinking and empathic understanding wherein one studies, analyses and mitigates the conflicting interplay between human cognitive and affective processes.

It may be apt to conclude with a comment by RM Pirsig, who states that, “The way to solve the conflict between human values and technological needs is not to run away from technology. That is impossible. The way to resolve the conflict is to break down the barriers of dualistic thought that prevent a real understanding of what technology is… not an exploitation of nature, but a fusion of nature and the human spirit into a new kind of creation that transcends both”.

VIKRAM KARVE

Copyright © Vikram Karve 2009

Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com



http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve

TECHNOLOGY AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

KUMAH ERIC JUNIOR

MARCH 2009

ABSTRACT:

In today’s world, technology has invaded many aspects of human life. From its gigantic influence on our education and professional development, to the more subtle presence of little gadgets littering our homes, technology is almost everywhere.

The reasons for such pervasiveness would boil down to some characteristics that technology by itself possesses. One such characteristic, which is of major interest to many scholars, is the seeming lack of barriers to the spread of technology. It easily penetrates societies and even to remote communities, and once it reaches its destination and catches on, it becomes seemingly difficult to stop its spread. As a result of this, consumer technology like cellular phones, computers, PDAs, radios and televisions have become commonplace in places like Africa, even with all the barriers one would have envisaged.

Sadly, it does not need much analysis to realize that even though technology usage is growing rapidly in Africa, we still have numerous developmental problems in our continent. This is a situation where advanced technology is coexisting with underdevelopment in Africa. With all the power that technology wields, it will be a useful exercise to study the ways in which it can be used to solve some of those very problems it has come to meet. In essence, using our little gadgets to solve our big problems.

This is the background against which this study is undertaken. Asking whether our problems can be solved at all, then enumerating instances where development projects that utilize technology have been put to work, and concluding by examining the cases and drawing lessons from them.

CHAPTER. 1.

INTRODUCTION

The limits to what the human mind can conceive and achieve are increasing. More discoveries have been made, more things have been created, more theories have been proved and disproved, more machines have been made and more problems have been created. Scientific technology has been the driving force behind all these. Science has indeed proved to be a powerful tool which has touched many people and has shaped many communities.

According to the Concise Oxford dictionary 10th edition, technology is the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes. Clearly from this definition we can see that scientific knowledge may exist theoretically but it only becomes technology when it is used in practical settings. For example we may say the knowledge of the rules of up-thrust and buoyancy is theoretical, however practical utilization of these rules to manufacture airplanes could be termed aircraft technology.

Again according to the Concise Oxford dictionary 10th edition, a community is the people of an area considered collectively, while development is explained to mean to grow or cause to grow and become larger or more advanced. By deduction, community development could be explained to be the growth or advancement of a group of people.

Today, the world has become highly technological, and things which in the seventies would have passed for science fiction are now so commonplace that they have almost become necessities. From every corner of the world, technology has global acceptance, it is ubiquitous and has the ability to dramatically change situations.

Any attempt to ascribe reasons for this pervasiveness of technology will have many suggestions, some of which are that machines have been proven more efficient than humans at some tasks, machines are less error prone, impartial and never get tired like humans. Another could be the increased sophistication of humans and the attendant need for equally complicated messengers to help us perform many tasks, which is linked to the interesting nature of technology that once a more advanced way of doing something is found, it becomes almost unthinkable to try to do it by “old fashioned” means.

With such large scale interplay of these and many more factors, there is little reason to be surprised by the sudden emergence of automatic machines to handle the little tasks of old; cleaning floors, washing clothes, cutting bread, mixing cake etc. the list goes on and on.

And that is far from all and the list of innovative possibilities is endless. In truth, some of these innovations have shaped the world and there are many examples to cite. The discovery of electricity and the radio wave both changed the world. Today, computers are changing the world even faster. Now with cellular phones, new opportunities have come and our imagination has become the only limiting factor. We can only wait for the next big thing to be created and who knows what it will be?

The picture of technological advancement is not a completely rosy one. Indeed, there are some minuses to science as well, such as the introduction of new forms of danger which come as a consequence of innovative forms of technology, for example the nuclear bomb came from nuclear technology, unforeseen genetic mutations are as the result of genetic engineering, and the numerous and little talked about chemicals which can destroy the ozone or warm the planet.

The seriousness of the disadvantages of technology have prompted some people to argue that technological advancement, which is an example of scientific development, is making us more of advanced entities but less of humans. In other words, we have become better scientists, bankers and professionals and worse human beings. Martin Luther King puts this argument succinctly when he said “Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power, we have guided missiles and misguided men.”

The disadvantages that technology brings are issues which require serious examination to ascertain what can be done to eliminate them or at least minimize their effects since technology has definitely come to stay, and it would be to our advantage to learn how to work with it in ways that will be the most beneficial to us.

But despite the disadvantages listed here and the many more unnamed, we have seen that we can still derive many benefits from science and given that we live in, or at least come from, a part of the world where development is still a big headache, we should be the first to start a serious study of this phenomenon and see how best we can use it to our advantage. We may be surprised to see that there is a great viability in using our little gadgets to solve our big problems.

Let us make it clear that the aim of this paper is not to present technology as the magic cure that will clear our multitude of problems in a whiff, technology alone will not solve Africa’s problems because our problems are too complex, too deep and too overwhelming for any simplistic scheme to be successful. We can only achieve success when if have a more comprehensive approach to the problem, to include solid commitment to serious research, establishment of the appropriate structures, and the taking of required initiatives. It will be incorrect to assume that technology in itself is inherently good, and just implementing it alone will be enough to achieve any good result3. Though technology may be able to do anything, people must have the vision to drive it in the right direction.

Only with this knowledge can we make any meaningful gains in the development agenda.

