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Sport and Leisure People in the community need to be healthy so the Sport centre provides them with pre-booking and computer readable cards. Our community need to know where is the nearest Leisure centre so they will need a website that provides information and costs. They also need to know what activities are taking place and how to book it.
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Schools and Study Centres Community need to have schools to provide basic education to younger generation. Students in school need internet and computer access. Schools in our community need to keep record of every student and staff so they need computer programs to keep track of student. Schools also need CCTV cameras to record student’s behaviour and see that any doesn’t cause trouble. So the community will need computer and ICT to stop students from causing trouble.
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Southall Community Website Most of the people in a community will need to know widely about their community events and businesses in the community so the Southall website also provide information about the leisure and sport, religion, culture and businesses in the community. Our community need ICT facilities to provide people with better services and keep people up to date about the events in our community.
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Health Centre People in the community also needs health centre and to be provided with quick and efficient service. Health centres will need to provide people with easy appointment making and registration. Health centres in Southall need to have better ICT facilities to provide people with better service e.g. if someone need to book an appointment they should be given a choice to book it on phone, the health centre in reception will need a computer and have record of all patients.
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Internet Cafes Every person in the community doesn’t have access to the internet. People in our community are multicultural and came from other countries so they will need to communicate with their relatives in a cheaper way so internet cafes will meet their need. They need ICT that provides them with cheaper internet and let them have access to internet with cheaper offers as well.
In the above needs some are more important than others. For my report I will need to look in detail of five of them. I will also need to describe the way it is used in my community. I will look at the technologies that are used the most and have effect on my community. I will also need to include how people benefit from using the service. And finally I will then evaluate how the technology will meet the need of my community. In my coursework I will write about those technologies which are in the most need and has impact on my community.
Technologies Used in Southall
Internet ~ Learn Direct
Learn direct is a program run by a company for the people aged over 16. It a service for people who wants to learn online and doesn’t has time to go physically and study. It is also for people who has less education and want to have more education. It also helps people to get educated and have a good future. Learn direct tells people the easier way to achieve what the want in life and help them achieve it. These courses are available for all kinds of people whether they are educated or not. Learn direct have various centres in out community where they provide computer and internet access.
Evaluation
Learn direct and the courses available meet the needs of the people in the community extremely well because there are courses available for nearly every one. Learn direct meets the needs of the community really well because Learn direct have many branches so there would be no shortage of space for people choosing to do the courses. Another big advantage for the people in the community can be that they can choose their courses online before actually talking to learn direct.
Learn direct as a whole is a great advantage to the whole Southall community because most people in Southall are unemployed and uneducated. But since this online system is been introduced the unemployment rate have decreased and the amount of people with futures have been increased. Learn direct is a great advantage because it offers great advantages like: there are many courses available for all people whether employed/ educated or not. Also learn direct is available to everyone and people can use it online.
Without this technology our community will lack of education and uneducated people will still be having problems in the community. Most of the people in our community work and study both, it would be hard for people to go physically to go study centre and it would take more time.
To some extent it doesn’t meet my community needs as most people don’t know how to use computer so they will need another person to show them. Most of the people in our community also don’t have access to computer so they will have to use library and library is not open all the time.
Financial Transaction ~ Banking
Banking is the biggest place in the world that uses ICT. ICT is used in ATM Machines and EFTAPOS (electronic funds transfer at point of sale). ATM is used to withdraw money there are also other facilities that ATM machines provide other facilities for example: you can print or view balance on the screen, change pin, order statement. EFTPOS helps customers to withdraw money through Debit Card it is mostly used in shopping. The customer’s card is swiped through a card reader and the merchant usually enters the amount of the transaction before the customer enters their account and PIN number. Before the customers didn’t needed to enter their PIN number now the customers has to enter it for security reasons.
Evaluation
Every bank has its own ATM’s machines however the bank card works in every ATM machine. These machines meet the needs of the community as people are able to withdraw money at any time. It is also quick to withdraw money as if there weren’t any ATM machines it would have taken much time queuing in a lane and getting cash from the bank. It is quicker and reliable as the customer doesn’t need to show ID when withdrawing money from your own account. ATM machines are safe as no one can get the data from the ATM.
ICT that is used in the banks is a big advantage to people working in the bank and to the public as well. ATM’s and EFTPOS services are open 24 hours 365 days in an year, this means the people in the community can withdraw money at any time so they don’t have to wait for the bank to open. Another advantage is that there are a lots of ATM machines in Southall so there aren’t big queues which is then quicker to withdraw money from the bank. People also need to skip queues in the banks so they can do banking online which helps the sort transaction quickly and efficiently. Online banking also has disadvantages as there is danger from hacker. You will need to provide your bank details so there is risk of you details transferred.
Without ATM people in our community will face various problems they won’t be able to send money abroad. People will also need to keep their money in their houses where they might face robbery. Buying house will be hard as people wouldn’t be able to get loan where they will need to pay all the money. ATM’s machine also play a very big role in our community banking as people doesn’t keep all the money in their pockets due to risk of theft so they need the ATM to withdraw money whenever they need.
There are various ATM machines in Southall nearly every bank has an ATM in Southall Broadway e.g. HSBC, Abbey National, Barclays, NatWest etc.
To some extents it doesn’t meet the needs of the community as some of the people are not educated so they aren’t able to withdraw money they has to go inside the bank and withdraw money which takes time. Another disadvantage is that ATM’s and EFTAPOS provide money and can’t provide advice. Last disadvantage of ATM’s Machines and EFTAPOS is that whoever doesn’t have a bank account that person won’t be able to use these facilities.
