Unit -12

IT in society
Objectives:
• Digital currencies
• Data mining
• Social networking services/platforms
• The impact of IT
• Technology enhanced learning

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12.1 Digital currency:
• Putting the power and responsibility in the currency holders' hands.
• Has no intrinsic value in. That is it is not redeemable for another commodity
• Has no physical form and exists only in the network
• Its supply is not determined by any central bank.
• The network is completely decentralized.

Characteristics:
1. Irreversible: After confirmation, a transaction cannot be reversed, there is no safety
net.
2. Anonymous Neither transactions nor accounts are connected to real-world identities,
everything is digitalized with access by means of the internet.
3. Global Speed: Transaction are nearly instant in the network and are confirmed in a
couple of minutes. Since they happen in a global network of computers they are
completely indifferent of your physical location. There are no third parties involved in
verification or validation.
4. Secure: Strong cryptography and the magic of big numbers makes it impossible to
break this scheme.
5. No Gatekeeper: The software that everybody can download is for free. After you
installed it, you can receive and send cryptocurrencies.

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12.1 Digital currency:
Advantages and disadvantages:
 No restrictions on payments
 Maintenance of anonymity (acting person's identity is unknown)
 Use of complex algorithms
 Incredible exchange speed
 No third party involvement
 Very less transaction fee
 No inflation(decline of purchasing power of a given currency over time)

Lack of awareness and knowledge

Use of complex techniques
Highly volatile in nature (value can swing/change based on news events)
Not accepted everywhere
Victim of theft and scam, no one to appeal or complain for if victimized.
No reverse of payment and recovery
May not be exchanged with Fiat currency (government-issued currency where central
banks have greater control)

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12.1 Digital currency:
Impact to business:
The nature of the currencies is subject to a high degree of uncertainty. Online platforms
have generated a large trading activity by speculators seeking to profit from the short-term
or long-term holding of digital currencies. They are not backed by a central bank, a national
or international organization, or assets or other credit, and their value is strictly determined
by the value that market participants place on them through their transactions, which
means that loss of confidence may bring about a collapse of trading activities and an
abrupt drop in value.

Cyber/Fraud risk : Criminals can break into crypto exchanges, drain crypto wallets and
infect individual computers with malware that steals cryptocurrency. As transactions are
conducted on the internet, the hackers target the people, the service handling and storage
areas, through means such as spoofing/phishing and malware. Investors must rely upon the
strength of their own computer security systems.

Operational risk: With a centralized clearinghouse guaranteeing the validity of a transaction

comes the ability to reverse a monetary transaction in a coordinated way; no such ability is
possible with a cryptocurrency.

Regulatory/compliance risk : A single risk based approach is not applied here.

Market risks. There is a limited amount of the crypto currency which means that it can
suffer from liquidity concerns and limited ownership may make it vulnerable to market
manipulation. Hence, the currency can appear more volatile than other physical currencies.
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12.1 Digital currency:
Economic Impact of Cryptocurrency :
1. Transaction costs for most cryptocurrency users are minimal. Hence, there is no need
to pay utility bills, rental property, or employee wages by bank.
2. Cryptocurrency transactions are automated, digitized, and tracked on a ledger that can
never be manipulated by people, companies, or governments. Not only does this bring
power and freedom to the people, but it also diminishes the risk of fraud and corruption
3. All users exchange currency regardless of their citizenship. This is particularly profound
for entrepreneurs who are no longer subject to a national audience but one that is
international with whom funds can be exchanged without the hassle of exchange rates
and international law.
Government Impact of Cryptocurrency :
1. A lot of money is already electronic. consumers around the world conduct transactions
using credit cards or mobile phones to pay. Also, much of the money that bank reserves
issue exists only in electronic form.
2. Most people still prefer money backed by a central bank, and this is unlikely to change
anytime soon.
3. Digital currencies and other innovations in payment systems could increase the speed of
domestic and cross-border transactions, reduce transaction costs, and eventually
broaden access to the financial system by poor and rural households.
4. It can destabilize financial markets and can infect from one market to another. They
could weaken the business models of conventional banks and their role in the financial
system, making it hard for central banks—which operate largely through the banking
system—to maintain financial stability.
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12.2 Data mining:
A process of finding differences, patterns and correlations within large data sets to predict
outcomes. Using a broad range of techniques, you can use this information to increase
revenues, cut costs, improve customer relationships, reduce risks and more.