In our particular context, Africa has proved that advanced technology could coexist with underdevelopment. People have satellite televisions whilst there are no teachers in the classrooms, we have mobile devices and pocket PCs and devices but our streets are still not named properly, there is still a large number of illiterates among the people who own and use cell phones, spreading of healthcare information is still a challenge even though a lot of people have access to radio and TV. This sorry list is endless.






















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CHAPTER 2:

CAN TECHNOLOGY REALLY ADDRESS OUR PROBLEMS?



From healthcare, access to water and life expectancy, to governance, industrialization and even the quality of human life, there are numerous problems confronting African communities.

Today we are said to be living in the information age, an era where access to information is the new driving force of the world. The proliferation of the Internet and World Wide Web has reduced the whole world to a massive audience with unprecedented access to vast quantities of information. This communication is unencumbered and the formation of alliances is unhindered by physical distance, national or political borders4. With all the dynamics that this modernity brings, technology stands tall as a favourite to achieve any meaningful sustainable development for many reasons.

Principal among such reasons is the fact that there is improved awareness of underdevelopment among Africans themselves, which could be due to the information age, and an improved belief that our situations can be turned around. This is markedly different from decades ago when there was a lot of resignation and despair among black professionals. Evidence to support this would be the observation that much more thought is being directed at the Africa integration agenda and greater attention being paid to the Economic partnership agreements (EU- ECOWAS).

Another positive indicator is the growing number of trained and competent technological professionals on the face of the continent. Granted, the improved numbers by themselves will not be a good indicator, but with the holistic approach talked about earlier, one can see a sign of hope which shows that there is very high potential for success in a well though out scheme to utilize technology to solve our developmental problems.

Another good point is the individual work that is being carried out by different groups using different approaches (studies of the indigenous chieftaincy system for e.g.) at trying to solve the same problems. This is clear evidence to state that beyond the level of commitment, there have been actual attempts at problem solving. Even if some of such attempts have not been successful due to the numerous challenges in the way, the experiences have been gained and lessons have been drawn from them which would be utilized for future use.

Finally there are areas where major strides have already been made in Africa. Statistics show for example that there have been remarkable improvements in girl student enrollments in places like Nigeria, Kenya and Zambia5. This is definitely a feather in our cap and such areas may serve as boosters to face the remaining dark spots.

All these imply that we might be closer than ever to solving our problems, and all that may be left will be a few giant pushes forward.

This is where technology comes into the picture. It is the one thing that seems to know no barriers, catches on easily and has the power to transform even the most remotely inaccessible locations on earth to budding business towns. It is ubiquitous. Its innovations accelerate by the month. As a result, it is the most probable tool to achieve anything meaningful.

In the early 90′s, scholars described Africa as being left in a technological apartheid 6. Today however, with increased globalization perhaps a slightly better picture can be painted. Even though Africa is not in the league of the innovators of the most novel initiatives and we may not be making as good use of technologies as we ought to, or as some others are, we would still have something positive to report. For example, in some cases, Africa actually has comparable human and hardware resources. Therefore, “apartheid” would no longer be a precise definition of the situation as it stands.

As stated earlier in this paper, technology alone will not solve our problems. But with very serious considerations using active participation, a comprehensive and well though out scheme that incorporates technology will be a very viable solution.

However taking a look at all the attempts made so far and their attendant challenges and effects if any, one may say confidently that will all the proper accompanying compliments, technology will made very significant gains in spurring the development agenda on.











CHAPTER 3:

HOW IS TECHNOLOGY BEING USED TO SOLVE PROBLEMS?

Across many countries around the world, people have made serious strides at utilizing technological knowledge to solve all manner of problems. Many issues have arisen out of such attempts, and below are very brief summaries of some of those places where practical scientific knowledge has been utilized for the growth of the community.





3.1 ELECTIONS

In Africa’s recent governance history, elections have always been a challenge. It is hard to find a totally free and fair voting exercise, whilst contested elections, unfair processes, non transparent irregularities and simple ineffectiveness are commonplace. With a background of poverty, it is not too difficult to understand why the stakes are so high in African politics and why power is very lucrative in this part of the world.? This not withstanding however, there is a good number of unrests that could have been avoided if any election is proven to be fair, free and transparent to an appreciable degree.

Attaining this ideal degree has proved difficult for reasons of the complex interplay of some factors including, a government founded electoral commission, a winner takes all setting, and no motivation to commit to the right virtues. Knowing that power is so lucrative when you come from this winner takes all setting, it is really hard to let go of control of the electoral process. This is one motivation for the dishonourable acts that unfortunately we see quite often.

Because elections are highly involving and they require elaborate programs that span a series of locations (from a voter’s home to the polling station, the collation center, the electoral commission headquarters, the public domain and back to the voter’s home), It follows that unless you are trying to make public exhibition of your nefarious activity, you would need to be tactical to be successful at such dishonorable acts. The tactics employed may vary but they invariably entail series of acts that are designed to prevent information from getting into the public domain. So that for example, figures could be changed anytime so long as the original and authentic ones do not get into the hands of the public.

If democratic leadership were genuinely understood, there will be no attempt at election rigging. But since we are currently not in that ideal stage, election monitoring is one tool we can exploit to at least cut the ability for cheating.

Mobile phone technology is being used in election monitoring in some African countries under a new system of election monitoring called “parallel reporting”. Parallel reporting is simply an approach to election monitoring whereby independent observers spread news of the votes counted at the basic level, which is the polling station. The figures are then relayed to an independent center where they are collated and cross checked with official figures announced by the electoral commission.

One advantage of this scheme is seen that it will make it increasingly difficult for an electoral commission to attempt to fraudulently sway the results in the favour of any of the contesting parties. The spreading or relaying of the results figures are done largely with mobile phones. Senegal is an example of a country where this project has been successful.

