Monday, April 12, 2010

Politics 2.0 for IB2
Politics and Government Second (Millitary) lesson
1. The use of War Games in Military trainingAmerica’s Army is a top selling computer game, originally created by the American army.

Read the article US Army cuts teeth on video game, BBC News, 2005 - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4460082.stm

And War vets feature in US army game, May 06 - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4991306.stm

And Realistic Wargames, Digital Life, 10 Oct 06

a) Discuss in pairs the use of war games in army training.


2. Use of Sensors

Search for an article "Spies like dust" and describe how smart dust is being used by the military


3. Cyber-Insect ArmyRead Pentagon plans cyber-insect army, March O6 - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4808342.stm

a) Write a type brief summary of this article describing the technology and how it will be used by the military.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Case study ITGS IB2 HL Qns

Case study ITGS IB2 HL Qns
Please answer these qns before we meet

1. Define LAN [2 marks]
2. Explain the different categories of networking [4 marks]
3. Describe embedded IT systems with suitable examples [4 marks]
4. Describe an Operating system. Analyze the kind of operating systems required by big organizations like hospitals [4 marks]
5. Define Intranet. Compare it with Internet [4 marks]
6. Define Backup. [2 marks]
7. Discuss the different ways ofgetting connected to internet. [4 marks]
8. Define P2P networking [2 marks]
9. Describe two possible impacts of mobile phones on the healthcare industry [ 4 marks]
10. With reference to one of the areas of impact in the ITGS course, explain the impact of Expert systems that you have studied in your case study. [4 marks]
11. Identify the various social and ethical issues of storing and sharing patient’s medical records over the internet. [4 marks]
12. Define WiFi. [2 marks]
13. Discuss the impact of telemedicine in providing better healthcare facilities in remote areas. [4 marks]
14. Evaluate the following quote from the case study with reference to your own research. “The hospital subscribes to an online medical expert system for use by its professional staff. However, a number of doctors have started to use the internet search engines in order to diagnose patients, which has raised some concerns.” [8 marks]
15. Define broadband. [2 marks]
16. Discuss the different ways of protecting important data stored in computers. [4 marks]
17. Describe DBMS with reference to EMR [Electronic Medical Record] [4 marks]
18. Contrast the usage of wired network with wireless network [4 marks]
19. Define Firewall [2 marks]
20. Evaluate the use of mobile phones in implementing new IT Systems. [4 marks]
21. Define Telemedicine [2 Marks]

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

IB2 Work April 2010
Politics and Governement
1. GIS and Mapping – how is it being used to help solve crimes
a) Describe how GIS is used in solving crime.
b) Find several other articles to describe their uses. E.g. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3620024.stm Satellite tracking for criminals
c) What are the effects of using GIS in solving crime?


2. Describe the sorts of databases that the police would access and what techniques they would use to find the information.

3. Visit this site http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4799994.stm and discuss the issues raised from the article.

4. Currently there is the use of IP surveillance cameras around city centres – to monitor crime. (Salsa)
a) How does IP surveillance work?

b) What advantages does IP surveillance have over the original CCTV?


5. Informing the public using the websites. Visit the following link http://www.met.police.uk/

a) Describe the main purpose of this site and the sort of features that are available

b) Visit other police sites – describe their similarities and differences.

6. The Internet has been used as a source of information and a recruitment tool and to host ‘Most wanted’ sites.

a) Describe how is MI6 using the Internet in recruitment.


b) Visit this site http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4444600.stm and discuss issues being raised

7. Electronic tagging and tracking of known criminals or those on probation

a)Describe how the technology works

b)Discuss the impact ankle tagging is having on the prison service; the criminals; the general public


8. Wiretapping/Internet monitoring and Monitoring of VOIP Calls
a)Read the article on Wiretapping http://people.howstuffworks.com/wiretapping.htm and present a brief description of how it works.
b) How would the police – monitor internet usage?

c) With the increasing popularity of VOIP to make calls, what impact has this had on the ability of the police to monitor phone calls?

National Identity Cards
Visit the sites to have a look at the information made available to the citizens of

UK – DirectGov www.direct.gov.uk

Brunei – www.e-government.gov.bn

1. Browse through the sites and describe the information that is available.

2. Who are the main stakeholders in both cases

3. Describe the impact that e-government schemes have had on the different stakeholders.


Discuss the above findings in pairs.

Politics and Government
The research work below should be presented in clas today.

Read the following articles and answer the questions:

http://www.howstuffworks.com/e-voting.htm/printable

http://www.cioinsight.com/article2/0,1540,2002517,00.asp

1. Describe the advantages of e-voting?

2. Punchcards have been used since the 1960’s. What are they and how do they work?

3. Describe the disadvantages to this style of voting and the consequences of this?

4. Optical Scanners are an alternative methods of using IT in voting. This is where the scanner scans the paper and pen method of voting to help count up the votes, which should reduce the number of human errors in counting votes. What are the disadvantages of this form?

5. Many countries are using ATM like machines called Direct Recording Electronic systems for voting with touch screen monitors. Diebold Election Systems is one manufacturer. Describe how they work and discuss any advantages and disadvantages of using this system.

6. A fundamental challenge with any voting machine is assuring the votes were recorded as cast and tabulated as recorded. Describe some of the methods used.

7. Internet Voting has not really developed. In February 2004, the Pentagon dumped its internet voting system. The $22 million Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment (SERVE) was supposed to allow military and overseas civilians a chance to vote, but was not considered secure enough. Discuss some of the issues associated with Internet voting. Consider the characteristics of a good voting system.


1. Read the articles and describe the purpose of the blogspot.

2. Discuss the social and ethical issues of Political Blogging

You have to remember that the blogs may be biased and for political