Culture
It is important we know all about different cultures and the internet is a good way to learn about it. Cultures differ from Europe to Asia to the Middle East. Europe is more likely to need the internet then say countries in Africa. We can all learn this off the internet and using digital technology is the way forward. Learning about culture from books can have its downsides as using digital technology we can see and hear it. The advantages are you can learn all about different cultures on the internet. A disadvantage is people can be offended by religious content on the internet. Also the internet has freedom of speech but this may be ruled out in the near future.
Economic
Not all countries can afford the internet however not all countries need the internet. Developed countries such as England and America are advanced with technology and most homes have internet access. Countries such as Africa have the internet but not many people would have it in their homes. You would get buses going round the area with internet access on it or buildings with signals. The internet is getting faster and faster over the years and soon basic internet should be free of charge. Soon all countries should be able to afford the internet if drastic measures are taken but this may not be for many years. However half the world's population now has access to a fixed-line telephone,, and 77% to a mobile network.
Political
Some countries are behind on the connection speed due to the government of their country. Some countries may not need to have 8 Meg broadband if it is not useful to them but some countries may. In the UK 8 Meg is the fastest broadband you can get in your homes but you can’t get it in all areas. This means you can download faster, an mp3 song should only take a couple of seconds. However some packages do have download limits. This speed would not be needed in some countries as they may use it for Illegal content or basically they don’t need fast downloads.
Geographical
Some areas will not be able to receive fast broadband. This also includes not being able to receive digital TV. This is a downside as everyone should be able to receive digital TV and fast broadband. Some developing countries may not be able to receive the internet but you can get buses going round with internet access and signals from tall buildings.
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Life in the Information age
Education
Online learning is also known as e-learning. Three examples are revision sites, exam papers and online Courses. It has become very popular to use revision and exam papers. It is changing the ways Universities teach and students learn. It has been brought into the classrooms and has become the most popular way to learn. Examples are BBC Bite size and Sam Learning.
The target audience for revision sites is student’s ands teachers.
The pros of using revision sites are students can boost there learning abilities and teachers can get work to set for lessons. The learning websites are colourful containing learning games and easy to remember facts broken into chunks. This is a much more fun way to revise and can help children who find revision boring. The cons are you can easily get distracted by other things on your computer such as instant messaging, the net, and entertainment you may have on your computer. Another con is you may get tires spending long hours looking at the computer screen. One way to avoid this is to have regular breaks.
Non internet alternatives are using books and school work to revise which some people may prefer to do.
Online Exam papers are another form of online education. You can download exam papers for free and practice on them. You can even download the marking schemes so you know how to mark it properly. This can improve your learning skills.
Target audience is students and teachers. Students can practice on the papers and teachers could maybe get them to show to children.
The pros of using them are you are not limited to how many exam papers you want to do and you can do it from the comfort of your home. You can improve your exam skills and is one of the best ways to revise. The cons are you have to do the exam at your computer which can be an advantage and disadvantage. For some people they may prefer to use past exam papers from schools.
Non internet alternatives are using exam papers on actual paper which would be more ideal to use and gives you a feel of what the real exam is going to be like.
Online Courses is another form of online learning. It is also known as E-courses and means you can take courses from the comfort of your home. An example is Learn Direct which is a website which gives you ideas of different types of courses you can take.
The target audience is people with no future job ideas and who love using a computer. Both male and female would be its target audience and also people who would like to earn more money.
The pros are that you can do the course from the comfort of your home and have help to assist you. This can be a pro and a con as people may rather not work at home because they may feel they need face to face help. The cons are the courses can be very expensive and do not guarantee you a job at the end of it.
Non internet alternatives are taking a course at a college which would differ from an e-course. You would get more help this way but you would need to be more active.
Realtime Situation
Realtime situation is very helpful on the internet. It has changed the way we book flights, trains etc. You can book your flights online including were you sit which is very useful. You can also find the weather from most countries and you can get traffic reports. It has changed the way we live because it saves more time to get information from the comfort of your home. Alternates to use use are going to the travel agency or listening to the radio for traffic reports. You can also get the weather off the radio and your television.
Download Services
Downloading is one of the main things we use on our computers with the internet. You can download almost anything you want to mostly for free and in short amount of time. You can download music, media, entertainment and software. It is very popular and is increasingly becoming faster and easier to download. Examples are pod casts, mp3s.
Music is very popular to download and has become more popular over the years. You can download music off websites such as ITunes and Napster at around 70p song at fast download times. The target audience is any one with an mp3 player. They can download music to their computers and then transfer them onto their mp3’s. This is mostly popular with teenagers at the low prices of mp3 players which now you can play videos, pictures as well as music with very big storage.
The pros are you can download music within minutes at low prices. They can be transferred onto your mp3 players to listen on the go, and no need to go to a shop to buy a CD. Mp3 files are relatively small as well ranging from 3 Mb to 8 Mb with no sound loss. The cons are some formats such as AAC can only be played on IPod’s and if you lose your songs on your computer you have lost everything you paid for. However most mp3 players are used as removal storage, so if you lost all the songs on your computer they would still be on the mp3 player to be transferred back to the computer again.
