Legal, Ethical, Cultural, Environmental Lesson 1

Computer Science Legal, Ethical, Cultural, Environmental

What is the impact of digital technology and what legislation protects us?



Open Ended

Before starting the new unit called: "Ethical, legal, cultural and environmental impacts of digital technology," let's do a skills audit on knowledge that is assumed.

How good is your understanding of the following areas:

1. Digital Technologies

2. Movement of Data within a computer

3. Analogue and Digital Signals

4. Computers and binary

5. Voltage

Spend a minute or two running through the list and formulate any questions that you have on the above areas e.g. What is voltage?

Open Ended

What does the phrase "Digital Technologies" mean to you?

Write your own definition

NOTES:

1.6 Legal, Ethical, Cultural Environmental Impacts of Digital Technology

Digital Technologies:

"Electronic tools, automatic systems, technological devices and resources that generate, process or store information."

Poll

How did you rate your definition of Digital Technologies?

• Dreadful

• Kind of, sort of, nearly-ish

• Pretty Good

• I am a God or Goddess or both

Open Ended

Back to this definition of Digital Technologies:

"Electronic tools, automatic systems, technological devices and resources that generate, process or store information."

Come up with as many examples of Digital Technologies as you can in 2 minutes. EXT: Think up at least one example in each category.

I've included some ideas to get you started:

Electronic Tools: Barcode Reader

Automatic Systems: Door Entry systems

Technological Devices: Digital Camera

Resources: Wikipedia

NOTES: Examples of Digital Technologies:

Electronic Tools: Barcode Reader

Automatic Systems: Door Entry systems

Technological Devices: Digital Camera

Resources: Wikipedia

Poll

How did you rate your definition of Digital Technologies now?

• Dreadful

• Kind of, sort of, nearly-ish

• Pretty Good

• I am a God or Goddess or both

Open Ended

Inside a computer, how is data carried from one component to another?

e.g. from the keyboard to the CPU or from RAM to the CPU

You may use up to TWO WORDS for your answer.

NOTES:

Data is carried from one component to another by

• ELECTRICAL CURRENT (SIGNAL)

• ...with Time Varying Voltage

Open Ended

What is voltage?

NOTES:

Voltage?

Energy contained within an electric circuit, at a given point.

Fill in the Blanks

Poll

Could you describe the difference between analogue and digital (signals)?

• Help! Not a chance

• I'm kind of vague on this

• I have a pretty good idea

• I totally get this

Open Ended

Go on:

Describe the difference between analogue and digital (signals)?

Let's see if you can explain it in 2 minutes.

NOTES: Analog Signal

Continuous signal with two variables:

Quantity & Time

"A time-varying quantity represents another time-based variable."

These signals work with physical values and natural phenomena e.g. earthquake, frequency, volcano, speed of wind, weight, lighting, etc.

NOTES:

Digital Signal

Represents data as a sequence of separate values, at any point in time.

Takes on one of a fixed number of values.

NOTES:

Key Differences

Analog signals are continuous signals

Analog signals use a continuous range of values

Digital signals are time separated signals

Digital signals use discrete 0 and 1 to represent information

Analog signals are suited for audio and video transmission

Digital signals are suited for Computing and digital electronics.

Multiple Select

Which of these produces an analogue signal

• Mp3 player

• light sensor

• Accelerometer

• pressure sensor

• GoPro

Open Ended

Why do computers use binary rather than base 10 like us?

NOTES:

Computers and Binary:

• Everything processed by the CPU is represented by a binary electrical signal that registers in one of two states.

• On/High state is represented by a 1 in binary, this means that the electrical current flowing is between 3 and 5 volts.

• Off/Low state is represented by 0 in binary with an electric current of 0 volts.

Poll

How accurate was your prediction of your understanding of analog vs digital?

• I knew what I knew

• I understood less than I thought

• I understood more than I thought

Poll

Overall have Digital Technologies had a positive or negative impact on our lives?

• Positive

• Negative

Open Ended

How has technology benefitted mankind?

- Think of as many specific examples as you can.

Open Ended

If you had to think of ONE word to describe the benefits of technology to a business- what would that word be?

Open Ended

How has technology specifically benefitted you?

- Think of as many examples as you can.

Open Ended

List the situations in which technology has had a negative effect on humans.

- Think of as many as you can.

Multiple Select

Which of these areas involve Digital Technology?

• Entertainment

• Education

• Manufacturing

• Travel Industry

• Defence Industry

Open Ended

Stakeholders is a word used to describe any people who are involved in a process.

Taking the example of Netflix, list all the stakeholders who may be involved in any way with the business.

You should be able to come up with at least 5.

NOTES:

Netflix Stakeholders

• Netflix employees

• Netflix investors/owners

• Film companies

• Actors, Technical Crew, Director

• Customers

• Camera/lighting etc suppliers

• Government (taxes) / TV Companies

NOTES:

Stakeholders

• A party that has an interest in a company and can either affect or be affected by the business.

• The primary stakeholders in a typical corporation are its investors, employees, customers & suppliers.

• Other stakeholders may include communities, governments, and trade associations.

Open Ended

How many crimes involving technology can you think of?

Open Ended

Can you think of any ways that technology benefits the environment?

Open Ended

Can you think of any ways that technology has a negative impact on the environment?

Open Ended

Can you think of any ways that technology has impacted on culture (how people behave)?

Think about Before vs After technology was used e.g. retail, manufacturing

Open Ended

What's the difference between morals, ethics and the law?

NOTES: Morals vs Ethics vs Law

Ethics are societal decisions with rigour and structure (guidelines/rules).

Morals are self-determined and influenced by many factors: education, religion, age etc.

Law relates to what is right or wrong in the eyes of the law

Poll

How confident do you feel about all the concepts covered today:

Digital Technologies, Analog vs Digital, Benefits vs Drawbacks of technology, Morals vs Ethics vs Law?

• Help

• I'm still struggling with a couple of topics

• I'm pretty good on most of what we have covered

• I am invincible

Open Ended

Which topics are you most struggling with?