3.2?????? HEALTHCARE

The statistics obtained from healthcare research are interesting. Figures show that a large number of the world’s HIVAIDS afflicted people live in Africa. At the same time, one of the growing markets for consumer electronics such as mobile
devices, handheld PC etc may be found here in Africa. This represents a population overlap, and it is only prudent that some amount of research has been directed towards attempting to find ways to incorporating technology in the treatment of the numerous diseases on the face of the continent7.

Tuberculosis (TB) has long been known to be one of the deadliest diseases known to man. Apart from the threat that this highly infectious bacterial disease presents to human life, it also enjoys some additional notoriety for lowering the sufferer’s immune system to make it easy for other diseases, which may have various degrees of harmfulness, to attack the sufferer.

As if that were not enough, TB has a deadly habit of mutating at the least case of drug non adherence. Therefore any TB caregiver knows that a patient who demonstrates non compliance with drug rules is clearly not interested in getting healed. As a result of this, over the years, ways to enforce religious adherence of medication have been tried but success has largely eluded caregivers.

In South Africa, there is a very laudable project, the SimPill’s award-winning Adherence System project, which uses a real-time management system to increase adherence to medications prescribed to treat chronic illnesses – particularly tuberculosis, which is a significant cause of death of people living with HIV.

3.3?????? SOCIAL ISSUES

Serious projects that utilize technology to address social issues have been implemented in South Africa. One such idea named Fahamu’s Umn Yango (meaning ‘doorway’ in isiZulu) has been implemented to curb domestic violence by equipping people with cell phones as tools to monitor and report abuse. Under this scheme, victims use cell phones to call a predefined and popular number and give details of the abuse.

The fear of being victimized has always made it difficult for victims, witnesses or relatives to step up and lodge complaints to the relevant authorities. There are examples of places where people had reported abuses and had been picked upon by the abuser. We have had friends of a victim reporting an abuse of their friend only to go home to be abused themselves by their spouses as punishment for “poking their noses in other people’s business”. These good citizens were made to pay the price for exposing a wrong thing. ?

This fear has been totally eliminated under this project because of the provision of anonymity, the telephone call could be made in secret, and even the details of the reporter are not always required. This is a sharp contrast to the situation in the past where victims, neighbours, or witnesses were required to walk into a police station to make a formal report.

Apart from successes chalked in the number of reports that are received, there has also been a reduction in the numbers of abuse cases. This may be partly due to the deterring feeling among would-be abusers that, any passerby holding a mobile phone might just make sure they get a visit from a police detective for spouse battering.

3.4?????? ANIMAL FARMING

Technology has also been put to good use in farming.

Farmers who rear cattle in small herds, over time, develop a personal relationship with the animals, the farmer knows all of them and can notice a missing animal or a sick one with just a glance. However, because it takes months of careful observation of the behaviour of every cow to know every animal well enough to take note when there is an infection or when an animal does not ruminate properly, this task would be ineffective if it were performed by a human shepherd with a large herd.

To remedy this situation, the technology of vocal tags has been developed in Europe. This project employs a tag, which is a belt fitted with sensors and worn around each animal’s neck. These sensors monitor several indicators such as the animal’s rate of rumination, voice clarity, digestion and breathing and send the data collected to a central computer.

Over time the computer knows what is normal for every cow and will notify the shepherd when something goes wrong with a cow.

The advantage of this project is that a farmer can take quick and specific action like giving treatment to the particular animal involved. This removes the need to give general treatments to the whole herd, which is both time and money wasting.

These are some of the ways that technology is being used towards increased development.

CHAPTER? 4

WHAT LESSONS HAVE BEEN LEARNT?

No matter how promising an idea or project sounds, there are bound to be problems encountered in the deployment of the project. In achieving the above projects, following are some of the problems one is likely to be faced with:

In the election monitoring program, misinformation has been identified to be one of the problems starring the program in the face. It is true that when all the information is not localized in the hands of government, then a lot more transparency will be achieved, but it is also true that mass misinformation remains an unpleasant possibility.

Another problem could arise when there is a situation where people do not necessarily trust the degree of independence of the so called independent observers. It may lead to a problem where parties could cast a slur on the reputation of the observers so as to use the resulting mistrust to set the stage for a possible rejection of the results.

Overall this is a laudable idea and if a means of verification were added, the figures would mean much more to a lot of people.

Whilst celebrating the successes chalked, it is important to note that a number of other factors needed to progress before a state could move towards a more democratic model of governance. According to African political expert, Sheldon Gellar, these changes include: strengthening independent media, growing and ensuring freedom of civil society, decentralizing power, ceding more control to local governments, empowering women and improving judicial systems to ensure independence and power to punish.

Governance is one area that is set to reap some benefits of this phenomenon when used judiciously, unilateral rule and arbitrary action may be reduced towards a more participatory approach to leadership in Ghana

Technology could help achieve those goals to some extent, as communication was the key to overcoming oppression.

In some of the cases, such as the election monitoring or domestic violence reporting, the internet could be used to provide communities with means to communicate, to organize and obtain good information which is not controlled by the government. However, this is not practical in Africa since only a tiny percentage of Africans have affordable access to internet.

In the healthcare project, basic mismanagement has been identified as one of the reasons why many projects seem to skid to halt after being piloted. Needed funds are not always available to those who need them.

Another problem observed was that the people who will be using the project are not always consulted in the designing and planning of the ideas, so there is a lack of communication between beneficiaries, health professionals, technologists, and managers.

Another problem was the theft of cell phones. Although cell phones are a relatively low-cost technology, they still hold considerable value in poverty-stricken areas, and are commonly stolen. And, such theft is likely to rise as these devices become more and more complex. However this is quite debatable since some analysts argue that losing a cell phone to a thief is less of a financial loss than losing a more costly machine.

