Week 5 - Information and Communications Technology

Brief Overview

ICT - Last week class was the first class that we discuss only one topic, the evolution of information and communications technology, and how it changes the world. We covers some areas of ICT, which includes: Gaming, Mass Media, Cloud Computing, Internet, Information Systems, and Wireless Technologies. Prof Shahi's started the class with an eye opening video of 'Milo'. Milo is basically a program, made possible with help from Xbox Kinect. What make Milo different is that he can not only express emotion but also sense human emotion and interact accordingly. Technology nowadays, has made that interaction seamlessly possible.

Key Takeaways

There is a question that asked after we watched the video of 'Milo', "is there still distinct differences in humanity between 'computer' and human?". I found this questions really interesting, because back then in 2000 we used to believe that although computers are becoming more advanced, they won't be able to take over human, because we have something that computer won't ever have, humanity. However now, our belief is challenged, and even more, with this there is a bigger questions ahead, what more can computer do in the future?

Another interesting things that Prof Shahi discussed is that the concept of increase in productivity gained after each human revolution. Human gained 25 times increase in productivity, gained from moving from hunter-gatherer society to agriculture & domestication of animal society. Same increase in productivity gained when we move from agriculture to industrial revolution. However, until now after moving from industrial revolution to the ICT, we only gained 5 times of increase in productivity. Is this it, the maximum increase that we could get from technology? No. Some people see it from that perspective, but I choose to see from the other side, I see it this way: this already advanced development in technology is only the beginning, only 1/5 of the way to go, so can you imagine how technology will advanced more in the future?

Last week class was really content heavy, some of us even struggle to catch up with the topic. A lot of concepts relating to ICT was discussed, however, one areas of ICT that I think worth to discuss more is the Cloud Computing. Cloud Computing is a trend now, in the near future I believe that most of our system will move to cloud, as the most efficient and effective way, nowadays. Another interesting topic that was raised, but I think could be great if we can give more air time to discuss it more is that how the advancement of technology could help the poor and forgotten people in the third world countries.

I would rate last week class 7/10. The class was really content heavy, Prof tried to cover a whole lot of areas in technology, however this made us not focus, some more important areas could have been given more attention to help us understand it better.