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12.2 Data mining:
Business understanding:
1. Understand business objectives & needs
2. Assess the current situation by finding the resources, assumptions(expectations) &
constraints(restrictions)
3. From the business objectives and current situations, create data mining goals to achieve
the business objectives within the current situation.
4. Data mining plan has to be established to achieve both business and data mining goals

Data understanding
1. Collect from available data sources which can help get familiar with the data. Here data
load and data integration must be done in order to make the data collection
successfully.
2. Collected data need to be examined carefully and reported.
3. Data needs to be explored by querying, reporting, and visualization.
4. data quality must be examined by checking whether acquired data is complete or some
data is missing

Data preparation
1. It takes about 90% of the time of the project.
2. From the available data sources, data needs to be selected, cleaned, constructed and
formatted into the desired form.
3. The data exploration is done in depth by observing the patterns based on business
understanding.
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12.2 Data mining:
Modeling
1. Use modeling technique on the prepared data set.
2. Test scenario must be generated to validate the quality and validity of the model.
3. One or more models are created on the prepared data set.
4. Models need to be assessed carefully involving stakeholders(investors) to make sure
that created models are met business initiatives.

Evaluation
1. The model results must be evaluated in the context of business objectives . Here, new
business requirements may be raised due to the new patterns that have been discovered
in the model results.
2. Gaining business understanding is an iterative process in data mining. The go or no-go
decision must be made in this step to move to the deployment phase.

Deployment
1. The information which is gained through data mining process, needs to be presented in
such a way that stakeholders(investors) can use it when they want it.
2. This phase should as simple as creating a report or as complex as a repeatable data
mining process across the organization.
3. The plans for deployment, maintenance, and monitoring have to be created for
implementation and also future supports.
4. The final report of the project needs to be the summary of the project experiences and
the review of the project to see what needs to be improved and learned lessons.
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12.2 Data mining:
Uses
National security:
1. To detect fraud, assessing risk, and product retailing
2. To analyse tools to discover previously unknown, valid patterns and relationships in large data
sets. It can help to identify terrorist activities, such as money transfers and communications,
and to identify and track individual terrorists themselves, such as through travel and
immigration records.
3. By collecting and analyzing public and private sector data, this the ability to identify potential
terrorists or other dangerous activities by unknown individuals.
4. Enhance material readiness through predictive maintenance and logistics optimization.
5. Enable better strategic, operational and tactical situational awareness through enhanced
analytics applied to intelligence.
6. Pinpoint security, immigration and health risks for cross-border movement of goods through
the use of enhanced analytics.
Data mining in banking & financial sectors:
1. To determine what, when, and why the customer profile prefers.
2. To find appropriate solutions for the right demand creation and presenting the right time
demands
3. Financial forecasting & estimation of stock prices
4. Management of new investments, Determination of investment portfolio
5. Formation of marketing strategies & making risk analyses
6. Making the right choice in terms of human resources for business, credit and credit card fraud
estimates,
7. Credit limit determination and fee management
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12.2 Data mining:
Uses
In medical and health care:
1. To diagnose the disease & to determine the treatment method to be applied to the disease
2. To estimate the resource use and patient numbers in hospitals
3. To set the success of treatment methods applied in the hospital
4. To classify the patient data according to factors such as age, gender, race and treatment
5. To determine the high risk factors in surgeries
6. To prevent corruption in hospital expenditures.
7. Evaluation of treatment effectiveness, management of healthcare, customer relationship
management, and the detection of fraud and abuse.
8. Identification of risk factors associated with the beginning of any disease.
9. To help predict the effectiveness of a procedure or medicine.
10. Pharmaceutical firms use data mining of chemical compounds and genetic material to help
guide research on new treatments for diseases.