In the domestic violence project one stumbling block was the communication gap between the various parties involved in the system. Feedback was largely missing and people could not tell whether their input was useful – or received, and in some cases, police officers who receive messages reporting violence against women may not be prep
ared to respond.

Another problem was the unfortunate situation where some unscrupulous people made the work more difficult for the authorities by raising false alarms. This could be addressed by education and the incorporation of punitive measures.

However to use effective punitive measures, even more advanced technology will be required, for example to pinpoint a particular cell phone subscriber, and take action against them like blocking their Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Cards etc.

And the usual problem of financing in many projects is ever present as well, and it is the more predominant one in the animal rearing project.

CHAPTER? 5

CONCLUSION

Granted, there are challenges that exist in using technology to achieve development goals, but such efforts still hold great potential and the costs of any obstacle will not stand in comparison to the threat of underdevelopment and poverty. So we can only strive to work harder at such solutions.

Our development attempts and efforts should think more seriously about sustainability and scalability. One important consideration in this direction is the affordability of the programmes we plan and develop. The more affordable options have a higher chance of success, so the fact that most of the development projects do not require any extraordinarily complex or new gadgets is indeed pleasant to note.

Also throughout the creation and deploying of any project, enough consultation should be carried out to ensure that there is a general buy-in into the idea from the creators to the beneficiaries. This will make an idea command a common sense of ownership.

The quality of the management should also be improved and measures should be put in place to ensure the right things are done.

Identifying the problem is half the solution. We already now have greater awareness and we have made some attempts at solving them. Putting our acts together to draw the lessons and re-strategizing with a new approach -technology, is definitely the way to go. I am confident of the viability of this new approach.

CITED REFERENCES

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2???????? Wikipedia. Technology.Wikipedia.org[online]2009.

Available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology. Assesed 2009 March 27

3???????? Macha N. Will Technology solve Africa’s problems?. Global Voices Online[Online]2009. Available from http://globalvoicesonline.com/ Accessed 2009 Feb 6.

4???????? Finnis A.J. Learning in the Information Age.Twinisles[Online]2009.

Available from http://dev.twinisles.com/research/learninfoage.htm. Accessed 2009 March 27

5 Kitetu, C. Gender in Education: An overview of developing trends in Africa.

Available from www.ling.lancs.ac.uk/groups/crile/docs/crile54kitetu.pdf. Accessed 2009 March 27

6 Castells M. Information Technology Globalization and Social Development.[Abstract]. In UNRISD Discussion Paper No. 114.September 1999.p11.



7 Walvaren K. Did you say cell phones for development? Association for Progressive Communications.[Online]2007.Available from http://www.acp.org/en/home. Accessed 2009 Feb 6.

Technology disconnect is becoming a big issue, but most people are not aware of it or don’t want to talk about it. Isn’t that the problem in the first place? Let me just say, I love technology and gadgets too, computer, cell phones PDA, I pods and now the I pad. This stuff is cool, but what I see and I am sure you see it too. Most people are caught in this tech bubble and don’t know it. Have you walked into a store and checked out while still talking on the phone. Did you even say hello to the person cashing you out. How rude are we anyways? Do we ever experience the moment at hand? Are you seeing that people have discovered a new what to escape real communication. How do we share our lives, moment by moment. But lots of these moment are being lost because of lack of focus on the moment and people at hand. Have you ever experience a person who stops by to say hello and get a text message from somewhere in the stratosphere and now they are with you in body only, but having a so-called conversation with invisible texting buddy. What an intrusion this is. These people are missing the moment at hand. They don’t understand how the other person feels when this happen. We are losing respect for the people who are physically around us. I have to ask a question, are people afraid to share one on one these days. So to avoid openness and good conversation, they quickly answer cold text message instead of a warm “eyeball to eyeball” heartfelt talk. No wonder our society is getting cold and cruel.

Let us remember that when we are on the cell or text or pc or mac, whatever, remember there are warm live people who may want to talk to you, who need you, and want you to love them and to understand them. So the next time you look to use your toys remember not to try and escape, don’t get caught in the tech bubble or being a victim of the technology disconnect.

It comes, leaves an impact and changes everyone’s perception, view and thought! The world is all different. That’s disruptive technology.

Human wants for coziness compels the market to get innovative and from out of nowhere a disruptive technology or concept pops up. Disruptive technology is a technology or concept that have features which very few and generally new segment of the customers value. Products built or developed using this technology are usually cheaper, simpler, smaller and better performing. One of the most popular examples that qualify for this is the transistor that totally replaced the well known Vacuum tubes.

We have seen this happen for countless time in various fields. It might be in the automobile sector, music industry, or a simple VCD, DVD renting business.

In the automobile industry, who can even imagine in their hind sight that GM will be filing for bankrupt protection? This is all because of foreign company’s compact vehicles and hybrid engine technologies. GM has lost its monopoly in the US market only because of the disruptive technologies adopted by foreign companies.

More recently in the music industry, Apple left every other competitor way behind by just combining functionality, stylishness and price on their iPod player with an accessible online iTunes music store. Nobody would have dreamt of the combo of all these features at such a price.

Let’s check an example out which will show how a disruptive concept compel one business following the sustaining technology model, completely out of business. We all are very well known to the business house “Blockbuster” who deals in renting DVDs and VCDs. They are really doing very well until there arrives a business of same kind but with different concept called “Netflix”. They just change the life of a Blockbuster visitor by just making the whole process online. That’s called disruptiveness. Blockbuster tried to remain in the business by making their business online, but alas it’s too late dear. There’s an unconfirmed news too that suggest Netflix bought all of the Blockbuster business and provided some respite to their employees! Do not quote me on that.

