One could hardly imagine life nowadays without the Internet and advances like email, e-commerce, and information access it gives. Although the Internet is widespread all over the world, there are still some regions like rural Africa, which have weak or no Internet connectivity, caused by low bandwidth and high cost.
In relation to Europe and other developed countries, Africa stands in the lower position with regard to the Internet connection and use. For instance, distribution by world regions shows that Africa constitutes only 19 percent, while Americas 65 percent, or Europe 75 percent of the global Internet usage, reports the International Telecommunications Union ( Internet Users by Region ). However, trying to link networks in different locations, SkyVision company refused from terrestrial connectivity in order to improve the service because it lacks connectivity between submarine cables. Instead, they offer a groundbreaking satellite-based technology that allows reaching the high-speed data services and reliable broadband in the most distant locations. Moreover, as a rapid solution to extend Internet services and network coverage, many companies are rapidly investing in developing the market (Stanton 306).
The importance of being connected to the Internet is deeply felt in the banking area where people need an online secure payment system or secure delivery services. Today, banks simply cannot provide connectivity to rural areas where lives 65 percent of the population (Stair 304). SkyVisions fiber-optic technology allows providing the Internet for 90 ATM sites in most rural regions. Despite undertaken efforts to improve Internet connectivity, 69 percent of the consumers were identified as non-users and the main reason for non-adoption relates to cost, unsafe transactions and unawareness of the benefits of the products and services offered through internet banking (Sarlak 2011). The economic relations between Europe and Africa develop positively owing to reliable and secure data sharing system afforded by SkyVision. For example, Agro-Industrial Group needs to connect its African departments to each other. Among the other benefits corresponding to different fields are sufficient teleports, best Radio Frequency (RF) capability, and support for Multiple Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) Backbone.
Another company taking initiative is Google that announced Project Link in 2013, which promotes possibility to connect more people to the Internet and each other for a better way with the help of fiber-optic networks. The headquarters of the Project is located in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, a densely populated city with low Internet connectivity. It said it wants to help local businesses, schools, and others to make better use of the Internet (Miners 4). The future of the Project Link seems to be successful to expand of high-speed fiber Internet in many areas over 1,000 kilometers of Africa including Greater Accra, Kumasi, and Tema.
Unfortunately, African governments impose high fees and taxes on technology placed on the ground. Besides, the second barrier is that policy makers do not cooperate liberalizing the policies to support private investments to expand infrastructure across rural Africa. The South Africas President Jacob Zuma, however, has an ambitious plan of spending $97 billion to leverage infrastructure as the foundation for economic and technological renewal over the next three years (Juma 4).
In conclusion, it should be stressed that Africa is an increasingly developing area having a great potential to become Internet user nation with better service, lower prices, and economic benefits and overcome the digital divide.
Works Cited
Internet Users by Region. Internet Users. n.p. 2013. Web.
Miners, Zach. Google to Build Fiber Networks in Africa through Project Link. IDG News Service. 2013. Web.
Sarlak, Mohammad Ali. E-banking and Emerging Multidisciplinary Processes Social, Economical and Organizational Models. Hershey, PA: Business Science Reference, 2011. Print.
Stair, Ralph M., and George Walter Reynolds. Principles of Information Systems. 10th ed. Boston, Mass.: Course Technology, Cengage Learning, 2012. Print.
Stanton, Andrea L. L., and Dr. Edward Ramsamy. Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa an Encyclopedia. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 2012. Print.
Cloud services are an emerging field of technological advancement in the Internet-related industries. Clouds are basically external servers that could be used for storing, copying, transferring, and utilizing various types of data (Frazier & Hearrington, 2017). Prior to the emergence of cloud services, every facility operating a local network was required to have its own dedicated servers. The establishment of such an operation is associated with significant costs necessary for furnishing a server room, purchasing hardware, utilizing software, and performing server maintenance. Many businesses and organizations that often require storage space do not have the financial capacity to own their own servers. At the same time, the public need for convenient and cost-efficient servers stimulated the development of clouds. The immediate advantages of cloud services are as follows:
Cost-efficiency. A cloud subscription is infinitely cheaper than establishing a private server network (Chao, 2016);
Productivity. Cloud servers typically have large and powerful dedicated hardware to process multiple quarries. Overall processing speed is higher than that of small servers (Chao, 2016);
Storage space. Cloud servers provide significant amounts of storage space to premium clients (Chao, 2016).
