Political Growth

The Government

All websites with the .gov ending to the domain name are government websites. These websites help to inform the public of what is happening within governments as well as bring countries together.

The information provided to the public through these websites are highly useful and is much faster than the previous method of writing a letter to your closest MP. The websites can provide information about useful links to other websites that will answer your questions, maintenance in your area and what will be happening soon within the government.

Younger generation and Elections

A main part of what happens in the government is the elections that take place. The internet allows for a wider range of campaigning. Getting yourself on a social networking site such as Facebook brings the information of the government to a higher amount of generations and putting it right in the face of the most impressionable of all, Young adults.

Where those in their 30-70’s have had decades to learn what happens in government those of us who are still in that 18-25 bracket have probably not been that informed on how politics really works and the younger generation have grown up with the internet and seek information through the internet rather than with newspapers of watching the 6 o clock news. So popular media sites such as Facebook or Myspace allow for political parties to get there face out there in the public eye and put a positive spin on the thing they want to do in their party. With much larger coverage it obviously then leads to more votes!

Online Petitions

Online petitions cover a much wider area of people that that of normal petitions reaching areas of people that we never even consider. Where a normal petition would reach the town of the issue, those who care about the issue but are only vaguely related e.g. they drive through the area every day and it will affect them without them living there or even stopping there suddenly have the ability to get involved from home without having to seek it out.

So when the number of signatures turns from hundreds to thousands it is difficult to ignore and the government realises that something small at the very least needs to change. These petitions can be made massive with the use of social networking sites.

The growth of the internet means that more people care about the news and are willingly getting involved with politics.

Technological Growth

The Technology on the internet is rapidly growing to a point where it’s beginning to provide you with things you never even knew you wanted till they gave it to you. This growth in technology has made out life much easier and allows for extra security of things on cloud storage and being able to access all your information no matter where you are on a wireless device.

Cloud Storage

Large companies such as windows live SkyDrive offer free storage for all your documents on the internet. The data you decide to keep there is put into virtual lockers that you can go in and out of whenever you like as long as you have an internet connection.

Advantages

• All online, with all your information saved on the internet you don’t have to make backup copies onto anything like a pen drive or cd’s or an external hard drive. You can get to everything and you know it’s safe. Plus it’s not taking up physical space in your office. It might be ok as an individual because everything might fit onto one or two external hard drives. For the average person it just saves a lot of time but for a company it would take hundreds of hard drives to keep copies of all their different databases etc.

• Easy Access, with cloud storage transportation becomes the easiest thing in the world. No need to carry it with you because all you have to do is log in online and you have everything you need sat right in front of you.   

• Price, the price is right! For the average person using cloud storage the 100GB free that most service providers give is more than enough and you never need to upgrade to the £3.50 of whatever the tariff per month to have more space.

Disadvantages

• Security, having everything backed up is great; you’re not going to lose anything theoretically. However it leaves all your information and files in the hands of the service provider. Should for some reason it gets wiped all your information is gone and it’s a lot easier to hack into information saved in cloud storage than into your computer itself. So perhaps it only ok if what your saving in there is simply family photos but anything you care about the rest of the world seeing is best to be kept on your own computer behind password etc.

• Time, so it saves time instead of backing it up but because you’re doing it over the internet rather than onto a removable storage space it could take longer to upload and download information.

Packet switching

Packet switching is the sending of packets of data in digital networking used for communication. The internet is of course the most popular place that uses packet switching.  The way packet switching works is by dividing the data into separate package so that every letter is sent separately. The separate packages can take completely different routes to get to the destination and after all of the packages from the same message get to the desired destination they are reassembled into the correct order.
Packet switching of course helps in the process of protecting information as it is sent across the internet because the data has been divided into separate parts. The contribution this has to the internet is massively substantial because we are able to send personal details across the internet without the worry that their information will get stolen and used in identity theft etc.

