The End.

Yes, I am done with ITGS! and IB for that matter.
I am very excited, obviously, even though I know I am going to miss some of the things that I enjoyed in this class. I am surely going to miss seeing all my classmates and all the fun we had together, all the times we would find ourselves discussing (debating, fighting about) off-topic issues. I really enjoyed ITGS and I definitely don't regret having taken it.

About the exam:

I really didn't find the exam to be as shocking as the other exams I had taken but it wasn't too easy either. I think every ITGS student should study for the exam, especially paper 1, by studying terms and concepts that we use everyday because most of the terms that I was asked to define were things that I use every day but that I might find difficult to define using techy words... My advice would be to look through the glossary of Tomorrow's Technology.
Then look at past papers and markscheme just to have an idea of what is expected from you. What is the difference between "explain", "evaluate" and "discuss"? How much information you're expected to provide? The ITGS exam's challenge is not about thinking or remembering things that you've memorized, the challenge is being able to use your time well and answering the questions in the right format. So ask the teacher to do some practice and evaluate yourself.
Then, RELAX.
It's very important because if you panick you risk not being able to answer questions that you know well. Relax as you study, relax before the exam and relax as you're taking the exam. Even when you realize you don't have enough time left, don't panick because it doesn't help you.
This basically all I can say about the exam... any questions: leave a comment.

Advice for the next generation (HL students)

ITGS HL is not that hard, it is quite doable, it just requires certain things:

• You would need to be an indenpendent learner. You would make sure that you know what you need to know. You should set up some sort of schedule just to make sure that you will be able to cover everything you need to learn before either the December exams, mock exams and the real IB exams.

• You will need to be proactive! You should not seat down and wait for the teacher to give you back your assignment if you really need it or wait for them to ask you your homework or give you assignments. Sometimes, in fact many times, you will need to remind the teacher of your needs. And it's not just about the teacher but also other fellow ITGS students. If there aren't so many HL students in the class, sometimes SL students tend to chill out and all so you would need to remind them to be serious...

• Take good notes, that is very important. And keep them together. I used a website to take notes because sometimes I would do research online and wouldn't want to print everything or copy it on paper. The website I used for taking notes is www.backpackit.com

• The Case study! Learn e-v-e-r-y tech vocab word that you're not sure you know. Even check for those that you already knew to make sure that you would be able to define them well if you were asked to. Ask the teacher to make up some questions based on the case study for you just practice. Talk to your teacher whenever you have questions because sometimes the teacher might tell you about something that you would have not been able to find otherwise. Ok, when you get your case study, first thing is to underline key words. Second, define them all. Third, research on social/ethical issues. Fourth, further research on issues that may not be directly related to the case study specifically.

• Um, don't worry about the IAs. You can easily do them if you just take your time to understand what exactly is expected from you. The only advice that I would give you on the IAs is to make sure that when you submit the rough draft to your teacher, make sure that it's really good, your best! because the teacher can only make good comments once and for the second time the teacher can't say much.

• Finally, enjoy the class. Honestly, it can be pretty boring at times but if you have the right attitude, you will enjoy it.

Peace. ;)

Case Study Activity 2

I was supposed to buy different items from two grocery stores and compare how the food is processed and checking out.
I am comparing buying MaxMart and Koala where I bought one kilo of jam, raisins, bread, a kitkat chocolate bar and a bottle of juice.
Generally, Koala seems to be a more traditional grocery store compared to MaxMart which is much bigger. Therefore, MaxMart has more checkout points than Koala. Both stores however use barcodes to identify the products. There is not much different to how the checkout process goes because their systems are different.
This is a challenge for me because all the known supermarkets here in Ghana use barcodes and none use RFID system. Therefore I am not able to compare the checkout process and see if RFID system really makes things go faster. I also need to refer to personal experience as a customer when I answer questions on the exam...

Case Study Activity 1

For this assignment, I was supposed to go shopping in one of Accra's supermarket and observe how bar codes work and how the IT systems work different stakeholders.

I went shopping to MaxMart (East Legon) where they use bar codes. I am going to comment on the impact of IT systems according to different stakeholders' perspectives.

Customers' perspectives:

+ The bar codes have the name of the items, the brand and typed price on them so it helps the customers differentiate items and know how much they are going to spend in advance.
+ The use of bar codes really speeds up the check out process. I have been to a local store before where they do not use bar codes and checking out items takes much longer.
+ There is camera surveillance in MaxMart and this is a good thing for customers because there would not be many workers hanging around with suspicious looks on their faces. The customers feel like their shopping in privacy even though they are being watched because it is easy to forget that there are cameras.
- Bar codes at MaxMart are printed on a piece of paper and sticked on the item. However, when items are refrigerated, the piece of paper gets wet so sometimes the ink gets mixed which makes the writings illegible.
- Since also the bar code piece of paper is sticked on the items, it can easily removed and replaced by another one and it would be hard to see the difference.
- When I asked some customers, they said that the IT systems' impact is limited as the IT cannot replace the staff. Therefore, there are still some problems with the staff that the IT system cannot solve.

