ICT and a working adult

As Mrs Blake has two children, she takes many pictures with her digital camera, which she can transfer onto the computer and edit them and print them out on photograph paper or take them to a shop to transfer them into proper photos.

When she travels to work Mrs Blake likes to listen to music so she has a MP3 player where she downloads her songs from the programme Kazzaa. She finds these a lot better than CD walkmans as you can have a variety of songs and they are easier to carry about, with no CD's to carry about as well.

For entertainment she has a DVD player, Mrs Blake finds them much better quality but she thinks that the DVD's are a bit overpriced

Mrs Blake also has a burglar alarm to secure her house that only her and her husband know the code to.

2. Work

When Mrs Blake is at work, she uses ICT for a variety of things. One main programme she uses is Microsoft Access to create databases holding patient's information including their personal details and medical information. Because Mrs Blake has personal details of a person she has to make sure, she is following the Data Protection Act. This law makes people storing data n computers about individuals register with the government. Information can only be retrieved for specified purposes and must be stored in a stored in a secure way, which is password protected. All the companies storing personal data need to have certain measurements in place to make data secure. Mrs Blake does follow this act because all the information is password protected, which she changes regularly. In addition, when Mrs Blake passes information about a patient the patients identity cannot be identified. A second act that Mrs Blake is aware of is The Computer Misuse Act. This law makes hacking illegal which is what Mrs Blake need because of all the private information she has stored on the database about individuals, they cannot risk the system being hacked into. Most companies including Southend Hospital will have systems such as firewalls, which stop unauthorised access to data. People who plant viruses on systems could be prosecuted under this act.

Mrs Blake also uses Microsoft Word a lot to produce letters to patient's family informing them on their condition etc.

Another programme Mrs Blake uses at work is Microsoft Excel to produce spreadsheets so she is able to represent the data clearly in graphs these also go forward to use in presentations where Mrs Blake also uses Microsoft Power Point where she can create a slide show.

Mrs Blake also uses the Internet at work for research and to look at the government website to look for information; at Southend Hospital the staff, all have their own user areas, with a unique user name and password so no unauthorised users can go into the staff's user areas. Mrs Blake also uses the Intranet to look at staff information and policies. Because Southend Hospital purchases a lot of software, they need to keep up to date with the Software Copyright Laws. Although Mrs Blake does not personally deal with this Law the Southend ICT Department make sure that they purchase enough software licenses, as it is illegal to buy one copy on Microsoft Office and use it on more than one machine at the same time. Because Mrs Blake is on a computer for a majority of the day, she is familiar with the Health and safety work ACT. This law enforces employers to ensure safe working environment for all the employers. Specific ICT based issues concern that employees provide correct seating, benches at the right height to minimise repetitive strain injury. Ensure that employees have the opportunity to frequent breaks, provide free eye tests and provide a contribution towards employee's spectacles. Provide employees with health and safety training to use equipment regularly.

A final thing that Mrs Blake uses at work that is ICT based is a scanner. She uses these to scan ECGs into the system for reference.

3. Socially

Mrs Blake's main source of communication is texting on her mobile phone. She finds she uses it the most to text her children when she wants them home or when dinner is etc. Mrs Blake likes to text because when she is in a rush and does not have time to have a phone conversations with someone, she can get straight to the point in a text message.

Because Mrs Blake works in a hospital mobile phones are not allowed to be switched on so if she need to contact someone she does it via e-mail. She also uses e-mail to e-mail other staff with memos or information; if it is information, she sometimes sends an attachment with the relevant information.

Another form of communication is web and audio conversations. Mrs Blake uses these methods of communications to talk to her family that live abroad and at work where she can talk to other staff.

Therefore, in conclusion Mrs Blake finds that ICT makes her life a lot easier and she benefits from it a lot at home and at work.

Rachael Abbott

ICT Coursework