Effects of Technology in Public Institutions

Jasmine Guevara, Illia Sapryga, Thomas Wooten

CST462S: Race, Gender & Class Digital World

Fall 2021
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Introduction

Technology is important for schools, nonprofit institutions, and the government to

function at optimal levels. Technology has helped in various ways by reducing tasks, storing

information, and speeding up communication. In the past, these public institutions did not use as

many technologies to teach or conduct business. The focus of this research paper is public

institutions' use of technology and its effect on various communities. The goal is to understand

how technology is either helping or hindering education, job opportunities, and environments.

This research paper will explore how institutions are using technology right now. It will also

examine how community members from diverse backgrounds feel about the increased use of

technology by public institutions to teach, automate tasks, and make important decisions.

Literature Review

It is no secret that public institutions such as schools and governments have a widespread

adoption of technology. Institutional websites activities in which people regularly take part in

include searching for information about a public policy or issues, search and identify services

provided by specific institutions, and renew a driver license or car registration (Smith, 2020).

According to Smith (2020) a greater number of highly educated individuals or those of higher

income are more likely to engage in the use of technology to accomplish solutions to their

problems. As these institutions are constantly increasing the adoption of technologies, it is

important for the people that they serve to be familiar with the use of these technologies,

including the less educated or lower income groups.

As technology changes, the adoption of those changes can increase our ability to solve

problems and become more efficient. Parayil (1991) defines technological change as a temporary

and cumulative process, which increases the ability of groups to solve their social, economic, and
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daily problems. It is necessary to successfully educate the users to enhance their ability in

learning the technological changes necessary to interact with the new beginnings of technology

in our institutions.

Sometimes, we, as a society, do not notice all of the technology around us. This happens

because we are so used to it and it is almost integrated in our lives. Advancement in technology

helped our lives to be safer, easier and faster from certain perspectives. Technology makes our

lives safer from a lot of perspectives such as security cameras, ability to dial 911 at any time and

get help in a very short period of time. When we are driving our cars sometimes we do not even

notice some things like cruise control or some other systems that help prevent collisions or assist

drivers with handling. It is a lot safer to handle finances these days. Years ago people only had

paper money which they had to take to places to pay for things. According to Arakelyan,

technology provides us with efficient and safe money managing services (Arkaleyan, 2021).

Now we have credit cards, apple pay, etc. These things make it almost impossible to get robbed

(Arkaleyan, 2021). Even if you are getting cyber robbed there are usually records of everything.

Arkaleyan adds that in a world full of possibilities of cyber scams which might make us

suspicious of technology, there are many tools a person can implement to ensure the safety of

their money and finances (2021). According to Scumme, statistics show that home robberies

went down significantly since people started using electronic payments (2018). However,

Summe points out that it is important to understand that the tools that are ensuring the safety of

transactions are new technology and did not necessarily exist a decade ago (2018). One great

example that Summe mentios is the Paypal security key which offers a two step authentication

method that ensures the safety of the user’s money and transactions (2018). I think is a great

thing that technology brought to us. On the other hand there are downsides of using technology
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everywhere, because there is a lot of possibility of cyber crime. I think the use of technology

looking just from a financial perspective made a lot of poor communities and families safer and

easier to observe and manage their situation.

Technology has been implemented and relied heavily on by public institutions as a way to

advance communities. It has impacted many members of communities, including students and

teachers. According to Raja and Nagasubramani (2018), the use of modern technology and tools

by students causes an increase in learning and interaction. Using technology in the classroom has

made it convenient for students to accomplish more due to knowledge being easy to transfer and

due to the mind working faster with the assisted use of modern technology (Raja &

Nagasubramani, 2018). Technology’s major job in education is to assist instructors to convey

information. This is known as integrated co-teaching or ICT for short. ICT has the possibility to

increase accessibility to education and can improve the quality of education (Raja &

Nagasubramani, 2018). It does this by promoting learning engagement and allows the learners to

choose what they want to learn at their own pace, which is helpful for people with disabilities. It

also allows students to work with others from different cultures and in groups. This brings global

awareness and can improve the communication skills of the students. With ICT, it gives students

the chance to learn new methods of teaching and be constructive of theories, which allows them

to evaluate a diverse world around them. Technology allows for enhanced and active learning,

globalization, and no geographical limits.

The literature reveals there are positive and negative effects of using technology in public

institutions.
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Research Question

How does the use of technology by public institutions affect various members of

communities in the present day?