Domain Names

IP addresses are unrecognisable to humans and we would find it difficult to remember them. The system of the domain naming system is hierarchical for computers and translates the domain name into an IP address saving us a lot of hassle

The point of domain names is that we all remember what the name of our favourite clothing brand or can remember a word that they want to visit the website of. And can easily remember hundreds of website domain names because they are exactly the same as the name of the shop etc. e.g. Newlook.com where we would only be able to remember a handful of 12 digit IP addresses that to us appear to be simply a random set of numbers.

Mobile devices

The ability to connect to the internet anywhere is most obviously one of the biggest key developments to the growth of the internet. The use of wireless also allows for areas at home and work to be less crowded. So not the entire internet connected devices need to be in the same room because they all need to be attached to the same router. They can be spaced out across a large room or in separate rooms as long as they are within reach of the wireless connection.

The use of wireless has expanded massively in the last few years and has spread from just laptops, IPhones, smart phone and iPod etc. A problem though is that with loads of people attaching to the same wireless network they are all sharing the same router so space on the bandwidth is stretched making the internet on each device run slower. This however can be fixed by buying faster internet although this can be expensive.

This ability to always connect to the internet has made the use of internet by the average person grow massively because we use it all the time rather than just when we get home. We use it to check our emails constantly throughout the day as well as on transport when bored etc.

Academic Growth

Features are popping up all over the internet that help towards being able to use is as a permenant source of information and research material. With these resources hitting the internet it's lowering the need to use books and developing the way we can go through our education giving us more option about how we want to learn. 

Online Encylclopedias/ Academic search engines

Google scholar gives all internet browsers access to articles, case studies and technical reports whether they be a digital or physical copy. Below shows google scholar in action. As you can see 'Plato has been searched for and different results have appeared below the search. These results are not just those which you would find on the regular google but are tailored to academic research etc. The results shown are first: A book written by Plato himself and second a case study written by Plato.

On the same note of resources on the internet wiki's such as wikipidea and Catawiki provide an excellent and expansive source of information available to us. These wiki's may be written by the average person, so could be argued to be unreliable. It is found that they are frequently updates by other members who specialise in that particular field, so are kept at a reasonable standard.

VLE’s

Virtual learning environments such as Moodle establishes a relationship between pupils and teachers because teachers can put pieces of work and study tools onto it that the student can access them. This would mean that after a lesson a teacher could post the presentation they gave in the lesson and a summary sheet. Allowing Pupils to make notes in there own time and maximise their use of the lesson.

However this can cause a problem because children feel like they are expected to use the online resources rather than ask the teacher outside of school hours. This can mean that the student actually accomplishes less in the hour slot for the lesson, and can leave them feeling confused about what they are meant to be doing.

Digital libraries

Currently there is only one digital library available at the moment (Kindle) but they are currently being created all over the world. These libraries mean we don’t have to leave our on home or carry a physical book. It can be argued that this could cause problems with getting old documents onto the internet.

Plus if someone has collected an entire series of books and then they get a kindle, they might prefer to complete the set rather than buy/borrow it from a digital library.

Google scholar do have some free reports that we can access on a loan basis, so can be used as a sort of library.

Online learning websites

Online learning websites allows for independent learning. Open University is a prime example of people using the internet in order to further their education. In the future these online learning websites have the possibilities to be part of home schooling and a vital learning instrument.

Gets primary schools involved

Does this mean teachers are not needed?

Social Growth

Social growth of the Internet has changed how we live our lives forever, those of us who thought our parents would never get the hang of using the Internet, were amazed as the urge to be part of the social development of the Internet pushed them to be part of the Facebook audience.

We all soon learnt how to keep in touch with anyone we wanted to.

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The most crucial of them all and by far one of the most popular. Facebook, outstripping its rivals bebo and Myspace. With 25 billion pieces of content uploaded every month, Facebook became a phenomenon with it becoming more popular to simply post your pictures online and tag your friends than print them out and put them into albums.

Facebook changed the Internet, with a massive 500 billion minutes spent on Facebook every month it has become the first and last thing people check when loading their browser, just in case they have a notification.