In public sector:
1. To determine the tax related corruption, to predict the impact of changes in the tax system on
the budget,
2. To determine waste and prevent damage caused by waste, estimate population,
3. To forecast the weather, determine new job opportunities,
4. To measure performance of employees, manage the business processes,
5. To classify public expenditures, plan the correct use of resources,
6. To forecast the future of public investment, analyze the data in defense industry,
7. to determine which offenders are likely to commit crimes in terms of safety.
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12.2 Data mining:
Uses :
In Education:
1. To determine the status of students’ pass and fail,
2. To find factors affecting the success of the students enrolling at the university, creating
the preference of university department,
3. To determine the factors that influence the preference order of new enrolled students,
4. To choose a profession according to the demographic and personal characteristics
5. To prevent students from failing and determining the factors that affect success,
6. To determine the relationships between the type of school in which students graduate
and their university departments evaluating the study activities of distance education
students
7. To determine the profiles and preferences of students entering the university entrance
exam
8. To determine the relationship between academic success and participation in
extracurricular activities of university students
9. To determine the relationships between the socioeconomic level of students and the
level of academic learning
10. To determine whether there is a relationship between student entry scores and school
achievement.

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12.2 Data mining:
Advantages & disadvantages:
 In marketing and retail it helps marketing companies build models based on historical
data to predict who will respond to the new marketing campaigns such as direct mail,
online marketing campaign
 In banking it gives financial institutions information about loan information and credit
reporting. By building a model from historical customer data, the bank, and financial
institution can determine good and bad loans. In addition, data mining helps banks
detect fraudulent credit card transactions to protect the credit card’s owner.
 In manufacturing, the manufacturers can detect faulty equipment and determine optimal
control parameters.
 In government department, it helps government agencies by digging and analyzing
records of financial transaction to build patterns that can detect money laundering or
criminal activities.
people are afraid of their personal information is collected and used in an unethical way
that potentially causing them a lot of trouble.
Businesses collect information about their customers in many ways for understanding
their purchasing behavior trends. However businesses don’t last forever, some days they
may be acquired by others or gone. At this time, the personal information they own
probably is sold to others or leak. Also, how properly this information is taken care of is
still in question.
information may be exploited by unethical people or businesses to take the benefits of
vulnerable people or discriminate against a group of people.
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12.3 Social networking services/platforms :
Impact of social media on individuals:
 Communicate and stay up to date with family and friends around the world.
 Find new friends and communities; network with other people who share similar
interests or ambitions.
 Join or promote worthwhile causes; raise awareness on important issues.
 Seek or offer emotional support during tough times.
 Find vital social connection if you live in a remote area, for example, or have limited
independence, social anxiety, or are part of a marginalized group.
 Find an outlet for your creativity and self-expression.
 Discover sources of valuable information and learning.

Even if you know that images you’re viewing on social media are manipulated, they can
still make you feel insecure about how you look or what’s going on in your own life.
Social media use displaces more authentic social experiences because the more time a
person spends online, the less time there is for real-world interactions.
Certain characteristics of social media facilitate feelings of being excluded, such as when
one sees photos of friends having fun at an event to which they were not invited.
Exposure to highly idealised representations of peers’ lives on social media sites may
elicit feelings of envy and the distorted belief that others lead happier and more
successful lives.
Socially isolated people may lack friends or close coworkers, and they often feel lonely or
depressed. They can suffer from low self-esteem or anxiety.
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12.3 Social networking services/platforms :
Impact of social media on business:
 attract customers, get customer feedback and build customer loyalty
 increase your market reach, including international markets
 do market research and reduce marketing costs
 increase revenue by building customer networks and advertising, develop your brand
 exchange ideas to improve the way you do business
 recruit skilled staff for example through job networking sites
 increase traffic to your website and improve its search engine ranking
 keep an eye on your competitors.