Non internet alternatives are going to music stores to buy the songs you want. This is a disadvantage as you may want only one song where you would have to buy albums at stores.
Software and Applications is also very popular to download. You can download free software off websites such as download.com and softpedia. The download times are relatively fast depending if you have broadband or not.
Target audience is everyone who wants extra software on their computers. You can download software such as virus protection or spyware protection software for free. So this is basically all ages as it is that easy to use.
The pros are you can have a wide variety of free software you can download at quick speeds. The websites are very easy to use and most sites don’t have a limit to what you download. The cons are some sites contain popups and ads and some software you download may contain ad aware or ask you to install extra software with it you may not want.
Non internet alternatives are buying software from shops such as PC world or Maplins. However the software can be pricey and you would have to leave the house to go buy it.
Entertainment
Online entertainment is very popular and there are all sorts of entertainment you can find online. This includes videos, music, games, instant messaging and Radio. Most of these you can download and some you are able to use on your computers. Websites are popular with entertainment which contains videos or games. Examples are MSN, You Tube, and Miniclip.
Video is one popular use of the internet. On websites such as you tube and Google video you can watch clips of a wide variety including people doing funny stuff to funny clips out of movies. This has become very popular over the internet and is becoming more advanced as the years go by.
The target audience are manly online entertainment seekers of all ages such as students and office workers. The people who post the videos on websites I have seen from ages of 15 to 70.
The pros of videos on the internet are you can watch mostly free clips of entertaining things at no cost. You also do not have to download videos as it uses streaming which makes it much faster and doesn’t take up space on your computer. The cons are you would need broadband in order to have fast streaming or it would take ages for videos to load. The websites are very easy to access which means that young children can access adult humour with no restrictions. However some websites such as you tube do not let you view adult humour without signing up saying that you are 18 years or over.
Non internet alternatives are watching a movie or a DVD. This means there isn’t really any alternatives to watch funny clips over the internet.
Online gaming is also a popular obsession to use over the internet. This varies from playing games off websites or playing online with your friends. These are games such as World of Warcraft and call of duty. Playing games on websites is also popular such as Miniclip and play2kill.
The target audience are starting from young children to fully grown men and women.
The pros are most websites allow you to play for free without having to download the games. There is so many games to choose from you will lose your mind. The cons are again you would need broadband in order to play games fast enough and most websites would contain annoying pop ups, and advertisements. Most of the games also contain violence and most children in this generation would know how to get on these websites and play. The games are fun to play but still would be 2d, or 3d but not very graphical. Non internet alternatives are games consoles which are popular with all ages or board games which are not so popular at this time.
The Radio is another popular entertainment factor of the internet. You can listen to many radio stations off websites who stream it. A few examples are BBC radio and Virgin Radio. The target audience are people who would like to listen to the radio whilst on there computers from classical music to football games. The pros of using the radio on the internet is you get fast streaming and you can listen to it when ever you want for free. The cons are you need broadband in order to run the streaming fast enough and you need to be on your computer all the time to use it. Non internet alternatives are using radio players or mp3 players which also contain the radio. Podcasts are also popular. Podcasts are audio files that are automatically delivered directly to your desktop computer, and can be transferred to your iPod or other MP3 player. You typically subscribe to podcasts using "podcatcher" software.
Communication
Communication has become very popular to use. This means you can communicate with other people via email, instant messaging, and video conferencing. It is a great way to communicate and most of the time it is free of charge.
E-mail is a very popular way to communicate. It means the exchange of electronic messages and computer files between computers that are connected to the Internet or some other computer network.
The target audience is almost everyone with a computer and the internet. It is very easy to use and is a great way to communicate with people.
The pros of e-mail are it is easy to use and is fast and free. Using web based e-mail such as hotmail means you don’t have to buy any software and you can have almost 2MB of space to store mail. It is much faster than sending a letter and can be used to send homework, birthday cards, Postcards. You can also attach files and pictures and is very secure. The cons are you can be sent loads of spam and junk mail which may contain viruses.
Non internet alternatives are letters, postcards. This costs money and is much slower than using e-mail.
Instant messaging is another very popular way to communicate online. The most popular instant messaging services are msn messenger and yahoo messenger.
The target audience is teenagers to adults. This is because it is very easy to use and one of the best ways to communicate.
The pros are you can use video calling which means you can use webcams to see and hear each other. The instant messaging programs have improved over the years and are now packed with extras such as sending sound clips and playing games with each other. Best of all this is all free to use. The cons are sometimes you may not be talking to the people you think you are talking to. This can be unsafe for children. However the instant messaging programs have been trying to reduce this by giving tips on if you want to meet someone.
Non internet alternatives are text messaging or speaking over the phone. However this costs money.
Video conferencing is another way to communicate over the internet. An example website is www.global-leap.com.
Target audience are office workers, business men and any other sort of busy lifestyle workers.
The pros are you can be in meetings without having to be at the meeting through video conferencing. The cons are the need for special video equipment, special conference rooms, and advance notice to make reservation. However this is changing and soon it will be a lot cheaper and easier to use.
The non internet alternatives are video calling off your phone or instant messaging programs or actually turning up to the meetings.