Nevertheless, the cloud is not a panacea, as it comes with its own set of inherent issues associated with delegating a crucial task to a third-party provider. The major risks are as follows (Chao, 2016):
Lack of control. Customers have very little formal knowledge about how the system is operated since servers are typically located hundreds of miles away from their physical location;
Security issues. Customers have little to no control over what is done with their files in the cloud server. There is a potential for abuse by the providers as well as security breaches by third parties;
Reliance on the Extranet. Since cloud services are located outside of the companys physical space, companies would not be able to create an Intranet system using cloud services. Connection to the Internet becomes a critical requirement.
As it is possible to see, although cloud services offer significant advantages to small companies and individual users, industries that require high-security measures and less outside interference would not be able to adopt cloud for their own needs.
References
Chao, K. M. (2016). E-services in e-business engineering. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 16, 77-81.
Frazier, M., & Hearrington, D. (2017). Technology coordinators handbook (3rd ed.). Portland, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.
A wide-ranging notion of the Internet of Things (abbreviated as the IoT) is associated with the idea that there are specific devices that are talking to each other to accomplish a common goal of either personal or corporate character (Boyes, Hallaq, Cunningham, & Watson, 2018). Therefore, the majority of IoT programs are made of interconnected devices that are expected to be combined by either end-users or corporate technical experts into automated systems that pursue different goals ranging from building a smart home to reducing production costs on large scales. Following the ideas shared by Boyes et al. (2018), the key benefit of the IoT systems is the ability to collect information automatically and create actions intended to support specific actions, such as machine learning.
It was owing to the development of the IoT that smart mirrors and other numerous inventions appeared that focused on the utilization of available data and networking opportunities. The definition of the IoT would not exist without the concept of communication among numerous IoT networks either (Boyes et al., 2018). The idea behind such a hypothesis is that the IoT itself brings some IoT networks together and allows for the development of an interconnected world where operations are performed quicker, production costs are reduced, and more customers are kept contented.
A Real-Life Example of IoT Application
One of the best real-life examples of a company that successfully adopted the IoT and made the best use of it is DHL. Not so long ago, the company has introduced real-time sensors that could help logistics businesses monitor their supply chains instantaneously. Ultimately, DHL contributed to the development of the digital twins that stood for a virtual display of available physical assets and tended to update respectively when the asset itself changed (Magruk, 2016).
According to the evidence obtained by DHL and shared by Magruk (2016), the use of IoT initiatives would lead to improved global supply chains while also potentially allowing logistics companies to use even more technologies in an interconnected fashion. One of the most probable future inventions is the elaboration of sensors that will respond to contamination or damage taken by containers, with the ability to monitor container status in real-time.
DHL also mentioned that the overall cost could be one of the potential issues with the implementation of surplus IoT initiatives (Ranjan & Read, 2017). The perfect representation of physical assets presupposes a certain level of difficulty when it comes to gathering and processing data on available physical assets. The lack of expertise among staff members could also become an obstacle to the implementation of IoT, but the experience of DHL shows that the market is going to continue to grow. Interoperability, subsequently, will become the cornerstone of logistics that is supported by the issues of cybersecurity and intellectual property protection (Magruk, 2016).
The digital twins are going to be developed by DHL further, as this IoT technology means commercial success and innovation for the logistics mogul, where the operational costs will be driven down via technology.
The capabilities of logistics companies when it comes to monitoring and tracking essential data are currently tending to zero in terms of their effectiveness. This hints at the fact that the traditional supply chains will be transformed by the utilization of the IoT due to a different approach to organizational assets (Ranjan & Read, 2017). With data-driven decisions at hand, DHL is going to foster collaboration and streamline its operations, paving the way for even more IoT-related solutions. New business models are going to be developed within logistics to facilitate company-consumer relationships and allow for a joint exploration of IoT opportunities (Magruk, 2016). The popularity of IoT is going to promote the use of artificial intelligence and smart visualization, implementing IoT in logistics a much more attractive prospect than before.
Benefits of IoT for Organizations
Most importantly, the implementation of IoT creates opportunities for companies to improve workplace safety and build the basis for continuous improvement (Haddud, DeSouza, Khare, & Lee, 2017). The idea is that organizations have to develop secure solutions and keep up with the latest IoT updates to make a step toward a revolution in terms of how security concerns are being identified and managed. In a sense, this requires companies to advocate for the implementation of IoT if the company itself is willing to utilize related business solutions (Elijah, Rahman, Orikumhi, Leow, & Hindia, 2018).