if you don’t have a clear marketing or social media strategy, the benefits may be reduced
you may need additional resources to manage your online presence
social media is immediate and needs daily monitoring
if you don't actively manage your social media presence, you may not see any real
benefits
you may get unwanted or inappropriate behaviour on your site, including bullying and
harassment
online exposure could attract risks such as negative feedback, information leaks or
hacking
false or misleading claims made on your social media by your business or a customer can
be subject to consumer law. You could be fined if a customer fan posts misleading or
deceptive information, particularly about competitor products or services.
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12.3 Social networking services/platforms :
Impact of social media on government:
 Controlling the narrative on key issues
 Creating an open channel for citizen interaction and engagement
 Reducing public relation and advertising costs
 Reaching people and communities on platforms they already use
 Sharing critical information in a crisis
 Using experts to share health, science and expert information
 Finding out quickly which messaging resonates best with the target audience
 Increasing trust in government

Users who get their political news through social media and not from government sites,
tend to be less well-informed and more likely to be exposed to unproven claims
The influence of social media in political campaigns has increased. Social networks play
an increasingly important role in electoral politics. Hence unsuitable candidate can get
more rigorous campaign and may brain wash more people to vote unsuitable candidate.

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12.4 Impact of IT on society :
Technology in sport:
 Analysis of sport performance and enabling coaches to greatly improve the quality of
feedback to players/athletes
 Increase accuracy in time measurements of sport performance
 Enabling referees, umpires and sport officials to make better decisions on rule
infringements
 Improvements in the design of sport equipment and attire
 Providing spectators with better viewing of sport performance
 smart glasses for cyclists that build and show routes in real-time and goggles for
swimmers that collect important metrics on the go. Sensor-enabled shoes for football
players and runners that track speed, force, motion, traction, etc. There are even full-
body suits that enable performance monitoring during training and enhance the
experience with different AR and VR effects.
 Smart workout equipment's are enhanced with sensors to collect performance data and
help monitor and correct workout routines in real-time, enhance efficiency and even
avoid injuries.
 Athlete tracking systems - the ability to track and analyze their performance data,
determine opportunities, detect weak points and tune training programs accordingly.

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12.4 Impact of IT on society :
Technology in manufacturing :
 Quality Improvement and the Reduction in Human Error - With systems relying on
automation and robotics, human involvement is minimized, and with it, the natural
human tendency to make mistakes.
 Cost Reductions - Manufacturing technologies increase productivity and process
efficiency and reduce waste. Enhanced and more efficient production can lead to greater
profits for the enterprise.
 Reduced Time to Market- manufacturing technology accelerates production. Hence,
enables organizations to get products out to market in much less time & the business can
increase its profits and competitive edge.
New manufacturing technologies introduce new processes and new materials. Hence,
with them, the possibility of new environmental and safety problems can arrise.
Networked devices and components of the Internet of Things are vulnerable, as each
device in the network provides a different entry point into the system that hackers can
take advantage of.
By collecting data about customer needs and behavior, companies can effectively target
their advertising and promotions. But, many consumers consider this kind of record-
keeping a violation of their privacy. Also, businesses that use technology to monitor
employee behavior and performance face both confidentiality questions and run the risk
that this type of surveillance can create a hostile work environment.