CeBIT: Supermarket of the future

As an HL student, I get to do Paper 3 which is on a case study just for HL people. This year's case study is about a supermarket that wants to update its way of working for the benefit of both the company and its customers.
Today, I have been honored to find one of the most amazing supermarket technology out now: CeBIT's SAP.
It is basically a technology that allows shoppers to use their phone number as shop lists so that when they enter the supermarket, instead of wandering around looking for the item they want, SAP looks up the items on the server, creates a map with the most efficient route to shop for all your items and shows the available brands and prices. The application is also an on-the-fly checkout system that scans the price of items as they're lifted off the shelves and charges them to an account. The only disadvantage is that it is too costly for the mass retail market since it requires RFID tagging.
This sure an awesome technology but it is yet to be implemented in stores.

Source: Australian IT

Yahoo OpenID Plan Spotlights Privacy Issues

Yahoo is planning on adopting a new log-in system that allows the user to log in only once, on one website, then have all their yahoo accounts logged in on other websites. It works like this: when Yahoo users go to a site using the OpenID protocol, they will either see a special Yahoo log-in field, or they can type "yahoo.com" into an OpenID field to start the log-in process. The Web site will redirect the user to Yahoo to log in, and then Yahoo will forward the user's identifying information back to the Web site. Of course this is a relief for those people who used to waste a lot of time log-in on multiple yahoo websites. But on the other hand, this OpenID system may cause a lot of privacy issues. For instance, if one of the Yahoo websites gets hacked, it means that they'll access your private information autamatically while you could have prevented that from happening if you had had the choice of log-in on that specific website. According to Lane, it's like putting all your eggs in the same basket. Plus, you might not want to share the same log-in info on all the Yahoo websites yuo visit (like Wall Street Journal vs. Nerve.com).
In my opinion, I think it is everybody's choice to use the OpenID thing although I know that if Yahoo finally decides to use it, many people will use it without knowing what it really means and many of them will use it just because it's "new". Sad.

Source: Top Tech News

Would e-voting encourage more people to vote?

In many countries the electoral process is marked by the absence of a significant number of voters which makes the results less democratics because they do not represent the opinion of all the inhabitants of the country. However, many countries, including England, have adopted an electoral process that they think it would encourage people to vote and make elections more democratic. A recent study shows that e-voting encourages people to vote because they do not have to move in order for them to vote. In addition, it takes less time to vote because they can simply send a text-message or online vote and go on with their daily business. The Diaspora also benefits from that because they can send their votes online without having to fly to their country in order to vote. In England, e-voting is one of the voting options that British citizens enjoy.

Source: BBC News

ITGS semester 1 Exam

Today was the first time I wrote an ITGS exam as an HL student. I had to write 3 papers and it was not easy at all. At first I did not know how I was going to manage my time so that I would be able to finish everything (because in ITGS you can explain something and go on and on forever). So I decided I would answer questions in Paper 1 fast but make sure I say the main points so that I would save enough time to do Paper 2 and 3 and then come back to paper 1 later. It actually worked. I was afraid that I was going to see questions about things that I didn't know but I knew it all except from dynamic pricing which I think I guessed right. Overall, I cannot say that I have secured a 6 or 7 on this exam but I am glad it was not a major disaster (at least for now).

Facebook unveils targeted 'social ads'

After last weeks announcement that Microsoft had bought Facebook for only $15 billion, Facecook has announced its new ad strategy that involves advertising to people depending on their personal interest. Friends can advertise their own things to friends and it will appear in their conversation. Faceboook is also planning on asking its users what they buy and what they're interested in so that they can receive ads that are related to their personal interest. Of course, this causes a privacy issue because some users might not be interesting in those ads and might find it annoying to receive ads from friends. Privacy has previously been an issue with Facebook when Facebook introduced NewsFeeds that allow friends to receive updates information from their friends, for instance, a wall conversation between your friends can show up in your newsfeed. Although Facebook responded to people's complaints by allowing them to eliminate newsfeed, Facebook is nw facing a new problem because it will have to find a way to introduce this new ads feature to its users in a way that they can accept it.

Personally, I don't think it's good idea because it will make the website look cheap with so many ads. This will also mean that there will be people joining facebook just for advertisement so this new feature will ruin the image that Facebook had of a quiet familiar nice socializing place.

When work becomes a game

Due to the increasing number of adult video gamers some companies are considering creating a virtual world for their workers to make meetings, discuss about work issues in a way that is familiar and interesting. Some studies show that workers are more motivated by virtual world work because they feel like they're playing a game, work becomes more relevant and personal. virtual worlds also allow employers to make a system where employees will be awarded for certain things such as finishing a project, etc. Employees will be able to accumulate points and feel like their work is paying off. However, most companies already using this technology say that employees' wages are not affected by their performance in the virtual world. Employers say that this new evolution has benefited them because it makes those achieving workers stand out by making lots of points and gaining many awards.
On the other hand, although this new technological evolution sounds interesting, I am wondering what would happen to those employees who are not familiar with games and virtual world (like me). Also, I was wondering if a virtual world would not make employees more obsessed with the game and the "cool stuff" and not care much about the meaning and value of their work.

