the effect of ICT on the way people work.

Interactive whiteboard
A new technology that is increasingly appearing in schools and workplaces around the world are interactive whiteboards. This piece of hardware includes a projector and a large interactive display board.

The projector projects the computer's desktop onto the board's surface where users control the computer using a pen or finger.

It allows the user to easily write or draw and easily wipe the display clean with a interactive board rubber.  

Many are being used when giving a presentation in board rooms and work groups.

Most of the boards now have extras that include graphs programs to easily present results in charts and graphs, this makes it easier for participants in meetings to see figures and how the sales of a product may be doing. 

The white boards are also being used in schools for the childrens work, most classrooms allow the students to be educated by interactive education games. It is also a great way to show notes to the class to be easily displayed and easily read.

Multimedia and video can also be shown on it which is an advantage over normal whiteboards.

Interactive whiteboard used in a workplace for presentation.

Crticisms:

• If there is a problem with how it is working or if there is an error with the connection it may cause a workplace to not be able to give a presentation as they are relying on the ICT and in education if it does not work it may stop a lesson as the teacher may be relying on the ICT to teach the class.
• In lower-ability groups in school classrooms it could actually slow the pace of the whole class learning as individual pupils take turns at the board.
• Sometimes teachers could focuse more on the new technology than on what pupils should be learning.

Now that laptop's are becoming increasingly popular many workplaces are choosing to buy them for their employees so that they can work whilst travelling and when at home. Work places have also chosen to buy Blackberries, a smartphone that allows the workers to easily send emails, answer calls, sends messages, use an application that allows blackberry users to chat for free (Blackberry messenger), send files and pictures, compose word files, presentations and spreadsheets and much more. These allow the worker to easily stay in contact with other people in the same workplace whilst away from the office. By having a blackberry or laptop it also allows the worker to stay at home and work which can be extremely flexible and suited to the workers lifestyle. Using a blackberry or laptop whilst on a train or plane shows how much technology has improved, in the past computers could not be used on trains, they were bulky and not transportable.

Working on the laptop on the train.



Blackberry smartphones showing the displays of edexcel (spreadsheets) (on the right), word (documents) (in the middle) and powerpoint (presentations) (on the left).



Increase of teleworkers over the years.

Many people now demand internet for working away from the office also. Many workers now choose to subscribe to an internet provider and have a dongle which is inserted into a USB port and has a certain amount of minutes to use up of internet servicing. This allows the user to work using the internet when not at home or in reach of an internet dial up system. You can plug them into the laptop when out and about and use anywhere.

USB dongel plugged into the USB port of a laptop.

These ways of working whilst out and about have of course many benefits of work now. They have made working away from the office much easier yet have a few drawbacks, the main one being working overload. With blackberries especially, the buzzing and flashing of the device with messages, calls and emails may cause the worker to continue working for much longer and may not even have a time away from work as work is always with them. It is also very expensive for the company to pay for each worker to have one especially with the internet!

Smartpens
Many work places and universities are now choosing to  buy these smartpens for easiness of relistening to the meetings discussions or lectures.

Livescribe’s smartpen has two primary features: It records ambient audio along with every pen stroke of your handwritten notes.

Many people are finding these much more useful and reliable to use as they hold so much data and do not record the echo of the uneeded background noise. Many people have downloaded apps from the iPhone and used voice recorders but say how they have no comarison to the smartpens. They may cost a alot of money but it has been proved they have helped many students get the correct information and cleary understand what was said- helping to gradually increase grades. It also saves time making 

Unnecessary notes that may end up being misread and understood as you are under pressure to write the notes in a short amount of time.

It captures ambient speech remarkably well, even at distance. It even works fairly well recording a speakerphone-to-speakerphone conference call.

You can play back recordings using the pen’s built-in speaker, or by uploading the pencast to your computer.

The smart pen writing and taking in audio at the same time.

Smartpen files being transfered to the computer.

A criticism of using this pen is that you need to use a certain notepad to write in, where you select how you want the pen to work as shown in the video below:


-jing video of smartpen x2-

Newstories

"Whiteboard projector safety fears"

Interactive whiteboards have been heralded as devices that will enhance education and be a major plank in the government's drive for new technology in schools.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6253410.stm

"Workers breaking office shackles"

Slowly but surely, Britons are becoming a nation that works on the move. A survey shows that 90% of firms are using flexible and remote working as part of their normal way of doing business.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4014315.stm

Interview

1.      In your workplace do you use an interactive whiteboard?

Yes, we use them quite frequently in meetings and discussions.

2.      If so, how would you rate them out of ten? 10 being really helpful, 0 not useful.

      9, they are so much easier to use than normal whiteboards or paper flipboards. Pictures and text can easily be edited or rubbed away. You can easily write over pictures. Graphs and charts can easily be displayed on the screen with annotations around/over them. It is simply an excellent piece of hardware that our workforce replies upon at least once a week. The only problem is the cost.

3.      If you do, do you use them in meetings?

Yes, every single meeting or dicussion sessions we have.

4.      Do you choose to telework?

Yes, it makes my life so much easier to be able to use my laptop on the trains and access my work files to continue work whilst travelling home, it gives me more time at home to relax so I have less to do in the late evening.

5.      If so do you think this a better way of working to suit your needs and is flexible to you?

Yes. It has my life so much more flexible.

6.      Do you have a Blackberry smartphone or device given to you by your work so you

can work when away from the office?

I have a business phone which has internet, access to work files, email access etc on it, it is very much like the Blackberry except there are no games, it is simply for work purposes only. I have another phone that I use for my social and personal life.

7.      If so do you find that you cant get away from work and are constantly reading work emails and documents via the phone?

Sometimes I can get an overload of work files and emails being sent to me, I make sure I sort these before 8pm and then the phone is switched off so i can have some time to myself. The phone is then switched on again at 7am so I can start the new day and sort any emails etc I recieved over night as soon as I am up and on the train travelling to work.

8.      Do you think teleworking is a practical idea?

Definatly!

9.      Do you use a plug in USB dongle allowing you to work on the internet away from the office where internet is provided?

Yes, I found it a cheaper way to have internet access, the speed is also very fast. Ive had no trouble so far of having one for 6months and its extremly useful for my work, I couldnt work well at home without it!

10.  Does your workplace use smartpens?

No, personally my workplace doesnt use them. My son at University uses one though.

11.  Do you know of many people who use smartpens?

My son and his friends use them at university and work, i don't have much knowledge on them. I bought him it for his last birthday and he seems to be extremely happy with it and uses it daily.

12.  What are your views on smartpens? Do you feel they are needed when we can use other ways of recording sound and writing for a much cheaper cost?

I don't know much about them but from others I've heard they are very useful and save a lot of time taking unneccerssary pages of notes when the pen records the sound so you can relisten to it and take notes later where you have more time to write symplified notes rather than rushing when the speaker is talking. i think if people can afford them they are very much worth it. Im told they are very easy to use and can be a great help.