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12.4 Impact of IT on society :
Technology in education:
1. Technology is a teaching tool - Both teachers and students find it helpful and interesting
to use audio-visual tools where large number of students can be addressed at the same
time with the help of projectors, screens, microphones and speakers. These teaching
aids have led to increased attendance in classes.
2. Technology has made student life easy - students use software and tools to make
presentations and projects. A tablet instead of a pile of pile of notebooks, E-book
instead of a heavy book, online libraries which require no physical space, teacher-
student and researchers far apart access the same online library simultaneously.
3. Easy to store information - Era of copy-paste, small pen drive to store huge amount of
information, managing records online, better and strong storage of data on clouds.
4. Digital classrooms- we can see the entire syllabus online and then decide which courses
and subjects we should opt for. Interactive digitized boards can be used by students for
drawing figures, making diagrams, doing mathematical calculations, etc.
5. Information is easily accessible- Use of an effective tool for searching information and
by one or two clicks, vast information can be looked for.
6. Teaching is sharing- online forums having subject experts discuss subject specific topics,
review the syllabus and plan assessments to enhance the process of teaching.
7. Technology has removed space and time limitations-The students and teachers are far
apart in one virtual classroom, universities offer online educational programs in similar
manner, online libraries with books, journals, encyclopedias, students can access various
resources, highlight, save and use the soft copies.
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12.4 Impact of IT on society :
Technology in banking :
 Banking process is faster than before and more reliable. Maintenance and retrieval of
documents and records have become much faster and easier.
 In computerized banking all branches have access to common centralized data and are
interconnected.
 With the innovation of MICR cheque processing system, the processing of cheques
becomes more faster and efficient h than before.
 Through Internet Banking every transaction details and inquiries can be performed online
without visiting the bank.
 The scope of frauds in banks is being minimized through the use of passwords, double
authentication in online banking.
 Technology also leads to competition among the banks which eventually provides better
services to people.
 With introduction of mobile banking, one can access their bank from anywhere-anytime.
Everything is one quick tap away.
Loss of Jobs as automation has replaced number of jobs in banking sector.
Through technology comes the threat of Cyber Attack, a loophole in the system, millions
of data can be lost in the blink of an eye.
These technologies consumes less time, it also sometimes makes people careless-which
causes loss of personal details

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12.4 Impact of IT on society :
Technology in e-business :
 Providing competitive prices
 Providing responsive, fast and friendly purchasing services
 Provide the complete and clear information about product and service
 Provide many bonuses such as coupons, special offers, and discounts
 Give special attention such as the proposed purchase
 Providing a sense of community for discussion, input from customers, and others
 Facilitate trading activities
But… In implementing e-commerce high costs, concern about security issues (access to
personal data / information) & software that is not yet established or not yet available.
Technology in news and media :
 Worldwide access to journalism, wherever it is reported or published. This includes
changes in revenues and costs and in how journalists perform their roles;
 Faster response to news by journalists and their consumers, with implications for the
ethics and accuracy of those stories;
 Lower costs of production, enabling greater competition and requiring dynamic new
business models;
 New platforms, particularly in social media, that shift the balance of power in news and
threaten to disinter mediate traditional players;
 Greater mobility in news, for journalists and their audiences.
But… it is vital to distinguish authenticity of the news on social media and can work in
negative impact to the user .
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12.4 Impact of IT on society :
Technology in family and home :
 To coordinate the change of plans with just a message or call. Kids can let their parents
know if they are staying late at school for some extra class without getting them worried.
 The location tracking facility helps parents to reach the family in case of any trouble
 Can interact with all family members despite where they are. Even the distant family is
now more connected with social media groups rather than just interacting only at some
events
 With modern security systems, the emergency alarms as well as the quick response
options help to bring the police or the correspondent authority to be at the place at the
time of a robbery or a fire
 Parents engaging apps can virtually be present in school during all the activities of their
child in campus.
 Through video call options, a parent can virtually be present and monitor the progress of
the child at school
Each member of the family have a personal screen with which they spend most of the
time which is bad to keep the family bonding going
Emails or chatting is takes most of the time for children or parents in the evening
resulting in lack of quality time spent together.
face to face communication is greatly replaced by chatting apps where people will have
only limited experience of proper interaction with humans which can lead to a shrink in
the level of confidence.
Even one meal as a family is no more spent together as people choosing to eat as and
when they finish of chatting or working.
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12.4 Impact of IT on society :
Technology in entertainment and news:
 Quality of music with effects and audio quality, technology used in microphone
advancement to capture the recordings artistically, and after recording the files are
processed by hardware or software to clean, enhance, and set it to safe standards.
 New TV sets are being manufactured to improve the viewer’s experience. The quality of
video content has improved. This entertainment is accessed from a TV set & via the
internet as well.
 Social media has created a platform where individuals or businesses can share their
thoughts, pictures, videos, and audio content. Phones and tablets are getting sleeker and
more powerful. This makes the developers upgrade social media applications to fit the
standards of the new technology.
But…
Internet can expose children to explicit and harmful content. They may indulge in watching
pornographic content and other character damaging content without the knowledge of the
parent