Research Design

In order to attain greater insight into the effects of the adoption of technology in public

institutions, we asked individuals from service organizations a number of questions that pertain

to our research question. Our target audience will be people who work within public institutions

that teach such as instructors, mentors, and public coordinators. Our interviews will be conducted

via email. Audience members will be of all genders, various income levels, and adept with

technology. They will also be from different races and cultural backgrounds.

Interview Questions

1. In what ways has the use of social media changed the day to day operations of your

organization?

2. In what ways has the transition to video conferencing affected your site's ability to stay in

touch with your community?

3. Have there been any challenges throughout the transition from face-to-face to virtual

conferencing? If yes, please explain?

4. How has the use of technology in your workplace made a difference in the way that you

or your colleagues perform tasks?

5. How do you think further advancements in technology will impact your job?

6. What can we do to prevent the misuse of technology at work and school?

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7. How important of a role should social media profiles have in hiring decisions and other

work decisions?

Service Organizations

Jasmine's service learning site is called Dreams for School, and they are located in Yorba

Linda, California. Her project is helping their marketing team design email templates and

creating campaigns for their subscribers and donors. Dreams for School’s mission is to promote

social equity by bridging the gap in STEM and CS education (Dreams, n.d.). They are concerned

about diversity in education and helping students become technological leaders of the future.

Their mission aligns with our research since they serve the community and their service affects

community members every day.

Thomas’s service learning site is with the City of San Clemente located in south Orange

county California. The city of San Clemente’s mission statement is to foster a tradition dedicated

to maintaining a safe, healthy atmosphere in which to live, work and play. While guiding

development to ensure responsible growth while preserving and enhancing the city's village

character, unique environment and natural amenities. In addition to providing for the City’s long

term stability through promotion of economic vitality and diversity, resulting in a balanced

community, committed to protection of what is valued today while meeting tomorrow’s needs

(About Us). Founded in 1925 by Ole Hanson as a planned real-estate development called

“Spanish Village by the Sea,” the site was named for offshore San Clemente Island. According to

the U.S. Census Bureau, San Clemente cost of living index is twice the United States average.

The racial makeup of San Clemente is 86.0% White, 10.8% Hispanic, 0.6% African American,

0.6% Native American, 3.7% Asian, and 0.1% Pacific Islander. The city provides services to its

community groups through public outreach and education. While the adoption of technology by
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the city has led to the drastic change in how people access the community services it is not

known if portions of the community without access to these tech tools are being left behind.

Illia’s service learning site is called Strabase Edwards located in California Edwards Air

Force Base. His project is focused on improving their website by adding things like Google

Analytics to it and also helping them set up Mail Chimp. Starbase Edwards is a STEM focused

program that helps students make their learning process more interesting and interactive

(StarbaseEdwards.org). The program lessons and activities rely heavily on experiential learning,

applied technology, embedded and stand-alone math concepts and applications, and service

learning projects to connect the content with community needs, and to encourage the

development of life skills necessary for future success (StarbaseEdwards.org). Their mission is

very similar to our research because they are interested in serving the community, making

education for students more accessible and interesting (StarbaseEdwards.org).

Conducting Research

Thomas Wooten Interviews:

Who at your site answered your questions?

Kade Boisseranc, Information Technology Analyst II, answered our questions for the

City of San Clemente site.

What characteristics make this person an ideal interviewee/person to speak on your topic?

Kade’s role with the City of San Clemente places him directly in the forefront of the

interaction with the city's constituents. Kade is responsible for the new and old

implementations of technology adopted by the city. He has first hand interaction with
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users of the technology the city deploys and plays a major role in understanding and

evaluating its effectiveness with the general public.

Jasmine Guevara’s Interview:

Who at your site answered your questions?

April Guevara is a Payment Analyst at Child Development Associates, a nonprofit that

works with childcare needs. She is not at my site, but a community member that works at a

nonprofit.

What characteristics make this person an ideal interviewee/person to speak on your topic?

April is an ideal candidate for the interview because she uses technology at work

constantly to help families and providers get the assistance they need and often refers people to

use technology to perform actions.

Findings

There are several significant themes that we found during our interview process. Our

interviewees have provided us with their insight on how they feel technology is affecting various

members of the communities in the present day. Our interviewees were also to give us deep

insights on how technology affected their workplace and workload on a daily basis.