The advent of sensors and wearables that bring interconnectedness to the business environment increases the risks related to data collection and processing but creates more room for corporate maneuvers such as data mining and real-time communication. At the same time, IoT could be used by organizations as a means of protecting the physical and logical assets of the company and develop a centralized digital shield intended to store all information safely.
The biggest advantage, nevertheless, is the ability of organizations to drive down operating costs and develop a working environment where the latest innovations are used for the common benefit. For example, many companies turn to IoT and artificial intelligence because these provide them with a never-before-seen level of sustainability (Haddud et al., 2017). The majority of smart advantages would be unavailable to companies in the case where they would not collect operational insights and review different scenarios related to data collection and usage.
The operational costs, in turn, would be reduced with the help of real-time data analysis, as the latter would allow for an improved view of the products or services provided by the company and consumers responses (Elijah et al., 2018). While reducing downtime and tracking available assets and equipment, organizations might be able to predict future errors or successes through IoT devices. The application of smart systems also contributes to the reduction of energy expenditures and redundant electrical systems that decrease the overall business efficiency.
Benefits of IoT for End Users
When it comes to the benefits of IoT for consumers, the first advantage that can be mentioned is the incredibly increased level of convenience compared to what consumers could do with available technologies a decade ago (Hoffman & Novak, 2018). Consumer homes with IoT capabilities, for example, are collecting that given consumers preferences and develop automation intended to leave the consumer contented (turn on the lights at a preset time, start the TV or a music player with the help of ones voice, and many other options that the IoT brings to consumers). As for the relationship between consumers and providers, smart capabilities could help the customer renew their subscription automatically and watch over almost any kind of schedule to prevent the consumer from being late with an important payment or a deposit (Hoffman & Novak, 2018).
Some companies even allowing their consumers to order food with the help of a refrigerator that notifies them of running out of certain products. The companies that offer smart home capabilities also make sure that preventive maintenance is completed promptly to keep the whole system intact.
Therefore, another benefit of the IoT for consumers is the increased level of security that they get when going headfirst into the world of interconnected devices that collect and send out immense arrays of information almost every second.
Even though many consumers tend to overlook the importance of protective measures (even when it comes to their smart homes, for instance), the IoT trends show that user authorization, encryption, and verification are becoming safer regardless of how complex the system is (Hoffman & Novak, 2018). Automated protection became an important asset for both consumers and organizations because it can learn patterns and identify threats based on the previously recognized samples. The end users have a chance to experience services of immaculate quality without either leaving the comfort of their home or exposing themselves to specific cyber threats, meaning that the advantages of IoT outweigh the downsides for them.
Most Prominent IoT Challenges
Challenges for Organizations
The first challenge that organizations might encounter when trying to make the best use of the IoT is the inability to prevent or even predict attacks that are going to occur (Stojkoska & Trivodaliev, 2017). Nowadays, cybercriminals are residing on the edge of technological progress, making it hard for companies to identify security threats and respond to the related risks effectively. With criminals becoming more proactive than businesses, the latter are exposing themselves to an increased number of vulnerabilities that contribute to the advent of even more security threats (Stojkoska & Trivodaliev, 2017).
The lack of expertise does not allow technical staff to fix the issues in time. Accordingly, the challenge of identifying and predicting cyber-attacks is long-term by nature, as it is much harder to maintain security among interconnected devices. The popularity of cloud services and artificial intelligence analytics makes companies vulnerable to external attacks while also exposing businesses to numerous additional costs that cannot be ignored.
Another challenge for companies is the complexity of data management under the condition where autonomous IoT systems are involved (Stojkoska & Trivodaliev, 2017). From the point of view of networking and data gathering procedures, the amount of information collected from interconnected systems is going to overflow every buffer within organizations systems, leading to confusion and data leaks.
This issue is going to be hard to handle because the majority of automated processes linked to the use of artificial intelligence require an exceptional level of expertise from the IoT admins. To bring more efficiency to the table, the companies will have to invest in traffic pattern detection and build upon networking opportunities (Stojkoska & Trivodaliev, 2017). The risk that comes together with the opportunity to handle vast arrays of data is directly proportionate to the time and effort that companies will have to invest to evade misconfiguration, outages, and data loss.
