(History of CCTV taken from Wikipedia)
Advantages
- Can monitor anyone at all times, as long as they are in rage
- Can reduce the number of violent activities in schools
- Prevent terrorist attacks
- Discourage and catch burglars
- Speed cameras can reduce accidents
- Prevents theft
- Reduction of car crime when used in car parks
- Help to solve murder cases
- Helps to find missing people (esp. children)
Disadvantage
- Disturbing others privacy
- Ruins the view in near monuments
- Expensive put cameras in all the places
- Can be a waste of energy in places with almost no crime
- Can be stolen easily
- Can be tapped by other
CCTV cameras help my community as it can monitor people as the crime rate in Brent is quite high. This can help to keep crime down as people would not commit crimes in places with CCTV cameras. Speed-cameras can be used to detect congestion and notice accidents. Also, CCTV cameras in underground tube stations can observe suspicious people who appear to be a security threat (e.g. terrorists). A policewoman has been murdered a few months ago by an unknown person. Many people who were suspected were arrested before the real criminal was caught using CCTV. It took very long to have enough evidence to arrest the suspects and they were all innocent. CCTV footage helped the police to identify the responsible person and arrest them; and if a case like this reappears, CCTV footage can aid in identification of the killer(s). However, catching criminals from CCTV footage takes very long as someone has to study the footage very carefully for a long time. By the time any suspects have been chosen, the real criminal would have fled.
On the other hand, the sight of CCTV cameras can aggravate some criminal individuals to vandalise the cameras and steal/break them. As the cameras have to replaced, this will cost money which could be spent on something else to help the community
The only possible way to replace CCTV cameras is to put policemen every 5m² to monitor the area, all day and night. Of course, this would be very costly and not resource efficient. On the other hand, instead of replacing CCTV cameras for a better method of surveillance, improving it can be more effective. In my opinion, upgrading the camera pixel number would be a very good improvement as the footage would have clearer images, thus helping to solve crimes better. Again, this would have a drawback as the price of production would increase as the number of pixels increase.
Technology 2
ATM
ATM or an Automated Teller Machine is a computerised machine that can provide money to a customer without the aid of a bank teller. Using these machines, the customers can withdraw money or check their balances. Many current ATM’s allow people to deposit money or cheques, transfer money between bank accounts, and purchase goods.
History
A mechanical cash dispenser, arguably an ATM, was developed and built by Luther George Simjian and installed 1939 in New York by the City Bank of New York, but removed after 6 months due to the lack of customer acceptance. Thereafter, the history of ATMs paused for over 25 years, until De La Rue developed the first electronic ATM, which was installed first in Enfield Town in North London on June 27, 1967 by Barclays Bank. The first person to use the machine was Reg Varney of "On the Buses" fame, a British Television programme from the 1960s. This instance of the invention is credited to John Shepherd-Barron, although Luther George Simjian registered patents in New York, USA in the 1930s and Donald Wetzel and two other engineers from Docutel registered a patent on June 4, 1973. The first ATMs accepted only a single-use token or voucher, which was retained by the machine. These worked on various principles including radiation and low-coercivity magnetism that was wiped by the card reader to make fraud more difficult. The idea of a personal identification number (PIN) stored on a physical card being compared with the PIN entered when retrieving the money was developed by the British engineer James Goodfellow in 1965, who also holds international patents regarding this technology. ATMs first came into wide UK use in 1973; the IBM 2984 was designed at the request of Lloyds Bank. The 2984 CIT (Cash Issuing Terminal) was the 1st true Cash point, similar in function to today's machines. All were online and issued a variable amount which was immediately deducted from the account.
(History of ATM taken from Wikipedia)
Advantages
- Very accessible.
- Reduces pollution as people don’t have to go to the bank to get money.
- Less time wasted as people don’t have to go to the bank to get money.
- Very secure
- Harder for fraud
- Only have to carry a plastic card to take money out of ATM machine
- More time to bond as a community as less time is wasted to get cash
- Encourages people to spend more money so local businesses flourish
- Accessible anytime, anywhere (open 24 hours)
Disadvantages
- Fake ATM’s can be installed to get customers’ card information
- Someone can steal the money that people had just withdrawn
- Stolen credit cards can be used to get others money
ATM machines help my community by giving money out instantly to the customers of banks so they don’t want to use their credit card for purchases. This helps the community by reducing the time they would spend in the bank just to withdraw their money, in return, reducing pollution as they would have to drive less. ATM machines can also be used in emergencies (e.g. when someone’s car is clamped by a traffic warden and demands for money for the unclamping). Also, money can be withdrawn from ATM machines at anytime, anywhere so the people do not need to carry large sums of money with them. This would reduce crime as muggers would not want to attack someone who does not have money on them.
