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Better City, Better Life with ICTs
Like millions of teenagers across the globe, I use my cell phone and computer daily to communicate, obtain information and even to be entertained. I recall when my computer broke down. Distraught, I felt isolated from the world. Information and communications technologies (ICTs) have become so important that our lives seem to come to a standstill without access. We are dependent on our laptops, blackberries and other devices and seem unable to function without them. Certainly, we have all seen the excitement when the much anticipated IPAD was launched a few weeks ago.
With the theme “Better City, Better Life”, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) aims “to ensure that ICTs will contribute to a better future for the growing population of urban cities.” Presently, 50 per cent of the world’s people live in cities. Some envision smart cities as future global trends to improve services such as health care, security, transport, power supply and commerce for urban dwellers. Not only will these services be enhanced but they will also be cost-effective and boost economic productivity.
No doubt, e-commerce has impacted us. Online banking and shopping are popular trends simplifying our lives. For example, local supermarkets deliver groceries to online shoppers. Customers pay bills, trade stocks and make other business transactions from the comfort of their homes. In addition, education is being rapidly transformed by ICTs as students have greater access to learning materials. They take notes, submit assignments and discuss topics in online forums. Online education is cheaper and allows people to earn degrees and upgrade their skills from home. The UWI open campus is contributing to the professional development of Caribbean citizens.
ICTs play a key role in health care. Health professionals share information and patients’ records are transferred using them. Telemedicine allows patients in geographically diverse locations to access medical services. Also, technology helps to make our cities safer. Better and safer buildings are designed to protect citizens from natural disasters and manmade threats. Law enforcement agencies use hi-tech surveillance and security devices and applications to fight crime. High speed internet connections enable the quick transfer of information which is crucial in times of danger.
ICTs have revolutionized transport systems. ICT applications monitor air and land transport and improve traffic control. In South Africa, smartcards are used to facilitate boarding public transportation.
Assistive technology is making a significant difference for the disabled by lessening their physical obstacles. World Health Organisation estimated that 600 million people are living disabled lives. World Bank official Deepak Bhatia contends that “ICTs provide a model to allow disabled people to better integrate socially and economically into their communities”. Communicative devices and applications such as JAWS screen-reading software enable them to interact, work and network.
A better city must be a “greener” city. An ITU article states that “ICTs contribute around 2 – 2.5 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. These percentages are likely to grow as ICTs become more widely available.” However, they can be useful in reducing climate change with the development of more energy-efficient devices, software and networks, more environmentally friendly designs and decreasing carbon footprints. Imagine what enormous steps we will be taking to confront environmental challenges if we use smart and energy-efficient devices in our Caribbean homes and offices.
Indeed, ICTs have enhanced our lives and allowed us to become global citizens. Creating safe and efficient cities makes life better. But, we must be responsible in using ICTs so that we are neither victims nor perpetrators of crimes associated with new technologies. Instead, let us use ICTs to find solutions to global challenges so our lives may be better.
References
Atkinson, Robert. “ICT & Innovation: Facing the Global Challenges”
ICT World Today Spring 2010
Elliott, Peter. “Smart Cities can promote happiness, diversity and sustainable growth” Retrieved 20 April 2010 www.busmanagementme.com
Liebhardt, John. “People with Disabilities and the Promise of ICTs”
Retrieved 20 April 2010. www.globalvoicesonline.com
“ITU and Climate Change”. Retrieved 20 April 2010 www.itu..int
“The Potential Uses of ICTs” Retrieved 19 April 2010 www.foundation-partnership.org
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Better City, Better Life with ICTs
“Never before in history has innovation offered promise of so much to so many in so short a time.”
- Bill Gates
We live in world where great power lies at our fingertips. The accumulation of years of science and study, have brought forward the sum total of all knowledge, and have adequately compacted it into mechanisms of wires, cords, switches and plastic.
With just a ‘click’ the outside world becomes our sanctuary, within our own home.
We have utilized the benefits of Information and Communication Technologies to enhance our communities, our respective islands and our Caribbean region.
My city has flourished under the light of ICTs. I see the benefits at every turn, whether it is in the small mini-mart at the top of my avenue, with its efficient cash registers or the larger enterprises equipped with its ‘online shopping’. In fact my memory fails to remember the Saturday mornings when my mother and I would have to wait in the long lines at the supermarket because the person in front had to rummage through the entire contents of their bag in an effort to find a pen to write their signature. Now, your signature can be written in seconds using an electronic pad!
Actually, while standing on the sidewalk, waiting to cross the street, it dawned on me that without traffic lights, drivers wouldn’t know when to stop. It is undeniable that ICTs have bettered our lives, in ways which we have never paused to take into consideration. Traffic lights are just one simple example, but that day it was the reason I was able to get to my college interview on time.