Challenges for Consumers
For consumers, the concept of IoT is also a challenge due to the lack of knowledge regarding what are ransomware or malware and how to deal with them efficiently (Stojkoska & Trivodaliev, 2017). Given that the IoT is developing at a rather high pace, it is logical that cybercriminals already have access to the latest cyberattack instruments that can help them catch consumers unprepared. Cybercriminals easily infiltrate into the consumers devices and steal all the data, sometimes even locking them out of their devices. As Stojkoska and Trivodaliev (2017) explain, within the IoT network with no necessary protection measures, cybercriminals would quickly gain access to confidential information with the help of an IoT-supported camera. This would ultimately lead to the attackers encrypting the most confidential information and asking the consumers to pay a ransom for recovery.
On the other hand, consumers are currently making the best use of IoT technologies when building smart homes and increasing the level of interconnectedness among numerous devices (Stojkoska & Trivodaliev, 2017). The exposure to technologies makes it easier for consumers to communicate with their house, while also uncovering them to the devastating hacker attacks that can deteriorate the benefits of home automation.
IoT security measures are still a challenge for the majority of consumers because they tend to ignore the biggest threats until they get attacked first-hand (Stojkoska & Trivodaliev, 2017). If a cybercriminal gains access to a personal IP address, they might also discover that persons contact details and residential address, creating a scenario where the consumer is going to be cornered, with the only exit being to pay the ransom with no guarantee that the criminal is not going to use stolen information for evil purposes in the future.
Conclusion
The future of the Internet of Things looks rather bright, especially given the fact that the increasing amount of data can be gathered from a variety of devices. It brings the importance of other technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to the forefront of business proceedings. Ultimately, the advantages of the Internet of Things outweigh the disadvantages, with several exceptions to be made when it comes to data security and protection. The case of DHL, a large logistics organization that carefully approaches the value of innovative technologies for its future, shows that the opportunities of applying the Internet of Things to real-life scenarios are practically limitless.
References
Boyes, H., Hallaq, B., Cunningham, J., & Watson, T. (2018). The industrial internet of things (IIoT): An analysis framework. Computers in Industry, 101, 1-12.
Elijah, O., Rahman, T. A., Orikumhi, I., Leow, C. Y., & Hindia, M. N. (2018). An overview of Internet of Things (IoT) and data analytics in agriculture: Benefits and challenges. IEEE Internet of Things Journal, 5(5), 3758-3773.
Haddud, A., DeSouza, A. R., Khare, A., & Lee, H. (2017). Examining potential benefits and challenges associated with the Internet of Things integration in supply chains. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, 28(8), 1055-1085.
Hoffman, D. L., & Novak, T. P. (2018). Consumer and object experience in the internet of things: An assemblage theory approach. Journal of Consumer Research, 44(6), 1178-1204.
Magruk, A. (2016). The Internet of things as the future technological trend of the innovative development of logistics. Research in Logistics & Production, 6, 16-24.
Ranjan, K. R., & Read, S. (2017). The six faces of value co-creation: A field guide for executives. Rutgers Business Review, 2(1), 23-31.
Stojkoska, B. L. R., & Trivodaliev, K. V. (2017). A review of Internet of Things for smart home: Challenges and solutions. Journal of Cleaner Production, 140, 1454-1464.
The Internet has provided people with unlimited access to information, but such a convenience also has a negative side. The use of materials available on the Internet, whether intended or unintended, can be harmful to children. Young users can be exposed to unpleasant or violent images or videos, and they can also become victims of cyberbullying. To protect children from inappropriate and offensive materials found on the Internet, COPPA and CIPA were introduced. While both acts have reasonable aims, they also contain some challenging elements, which makes it difficult to comply with them.
The Main Compliance Requirements for COPPA and CIPA
Both COPPA and CIPA impose obligations on administrators of websites and other online services that are used by children. According to COPPA, all website or online service operators collecting information from children under thirteen must include a privacy policy in order to protect childrens safety and privacy online ( How to comply with Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act [COPPA], n.d.). COPPA cooperates with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to explain the major requirements for compliance. Such data as the full name, home or email address, phone number, or any other information that can put the childs privacy under threat, must be protected by administrators ( How to comply with COPPA, n.d.).
CIPA has similar regulations, but it is focused on schools and libraries that have access to the Internet ( Childrens Internet Protection Act (CIPA) [CIPA], 2017). To comply with CIPA, libraries and schools are expected to limit childrens access to inappropriate online materials and provide security and safety to youngsters while they are using chat rooms and emails ( CIPA, 2017). Thus, both acts demand that childrens private information be protected and the possibility of viewing harmful content be restricted.
