Importance of IT systems for humans Information technology has become an essential part of humans daily life.

People in different careers/jobs are forced to have an understanding or some knowledge of Information Technology Systems as they are vital for human survival in the modern world. Information technology systems are used in organisations nowadays for numerous reasons but among them the main reason for business organisations to adopt information technology systems is to function more efficiently to be more competitive. In the 1980s the Industrial Age came to an end therefore the precise advent of personal computer is difficult to determine but its rapid growth became the reason for the end of Industrial Age followed by the dawn of new Information Age. Though information technology has a relatively short history of few centuries by the exponential growth had humans reply on information technology systems. However the potential of information technology systems are still progressing. The information technology is available in education organisations throughout the developed countries in different levels and is used for daily activities. The adoption of information technology in educations organisations is evidence of vitality of such systems for human survival. In developed countries to track student records, academic progress and financial records, an education organisation maintains an information system. Certain institutions allow access for parents or guardians to their system to keep track of their child, therefore unlike in the past they have instant access to childs academic progress. In businesses management and updating of information databases are crucial as its helps to generate new information using existing data and as well as exchanging information. Therefore regardless of the number of offices they have around the globe they can work as in the same building. In medical sector when it comes to diagnostic procedures and treating major conditions has improved with evolved information technology and is used in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans and Laser Eye Surgeries are computer aided for precision. The hospitals store patient records in information systems and grant authorised personnel access. The developed security systems for households and businesses are a product of information technology. Government agencies with complex defence systems are highly developed security systems.

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A key role is played by information technology in the engineering sector where automated collection and immediate exchange of data such as weather or demographic. With the help of powerful computer aided information technology systems civil engineers can build structures virtually and test them against environmental conditions and for safety. The entertainment sector utilises information technology to design Computer Generated Imagery (CGI), special effects for movies and advanced multimedia applications in recording studios. Global Positioning Systems (GPS) are being used to travelling, tracking criminals on released on probation and locating lost items. Vehicles or mobile phones are incorporated with tracking devices due to information technology advancements. In terms of communication now the world is a smaller place as the whole world in interconnected via World Wide Web (WWW), without internet this age of Information Age will collapse instantly. The invention of internet became the key to geographical limitations and boundaries. Therefore the information technology systems are vital and essential for humans in their daily life and the potential is an ever evolving cycle.
Reference: JonDW. (2009). Why Information Technology Is Important. Available: http://www.ehow.com/about_5553106_information-technology-important.html. Last accessed 08th September 2010. Importance Of Information Technology. Available: http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/importance-of-information-technology8087.html Last accessed 08th September 2010.

Impact of e-commerce on business, economy, community and culture Using information technology businesses become more productive and perform at a high level in numerous ways with the help of information technology. Businesses are able to maintain more control over inventory management and being able to project sales accurately with the an efficient inventory management system allows companies to Page 2

save on storage costs for additional inventory in warehouses, inventory losses, miscounting or theft therefore companies will have more resources to research on new market strategies or products and be a strong competitor in the market. Web based businesses are profitable and can be more productive and efficient in numerous ways. Sales staff and buyers used to travel long distances, but now with the help of e-commerce this obstructer has been diminished greatly. Delivery of goods and purchasing has become faster and the number of sales staff needed for the business has been reduced. Consumers used to travel across countries to find the product they desire, now with the help of internet businesses have websites to promote their products minimising this inconvenience. Consumers now have access to online catalogs and brochures at the distance of a computer. The consumer can buy directly from manufacturer eliminating intermediary costs therefore lowering the cost thus in return a low priced product and the business gains more profit from more sales. This affects economy of a country as consumer desires reasonable prices for quality products and manufacturer expects higher sales. The consumers are adopting new consumer trends and rapidly adapting to emerging information technology. Most people in developed countries are familiar with online banking, online shopping and socialising. The simplicity of the culture we knew once is rapidly changing, more and more people are joining social networking sites daily, www.facebook.com website is the best example of rapid acknowledgement of technology of humans to their social life. Soon this became an opportunity for business to promote their products and businesses more easily. In the past people used to buy books and store them, now reading resources such as books have become electronic and this became an opportunity to develop a new gadget called kindle a portable e-book reader. Now people are reading books on electronic tablets.
Reference: Ronnie Daniels. (2010). The Ways That Information Technology Can Improve Productivity & Performance. Available: http://www.ehow.com/list_6332355_ways-canimprove-productivity-performance.html. Last accessed 08th September 2010.

Efficiency of daily work increased by using IT Systems Page 3

Certainly the efficiency of work daily work life has been increased. According to the Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) since 1979 an average worker in United States of America (USA) is 4% more productive, which makes an average American worker the highest and the most productive in the world, therefore the average amount of time spent on a task/job is lesser, however this is a result of adopting information technology. Information technology allows quick access to information and analyse them to make swift business decisions. The employee performance has improved as the amount of time spent on a task or job is minimised and managers are making accurate decisions depending on projections generated by information systems and producing higher profits while lowering costs. Time to time every business organisation provides its employees with training depending on the varying market environments. Employees can access training material and development pages made readily available for its employees by the business within its intranet is a result of information technology. The information system provided by the business organisation contains knowledge to improve employee efficiency and job satisfaction where an employee is able to perform at a higher productivity level. Employees are able to stay connected to their workplace even when they are on the move with the help of mobile devices and laptops. They are able to check their emails and access workstation personal computer via a VPN through internet without difficulty and they can work outside office hours if necessary. Conferences can be held via internet with video conferencing technology where it would eliminate the time and resources wasted on travelling and employees can be more productive.
Refence: Ronnie Daniels. (2010). The Ways That Information Technology Can Improve Productivity & Performance. Available: http://www.ehow.com/list_6332355_ways-canimprove-productivity-performance.html. Last accessed 08th September 2010.