“Honey, do you want to see a movie tonight? We can have the kids at my mom’s!”

Telephone is considered as a disruptive discovery. Nowadays we are so dependent on this technology that it is difficult to imagine that when it was first introduced in 1877, people had to be convinced that it was useful. Despite its simple design and seemingly obvious value, it took 75 years for the telephone to reach 50 million users, and it wasn’t until the 1960s that users saw a residential phone as a necessity.

A disruptive technology always has at least one advantage over existing technologies that despite its disadvantages the idea allows it to find a niche, and therefore survive. If the technology is able to improve, typically more rapidly than the existing technology, and also starts performing equally with the existing technology, or at least sufficiently for the market needs, but with the added advantages that it had that allowed it to survive then as a result the existing market steps over to the new technology and the old one literally dies.

Disruptive is the word that has a changing and impacting effect on our life. So remain open to it and embrace the technology gleefully to make the life easy and smooth. Get that iPod off your ears as you read and comment on this – that’s the most recent disruptive wonder we have had in popularity!

There is no doubt that technological change brings about social change. The Industrial revolution saw many people displaced from their land, to find work in crowded city factories. Serfdom was abolished and the population shifted from villages to the cities. Strong family ties, self sufficiency and the right to occupy land were replaced with uncertain tenancy of land, dependency on trade and a weakening of the family unit.

Economically, goods and money abounded, and trade flourished. The merchant class profited from the wealth that was generated on the backs of the displaced population of urban workers. Children were sent to work in factories, in order for families to make enough money to live. The peasant class worked long hard hours in poor conditions with no security. The Industrial revolution led to the alienation of the working class and although many union battles have since led to the adoption of better working conditions, the effects of the Industrial revolution remain. The family unit is even more vulnerable today with soaring divorce rates, high rates of teenage suicide, most of society are either heavily mortgaged to banks or paying high rents, and no one can be self-sufficient in a world governed by free trade.

Advances in technology, is generally not equitably shared within society. People with money have more opportunity to aquire technology, which enables them to acquire even more wealth. It is also important to remember that war has been and will continue to be the driving force for technology and innovation. Power and wealth are intrinsically tied together.

Technology leads to greater social economic division. Laborers are viewed as commodities and expendable. Technology leads to alienation because it can create jobs that require no specialist knowledge.

To date, since the industrial revolution we have seen technology used to the detriment of society. The right to occupy land has become a privelege that must be worked for and earned and now the battle is on to control all the world’s food and textiles through genetically modified seeds and animals. The insidious part of GM is that there is no recall once it is released into the environment. Salmon that will grow ten times faster than normal salmon will destroy river systems, as their unfair genetically modified advantage will see all smaller life forms extinguished, and genetically modified crops that are dependent on pesticides will contaminate organic, heritage seeds that have sustained people for thousands of years. Seeds will no longer be able to be harvested and replanted but the farmer will have to buy new seed every year from GM seed makers. This fight is more important that the fight over open source because it involves the right of people everywhere to have clean, safe food that has not been genetically altered. Essentially GM is a tax on everyone because a patent will be on every seed and seeds are made to be sterile the following year. This is something to become angry about. The greedy corporations and individuals that want control over our food, water and land, do not care about the irreversible damage to the environment. people and animals that they cause.

The internet in its current form was developed as a free exchange of information, unregulated by any one government or owned by any one person or company. In its raw form it was the playground of hackers and computer geeks, who challenged the status quo. It brings about a new era, the technological revolution. The free flow of information, has brought about technological advances at an unprecedented rate and has made many rich and brought companies who failed to adapt to a standstill.

How will this technological revolution impact on our society? If the industrial revolution is any thing to go by, there will be winners and losers to technological revolution.

E-commerce will affect the middle man and allow direct trade with consumers. Efficiency brings about lower prices for the consumer, but it is more accurate to argue that efficiency brings about greater wealth for shareholders, directors and owners. The intrinsic weave of social interactions of trade, can be disentangled and made into a horizontal supply chain. E-commerce will create efficiencies that effectively remove the need for a long supply chain but at the expense of social relationships.

The effect of e-commerce, and the internet will impact on every society on the earth. Already, the barriers of trade between individuals in different countries are non-existent. Company contact details are searchable through powerful search engines, and trade can commerce between two individuals who would otherwise never have met. The internet dissolves national boundaries, and the consequences for cities that have developed as centers of administration and trade will be disastrous, if they do not embrace the technological advances in communication and trade that the internet brings. While at the same time, free trade means fierce competition without the protection of award wages. People are reduced to consumers and suppliers.

Resisting the tide of technological change is impossible. Of course it is possible to do business without a website or email or mobile phone or a fax machine. People have been doing business well before any of these gadgets were invented. But business today is about competition, and technology is about leverage. Technology can lead to alienation if it is not widely dispersed in society. The Industrial age saw the concentration of technology in the hands of the rich and powerful, allowing them to dominate and subdue the population into harsh working conditions and the social impact of the internet and computers is only just beginning, will it challenge the status quo or will it lead to greater population control?

The latter is probably more likely, and many will look on this time as the golden age of the internet. Already technology like digital TV is being pushed in the guise of better quality but the benefits to those who own the systems is that they will be able to track what you watch, when you watch it, whether or not you switch off an ad, and perhaps even whether that pizza ad makes you pick up the phone and call for a pizza. Knowledge is power, and with access to tapping phone lines, reading emails, reading your credit card statements, knowing by GPS where you are by tracking your mobile phone, it can be a scary world, if all that knowledge and power were to be used to oppress and control.