Similarities and Differences
While COPPA and CIPA have almost identical compliance requirements and some common features, the two acts are not the same. Both CIPA and COPPA were enacted in 2000 ( CIPA, 2017; How to comply with COPPA, n.d.). Another major similarity is in the purpose of the two acts: they both aim at protecting children from inappropriate and violent online content. However, there is a difference in the acts definition of a minor. COPPA applies to children under thirteen ( How to comply with COPPA, n.d.). Meanwhile, under CIPA, a minor is anyone under the age of 17 (Grama, 2015, p. 131). The need for two different acts appears due to their controlling separate spheres of Internet use: COPPA deals with commercial websites while CIPA manages schools and libraries.
One more divergent feature between the two acts is that they are governed by different commissions. COPPA is regulated by the FTC, and CIPA by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The roles of the FTC include investigating complaints of websites which violate COPPA and imposing penalties for violations (Grama, 2015). Apart from that, the FTC offers a variety of tools helping website administrators to comply with the regulations. In its turn, the FCC regulates CIPAs work and instructs schools and libraries on the acts correct implementation. Thus, while the acts may seem very similar, there exist divergences which necessitate the existence of two different sets of regulations.
The Most Challenging Elements for Compliance
COPPA and CIPA pursue important goals, but their requirements are not easy for website and online services administrators to implement. Probably the most challenging aspect of complying with COPPA is the use of false data by children, particularly not being honest about their age. Since there is no opportunity to verify a users age, many minors deceive the system and obtain access to pornographic websites or other content that is not recommended for them.
In case of CIPA regulations, the problem is in the need for schools and libraries to hire additional personnel. CIPA requires the use of the technology protection measure (TPM) (Grama, 2015). This tool helps to filter the objectionable and visual content (Grama, 2015, p. 132). For successful installation and use of the TPM, libraries and schools need to hire people who could be responsible for these duties. Thus, compliance with CIPA may impose a financial burden on these institutions. Therefore, along with numerous benefits, both CIPA and COPPA impose some challenges on users.
The Protection of Different Ages
The reason why COPPA and CIPA protect different ages is that they focus on dissimilar objects of protection. COPPA deals with younger children because its major aim is to defend minors privacy and keep their personal data unavailable to dangerous websites and people ( How to comply with COPPA, n.d.). Meanwhile, CIPA aims at restricting youngsters access to pornographic and violent materials ( CIPA, 2017). Thus, a minor under COPPA is under the age of thirteen while the same definition under CIPA includes children under the age of seventeen.
Opposition to COPPA and CIPA and the Likelihood of Their Being Changed
Many parents, teachers, and public activists disagree with COPPA and CIPA regulations and express their opposition to the acts. Almost right after CIPAs introduction, the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Library Association sued the U.S. government. The organizations argued that CIPA violated the right to free speech (Grama, 2015). In particular, it was mentioned that minors were deprived of access to information on crucial subjects, such as breast cancer (Grama, 2015). Such restrictions led to peoples dissatisfaction with CIPA and COPPA.
Another negative aspect that raises opposition to COPPA and CIPA is the impossibility of controlling children in places other than home or a school library. For instance, as Schaffhauser (2017) remarks, teachers may use some materials which parents might deem inappropriate for their children. Thus, there are two kinds of opposition regarding CIPA and COPPA. The first one is focused on too many restrictions and the limitation of freedom.
The second one aims at spreading the regulations of COPPA and CIPA to more spheres of childrens communication and activity. Both aspects are crucial, and if more efforts are made to prove that CIPA restricts users freedom, it is highly likely that the acts will be altered. Indeed, too many restrictions may lead to childrens decision to obtain information from other sources, such as communicating with adults whose intentions may be much more harmful than using the Internet from home.
Conclusion
The Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the Childrens Internet Protection Act (CIPA) were developed with the purpose of safeguarding children from unpleasant, violent, or inappropriate online content. While both acts have a similar general goal, they have some specific features making them different. The age of children under each law and the sphere of acts influence are the main dissimilarities between CIPA and COPPA. Although protection acts benefit minors to a great extent, they also limit their freedom. Thus, it is necessary to revise the acts in order to meet the expectations of the majority and reach the best outcomes for children.
Packet switching is a digital communication approach that divides digital messages into distinct units called packets, which contain the header information that describes the address of origin and destination, any other information needed to control the message such as encryption and decryption methods. The packets use different paths to reach the destination whereby reassembling takes place. Routers are responsible for transmission in packet switching.