The interview with April Guevara was done through email. By using technology to

communicate with our interviewee, It was simple to perform the interview and get the data in a

timely manner that worked for us, as a team, and the interviewee. The interviewee was able to

give us very thoughtful and valuable answers to our interview questions. Her answers show the

effects that technology is having on the community and how it affects workers in the community

on a daily basis.
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A common theme found was that technology makes life easier. In Appendix B, April

states “CDA had to go remote because of the covid conditions and with the use of some social

media, it has made it easy for us to interact with the families.” In Appendix A, Kade states “The

use of social media platforms, in addition to traditional forms of public announcement, has

enhanced outreach and communication to the public and residents of San Clemente”. It appears

that technology has made it easier for their organization to communicate with families in the

community. Also, technology made it possible for them to continue doing their work efficiently

from home during quarantine. April states that “Technology has made it easier to organize my

meetings that are done online.” She also mentions how “Reports are accessed through our server

system which makes it easier to collaborate.” Technology has helped her to track and organize

her work, collaborate with other workers and members of the community, and manage her

workflow. April views further advancements in technology at her job will continue to help her

organization, and that it will improve the efficiency of workers’ ability to communicate with

each other as well as with other members of the community. This aligns with Kades response

stating that “Technology will continue to improve service to the community and make our jobs

more efficient.” We therefore can safely state that technology seems to significantly increase the

efficiency of public institutions to perform work and communicate.

On the contrary, another common theme was also found in the interview with April from

Appendix B. April exprecessed that technology can be restrictive. She describes how

technology can restrict people and harm people’s ability to get jobs and perform jobs. April

described that “There have been times when I would need some assistance and could not get in

contact with my colleague.” When the Internet or systems are down, April cannot perform her

work right away and that can cause major delays in her work. She also mentioned how
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technology, like social media, can affect a person’s job prospects. Also, workplaces can invade

employees’ privacy. Employers can easily gain information about their employees, and that

information can be used to harm candidates looking for jobs. She also mentions that in order to

control misuse at school, there should be parental controls on computers. The misuse and control

over information at schools can lead to students being restricted from information that the school

may not agree with. Students may have access to information that is only allowed by the school.

Another misuse of technology can be done by students. Kade, from Appendix A, stated that

“Agencies can use measures to prevent the misuse of technology through security, training and

education.” When public institutions use technology, there are still complications that occur as

they serve people in the community.

Technology is making a difference in the way community members live their everyday

lives. The answers that were provided show that technology is making an impact on the

community and the workforce members that work in the community.

Conclusions

The research question of how the use of technology by public institutions affects various

members of communities in the present day has been answered. However, this question could

definitely use more research in order to reach a deeper level of understanding. Public institution

workers and the community members they serve are being affected by technology. Technology is

used constantly at public organizations to serve the community by accomplishing tasks and

retrieving information. From afterschool programs to city planning, technology is making a

change in the way communities work. However, the value of technology, in terms of benefits to

harm ratio, is not always very well defined and agreed upon.
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In the community, many members think that technology is extremely helpful and

essential. On the other hand, many members think that technology comes with complications at

public institutions. The value of technology is heavily noticed when it comes to communication

services and opportunities that technology provides and how workforce members use technology

to do their jobs more efficiently to serve the community. Workforce members from public

institutions have expressed the importance of technology in executing their everyday job duties,

but they also express the issues that come along with the benefits of technology. When

depending on technology, issues may very likely occur and such issues cause delays in work that

eventually harm community members. In other words, such delays that are caused by internet

issues or issues with technology can put everyone’s work on hold because workers won’t be able

to access information or process things for the members of the community. If certain people do

not have affordable and quality care available to them, they can be at a major disadvantage. Also,

some social groups already have barriers that technology may aggravate even further such as

social media. As mentioned in our findings, social media can sometimes restrict people’s job

opportunities.

Recommendations

There are several recommendations that can improve further research and actions

regarding how the use of technology at public institutions affects community members. In the

future, we do recommend that we interview more workers and even more community members.

A bigger sample will give us a more accurate insight on the benefits and, more importantly,

issues that workers face due to the limits of the internet and technology. A wider search would

also benefit from using online surveys or applications that can easily and automatically

document their answers.