Online learning is also known as e-learning. Three examples are revision sites, exam papers and online Courses. It has become very popular to use revision and exam papers. It is changing the ways Universities teach and students learn. It has been brought into the classrooms and has become the most popular way to learn. Examples are BBC Bite size and Sam Learning.
The target audience for revision sites is student’s ands teachers.
The pros of using revision sites are students can boost there learning abilities and teachers can get work to set for lessons. The learning websites are colourful containing learning games and easy to remember facts broken into chunks. This is a much more fun way to revise and can help children who find revision boring. The cons are you can easily get distracted by other things on your computer such as instant messaging, the net, and entertainment you may have on your computer. Another con is you may get tires spending long hours looking at the computer screen. One way to avoid this is to have regular breaks.
Non internet alternatives are using books and school work to revise which some people may prefer to do.
Online Exam papers are another form of online education. You can download exam papers for free and practice on them. You can even download the marking schemes so you know how to mark it properly. This can improve your learning skills.
Target audience is students and teachers. Students can practice on the papers and teachers could maybe get them to show to children.
The pros of using them are you are not limited to how many exam papers you want to do and you can do it from the comfort of your home. You can improve your exam skills and is one of the best ways to revise. The cons are you have to do the exam at your computer which can be an advantage and disadvantage. For some people they may prefer to use past exam papers from schools.
Non internet alternatives are using exam papers on actual paper which would be more ideal to use and gives you a feel of what the real exam is going to be like.
Online Courses is another form of online learning. It is also known as E-courses and means you can take courses from the comfort of your home. An example is Learn Direct which is a website which gives you ideas of different types of courses you can take.
The target audience is people with no future job ideas and who love using a computer. Both male and female would be its target audience and also people who would like to earn more money.
The pros are that you can do the course from the comfort of your home and have help to assist you. This can be a pro and a con as people may rather not work at home because they may feel they need face to face help. The cons are the courses can be very expensive and do not guarantee you a job at the end of it.
Non internet alternatives are taking a course at a college which would differ from an e-course. You would get more help this way but you would need to be more active.
Realtime Situation
Realtime situation is very helpful on the internet. It has changed the way we book flights, trains etc. You can book your flights online including were you sit which is very useful. You can also find the weather from most countries and you can get traffic reports. It has changed the way we live because it saves more time to get information from the comfort of your home. Alternates to use use are going to the travel agency or listening to the radio for traffic reports. You can also get the weather off the radio and your television.
Download Services
Downloading is one of the main things we use on our computers with the internet. You can download almost anything you want to mostly for free and in short amount of time. You can download music, media, entertainment and software. It is very popular and is increasingly becoming faster and easier to download. Examples are pod casts, mp3s.
Music is very popular to download and has become more popular over the years. You can download music off websites such as ITunes and Napster at around 70p song at fast download times. The target audience is any one with an mp3 player. They can download music to their computers and then transfer them onto their mp3’s. This is mostly popular with teenagers at the low prices of mp3 players which now you can play videos, pictures as well as music with very big storage.
The pros are you can download music within minutes at low prices. They can be transferred onto your mp3 players to listen on the go, and no need to go to a shop to buy a CD. Mp3 files are relatively small as well ranging from 3 Mb to 8 Mb with no sound loss. The cons are some formats such as AAC can only be played on IPod’s and if you lose your songs on your computer you have lost everything you paid for. However most mp3 players are used as removal storage, so if you lost all the songs on your computer they would still be on the mp3 player to be transferred back to the computer again.
Non internet alternatives are going to music stores to buy the songs you want. This is a disadvantage as you may want only one song where you would have to buy albums at stores.
Software and Applications is also very popular to download. You can download free software off websites such as download.com and softpedia. The download times are relatively fast depending if you have broadband or not.
Target audience is everyone who wants extra software on their computers. You can download software such as virus protection or spyware protection software for free. So this is basically all ages as it is that easy to use.
The pros are you can have a wide variety of free software you can download at quick speeds. The websites are very easy to use and most sites don’t have a limit to what you download. The cons are some sites contain popups and ads and some software you download may contain ad aware or ask you to install extra software with it you may not want.
Non internet alternatives are buying software from shops such as PC world or Maplins. However the software can be pricey and you would have to leave the house to go buy it.
Entertainment
Online entertainment is very popular and there are all sorts of entertainment you can find online. This includes videos, music, games, instant messaging and Radio. Most of these you can download and some you are able to use on your computers. Websites are popular with entertainment which contains videos or games. Examples are MSN, You Tube, and Miniclip.
Video is one popular use of the internet. On websites such as you tube and Google video you can watch clips of a wide variety including people doing funny stuff to funny clips out of movies. This has become very popular over the internet and is becoming more advanced as the years go by.
The target audience are manly online entertainment seekers of all ages such as students and office workers. The people who post the videos on websites I have seen from ages of 15 to 70.
The pros of videos on the internet are you can watch mostly free clips of entertaining things at no cost. You also do not have to download videos as it uses streaming which makes it much faster and doesn’t take up space on your computer. The cons are you would need broadband in order to have fast streaming or it would take ages for videos to load. The websites are very easy to access which means that young children can access adult humour with no restrictions. However some websites such as you tube do not let you view adult humour without signing up saying that you are 18 years or over.