ICTs have rooted success for many people throughout my region and the world. My country has been lifted through the opportunities that ICTs has created for us. Now, I and young people alike find it more appealing to reside within the Caribbean, because ICTs have given us the chance to attain a higher level of occupational success without leaving our homeland.
Everyday, ICTs are creating safer communities. It has considerably aided security personnel in capturing criminals by the usage of photographs and fingerprints. Also, contacting the police and fire stations now take less than seconds. I have come to realize that even though, I may never have had reason to contact the police or fire station, I certainly feel more protected knowing that they are only a telephone call away.
Human-beings are constantly trying to find ways to lower the costs of performing daily activities. Before ICTs, my grandfather would sit with his clock when he was calling his brother in India, so as to ensure he did not exceed the amount of money he wished to spend on the call. Now they are more varied ways of contacting family, friends and business partners overseas at very economical costs.
In the past five years, I’ve grown to become more observant of my surroundings. ICTs have supplied me with heaps of information, and have aided my process of learning and understanding. There are those amongst us, who oppose the hasty advancements of ICTs, however, I find it amusing that these same people use ICTs to inform the public of this opinion.
ICTs are inevitably part of our lives. ICTs flood through every street, entering our homes, enhancing our learning environments, strengthening our businesses, upgrading our security services and elevating our countries. It is absorbed by each and every one of us, who utilize it, to endeavor upon the task of succeeding to create a better city and a better life with ICTs.
(596 Words)
References
http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=210531
http://thinkexist.com/quotations/technology/3.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICT
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Better city, better life with ICTs
When ingenuity summons, mankind never fails to respond; we are forever thinking
of ways to revolutionize our world, our lives, and ourselves. Centuries ago
(1876) Alexander Graham Bell was convoked via his own intellectual ICT to ponder
the changing needs of an exponentially expanding society, and as a result
developed the very first telephone that has undoubtedly changed the way we
communicate with each other. “Watson, come here; I want you”; momentous sounds
echoed through vibrations that were converted to electricity and reciprocally to
sound in order to facilitate intelligible communication between two individuals.
Dr. Martin Cooper later transfigured it and in 1973 we experienced the cell
phone; which has evolved drastically. Meanwhile, Konrad Zuse was perfecting the
world’s first working programmable computer (Z3) to be completed in 1941; our
inventors also gave us the satellite in 1957 and the internet in 1965. Now ask
yourself these: Hasn’t our world been better? Hasn’t life been better? There is
no doubt in my mind that we’re enjoying better cities and better lives, indebted
to the innovatively relevant ICTs of today.
In our high-speed society where time seems to be crawling behind the ever
evolving innovations of man, there is ample time to frolic in the fruits of our
labour. ICTs have boosted social interactions between societies across the globe
at an exponential rate, hence fostering globalization. Every second of every
minute of every hour of every day someone is tele-conferencing, electronically
mailing, shopping and banking online, telecommuting, studying via a
video-interactive schooling programme, working from home using computer
networks; basically relishing in the innumerable benefits of ICTs. Our daily
routines have been made easier, consequently there is more production. Increased production intimates a
better economy and a thriving economy hints better standards of living for its
citizens.
Here in the Caribbean and also around the world ICTs have not only improved our
lives but they have created livelihoods for thousands; hatching new specialties
within our labour force and encouraging qualifications for them. With an
augmenting demand for an ICT-based labour force schooling curricula have been
altered to accommodate this global phenomenon. Also, thanks to the establishment
of numerous telecommunication companies such as Digicel, Cable & Wireless, AT&T,
B-MOBILE etc., there has been an influx of jobs for Customer Care
Representatives and Sales Clerks; positions that do not necessarily require
extensive studies at a tertiary institution. Who benefits? Our youths who have
recently left school and due to economic instability within families have to
seek jobs to help sustain themselves and most times their families or even
invalid dependents. And when we cater for our youths, we cater for the future of
our world.
Cynics may argue that ICTs are more destructive than they are constructive, but
I beg to differ. Our abuse of these Information and Communication Technologies
is what causes havoc. ICTs have built our world, integrated our people,
fashioned our present and our future, communicated us to the rest of the world,
taught us beyond our imaginations, and continue to take us on a journey into the
far reaching depths of our unfathomable future.
References:
- DiRenzo, Gordon .J: “Human Social Behaviour- Concepts and Principles of Sociology”; Ted Buchholz (1990).
- E-sources include:
http//www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/telephone.htm
http//www.idsia.ch/~juergecomputerhistory.html
http//www.cellular.co.za/possio_pm_80_messager.htm
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_and_communication_technologies
Tel.: 592-270-1419/592-649-5375
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