Citation: BBC News

Internet Name for Asia Launched

With the growth of internet use in Asia, Asians have expressed the need to have their own domain ".asia". The process started in 2000 and the DotAsia Organization promised that the domain will start functioning in March 2008. The domain covers Asia, the Middle East and Australia. It is expected that Africa and Latin will soon create their own domain.

Source: BBC News

I'm an HL student now!

I'm finally an HL student and believe it or not I'm excited about it.
I look forward to working hard in ITGS and I like it because I find it more relevant to the real world. I have to finish my portfolio as soon as possible, certainly before the October break.
It's going to be very tough but I'm determined to do my best.
wish me good luck! :)

Massive hydrogen exoplanet

I was checking the news today and found an interesting story that some scientist discovered a new planet that's not solid but made of hydrogen. It is apparently the biggest planet in the solar system. Scientists discovered circling a star in the constellation Hercules (which I hope means that it's very far from us and will never attempt to hit us). But what I foud most interesting about this story is the fact that the planet was discovered by the same guy who "discovered" ex-planet Pluto! As soon as I found out about this I started asking myself if this thing is really a planet... how do you "discover a planet" anyway?

Citation: CNN

Kuchofuku's air conditioned bed

Well, it is summer, the weather is hot and if you live in Ghana you are not always guaranteed to have a nice sleep with the AC on because sometimes there lights will be off.

Over are those nights!

Let me introduce you the Nuchofuku air conditioned bed that utilizes dual fans to pull air in and circulate it through the cushion beneath you. And it only weighs 5.3-pounds. Of course, it'd be a modern tragedy to have to rise and leave such a pleasant scenario, but you can solve that dilemma as well care of the air conditioned shirt. The button-up garb touts an integrated fan that is purportedly powered via USB, which means that your armpits can now remain fresh regardless of how infrequent the AC kicks on at the office. A cooler night's sleep is but $399 away, while the new threads (seen after the jump) will run you a staggering $159 apiece.

Hope you're having a great summer.

Source: Here

I Love ITGS!

ITGS is not just a class, it's class!

Get it?
;)

Freedom of Speech

I think we all like freedom of speech because it enables us to express ourselves with no restrictions and aslo through-out history (and even today) people have fought for freedom of speech. But again, we must not forget that there is a limit to everything. But where is the limit when it comes to freedom of speech?
Last two week we read a chapter on freedom of speech over the internet and its consequences. At the beginning I was in favor for total freedom of speech because I found it hard to judge what should be published or not. But at the end of the chapeter I was more aware of some of the bad consequences that freedom of speech brings and I was more careful judging whether there should be restrictions or not on what we access on the internet. Because I believe that as a society in general, we are not yet ready to face some of the dark realities around us. The issue of freedom of speech is a big issue because it keeps coming up.

Mac vs. PC

I find quite interesting the debate going on about Mac vs PC. Maybe that's because I don't understand why people should make a big deal out of it, everyone is entitled to their opinion and if people can not come to a common point then too bad. It is very hard to determine what's "better" because both the Macs and the PCs have features that the other one doesn't have.
But what has caught my attention and what is fun about the whole debate are the numerous funny videos from Mac (that are becoming increasingly popular on several websites) that promote features of Macs that PCs lack. Now, these videos are extremely funny!!
Here's my most favorite one!
Enjoy! :)

Obsolescence!

This is a nice new laptop from Atari. It only costs $399.95!!!

That was back in 1989!

This is one of the obsolete computers that you can only get an image of on the obsolete.com website. When I saw it for the first time I actually thought it was not so bad for its time. In 1989 there were computers with literally no screen! And it looks small but unfortunately obsolescence devored it away. I think we should actually have a museum for old computers in order to honor them for their beauty and their insipiration on the younger generation (because I'm sure they were made so nicely and the some of the same features are used to make actual computers that we use today).

Oh Ergo!

Oh Ergonomics

Thrown away my ego

And turned everything eco

For I would have known it long ago

I could have been my own hero

For Ergo has not left me solo

And my love for you Ergo

Will always echo

Ergonomics!

I love what we're doing this week, we're doing ERGONOMICS!!!
Well, ergonomics are related to the comfort and healthiness of different techy items such as the computers, phones, etc. It is also about the user and how they can use those items in the most comfortable and healthy way.
I've actually realized some stuff about seating positions and other things like that I didn't know or care about before. Now I think I'm more careful with what I do and how I do it. For instance, I've realized that most of the time when I'm working, I tend to not sit up straight but kind of shrink in my chair. I honestly don't know why I do that when I'm stressed, because most people sit uup straight when stressed... Anyway, I found out that it is not healthy and I'm trying to work on it so that I can work in a healthier way.
Definately, this chapter on ergonomics has changed my way of working and has taught me to be more careful with techy items that I buy and use. It is quite interesting!