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We can see that when public institutions use technology, it is helping the community by

speeding processes and making processes more efficient, but when it becomes fully relied on,

there can be some issues that will cause delays and inefficiencies. Technology is great for

communication and retrieving information, but not so great due to restrictions and delays. One

recommendation to prevent restrictions is that institutions can make sure to block only

inappropriate content and not content that the school or workplace does not like or agree with.

Another recommendation would be to use the most upgraded technology and to make sure that

employees are well trained on the new technology. Institutions should always strive to stay

updated on recent technology and make sure those systems are regularly and properly tested to

prevent delays and issues that may occur in the future. An action that community members can

take is to demand public institutions to maintain their technological systems to provide excellent

assistance and education to the community. Another action that community members can take is

to express to public institutions to not restrict people from obtaining information or getting a job.

Public institutions should be promoting an open learning environment and should not be using

technology to discriminate against potential workers. In other words, institutions should

encourage community members to learn and gain knowledge freely even when the information

goes against one’s beliefs. Community members should always be wary of the consequences as

well as the benefits of the heavy use of technology at public institutions.

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References

About Us. About Us | City of San Clemente, CA. (n.d.). Retrieved October 1, 2021, from

https://www.san-clemente.org/about-us.

Arakelyan, L. (2021, January 21). How technology makes life easier and safer. ITChronicles.

Retrieved September 22, 2021, from

https://itchronicles.com/technology/how-technology-makes-life-easier-and-safer/.

Dreams for School Homepage. (n.d.). Dreams for Schools. Retrieved from

https://www.dreamsforschools.org/

Parayil, G. (1991). Technological knowledge and technological change. Technology and Society,

289-304.

Raja, R., & Nagasubramani, P. C. (2018). Impact of modern technology in education. Journal of

Applied and Advanced Research, 3(1), 33-35.

Smith, A. (2020, August 28). Government online. Pew Research Center: Internet, Science &

Tech. Retrieved September 22, 2021, from

https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2010/04/27/government-online/.

U.S. Census Bureau quickfacts: San Clemente City ... (n.d.). Retrieved October 5, 2021, from

https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/sanclementecitycalifornia,US/PST045219.
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Appendix A

Thomas Wooten Interview with Kade Boisseranc

1. In what ways has the use of social media changed the day to day operations, or the way

in which your organization interacts with the public?

The use of social media platforms, in addition to traditional forms of public announcement, has

enhanced outreach and communication to the public and residents of San Clemente.

2. In what ways has the transition to video conferencing affected your site's ability to stay

in touch with your community? Have there been any challenges throughout the transition

from face-to-face to virtual conferencing? If yes, please explain?

Video conferencing has been instrumental for the City to effectively communicate with its

residents, especially during the current health crisis. It has allowed the City to continue to

function as a service provider and allow for the active participation of its residents in local

government. There have been some challenges throughout the transition, such as supply chain

availability regarding hardware and devices, multiple software platforms and end user

connectivity. These challenges were more prevalent early in the transition.

3. How has the use of technology in your workplace made a difference in the way that you

or your colleagues perform tasks?

Technology has played an essential role in communication, accountability and productivity,

which streamlines most functions within the City.

4. How do you think further advancements in technology will impact your job?
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Technology with continue to improve service to the community and make our jobs more

efficient.

5. What can we do to prevent the misuse of technology at work and school?

Agencies can use measures to prevent the misuse of technology through security, training and

education. Ultimately, employee integrity will be paramount, but agencies can prevent most

misuse.

6. How important of a role should social media profiles have in hiring decisions and other

work decisions?

This sounds like a question for legal or HR, but my response would be as follows. In a perfect

world, the role of an individual’s social media profile should have no bearing on hiring or other

work decisions made. However, it is the responsibility of both the employer and employee to

respect each other’s freedoms of expression, provided they are clearly not representing or acting

on behalf of one another.

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Appendix B

Interview with April Guevara

1. In what ways has the use of social media changed the day to day operations, or the way

in which your organization interacts with the public? ---CDA had to go remote because of the

covid conditions and with the use of some social media, it has made it easy for us to interact with

the families. We also provide several resources and information about programs they can benefit

from.

2. In what ways has the transition to video conferencing affected your site's ability to stay

in touch with your community? Have there been any challenges throughout the transition

from face-to-face to virtual conferencing? If yes, please explain? ---Since covid started to

affect our organization, we had to figure out ways to keep in touch with the families and the team

at CDA. We started to use digital operations to execute certain requirements. There have been

times when I would need some assistance and could not get in contact with my colleague.