On the upside, technology has made the developed world a richer place to the detriment of the environment. Machines have allowed people to move away from physical work, so that now in Australia there is 100,000 accountants and 85,000 farmers. Perhaps, technology has gone too far, and there are more people counting beans than growing them !

Impact of technology on government

The legal system is dependent on local jurisdictions under common law. Historically, one has to remember that before the age of the internet, airplanes and telephones, the vast majority of business was done locally. Technology has rapidly changed the way people do business but there has not adapted to the changes. There is no one body that governs international trade.

What are the implications?

If you buy a product from a local supplier in your State, and it turns out that the item is faulty, you can go back to your supplier to work out repair or replacement and if they don’t help you, you can take the matter to local Trades office or file legal action in your state. If however, you buy a product outside your jurisdiction, you must file a claim in the State, where the supplier is located. You can only use a lawyer in the State where you file your action, your local llawyer can only act as a consultant and has no authority to represent you in court or to serve papers.

Therefore, we have a world which is governed by local laws and yet the businesses and individuals are now actively t
rading outside of their local area.

Governments are trying to make laws about content on the internet but have no jurisdiction to enforce those laws. This has created havens in small developing countries, that are happy to accept companies that want to run online gambling websites that may be outlawed in their jurisdiction or companies that wish to reduce their tax liabilities by opening up bank accounts in developing countries.

We see arising now a homogenizing of local laws on issues like SPAM, and even sending a international letter from anywhere in the world involves the completion of almost identical forms, Governments are making agreements, in an attempt to be relevant in a world where people are able to trade more freely and where digital communication has enabled businesses to work, almost without physical boundaries.

Business names and the Internet

In the beginning, it was easy to start a new business. You would go to your local business registration office in your State and apply for a business name. If it was taken, you would choose another name. Most people do not realize that a business name is only valid for the State that it is registered in and the only way to protect your business name is to incorporate a company. In Australia, you would lodge forms with ASIC to incorporate a company and you then have rights to use your business name exclusively in Australia and its territories.

However, with the birth of the internet, your Australian company name may be the same as the name of a company overseas.

This has resulted in legal action being taken, as companies tussle of business names and the rights to use those names and a court system that is unable to deal effectively with international disputes over business names and has resulted in greater costs to people who want to start a business as they must register multiple domain names, take about international trademarks and find a name that has not already been taken. Even if they contact lawyers to register all the domain names and trademarks to avoid disputes(both local and international), legal action can still be taken against them. And when it comes to justice, money wins almost every time, unless companies want to relocate to safe havens in developing countries where they cannot be pursued in court.

 

International Financial Reporting standards, or IFRS, are standards and interpretations adopted by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). IFRS financial statements consist of a balance sheet, income statement, statement in changes of equity or statement of recognized income, cash flow statement, and notes. The impact of International Financial Reporting Standards on technology should not be an issue to be overlooked. IFRS is rapidly acceptance around the world, forcing the United States to assess the implications of the change to come. By the year 2011 the entire world, including the United States could potentially using IFRS to some extent. Viewing the financial reporting standards change as simply a technical change could lead to costly rework for processes and programs.

The extents to which systems need to be changed depend on multiple facts and vary for each company. Some factors that will affect this change are the company’s strategy for responding to IFRS, the number of applications that go into generating financial statements, and the capabilities of the current systems. The accounting treatment between IFRS and Generally Accepted Account Principals (GAAP) will create a need for changed calculations, new data, and changes in reporting. Systems will need to be re-mapped or reconfigured to facilitate these changes. It will be crucial for management teams to make strategic decisions early on in the conversion process to try to limit unnecessary costs.

The new accounting disclosure and recognition requirements of IFRS may result in a more detailed presentation of the financial information, information to be calculated on a different basis, and new data elements to be recorded. The changes to the chart of accounts will require creation of new accounts and deletion of accounts on the information system. Spreadsheets and models use by management should be included when considering the required system modifications. Interfaces may be impacted by the timing and frequency of data transfer requirements.

Each individual International Accounting Standard (IAS) will require different technological changes to the information systems. For example, IAS 39 (Financial instruments: recognition and measurement) will cause many problems due to the need of extensive data access and storage requirements that come with the following new standard. Even though changes to financial reporting standards may seem time consuming and costly, being ignorant to the necessary technological changes could prove to be devastating.

Another problematic change arises for companies that use the Last in, First out (LIFO) inventory system. LIFO is not allowed under IFRS, and may lead a company to revisit their inventory system and change their process. Also, data feeds from systems used for calculating revenue recognition may have been tweaked to make up for the way IFRS lets companies record revenue differently from U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.

Another example of a technological change that companies must address relate to changes in accounting for research and development. U.S. GAAP allows companies to expense their research and development costs as one item, whereas under IFRS companies must capitalize their development costs. Most of the U.S. companies’ IT systems aren’t built to separate out that information. This would require these companies to make a change to their development costs accounted for on their balance sheets, which would require a technological system change.

IFRS may represent a significant cost savings opportunity, since it affords many advantages. Some advantages of IFRS include improved communication between subsidiaries by providing an international accounting language. IFRS also provides more efficient use and availability of resources. Allowing for more control over statutory reporting to help reduce the risk related to penalties and compliance problems at the local level is another benefit of the adoption of IFRS. As long as technological issues are assessed and work-out before integration, IFRS will be a globally productive change to financial reporting standards.

Asteroid Impact Sites of the World using the Google Map.

Asteroid impact craters are interesting geological structures on any planet in our universe. Many other planets and moons in our solar system, including our own moon, are pock-marked with craters. Because Earth has a protective atmosphere and is geologically active with plate tectonics and volcanic eruptions, and has a relatively young oceanic crust, added by harsh weathering from wind and water, impact structures don’t last long and can be tough to come by.