Necessity of IT Systems in households

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Nowadays communication is vital in daily life of a household, in the past the geographical barrier was an issue when communicating someone. Usually when a person needed to contact another person in a different country you sent a mail or made a long distance call, however because of advancements of information technology issues of geographical limitations were diminished. Now anyone is able to contact anyone if both parties have an internet connection. Voice over internet protocol (VIOP) is a common way of communicating. Unlike in the past now a household has video conference capabilities. With the development of information technology now each household in a developed country have several personal computers and each of them contains information or media that family members desire to share. Not long ago the household data networks were wired, but with the development of new wireless technology and better standards with higher data transfer rates, the need for wired data networks are fading away. The convenience of wireless technology made it adopt easily and rapidly by households in a small timeframe. Whether it is wired or wireless a household sometimes needs a central system to store data, software giant Microsoft designed a new product as the solution to this inadequacy, it is a data sharing system called Windows Home Server. Entertainment is another part of household that is bound to information technology. With the busy lifestyle of the modern world members of a household rarely go to movie theatres, as a solution for this, online businesses such as Netflix or TiVO allows you to stream multimedia content just with a monthly subscription. The Apple iTunes provides the service of selling applications, music and movies where you are allowed to directly download purchased content to your hard drive. Such information technology systems fulfil entertainment needs of a household. Online gaming is an aspect of socialised entertainment. Microsoft Xbox and Sony PS3 are fierce competitors of selling console games and online gaming services. A person can directly purchase gaming content online and download it directly to the console this is possible due to development of information technology. Most modern households in a developed country has a built-in security system, any threat or breach into the house or the apartment will trigger an threat indication (alarm) that will alert the owner of the house within 10 minutes regardless of his location. It will also send a notification to the insurance company. Such complicated systems were developed with the progression of information technology systems. Travelling is undeniably an essential part of daily routine, when your family visited another country for a vacation where you are unfamiliar with which direction or which road to take it is a problem but with a Page 5

Global Positioning Systems (GPS) you will not get lost and will be able to reach your destination with ease. Maps, identifying Points of Interests (POI) and speed limits contains in the information system. Therefore the information technology systems are a necessity of a regular household, to make our lifestyle easier.

Evaluate the quality of work done by students using current IT systems In University of Western Sydney the students use information technology just as in any other university in Australia. The virtual UWS (vUWS) website is an example of central information management system for students within and outside university. Students can interact with fellow students for knowledge via eLearning Student Support and access all the subject/unit materials online is enrolled. This website can be accessed from anywhere and the information and services provided through the system is very helpful for students. Also the UWS library has resources archived paper base and electronically such as online articles, books, e-resources, research resources and a paid online knowledge database for students to gather knowledge and facts for their research or academic reports. Students also gather information from websites and gain knowledge by reading online forums where they can ask questions and post answers related to any topic. Online forums, blogs and academic study groups assist students to produce quality academic work. Websites such as Lifehacker provides you with information for students studying Information Technology. Students and academics post their knowledge under topics in blogs to enlighten less knowledgeable such as students. By joining online academic study groups where students can express, debate and gather knowledge or information for an example LinkedIn is such website. Evaluating the quality of work done by students is no easy task, when students do their work they are free to refer numerous materials from books, libraries, websites and online articles and newspapers to mention a few. Therefore determining the originality of the work done by a student requires an information technology system that will search its information database for any copyright infringements, paraphrasing without reference or pure plagiarism. For this system to be efficient the information contained must be updated regularly. Page 6

University of Western Sydney (UWS) is using TurnItIn plagiarism prevention tool for validating originality of a students work.

What are the disadvantages such IT Systems With the development and adoption of information technology unemployment is becoming an issue. Like in the past now businesses do not need large number of employees as computers can perform more efficiently and effectively and thereby in return reducing cost of manual labour. People are joining social networking services without knowing the consequences of them, privacy invasion is issue constantly arsing in social networking services the best example is Facebook where people had personal details exposed. Revealing personal details in social networking sites will lead to privacy issues and identity theft Copyright infringement is another widely known by product, people steal willingly or unwillingly. Peer-to-peer sharing is an example of copyright infringement for music, movies and software. Entertainment and software industries suffer million of losses due to this issue. Plagiarism is another aspect of information technology, software tools such as TurnItIn are only capable of determining originality of a students work against its information database, though it contains major newspapers, magazines, scholarly journals and books as well as a database of over 12 billion current and archived pages of web content however there are websites that offers to complete your academic work for an expense of per page. Students can submit such work and evade plagiarism and counterfeit the originality tests. This is a major flaw of using such tools to validate students work.

Conclusion In conclusion the Information technology systems are vital for the survival and lifestyle of humans, then the impacts of e-commerce is far-reaching thereafter academic improvement and expansion of knowledge and information is a positive impact however there are numerous negative impacts and disadvantages have been developed with the evolution of information technology systems. Therefore Information technology brings us both positive and negative influence.

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