3. How has the use of technology in your workplace made a difference in the way that you

or your colleagues perform tasks? ---Technology has made it easier to organize my meetings

that are done online. Reports are accessed through our server system which makes it easier to

collaborate.

4. How do you think further advancements in technology will impact your job? ---I believe

as technology advances, it will continue to help the organization. It could also improve the way

we perform certain tasks and the way we communicate with families or teammates.
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5. What can we do to prevent the misuse of technology at work and school? ---The way we

can prevent the misuse of technology is by providing proper training to management and

employees. Applying parental control can help students focus on their education and learning

activities.

6. How important of a role should social media profiles have in hiring decisions and other

work decisions?---This should not be considered because someone should get hired based on

experience and not by their social media profiles. In a way, this is sort of an invasion of privacy

of your personal life which employers shouldn’t be concerned about.

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Appendix C

Illia Sapryga’s interview with Alfred De La Costa (Awaiting responses)

The interview took place via email.

1. In what ways has the use of social media changed the day to day operations, or the way in

which your organization interacts with the public?

We implemented social media very early on in the day to day operations of our

organization. We primarily use for student engagement. We create content that informs

students, parents, and educators of upcoming STARBASE Edwards events and programs.

We also create educational videos to help teach students STEM.

2. In what ways has the transition to video conferencing affected your site's ability to stay in

touch with your community? Have there been any challenges throughout the transition

from face-to-face to virtual conferencing? If yes, please explain?

When California implemented the stricter lockdowns for COVID-19 we were running all

of our classes virtually. Students would join our video conferences and our teachers

would teach them over that platform. Since the lockdown restrictions have eased and

in-person education is back, we are currently teaching students in class now. Outside of

that, not much changed in our process of community engagement.

3. How has the use of technology in your workplace made a difference in the way that you

or your colleagues perform tasks?

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We have always implemented technology in our workplace, there has never been a time

where we haven't so nothing has changed. We do try to add more technologies to our

program in order to give students hands-on experience with a variety of technologies.

4. How do you think further advancements in technology will impact your job?

I believe it will ultimately make our jobs easier. I believe newer technologies will be

created and implemented in order to automate more tedious work and tasks. We are

looking forward to adopting some more cutting-edge technologies with the goal of

introducing them to students.

5. What can we do to prevent the misuse of technology at work and school?

Preventing misuse of technology at work and school requires at minimum two things: 1)

Competent and informed leadership. This means that management at the highest level

needs to be able to understand the risks associated with implementing technology as well

as setting up the appropriate policies and procedures for the use of technology. They must

be involved in the process and be willing to dedicate time to these issues. 2) A skilled IT

team is needed in order to correctly implement and enforce the policies and procedures

that were created and agreed upon by senior management. Senior management and the IT

team need to have a streamlined communication channel in order to address and solve

issues that come up in a timely manner.

I believe great examples of this not happening are the ransomware attacks that have

plagued hospitals, schools, and other businesses. These attacks can be very easily

prevented with industry-standard security controls being implemented in the

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organizations environment. But in order to accomplish that, senior management and IT

need to be working together.

6. How important of a role should social media profiles have in hiring decisions and other

work decisions?

This is a tricky question because it involves the consideration of ethics and personal

freedom. Is it ethical for an employer to solely not hire an individual based on what they

said on their personal social media account? Is it an employers business to be

investigating their employees or potential employees personal social media accounts? As

United States citizens we all have freedom of speech and are allowed to express our

views without fear of persecution (as long as we are not breaking any laws, i.e.,

threatening someone's life). With that said, I think public social media accounts should be

seen as, in a sense, a public forum. If an individual is posting to a public social media

account they should assume everyone they know should be able to read with they said.

With that, the individual should use a sense of professionalism and/or consideration for

their public image when expressing their views and opinions. If an individual does not

want their name associated to something posted online, they can use a different name or

use an anonymous identity to do so. I do not believe being fearful of expressing an

opinion or idea is the way we should be living but unfortunately, in our current times, it

does have consequences so some due diligence needs to be practiced. I guess to answer

your question, I believe social media profiles are not an important role in the hiring

decisions and decisions made in the workplace. I think they can be used to find red flags,

i.e. threats of violence or dangerous actions, but outside of that, skills, knowledge, and

personality should be playing the most important roles in the hiring process.