Since becoming such a massive part of people's lives more than 1 million sites have integrated with Facebook so that if you read an article, see a picture, watch a video or like anything on the Internet you have the option to click the 'like' button and share it with all of your friends.

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Twitter is an online social networking site that allows members to 'tweet' a text based message of 140 characters. Since its introduction in 2006 twitter has rapidly gained global popularity with 300 million recorded users in 2011 alone. Many celebrities have also began to use twitter to share what they are doing with their fans. This gives celebrities to communicate with absolutely anyone and paint a picture of themselves rather than the media or magazines having full control. As well as this Twitter has become another one of the ways people put themselves out there in an attempt to become famous. Getting yourself on a combination of youtube, twitter and facebook. People WILL start to learn your name whether they want to or not!

 With Twitter on our mobile we can literally 'tweet' our thoughts at any moment whether they are interesting, cruel or just plain boring. The question is, could what we post on our twitter feeds be seen as cyber bullying? Slagging of a celebrity, colleague or even your Boss seems funny at the time but could not only land you in a whole heap of trouble but could also be insulting and sometimes hurtful to the person your talking about. Below is a twitter post by JaackMaate, someone made popular through the insults he throws out daily...

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Steering away from Facebook and twitter and the whole idea of posting messages that people read in order to get to know you. Youtube offers a very personal way that people can put themselves out there so that you feel like you know them.

Youtube has in fact become such a constant source of entertainment for people that there is a television programme 'rudetube' that is dedicated to ranking the most popular youtube videos into genre's such as 'Animal Madness' and 'Total Stunts' as well as the fact it would take 600 years to view all the videos with 48 hours more footage being added every minute and roughly 200 thousand videos added every day!

The classic youtube slogan 'Broadcast yourself' is exactly what people have done with every day people becoming famous, such as Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber! People use Youtube to  do covers of songs, express there opinion, make fan videos, anything really!

 

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The easy to use instant messenger Skype has impressed us all with it's professional yet free finish allowing even the most technology inept of us to stay in contact with those closest to us whether that be our friends at nighttime or our grandchildren that have moved to Australia! With a massive 663 million users Skype isn't going to be being replaced anytime soon especially when the ability to have group conversations with video gives the more personal touch that we all like to have when missing someone.

VOIP (Voice over internet protocol) is slowly becoming something we are all very familiar with and is sure to become we will soon come to talk for granted. 

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Ray Tomlinson is quoted as saying he invented email, “Mostly because it seemed like a neat idea. No one was asking for email.” 

E-mail is by far the most used method of communication in business. With it's free and easy usability everyone has the ability to send messages to anyone they want. Since it's beginning in 1973 the text based messages we are able to send have increased in size as well as including the ability to add a picture, video, sound clip, document etc to the end of it. With many e-mail providers they now offer the ability to send instant messages to other e-mail accounts.

From a telephone call and letters to foreign countries, E-mail became possible because you could communicate with anyone all over the world in a matter of minutes. Keeping in touch with business's of course is a different matter. Where meetings and interviews still need to be in person the small details of organising times and places.

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Online Gaming has helped change the internet through a game consoles such as the xbox, playstation or the nintendo wii. Online Gaming allows users to meet other people and in the process make friends that they can play the game with possibly more frequently. This means is combines something entertaining with a social aspect

Below is a screen shot from the hugely popular 'call of duty'. These games allow for groups of people to get together and play either over the internet or in the same room. Different consoles are of course targetted at different types of social groups. So where 'Call of Duty' is targetted at boys and groups of guys prodominantly because of the fighting aspect of it.

 Where consoles such as the nintendo wii are targetted at both sexes or families, a much more cheerful side of gaming.

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Online Dating has become a new social hub for people who arn't confident enough to go out and meet new partners. An online dating site allows for many interactions before you have to dive straight in and meeting the person, which can be socially awkward. Unlike a blind date set up by that thoughtful friend a dating site allows you to talk to the person you would be meeting and find out if they are looking for the same thing as you.