CCTV ~ Control and Monitoring
CCTV stands for Closed Circuit Television it is used for video surveillance. In my community CCTV is used in banks, casinos, shopping centres, streets, airports etc. Now it isn’t expensive people uses it at home for security. CCTV in Southall is used for security and to decrease crime it is also used as evidence. It is also used in schools which help the school to control behaviour of the students. CCTV is used by police and council to decrease crime and used it as evidence against the criminals. There are different types of CCTV cameras as some of the can turn at the bearing of 3600 and some of them are straight. There are also some cameras that have black glass cover and the people around can see which direction is the camera recording.
Evaluation
CCTV is used in various places in Southall it meets the community needs as it makes it easier to stop crime and record what has been happening it is also helps in controlling crime on the streets and shopping centres. It is used in streets to help the police catch crime and use evidence against trouble makers. It is also used in traffic lights which helps the police catch people who passes red lights and charge penalties those against who breaks the law it meets community needs as it decreases crime. CCTV cameras in Southall are able to zoom in and zoom out as it makes it easier and clearer for police and staff in the community to see what is happening. They are also computerised this means that it can record for some days and it can be used as an evidence. CCTV is also meets the needs of the community when it comes to use against criminals it helps the community as it produce a clear picture of the place where it is placed.
It meets community needs in a better way because every community needs to be as secured as it can be, in Southall CCTV is used in several places which meet the needs of the people and community as it provide security and records every thing is happening around. It also helps police in the as one of the CCTV cameras are able to rotate at 360 degrees which helps the police check around direct through the camera.
If our community doesn’t have CCTV the crime rate would be high and people will be free to cause trouble in the community. It will be hard for the police to find evidence and use it against the criminals in the court. People also wouldn’t feel safe in shopping centres and also when travelling.
CCTV cameras are also used in shops and supermarkets which help the customer buy stuff safely and securely and it also helps the shop owner and use CCTV evidence against thieves.
CCTV cameras are placed in various places most of them are placed in Schools, shopping centres, supermarkets and busy roads.
To some extents it doesn’t meet the community needs as most of the cameras aren’t very clear and they are placed in one place so it can’t move round as it makes it hard for the police to see around and they will need to place more cameras. Most of the advance cameras are expensive so overall it cost lots of money to install it in the community.
Communication ~ Information Point
Information point are screens based in various places it provide a direct link to the council, free email, BBC news and sport, transport information and job search facility. It is free and every one in the community can use it. Information points provide users with local, national and international news. It also allows the user to use free email facility. It helps the people in the community to communicate with other people and it lets them access to internet and search for jobs.
Evaluation
Information points are located in various places in my community. It meets the needs of the community as it makes it easier for people to access to free internet, provide them with latest information and also has link to council. This meets the needs of the community as it makes it easier for the council to contact people and it meets the needs of the people in the community as they can use it at any time and anywhere. If anyone is searching for a job they don’t have to go around and ask they can easily search at an information point. It also meets the need of the community as in council there won’t be too many people having problem so the council won’t need to have a lot of staff and it is also quicker for the staff to solve problems easily.
Information points also attract more tourists in my community as the tourists are able to find information, events and businesses in the community.
It also meet makes it easier for people in Southall to search for a job at anytime as there is more unemployment. It also meets the needs of the community as the council won’t have to employ more staff.
As I said above that unemployment rate in Southall is high and it would be hard for people to find jobs and read news and reviews.
To some extents it doesn’t meet the need as there aren’t many around the community so people need to use their nearest information time. Also most of the people don’t know how to use Information points. It is also some time slow and takes time to download the page.
Data Capture ~ Bar Code Scanner (reader)
Bar Code scanner is specialized for reading bar codes. Bar Code readers are used in various places in my community for example, supermarkets, leisure centres, community centres and local shops. It allows people to buy stuff from supermarkets easily and also they get receipt.
Evaluation
Bar Code scanner is used in various places in my community it is mostly used in leisure centres and supermarkets. It is used for various purposes e.g. in leisure centres they have provided their customers a membership card which has bar code scanner and when it is scanned all the information comes up on the screen with the picture of the person which helps them to identify the person, in supermarkets it used for products as every product has bar code which is brought to the cashier and it calculates the total price and it also prints out a receipt. It meets the needs of the community as it makes it easier for people to buy stuff efficiently and quick it also gives them a prove (receipt) which is then used to refund stuff which damaged.
This technology meets the needs of my community as it convenient for the people of my community. It also helps as cashier can’t cheat with their customers as they can’t charge people higher price which all computerised and all the cashier has to do is to scan it and the customer will receive the receipt which say the price.
To some extents it doesn’t meet the needs of the community as it is not available in all the shops and the shops can also charge people high prices.
Future Developments
ICT needs to be improved for the new generation. It is hard to cope with the old technology for the new generation. For example community will need more telephone boxes on the streets they will also need to improve the facility for example some of them has the e-mail and news facility. Learn Direct will also need to improve as in the past the population of the community was less now it increased so they need to provide more centres and also more courses to give a wide choice. Community will also need to put more CCTV cameras on the streets as the crime rate increased and to put better quality cameras. To meet the needs of the community in the future the technologies needs to be updated and improved so it will meet the community needs in a better way.
Overall Evaluation
ICT is a big help to Southall community ICT made several changes as in the past most of the organisation had problems dealing with task now with the help of ICT everything is done is less time and with less loss of energy. ICT meets the needs of my community as unemployment rate is high with the help of ICT it provided jobs and decreased the unemployment rate. It also helps uneducated they can learn on learn direct. ICT also provide security for my community as now the crime rate is low as more criminals are caught on CCTV and charged, people can report crimes online which saves time by going to the police station and getting a report written. Lastly with the help of ICT a person who can’t afford to buy computer or use internet café they are provided with information points which lets them send free emails and has information. Overall without ICT people in our community would have problems and small tasks would take them long time.