In addition, they deploy algorithms to determine the most appropriate for the packets depending on traffic and security. Packet switching are more advantageous to circuit switching because they are less costly and less wasteful; meaning they do not contain a lot of overhead data compared to circuit switching. Another advantage is that packet switching can deploy both connection-less oriented and connection oriented approaches to digital communication, this implies that there guarantee of security and faster delivery since the packets can follow the routes that are more secure and are experiencing less traffic.
Reasons for limited information sharing over the internet
The internet offers a vast source of information due to the fact that there are internet users are increasing on a daily basis. Despite this improvement, a number of factors such as privacy issues limit rich information sharing. Privacy issues entail concepts such as authentication and validation in order to have access to information on the internet. Rich information sharing is also limited due to security issues on the internet. Security is a major issue in peer-to-peer connections over the internet; as a result, people are putting into consideration security measures that serve to limit information sharing over the internet.
Limitations of the internet today
There are four major limitations associated with the current internet infrastructure. The first significant limitation is bandwidth limitations associated with insufficient capacity to meet the communication requirements in the backbones and switching centers. Insufficient bandwidth results to communication bottlenecks and the incapability to handle high data traffic of voice and video. The second significant limitation is Quality of Service (QoS) limitations resulting to latency issues and delays and no guaranteed in delivery of messages.
The third limitation of the current internet is language development limitations related to web development tools such as HTML, which are not efficient in the development of databases and online communication platforms. Tags used in web development tools are fixed and generic in nature. The fourth limitation associated with the current internet is Network architecture limitations related to ineffective topologies that are incapable of supporting communication to multiple users at the same time. In addition there are limitations of wired internet connections associated with the expensiveness of fiber-optic cables, distance issues in the normal Ethernet cables and cellular systems that are outdated.
Services currently available through the web
The first significant internet service is the electronic mail service, which facilitates communication over the internet via electronic text messages. Examples of e-mail services include yahoo, Gmail and Hotmail. The second service available on the internet is World Wide Web (www), which is a set of interlinked documents, found on the internet and is accessible using Uniform Resource locators (URLs). The third service available on the internet is the search engines, which offer faster search to any information on the internet.
Examples of search engines include Google, Bing and Yahoo search. Another internet service is Internet telephony, which facilitates the transmission of voice messages over the internet. Examples of telephony services include yahoo messenger and Windows Live messenger. The fifth internet service is web bases application, which internet users use to run applications without having them installed in their workstation. An example of web-based application is the Office Web Apps and Google Apps.
Another service available on the internet is online video teleconferencing, which facilitates video communication between multiple users. An example of teleconferencing service is the Cisco WebEx meeting center. The internet also provides internet radio and television services used to stream radio and TV content via the internet. Another service available on the internet is the instant messaging service, which provides real-time online chat between users in interconnected networks. An example of instant messaging service is the AOL instant messenger. The other internet services are Blogs, Wikis and Podcast services.
Internet connections used today
There are various methods used in setting up internet connections. They include the dial-up access, cable connection, internet via satellite, tier connection, DSL, ADSL 2+, optical cable and Internet 2. The significant difference between them is the transmission speeds. The dial up access is the most cheap and slowest internet access method having speeds of up to 56 Kbps. The cable connection provides internet connection via TV lines and can support a range of 512 Kbps to 20Mbps.
The satellite connection is uninterrupted and can support an average speed of 500Kbps. Tier carries are used as internet Backbone and their speeds vary according to the number of Individual channels.T1, T2 and T3 can support up to 64 Kbps. T4 and T5 can support up to 43 and 400 Mbps respectively. DSL uses telephone lines that can support a range of 128 Kbps to 8 Mbps depending on the category. Optic cable connection supports a speed that is greater than 1Gbps, which can transmit voice and video messages effectively.
The Internet2 is not common and provides the highest transmission speeds of about 100 Gbps. The most common internet connection trend in the recent times is the optical cable connection. Internet 2 is a recent approach and has not gained much popularity. Corporates and business organizations prefer using the Tier connection and DSL, while individuals roaming prefer using dial-up connection.
From games to education and from businesses to shopping auctions, everything has gone online. While sitting at home we enjoy a complete freedom to travel throughout the world. Of course this has created ease for us but at the same time have we considered the fact even for a while that what has been our younger generation up to with this new blessing?
Joe Our lazy future
Joe, a 15-year-old boy after school is desperate to arrive home at the earliest so that he could check his emails and chat with his online friends. After all he runs a forum on msn and is free to upload new games on the forum. Joe never indulges in any kind of sports activity even during school hours because he thinks that the time he would give to sports, would be best consumed while thinking how to promote his forum. For this reason he is overweight.