Below is a print screen from the online dating website 'Zoosk' after being asked a considerable amount of questions about what you want out of the relationship, they match you to other people that want the same thing.

This sort of social growth of the internet takes away from the the interatactions we go through in life. This can mean that something that is designed to take away from social awkwardness could increase that very problem because people don't have to go out and meet people, and therefore become more computer dependant as a way to meet people.

Commercial Growth

Electronic commerce more commonly known as e-commerce is the buying and selling of products or services over a system such as the internet. E-commerce became possible in 1991 when the internet was opened to commercial use and since then millions of users have experienced the ups and downs of buying and selling on the internet.

Advantages

· Users can buy or sell their products 24/7. This is because the internet is a continuous service all over the world and never closes overnight or for a coffee. It is also helped by the fact that all around the world there are different time zones meaning that there will always, whatever time it is, be a large number of people surfing and having fun. You can even do it in their pyjamas.

· Companies have a greater reach to customers. This is because they are basically selling their products in the customer’s comfort of their own home. This causes the customer to become relaxed and will therefore part with their cash more easily.

 · Anyone can start an online business. Starting a business online is much easier and often much simpler than starting out on a high-street. By starting it online there is also a much larger audience for the shop as it is broadcasted across the world meaning that there would be more people wanting to buy all the products that no one else wants to buy.

· Customers can select products from different providers without having to physically re-locate. By shopping online customers have the choice of multiple products. By doing this if benefits the customer becausue the stores have to try and keep their prices lower than other providers allowing them to gain the trade that they need to stay in business.

-Business running costs are lower than a physical business. This is because you don’t have to hire premises out to keep all you stock in, and you also don’t have to hire as many staff.

Disadvantages

-E -Commerce is an easy tool for thieves to start a business. there are no security checks on people when they set up a site allowing thieves to set up a fake brand site so that they can sell the big names for small prices making them loads of money.

Customer can not physically see the product before purchasing. Especially with clothes because each have size has a different sizing system so you could buy one and then be like it’s nice but it doesn’t fit and then you to send it back and it’s like a massive effort. Oh and the quality might not be a good because you could buy something which is like really nice and then try it on and it would feel disgusting and then you have to send it back again and it’s like so much effort again. Also with eBay and stuff people could like sell empty boxes and stuff so you’re not really SURE WHAT YOU ARE BUYING.

Tecnology problems can cause problems ordering more than you want because of accidental clicking

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Online Shopping

Signing up to an online store puts you straight onto the mailing list. Once on the mailing list, e-mails will be sent to the user marketing new products and price reductions.

With the invention of smartphones people can now design ads, banners etc to be placed into the app, a new way of marketing along side this the QR code has become a massively popular way to help advertise a product.

QR codes appear in loads of different places here is one about a mini and another in a train station. The most famous QR code it in times square.

Anyone can create a QR code, here’s one we made.

Google ads

 Google uses a technology that will only target the marketing towards the audience, for example if a person searched for online groceries, Google Ads would promote Asda and Tesco online.  Another feature that Google Ads offer is pay per hit, meaning Google pay the specific company each time the link is clicked, this is a new form of e-marketing where people get paid to take part

Geo-marketing

Geo-marketing is another new way of e-marketing, as more people are starting to use phones, companies can track these devices and send 'push notifications' to the user dependant on their location, for example if the user was located near a Pizza Hut and the user had a Pizza Hut, the app would suggest meals and offers at that specific location.

Online Auctions

Online auctions can save us money, this is because people can start to bid what they feel is right for the product, and to stop us losing money we can set a minimum price so that we get what we feel it is worth.

An addiction. Some people become addicted to online auctions, as it is a form of bidding, people can start with a low amount (matter of pennies) and end up spending hundreds of pounds. For example people were posting ipod nanos on ebay for 20p a few years ago and people just kept bidding on them until they were in the hundreds and actually way over the retail price.