However, there are some downsides to the use of ATM machines. Some of these are: the installation of fake ATMs to get details of the cards that would be inserted; credit cards can be stolen and money taken out without permission; and the theft of money after it had been withdrawn.
My view is that ATM machines are a very convenient way to withdraw money. The main reason is that no one has to go to the bank to withdraw it, therefore saving time and resources. This can also cut down on pollution. Nevertheless, the downside of the machine can make it risky as people can steal your details to take your money without permission.
Technology 3
EFTPOS
EFTPOS or Electronic Fund Transfer at Point of Sale is mainly used by businesses that have large numbers of regular sales, e.g. retail stores, hotels, bars and wholesalers such as ASDA. When a customer inserts their credit/debit card into EFTPOS machine and enters their PIN number, the total amount of the purchase is electronically deducted from their bank accounts and placed in the company’s bank account.
Advantages
- Every time a sales transaction is recorded, the credit or debit card transaction is also processed, reducing the time spent per transaction.
- Saving time at checkout, because bar code scanning is faster and less error prone than pressing buttons.
- This helps to get more customers so the shop(s) make more profit, thus business (es) in the area grow.
- Transactions are instant, so less time wasted on checkout.
- No need to withdraw money from ATMs, so less time wasted and less chance of getting robbed on the way.
- Less carbon emissions as no need to drive to withdraw money from ATM’s or bank.
Disadvantages
- Credit cards cannot be accessed if the systems break down, so the customers would not be able to pay.
- Credit card fraud can occur in some dubious shops.
- Encourages credit card fraud
EFTPOS helps my community as they reduce the time spent to withdraw money for purchases they would make. This would give more time to spend bonding with others in the community. They can also use the spare time to work more or relax, especially on the weekends.
In spite of this, there are still some downsides. If the EFTPOS system(s) break down, credit cards could not be accessed, which would be the only method of payment for some people. Also, this can encourage credit card fraud in some places.
What is more, EPOS in a very helpful technology as it reduces the time which would be wasted on transactions in shops. It also discourages crime as only a few people would carry cash before paying at a place with an EFTPOS system. As more people use EFTPOS, the local businesses are encouraged grow.
Technology 4
Internet Café
Internet café of Cyber café is a place where anyone can use a computer with internet access for a small amount of fee for about an hour. Some of them serve as a regular café as well, serving drinks and food such as coffee and pastries.
History
The concept and name, Cybercafé, was invented at the beginning of 1994 by Ivan Pope. Commissioned to develop an Internet event for an arts weekend at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, Pope wrote a proposal outlining the concept of a café with Internet access from the tables. The event was run over the weekend of March 12-13 1994 during the 'Towards the Aesthetics of the Future' event.
In June 1994, The Binary Cafe, Canada's first Internet café, opened in Toronto, Ontario. During the 5th International Symposium on Electronic Art, ISEA, in August 1994, an establishment called CompuCafe was established in Helsinki, Finland, featuring both Internet access and a robotic beer seller.
Inspired partly by the ICA event, a commercial establishment of this type, called Cyberia, opened on September 1, 1994 in London, England. The first American Internet cafe, creatively named Internet Cafe, opened in early 1995 in the East Village neighbourhood of New York City.
(History of Internet Café taken Wikipedia)
Advantages
- Keeps the children off the streets.
- Help to bond them together to create friendships.
- Reduces youth crime as they would go to play games, online chatting, etc.
- Encourages the residents to stay in the area.
- Encourages business to grow.
- Increase IT skills
- Improve communication skills
Disadvantages
- Some internet café owner may not let groups of youth to enter.
- Overcrowding.
- Can promote internet fraud.
- The youths may “hang around” the café and disturb all the other people.
Internet cafés help my community by providing a way for the people without a computer in my area to have access to a computer. By having this privilege, the people in my area can do many things such as chatting to their friends and family who may live far away (e.g. another country) and have difficulties communicating (esp. the cost of talking on the phone is too high); managing their bank accounts if they are unable to go to the bank (e.g. when the bank is closed); and paying their bills if the residents have forgotten to pay easily. The drawback for using internet café is that the administrator may have installed silent programs such as key loggers to record the information the users have entered. This information can be used to hack in to the people’s bank accounts and transfer money without permission.
Also, cyber cafés can create problems such as increased violence and crimes in certain areas as some people, especially youths, would “hang out” in or near internet cafés. Other difficulties would be theft in the café themselves and/or the shops near it.
In conclusion, my opinion is that internet cafés bring more advantages to people that the disadvantages it causes. The most important reason for my support in cyber cafés is that is give the people that freedom to explore that internet as well as discovering the various functions of the computer systems. Undoubtedly, they don’t bring any good news for the environment, but it does bring the whole community in unison to look after one another.