Non internet alternatives are watching a movie or a DVD. This means there isn’t really any alternatives to watch funny clips over the internet.
Online gaming is also a popular obsession to use over the internet. This varies from playing games off websites or playing online with your friends. These are games such as World of Warcraft and call of duty. Playing games on websites is also popular such as Miniclip and play2kill.
The target audience are starting from young children to fully grown men and women.
The pros are most websites allow you to play for free without having to download the games. There is so many games to choose from you will lose your mind. The cons are again you would need broadband in order to play games fast enough and most websites would contain annoying pop ups, and advertisements. Most of the games also contain violence and most children in this generation would know how to get on these websites and play. The games are fun to play but still would be 2d, or 3d but not very graphical. Non internet alternatives are games consoles which are popular with all ages or board games which are not so popular at this time.
The Radio is another popular entertainment factor of the internet. You can listen to many radio stations off websites who stream it. A few examples are BBC radio and Virgin Radio. The target audience are people who would like to listen to the radio whilst on there computers from classical music to football games. The pros of using the radio on the internet is you get fast streaming and you can listen to it when ever you want for free. The cons are you need broadband in order to run the streaming fast enough and you need to be on your computer all the time to use it. Non internet alternatives are using radio players or mp3 players which also contain the radio. Podcasts are also popular. Podcasts are audio files that are automatically delivered directly to your desktop computer, and can be transferred to your iPod or other MP3 player. You typically subscribe to podcasts using "podcatcher" software.
Communication
Communication has become very popular to use. This means you can communicate with other people via email, instant messaging, and video conferencing. It is a great way to communicate and most of the time it is free of charge.
E-mail is a very popular way to communicate. It means the exchange of electronic messages and computer files between computers that are connected to the Internet or some other computer network.
The target audience is almost everyone with a computer and the internet. It is very easy to use and is a great way to communicate with people.
The pros of e-mail are it is easy to use and is fast and free. Using web based e-mail such as hotmail means you don’t have to buy any software and you can have almost 2MB of space to store mail. It is much faster than sending a letter and can be used to send homework, birthday cards, Postcards. You can also attach files and pictures and is very secure. The cons are you can be sent loads of spam and junk mail which may contain viruses.
Non internet alternatives are letters, postcards. This costs money and is much slower than using e-mail.
Instant messaging is another very popular way to communicate online. The most popular instant messaging services are msn messenger and yahoo messenger.
The target audience is teenagers to adults. This is because it is very easy to use and one of the best ways to communicate.
The pros are you can use video calling which means you can use webcams to see and hear each other. The instant messaging programs have improved over the years and are now packed with extras such as sending sound clips and playing games with each other. Best of all this is all free to use. The cons are sometimes you may not be talking to the people you think you are talking to. This can be unsafe for children. However the instant messaging programs have been trying to reduce this by giving tips on if you want to meet someone.
Non internet alternatives are text messaging or speaking over the phone. However this costs money.
Video conferencing is another way to communicate over the internet. An example website is www.global-leap.com.
Target audience are office workers, business men and any other sort of busy lifestyle workers.
The pros are you can be in meetings without having to be at the meeting through video conferencing. The cons are the need for special video equipment, special conference rooms, and advance notice to make reservation. However this is changing and soon it will be a lot cheaper and easier to use.
The non internet alternatives are video calling off your phone or instant messaging programs or actually turning up to the meetings.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Online Services
Commerce
There are many different types of commerce including online shopping, banking and auctions. Online shopping is one example. This means you can buy and pay for items via your computer. You can purchase almost anything including clothes, cars, computers, groceries and homes. You can make travel arrangements and financial arrangements without leaving your computer. Almost anything you want to purchase can be found online. Examples of online shopping are Tesco, Amazon, and EBay.
The target audience are people who would prefer to have their groceries delivered to their house instead of going to the stores. This would be helpful for the disabled or OAP’s.
The pros are that it is fairly simple to use and can be done at the comfort at your home. The cons are you can have delays on purchase and not everything in the store would be listed on their website. There is also an extra charge for having the food delivered to your house.
Non Internet alternatives are going to the store which can have some advantages as there is no extra charge plus you can buy things which may be reduced in price which you cannot by online.
Online banking is another example of Commerce. This means you can use a computer to pay bills or move money from one account to another. Online Banking is equally common among all age groups under the age of 65. Forty-two percent of internet users age 18-29, 47% of internet users age 30-49, and 42% of internet users age 50-64 banks online.
However only 27% of internet users, ages 65 and older use the internet for online banking. We now find that men and women are equally likely to bank online. Examples where you can use online banking are Abbey National and Barclays. The pros of using online banking are it can be used at home and as technology is taking over more and more people are using it. The cons are phishing which means you can be sent fake emails that can key log your information meaning they can get your money although it is becoming more secure as the years go by. Another con is you have to be extra careful when using it, changing your password frequently. It is not human which means you may be struggling and don’t have the help you need.