But on a few old pieces of continent, especially in arid deserts, the marks of asteroids have been preserved.

Get a quick overview of Meteor Craters – Asteroid Impact Sites around the world with the use of Google Map functionality.

You now have the chance to explore fifty of earth’s most common asteroid impact sites with the use of a satellite image and Google Earth map on Geology.com.

Featured craters in Geology.Com include 8 from Australia, 9 from Canada, 2 from the U.S, 4 from Russia and 9 from the African continent.

 

Grosses Bluff in Northern Territory, Australia;

Goat Paddock Crater in Kimberley Plateau, Northwestern Australia;

Acraman Structure, South Australia;

Teague / Shoemaker Structure in Western Australia;

Goyder in Northern Territory, Australia;

Liverpool in Northern Territory, Australia;

Wolfe Creek in Western Australia;

Mount Toondina in South Australia;

 

Brent in Ontario, Canada;

Mistastin Lake in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada;

New Quebec in Quebec, Canada;

Manicouagan in Quebec, Canada;

Clearwater Lakes in Quebec, Canada;

La Moinerie in Quebec, Canada;

Gow in Saskatchewan, Canada;

Lonar in India; Nicholson in Northwest Territories, Canada;

Haughton in Northwest Territories, Canada;

 

Meteor Crater in Arizona, USA;

Upheaval Dome in Utah, USA;

 

Chukcha in Russia;

Janisjarvi in Russia;

El’gygytgyn in Russia;

Deep Bay in Saskathchewan, Russia;

 

Chiyli in Kazakhstan;

 

Kara-Kul in Tajikistan;

 

Chicxulub on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico;

 

Aorounga in Chad; Roter Kamm in South West Africa / Namibia;

Vredefort Dome in South Africa;

Pretoria Saltpan in South Africa;

Ouarkziz Structure in Algeria;

B.P. Structure in Libya;

Oasis in Libya;

Amguid in Algeria.

Tin Bider in Algeria;

Bosumtwi in Ghana;

 

Lumparn in Finland;

Lappajarvi in Finland;

 

Aouelloul in Mauritania;

Tenoumer in Mauritania;

Serra Da Cangalha in Brazil;

Riachao Ring in Brazil;

Gweni Fada Structure, Chad;

Ramgarh Crater in Eastern Rajasthan, India;

Monturaqui in Chile

Tabun-Khara-Obo in Mongolia;

Talemzane in Algeria;

Mien in Sweden;

Most commonly these structures are referred to as “Meteor Craters” as meteor is the proper term for the object as it streaks through the atmosphere of the earth. Meteorite is used for the same object as it has fallen to the surface of the earth and then meteor crater is the most used term for craters caused by a meteor impact.

In addition you can have a look at the Weird Science website which shows some pictures that shed some light on how these craters look like from the space.

 

 

 

Today’s world is full of pieces of technology that we take for granted, the microchip has truly revolutionised the way in which we live and do business. The world we see would not be recognisable to people of a few generations ago and nowhere is this truism greater than in the world of computing. Hence it is important to stay up to date with technology news; while many may think that this type of news is purely for geeks it is clear that all of us should have at least a passing interest in news of technological developments.

Technology pretty much touches all of our lives in some way and hence technology news is a vital resource that can keep us up to date with developments and ways in which the world will be changing. For instance, the onset of digital television is something that will affect most people; news stories that inform us of the dates for the switch over are vital so the average member of public can understand when their analogue signal will be turned off. In the same way, news of technologies that may make our cars safer and more efficient is important to all those who drive on our roads.

Anyone of a reasonable age will remember the BBC’s ‘Tomorrow’s World; a technological news show that brought us stories of the latest developments and the ways life would be changed in the future. It was as sad day when this news show was cancelled; maybe it meant that people were no longer interested in new technology. If people are less interested they should not be; being up to date with what is coming around the corner is just as important as being informed on the politics of the nation and world affairs.

Any lack of interest has been sidestepped by the internet, which has seen the creation of a platform for thousands of writers who feel it necessary to publish regular news stories on technological developments. It is not just the bedroom ‘bloggers’ however that is publishing detailed news stories. Major reporting institutions are now likely to have a technology dedicated page in order to cope with the huge demand for this kind of news.

The fact of the matter is that technology now covers such a diverse range of subjects that it would be foolish for any reporting company not to write stories on the genre. Technology can apply to elements of the medical industry as well as the automotive industry. It is this diversity that makes technology news articles so interesting to read and why subscribers from all over the world regularly catch up theses stories.

It can be argued that will now live in the ‘computer age’, whether this is true or not is a matter of conjecture but what can be assured is that we live a period where computers are becoming increasingly important to our way of life. Ultimately we are becoming evermore reliant on our computers and without them we would be lost; there are even news stories of some now being addicted to their computers and handhelds. This is the extent that technology has encroached upon our lives that people now do not feel the need to ‘unplug’.

The phenomena is only set to continue, as computers become more powerful and have greater and greater applications it will not be long that we will plan our lives around the computer. This is not an attempt to act as a harbinger of doom, it is just theorising on ways in which technology will impact upon the human race. This is why keeping up to date with news stories about technology is so important, technology is about forward momentum and understanding what is at the crest of the wave is only half of the battle.

The communication revolution, ushered in by the internet, has radically changed the concept of office and the work done therein. The traditional view was that employees should work in an office within the bounds of strict disciplinary control, and that too under close supervision of a superior.

The removal of international geographical boundaries between countries, in this way, has resulted in far-reaching economic consequences which have affected, specially the job market to a very large extent. On-shore and off-shore outsourcing of work has assumed an important method of recruiting employees to do work from home that is normally done in an office.