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12.5 Technology enhanced learning :
Computer based learning:
Use of the interactive elements of the computer applications and software and the ability to
present any type of media to the users. Here, the users learning at their own pace and also
learning without the need for an instructor to be physically present.

Online tutorials
A self study activity designed to teach a specific learning outcome. They are usually
delivered via Blackboard but can also be made available via the Internet or on a DVD. Online
tutorial can be provided as supplementary learning materials or as an integral part of a core
activity.

Recorded tutorials are video or screencast recordings, of a subject expert presenting

information and ideas or giving a demonstration. It may consists of an audio narration over
PowerPoint slides and a demonstration of the Catalogue software.

Interactive tutorials are a structured collection of navigable web pages. Individual pages can
contain any combination of text, images, audio, video, self test questions and other
interactive activities.
Networked learning/courses
This refers to a method of collaborative internet-based education whereby learners can
connect with resources, teachers and other students. Massive open online courses (or
MOOCs) utilize networked learning methods to relay information from one person to groups
of learners. Networked learning can be used in both institutionalized and informal settings.
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12.5 Technology enhanced learning :
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC)
It is a free web-based distance learning program that is designed for large numbers of
geographically dispersed students.
These courses offer a certification, enhance employment opportunities or further studies.
They are used for higher education and career advancement. But pandemic, many public
schools and undergraduate degree programs have implemented MOOCs as the new standard.
They contain filmed or recorded video lectures; readings; problem sets; online quizzes and
examinations; interactive learning modules; interaction with other students via forums.
Each course will include a course provider and a course platform. A course provider is often a
university, which supplies the course materials and instructors. The platform provides the
technological infrastructure for course modules, user access and other learning resources.
 You can learn from your friends through a social networking site.
 Access to the course is free of cost, Such courses offer admission to everybody
 Material is advocated by top professors generally from universities.
 Allows you to learn different languages since they support tests in various languages.
Since most of these are free students do not consider completing the course. Hence high
attrition (withdrawal )rates
Not meant for students with disabilities -Learners who have visual disabilities can't be
made to go through such courses.
No special attention- The students if they don’t understand a topic, can't get special
attention from the tutor.
No requirements for signing up for the course- no age requirement for admission. You can
sign up for it without any age requirement and hence study what you want to
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12.5 Technology enhanced learning :
Advantages and disadvantages of technology enhanced learning:
 It provides credibility for the teacher. single technological tool can make a major impact
on the modern student
 It provides access to numerous resources instantly.
 Software platforms make it easier to track the performance of individual students,
identifying learning gaps with greater speed.
 Using collaborative learning the students can interact with other students and show
effective and maximum learning engagement
 It is an easy way to learn core vocational skills- able to learn to limit personal information
in a safe environment when technology is introduced to the classroom. They learn proper
writing etiquette in online communication, get to create presentations, write documents
using formatting guidelines, learn how to research new subjects and properly source the
data. These are all vital skills for the modern workplace and today’s students have the
opportunity to master them before they even start looking for a job.
 It can put all the needed data into one location. It can also help teachers group together
students who may benefit more from learning together than learning apart.
 It allows students to work at their own comfortable pace.
 It provides an opportunity to learn different ways.
It can be distracting to students.
It can disconnect students from face-to-face relationships.
Technology allows for easier communication between people which can support cheating
Digitally less equipped students, this can be a disadvantage. Not all students may have
equal access to all learning resources
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