Non Internet alternatives are going to the bank which you feel is more secure and using the phone although this may not be used in the future.
Online auctions are another form of commerce. This means bidding for items online and the item goes to the highest bidder. This has become very popular and more and more people are starting to use it. You can almost buy anything off the auction websites and at low prices. Examples are eBay and bid TV.
The target audience are mostly frequent computer users who which to purchase items online. This varies form teenagers to adults. People looking for bargains and antics are also popular users. The pros of using online auctions are you can get brand-name merchandise at hard-to-beat prices and there is a wide variety of merchandise to buy with photos. You can also contact the sellers with any questions you have. The cons are Item can sometimes not be what you think they are listed as. An example is you could think you are bidding for an Xbox 360 where actually you are bidding for a picture on an Xbox 360. Sometimes items could be damaged in post and have long arrival times.
Non Internet alternatives are going to auction places or shopping at any regular store. This can have disadvantages as you may want something rare which can only be purchased online.
Education
Online learning is also known as e-learning. Three examples are revision sites, exam papers and online Courses. It has become very popular to use revision and exam papers. It is changing the ways Universities teach and students learn. It has been brought into the classrooms and has become the most popular way to learn. Examples are BBC Bite size and Sam Learning.
The target audience for revision sites is student’s ands teachers.
The pros of using revision sites are students can boost there learning abilities and teachers can get work to set for lessons. The learning websites are colourful containing learning games and easy to remember facts broken into chunks. This is a much more fun way to revise and can help children who find revision boring. The cons are you can easily get distracted by other things on your computer such as instant messaging, the net, and entertainment you may have on your computer. Another con is you may get tires spending long hours looking at the computer screen. One way to avoid this is to have regular breaks.
Non internet alternatives are using books and school work to revise which some people may prefer to do.
Online Exam papers are another form of online education. You can download exam papers for free and practice on them. You can even download the marking schemes so you know how to mark it properly. This can improve your learning skills.
Target audience is students and teachers. Students can practice on the papers and teachers could maybe get them to show to children.
The pros of using them are you are not limited to how many exam papers you want to do and you can do it from the comfort of your home. You can improve your exam skills and is one of the best ways to revise. The cons are you have to do the exam at your computer which can be an advantage and disadvantage. For some people they may prefer to use past exam papers from schools.
Non internet alternatives are using exam papers on actual paper which would be more ideal to use and gives you a feel of what the real exam is going to be like.
Online Courses is another form of online learning. It is also known as E-courses and means you can take courses from the comfort of your home. An example is Learn Direct which is a website which gives you ideas of different types of courses you can take.
The target audience is people with no future job ideas and who love using a computer. Both male and female would be its target audience and also people who would like to earn more money.
The pros are that you can do the course from the comfort of your home and have help to assist you. This can be a pro and a con as people may rather not work at home because they may feel they need face to face help. The cons are the courses can be very expensive and do not guarantee you a job at the end of it.
Non internet alternatives are taking a course at a college which would differ from an e-course. You would get more help this way but you would need to be more active.
Download Services
Downloading is one of the main things we use on our computers with the internet. You can download almost anything you want to mostly for free and in short amount of time. You can download music, media, entertainment and software. It is very popular and is increasingly becoming faster and easier to download. Examples are pod casts, mp3s.
Music is very popular to download and has become more popular over the years. You can download music off websites such as ITunes and Napster at around 70p song at fast download times. The target audience is any one with an mp3 player. They can download music to their computers and then transfer them onto their mp3’s. This is mostly popular with teenagers at the low prices of mp3 players which now you can play videos, pictures as well as music with very big storage.
The pros are you can download music within minutes at low prices. They can be transferred onto your mp3 players to listen on the go, and no need to go to a shop to buy a CD. Mp3 files are relatively small as well ranging from 3 Mb to 8 Mb with no sound loss. The cons are some formats such as AAC can only be played on IPod’s and if you lose your songs on your computer you have lost everything you paid for. However most mp3 players are used as removal storage, so if you lost all the songs on your computer they would still be on the mp3 player to be transferred back to the computer again.
Non internet alternatives are going to music stores to buy the songs you want. This is a disadvantage as you may want only one song where you would have to buy albums at stores.
Software and Applications is also very popular to download. You can download free software off websites such as download.com and softpedia. The download times are relatively fast depending if you have broadband or not.
Target audience is everyone who wants extra software on their computers. You can download software such as virus protection or spyware protection software for free. So this is basically all ages as it is that easy to use.
The pros are you can have a wide variety of free software you can download at quick speeds. The websites are very easy to use and most sites don’t have a limit to what you download. The cons are some sites contain popups and ads and some software you download may contain ad aware or ask you to install extra software with it you may not want.
Non internet alternatives are buying software from shops such as PC world or Maplins. However the software can be pricey and you would have to leave the house to go buy it.
Entertainment
Online entertainment is very popular and there are all sorts of entertainment you can find online. This includes videos, music, games, instant messaging and Radio. Most of these you can download and some you are able to use on your computers. Websites are popular with entertainment which contains videos or games. Examples are MSN, You Tube, and Miniclip.