Joes Future Plans Joe is determined to get admission in an online university. This according to him would be helpful in increasing his social circle of friends on the Internet. However the main reason for preferring an online university over regular university is the fact that Joe does not like to work hard. .
The above example reveals about how Internet dependency has been increased among our younger generation which possess the following characteristics:
Lack of Confidence
Children that rely completely on Internet are not able to face the world or any conditions that require hard work from them. Online forums and social gathering makes them vulnerable enough to face the physical world.
No work, no play
Today our whole generation is a victim of laziness and according to a survey out of 100 high school students, 80 are online for 10-12 hours per day.
Lack of Physical Exercise and sleep disorders
Most of the students have cyber mania type of attitude which is evident from late night sitting, Internet shopping craze and chatting in late hours. This has not only alleviated the motivation factor from the lives of our young ones but has also slowed down the process of learning in them. Sitting hours before the screen has caused dullness to their growing bodies and mind which has resulted in sleep disorders, poor health and poor eating habits.
Cyber Crime
With the advent of hacking made easy tools, students are more interested in such hacking attacks which have taken a form of sports rather than the traditional sports. According to Interpol (police agency), currently there are more than 30,000 websites which are providing some type of automated hacking tools, just for fun for the students (Cordesman, 2002, p. 11).
Today children instead of going to the libraries for notes, assignments and essays prefer to do it through copy pasting from the internet because libraries would make them to borrow books, prepare notes and doing assignments. For this they need to type, to get good grades. So, why put so much effort in driving miles, book selection and borrowing from their local libraries when everything is offered on Internet and that even free of charge. They only have to type the keyword in the text box and with a single click of mouse they get hundreds of links from which they only have to select the required text, copy it and then paste it in the document.
This one click has changed the lives of our generation in many ways. For those who have pressures from their professors and are instructed not to plagiarize, they go to online buying of assignments. This helps our children a lot in solving their problems. They dont have to utilize their own capabilities, no need of learning, and above all for those who are slow typists, internet is an ideal place for they dont have to hurt their fingers.
The rest of the work has been completed with cyber reading rooms which provide the students with the best of opportunity to practice reading for school play tryouts, meet with an author, participate in a library contest, pick up a bibliography, listen to a book talk or story being read, and much more (Craver, 2002, p. 125) . Such rooms are aimed to meet the educational reading needs of our students and faculty (Yu et al, 2005). Of course it looks beneficial for the students to stick to the internet but does our elders and professors realize how this technology has been rusting our students physical and mental capabilities?
Works Cited
Cordesman H. Anthony, (2002) Cyber-Threats, Information Warfare, and Critical Infrastructure Protection: Defending the U.S. Homeland: Praeger: Westport, CT.
Craver W. Kathleen, (2002) Creating Cyber Libraries: An Instructional Guide for School Library Media Specialists: Libraries Unlimited: Greenwood Village, CO.
Yu Theresa, Cabral Kyle, Frissell & Pelowski Susan, (2005) So Far but Yet So Close: Student Chat Room Immediacy, Learning, and Performance in an Online Course In: Journal of Interactive Learning Research. Volume: 16. Issue: 4.
The term disruptive technology refers to those technological innovations along with products or services that try to override the prevalent technological or other products in a market. They are targeted towards a niche market and focus on entertaining a specific need. These technologies trigger revolutionary changes in transforming different processes or operations.
Main body
Disruptive technologies create growth in the industries they penetrate or create entirely new industries through the introduction of products and services that are dramatically cheaper, better, and more convenient. These disruptive technologies often disrupt workforce participation by allowing technologically unsophisticated individuals to enter and become competitive in the industrial workforce. (Kostoff, Boylan, Simons)
The revolutionary technology on the other hand, brings in the market products with significant improvements in terms of performance and usability.
Internet has emerged in last few decades as the platform for reshaping the concept of various business processes and business models. Just as motor cars replaced horse-pulled carts, e-commerce has wiped the contemporary model of conducting business in almost all the strong economies of the world. Internet based business has opened new arenas for marketing and has enhanced the potential consumer base such that the market is no longer confined to geographical boundaries. Suddenly, whole world could belong to the list of your target market and reaching it is more simple, inexpensive and less time or resource intensive.