More and more companies in developed countries now outsource work, such as call centre services, sending e-mails and preparation of salary payment vouchers, business development, Internet Research, Data Entry, web design work, graphics work, article writing, software development, accounting, book keeping, secretarial work, virtual Assistants, many more.

Even developing countries have been caught up by this trend. “Myhome-Myoffice.com” is the caption of an article that appeared, not long ago, in a prestigious newspaper published in Sri Lanka.

This has become the bible citation of several countries in the region to which India has given the lead.  Even in Sri Lanka there are a couple of companies and individuals that provide outsourced services for the U.S.A., Canada, France and the United Kingdom.  They also have some virtual workers in their employ

Outsourcing can be harnessed to blunt the acuteness of joblessness in the region which is considered to be a developing zone. This social problem needs solution if political stability is to be established and terrorist infection eradicated. So the current tendency in this part of the sphere is to maximize the benefits of outsourcing.

In this connection, it has to be mentioned that outsourcing is of special benefit to certain sectors. They are mothers with kids to look after at home, physically disabled persons deprived of movement from place to place and retired and over age individuals who find it difficult to get work.

Another invisible advantage flowing from outsourcing is that it curbs indirectly, at least to some extent, noise pollution and air pollution at a time when environmental degradation is threatening the survival of life on earth. Since the number of people driving decreases as a result of their staying to work from home, the proportionate decline in the volume of smoke and noise emitted by their vehicles is quite considerable. It could be said that, in a way, internet is environmental- friendly, for the information technology has transformed what once identified as white collar jobs to green collar jobs.

Why do companies or firms resort to this method? It is solely because outsourcing is financially advantageous to employers in more ways than one. At the same time, people who are thus employed too gain many benefits. Let’s see how outsourcing is beneficial to the employer as well as the employee.

How the employer is benefitted

1. An employer could enlist employees from a wider area, either locally or from abroad, to perform the work outsourced.

2. As the work done is home-based, there is no need to provide office space or accommodation, office equipment and no involvement of recurrent expenses connected with stationary, furniture, lighting, heating etc.

3. Absence of travelling and late attendance results in increased productivity.

4. In the event of the expansion of the organization, it could be done without additional cost.

5. When there is the feeling in the employee that he himself is the master, it leads to self confidence and job satisfaction which, in turn, result in more productivity.

6. Risk of strike action and go-slows is completely absent.

7. When there are no strikes, customers will have a greater reliance in the organization, which, in turn, will earn increased profits.

8. As it is more or less a privilege to work from home, employees will discipline them and adhere to stipulated targets and other specific requirement voluntarily.

9. There is no necessity to exercise supervision as the employee himself or herself will not behave in a way to jeopardize his or her livelihood.

10. No need to pay fringe benefits such as annual bonuses, retirement pensions, compensations for accidents incurred during work hours, incentive allowances etc.

11. No risk of strikes or go-slows.

12. If the work is not up to the required standard or the output is low, he can be laid aside, at any time, without assigning any reason.

How the employee is benefited

1. Home-based work is a blessing on parents, especially for professionally qualified non-working mothers who have child care responsibilities to attend to. Mothers in developing countries too are vacating their fixed work and gradually taking to outsourcing.

2. Outsourcing gives the opportunity for gainful employment to born disabled persons and soldiers who are deprived of movement.

3. Retired persons who spend the evening of their life at home unprofitably will not be a burden on the society if they could do some outsourcing work.

4. People who come under the over-age group too are highly benefited as age is no barrier for this type of assignments.

5. Absence of disturbances or interruption at home and absence of travelling to an office are factors that will result in greater output.

6. Home-based work results in a monetary saving in the following items:

a) Absence of travelling

b) No need to buy clothes for office wear

c) Can take home-made food.

7. Flexibility of work hours is a big advantage as outsourcing does not require a strictly specified time schedule. It can be adjusted in accordance with the personal needs of the individual concerned.

Digital Technology is making its presence felt not only in the printing industry but more imminent in the field of photography. Digital photography has taken photographing into a realm of infinite possibilities. Digital technology has also offered great diversity when it comes to colors of pictures that were not possible with the use of traditional photographing machinery.

Digital technology has also paved the way for express photography developing which only requires a minimum of 3 minutes to process pictures. This express picture development is great for rush picture requirements like personal id pictures as well as rush visa and passport photos. The best-suited camera used for express development is a digital camera.

The process of express development starts with the taking or the capturing of an image, which is a multi-process since it includes image display, as well as image printing by means of a computer and appropriate printer equipment. However, like any technology the digital technology is not without flaws, the use of an incompatible printer may have an adverse effect on the quality of the developed picture.

In terms of the digital camera to be use, it is important to correctly choose the camera’s resolution in order to produce high quality photographs. For passport and visa photos a digital camera with one mega-pixel resolution is the best choice. Such types of cameras also have automatic features that are designed to control the numerous photographic qualities involved in the process of taking pictures. Nevertheless, the photographer’s sensitivity when it comes to his or her subject must still exist since the automatic control of the digital camera won’t be able to choose from among the subject’s facial expression which is best to capture or decides on the clothing that would best reveal the subject’s features.

Camera-to-computer interface are well suited for those photography activities that require the use of an external memory card. The transferring of data is also much faster and offers confirmation of the storage of quality images stored in the computer. Likewise, it provides a room for retakes and the images are easily stored in the computer, which is a good thing since it will be much easier to choose from among the taken images the one that really stands out.

The computer also plays an important role in digital photography since it helps in storing and displaying of digital images taken with the digital camera. The computer also enables for the printing of the images in various digital printers. And since digital photography makes use of high-resolution images it is vital that the computer should have a sufficient memory space as well as ample storage capacities. Likewise, a computer should also have a high-speed interface to the camera and printer and a speedy but reliable CPU in order to provide efficient image processing.

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