Video is one popular use of the internet. On websites such as you tube and Google video you can watch clips of a wide variety including people doing funny stuff to funny clips out of movies. This has become very popular over the internet and is becoming more advanced as the years go by.
The target audience are manly online entertainment seekers of all ages such as students and office workers. The people who post the videos on websites I have seen from ages of 15 to 70.
The pros of videos on the internet are you can watch mostly free clips of entertaining things at no cost. You also do not have to download videos as it uses streaming which makes it much faster and doesn’t take up space on your computer. The cons are you would need broadband in order to have fast streaming or it would take ages for videos to load. The websites are very easy to access which means that young children can access adult humour with no restrictions. However some websites such as you tube do not let you view adult humour without signing up saying that you are 18 years or over.
Non internet alternatives are watching a movie or a DVD. This means there isn’t really any alternatives to watch funny clips over the internet.
Online gaming is also a popular obsession to use over the internet. This varies from playing games off websites or playing online with your friends. These are games such as World of Warcraft and call of duty. Playing games on websites is also popular such as Miniclip and play2kill.
The target audience are starting from young children to fully grown men and women.
The pros are most websites allow you to play for free without having to download the games. There is so many games to choose from you will lose your mind. The cons are again you would need broadband in order to play games fast enough and most websites would contain annoying pop ups, and advertisements. Most of the games also contain violence and most children in this generation would know how to get on these websites and play. The games are fun to play but still would be 2d, or 3d but not very graphical. Non internet alternatives are games consoles which are popular with all ages or board games which are not so popular at this time.
The Radio is another popular entertainment factor of the internet. You can listen to many radio stations off websites who stream it. A few examples are BBC radio and Virgin Radio. The target audience are people who would like to listen to the radio whilst on there computers from classical music to football games. The pros of using the radio on the internet is you get fast streaming and you can listen to it when ever you want for free. The cons are you need broadband in order to run the streaming fast enough and you need to be on your computer all the time to use it. Non internet alternatives are using radio players or mp3 players which also contain the radio. Podcasts are also popular. Podcasts are audio files that are automatically delivered directly to your desktop computer, and can be transferred to your iPod or other MP3 player. You typically subscribe to podcasts using "podcatcher" software.
Communication
Communication has become very popular to use. This means you can communicate with other people via email, instant messaging, and video conferencing. It is a great way to communicate and most of the time it is free of charge.
E-mail is a very popular way to communicate. It means the exchange of electronic messages and computer files between computers that are connected to the Internet or some other computer network.
The target audience is almost everyone with a computer and the internet. It is very easy to use and is a great way to communicate with people.
The pros of e-mail are it is easy to use and is fast and free. Using web based e-mail such as hotmail means you don’t have to buy any software and you can have almost 2MB of space to store mail. It is much faster than sending a letter and can be used to send homework, birthday cards, Postcards. You can also attach files and pictures and is very secure. The cons are you can be sent loads of spam and junk mail which may contain viruses.
Non internet alternatives are letters, postcards. This costs money and is much slower than using e-mail.
Instant messaging is another very popular way to communicate online. The most popular instant messaging services are msn messenger and yahoo messenger.
The target audience is teenagers to adults. This is because it is very easy to use and one of the best ways to communicate.
The pros are you can use video calling which means you can use webcams to see and hear each other. The instant messaging programs have improved over the years and are now packed with extras such as sending sound clips and playing games with each other. Best of all this is all free to use. The cons are sometimes you may not be talking to the people you think you are talking to. This can be unsafe for children. However the instant messaging programs have been trying to reduce this by giving tips on if you want to meet someone.
Non internet alternatives are text messaging or speaking over the phone. However this costs money.
Video conferencing is another way to communicate over the internet. An example website is www.global-leap.com.
Target audience are office workers, business men and any other sort of busy lifestyle workers.
The pros are you can be in meetings without having to be at the meeting through video conferencing. The cons are the need for special video equipment, special conference rooms, and advance notice to make reservation. However this is changing and soon it will be a lot cheaper and easier to use.
The non internet alternatives are video calling off your phone or instant messaging programs or actually turning up to the meetings.
Overall online services are very popular and will be for years to come. Soon all these services will be used by many of the population and will be easier and more secure. There will be more to shop for online and will be more secure to use. Online banking will become easier and more secure making more people use it. Education online will continue to rise, downloading will be much faster, and there will be more entertainment.
There are many different types of commerce including online shopping, banking and auctions. Online shopping is one example. This means you can buy and pay for items via your computer. You can purchase almost anything including clothes, cars, computers, groceries and homes. You can make travel arrangements and financial arrangements without leaving your computer. Almost anything you want to purchase can be found online. Examples of online shopping are Tesco, Amazon, and EBay.
The target audience are people who would prefer to have their groceries delivered to their house instead of going to the stores. This would be helpful for the disabled or OAP’s.
The pros are that it is fairly simple to use and can be done at the comfort at your home. The cons are you can have delays on purchase and not everything in the store would be listed on their website. There is also an extra charge for having the food delivered to your house.
Non Internet alternatives are going to the store which can have some advantages as there is no extra charge plus you can buy things which may be reduced in price which you cannot by online.
