Chapter 8

Chapter 8

THE IMPACT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ON PRODUCTIVITY AND QUALITY OF LIFE

VIGNETTE 

Western cape striving to eliminate the digital divide

1.)How important is access to ICT in children’s education?

Ans: 

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is important in  education because it enables children to search for the information they need and to organize what they have found. As children progress through the school system, they become increasingly responsible for their own learning. Many believe that ICT needs to be better integrated into curriculum so all schools produce computer literate, independent learners.(http://www.ehow.com)

2.)  What are the barriers that stand in the way of universal access to ICT for everyone who wants it?

Ans:

Barriers to universal access are not only about the national availability of telecommunications infrastructure and computing equipment. Barriers to individual
access are also economic, educational and sociocultural. The world’s poor, and especially the rural poor, have extremely limited access to basic ICTs, let alone advanced services. Assuming that the global and national political will is in place, the most overt challenge is to extend the physical availability of ICTs. But more subtle barriers -- economic, educational, and socio-cultural – also block the individual’s access and use of ICTs.(http://web.undp.org)

Case 3: Technological Advances Create Digital Divide in Health Care

1.)Can you provide examples that either refute or confirm the idea that a gap exists between the kinds of healthcare services available to the wealthy and the poor in the United States?

Ans:

Inequality in economic resources is a natural but not altogether attractive feature of a free society. [ As health care becomes an ever larger share of the economy, we will have no choice but to struggle with the questions of how far we should allow such inequality to extend and what restrictions on our liberty we should endure in the name of fairness."At its root, the lack of health care for all in America is fundamentally a moral issue. The United States is the only industrialized nation that does not have some form of universal health care (defined as a basic guarantee of health care to all of its citizens). While other countries have declared health care to be a basic right, the United States treats health care as a privilege, only available to those who can afford it... Americans purport to believe in equal opportunity. Yet, in the current situation, those who do not have health care are at risk for financial ruin and poorer health, both of which disadvantage them in society and thereby do not give them equal opportunity(http://www.weegy.com)

 2.)Should healthcare organizations make major investments in telemedicine to provide improved services that only the wealthy can afford?

Ans:

Yes they should , we all pay our bills to health care but not have improved services.
(http://www.weegy.com)

3.)What are the drawbacks of telemedicine? What situations might not lend themselves to telemedicine solutions?

Ans:
Drawbacks of telemedicines are that they can be expensive and may or may not be completely covered by every insurer. Demand of telemedicine is pretty high as well. Situations where telemedicine might not be useful might be to the elderly.(http://www.chacha.com)