Online banking is another example of Commerce. This means you can use a computer to pay bills or move money from one account to another. Online Banking is equally common among all age groups under the age of 65. Forty-two percent of internet users age 18-29, 47% of internet users age 30-49, and 42% of internet users age 50-64 banks online.
However only 27% of internet users, ages 65 and older use the internet for online banking. We now find that men and women are equally likely to bank online. Examples where you can use online banking are Abbey National and Barclays. The pros of using online banking are it can be used at home and as technology is taking over more and more people are using it. The cons are phishing which means you can be sent fake emails that can key log your information meaning they can get your money although it is becoming more secure as the years go by. Another con is you have to be extra careful when using it, changing your password frequently. It is not human which means you may be struggling and don’t have the help you need.
Non Internet alternatives are going to the bank which you feel is more secure and using the phone although this may not be used in the future.
Online auctions are another form of commerce. This means bidding for items online and the item goes to the highest bidder. This has become very popular and more and more people are starting to use it. You can almost buy anything off the auction websites and at low prices. Examples are eBay and bid TV.
The target audience are mostly frequent computer users who which to purchase items online. This varies form teenagers to adults. People looking for bargains and antics are also popular users. The pros of using online auctions are you can get brand-name merchandise at hard-to-beat prices and there is a wide variety of merchandise to buy with photos. You can also contact the sellers with any questions you have. The cons are Item can sometimes not be what you think they are listed as. An example is you could think you are bidding for an Xbox 360 where actually you are bidding for a picture on an Xbox 360. Sometimes items could be damaged in post and have long arrival times.
Non Internet alternatives are going to auction places or shopping at any regular store. This can have disadvantages as you may want something rare which can only be purchased online.
Education
Online learning is also known as e-learning. Three examples are revision sites, exam papers and online Courses. It has become very popular to use revision and exam papers. It is changing the ways Universities teach and students learn. It has been brought into the classrooms and has become the most popular way to learn. Examples are BBC Bite size and Sam Learning.
The target audience for revision sites is student’s ands teachers.
The pros of using revision sites are students can boost there learning abilities and teachers can get work to set for lessons. The learning websites are colourful containing learning games and easy to remember facts broken into chunks. This is a much more fun way to revise and can help children who find revision boring. The cons are you can easily get distracted by other things on your computer such as instant messaging, the net, and entertainment you may have on your computer. Another con is you may get tires spending long hours looking at the computer screen. One way to avoid this is to have regular breaks.
Non internet alternatives are using books and school work to revise which some people may prefer to do.
Online Exam papers are another form of online education. You can download exam papers for free and practice on them. You can even download the marking schemes so you know how to mark it properly. This can improve your learning skills.
Target audience is students and teachers. Students can practice on the papers and teachers could maybe get them to show to children.
The pros of using them are you are not limited to how many exam papers you want to do and you can do it from the comfort of your home. You can improve your exam skills and is one of the best ways to revise. The cons are you have to do the exam at your computer which can be an advantage and disadvantage. For some people they may prefer to use past exam papers from schools.
Non internet alternatives are using exam papers on actual paper which would be more ideal to use and gives you a feel of what the real exam is going to be like.
Online Courses is another form of online learning. It is also known as E-courses and means you can take courses from the comfort of your home. An example is Learn Direct which is a website which gives you ideas of different types of courses you can take.
The target audience is people with no future job ideas and who love using a computer. Both male and female would be its target audience and also people who would like to earn more money.
The pros are that you can do the course from the comfort of your home and have help to assist you. This can be a pro and a con as people may rather not work at home because they may feel they need face to face help. The cons are the courses can be very expensive and do not guarantee you a job at the end of it.
Non internet alternatives are taking a course at a college which would differ from an e-course. You would get more help this way but you would need to be more active.
Download Services
Downloading is one of the main things we use on our computers with the internet. You can download almost anything you want to mostly for free and in short amount of time. You can download music, media, entertainment and software. It is very popular and is increasingly becoming faster and easier to download. Examples are pod casts, mp3s.
Music is very popular to download and has become more popular over the years. You can download music off websites such as ITunes and Napster at around 70p song at fast download times. The target audience is any one with an mp3 player. They can download music to their computers and then transfer them onto their mp3’s. This is mostly popular with teenagers at the low prices of mp3 players which now you can play videos, pictures as well as music with very big storage.
The pros are you can download music within minutes at low prices. They can be transferred onto your mp3 players to listen on the go, and no need to go to a shop to buy a CD. Mp3 files are relatively small as well ranging from 3 Mb to 8 Mb with no sound loss. The cons are some formats such as AAC can only be played on IPod’s and if you lose your songs on your computer you have lost everything you paid for. However most mp3 players are used as removal storage, so if you lost all the songs on your computer they would still be on the mp3 player to be transferred back to the computer again.
Non internet alternatives are going to music stores to buy the songs you want. This is a disadvantage as you may want only one song where you would have to buy albums at stores.
Software and Applications is also very popular to download. You can download free software off websites such as download.com and softpedia. The download times are relatively fast depending if you have broadband or not.
Target audience is everyone who wants extra software on their computers. You can download software such as virus protection or spyware protection software for free. So this is basically all ages as it is that easy to use.
The pros are you can have a wide variety of free software you can download at quick speeds. The websites are very easy to use and most sites don’t have a limit to what you download. The cons are some sites contain popups and ads and some software you download may contain ad aware or ask you to install extra software with it you may not want.
Non internet alternatives are buying software from shops such as PC world or Maplins. However the software can be pricey and you would have to leave the house to go buy it.
Entertainment
Online entertainment is very popular and there are all sorts of entertainment you can find online. This includes videos, music, games, instant messaging and Radio. Most of these you can download and some you are able to use on your computers. Websites are popular with entertainment which contains videos or games. Examples are MSN, You Tube, and Miniclip.
Video is one popular use of the internet. On websites such as you tube and Google video you can watch clips of a wide variety including people doing funny stuff to funny clips out of movies. This has become very popular over the internet and is becoming more advanced as the years go by.
The target audience are manly online entertainment seekers of all ages such as students and office workers. The people who post the videos on websites I have seen from ages of 15 to 70.
The pros of videos on the internet are you can watch mostly free clips of entertaining things at no cost. You also do not have to download videos as it uses streaming which makes it much faster and doesn’t take up space on your computer. The cons are you would need broadband in order to have fast streaming or it would take ages for videos to load. The websites are very easy to access which means that young children can access adult humour with no restrictions. However some websites such as you tube do not let you view adult humour without signing up saying that you are 18 years or over.
Non internet alternatives are watching a movie or a DVD. This means there isn’t really any alternatives to watch funny clips over the internet.
Online gaming is also a popular obsession to use over the internet. This varies from playing games off websites or playing online with your friends. These are games such as World of Warcraft and call of duty. Playing games on websites is also popular such as Miniclip and play2kill.
The target audience are starting from young children to fully grown men and women.
The pros are most websites allow you to play for free without having to download the games. There is so many games to choose from you will lose your mind. The cons are again you would need broadband in order to play games fast enough and most websites would contain annoying pop ups, and advertisements. Most of the games also contain violence and most children in this generation would know how to get on these websites and play. The games are fun to play but still would be 2d, or 3d but not very graphical. Non internet alternatives are games consoles which are popular with all ages or board games which are not so popular at this time.
The Radio is another popular entertainment factor of the internet. You can listen to many radio stations off websites who stream it. A few examples are BBC radio and Virgin Radio. The target audience are people who would like to listen to the radio whilst on there computers from classical music to football games. The pros of using the radio on the internet is you get fast streaming and you can listen to it when ever you want for free. The cons are you need broadband in order to run the streaming fast enough and you need to be on your computer all the time to use it. Non internet alternatives are using radio players or mp3 players which also contain the radio. Podcasts are also popular. Podcasts are audio files that are automatically delivered directly to your desktop computer, and can be transferred to your iPod or other MP3 player. You typically subscribe to podcasts using "podcatcher" software.
Communication
Communication has become very popular to use. This means you can communicate with other people via email, instant messaging, and video conferencing. It is a great way to communicate and most of the time it is free of charge.
E-mail is a very popular way to communicate. It means the exchange of electronic messages and computer files between computers that are connected to the Internet or some other computer network.
The target audience is almost everyone with a computer and the internet. It is very easy to use and is a great way to communicate with people.
The pros of e-mail are it is easy to use and is fast and free. Using web based e-mail such as hotmail means you don’t have to buy any software and you can have almost 2MB of space to store mail. It is much faster than sending a letter and can be used to send homework, birthday cards, Postcards. You can also attach files and pictures and is very secure. The cons are you can be sent loads of spam and junk mail which may contain viruses.
Non internet alternatives are letters, postcards. This costs money and is much slower than using e-mail.
Instant messaging is another very popular way to communicate online. The most popular instant messaging services are msn messenger and yahoo messenger.
The target audience is teenagers to adults. This is because it is very easy to use and one of the best ways to communicate.
The pros are you can use video calling which means you can use webcams to see and hear each other. The instant messaging programs have improved over the years and are now packed with extras such as sending sound clips and playing games with each other. Best of all this is all free to use. The cons are sometimes you may not be talking to the people you think you are talking to. This can be unsafe for children. However the instant messaging programs have been trying to reduce this by giving tips on if you want to meet someone.
Non internet alternatives are text messaging or speaking over the phone. However this costs money.
Video conferencing is another way to communicate over the internet. An example website is www.global-leap.com.
Target audience are office workers, business men and any other sort of busy lifestyle workers.
The pros are you can be in meetings without having to be at the meeting through video conferencing. The cons are the need for special video equipment, special conference rooms, and advance notice to make reservation. However this is changing and soon it will be a lot cheaper and easier to use.
The non internet alternatives are video calling off your phone or instant messaging programs or actually turning up to the meetings.
Overall online services are very popular and will be for years to come. Soon all these services will be used by many of the population and will be easier and more secure. There will be more to shop for online and will be more secure to use. Online banking will become easier and more secure making more people use it. Education online will continue to rise, downloading will be much faster, and there will be more entertainment.
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