The mode of communication for businesses, individuals and communities has been completely transformed with the advent of technology. The use of letters or telegrams has been overturn by mobile, satellite phones and emails. The telecommunication sector has completely wiped the concept of exchanging letters for the delivering messages or expression of thoughts.
The internet is a great platform for collaboration. It lets people and businesses all over the world communicate and trade with one another. It is a wholly liberating medium. The internet has been incredibly disruptive across many industries from retail to manufacturing to finance to entertainment. (Zennstrom, 2007)
The ease technology has brought is most of the time is taken as disruptive rather than revolutionary because what it tries is to provide people with solutions that are affordable, faster, smaller or more convenient. They try to change the modes people use to interact, exchange their thoughts or express their feelings. It has tried in every way to snatch the traditional social norms and monopolies along with contributing towards turning upside down the chains contemporary business models had in every industry.
No doubts it has revolutionize the way of lives globally if we consider old communication mechanisms with telecom, but its been seemed as extremely disruptive industry where e-commerce replaces bricks and mortar model of businesses as it has entirely wiped channels of distributions and numerous chains of trade.
There is also some difficulty in the acceptance of various ways internet could be used by different people around the globe, this difficulty in adaptation to modern ways also has encouraged displeasure towards adjustments with modern mechanism of work. Internet itself has provided people with simpler and useful modes of operations at the expense of replacing the traditional concepts and ways people were adapted to and here it stand as being disruptive.
Reference
Kostoffa, N., Ronald, Boylan, Robert, & Simon, R., Gene.(2003). Disruptive technology roadmaps. Technological Forecasting and Social Change Volume 71, Issues 1-2, Pages 141-159. Roadmapping: From Sustainable to Disruptive Technologies.
Zennstrom, Niklas. (2007). The Tech Lab. One-Minute World News. Last Updated: Friday. Web.
The Internet has had the biggest effect in the United States. It has made the world a smaller place and a global village to the Americans in the following ways.
Firstly, news travel very fast, that is, one is able to get latest news from the web anytime anywhere. The internet has made the world a global village. This mainly applies to the business world where Chief Executive Officers are able to make decision through the internet. They are able to share ideas and challenge some of the decisions made instantly. Managers are also in a position to get latest information and any changes that might affect their business are noted very fast. Moreover investors are in a position to keep track of their investments. For example one is in a position to keep track of stocks. As a result the business world is harmonized in the sense that no one is left behind in terms of accessing information. (Ely, 2000)
Secondly, people are able to know what is happening in the world. For example, if a student wants to research on a certain topic he will be in a position to do so. If the student decides to write a paper about Africa, he will get the information through the internet. He will know exactly what is happening in Africa or any other part of the world. Information is available to everyone and about everything. More proof to this is that, with the resent collaboration between NASA and Google, people are even in a position to know what is happening even out of space.
Thirdly students can be in a position to do their own research and get the latest information. As stated above the internet has made the world a global village such that students are even able to do their homework through the internet. And at times, students can even challenge the information given to them by their teachers. They can also have additional information which might not be given to them by their teacher. This was not possible a decade ago. So the internet has brought remarkable changes.
Fourth, the internet has lowered the cost of printing. This is a big advantage to publishing companies. This is because their printing cost has gone down and this helps them to maximize their profits. For example the cost of publishing a magazine or newspaper online is cheaper than printing. This is because one does not need to buy paper and ink and not as many workers are needed.
Despite the positive effects that the internet has, it also has a couple of negative effects. This include: it opened up the world to everyone this is despite of race, religion or sex. But not every one is able to access the internet. Despite lowering the printing cost, it is not affordable to everyone. There is also the risk of people becoming addicted to the internet. This is like an out of control behavior. Internet addicts lives are controlled by the internet. (Barry, 2005)
Lastly everything that has a good also tends to have a bad. The internet also has sites that are not very pleasant. These sites are like the pornographic sites.
In conclusion the internet has many effects in our lives. It has made the world a smaller and better place to live in, only if we will embrace the good and shun the bad. The good which include we are able to communicate with our friends via E-mail, people are able to run their businesses, investors are able to invest and information is easily accessible. The bad will include viewing pornographic sites, get rich quick schemes and being addicted to the internet.
References
Barry, S. Internet Marketing for Information Technology Companies. New York: Prentice Hall, 2005.
Ely, D. Technology Internet Assessment. New York: Pearson Education Limited, 2000.
Increasing utilization and popularity of the internet has by consumers has prompted high speed and easy access to the WAN. The high-speed internet options available to consumers in the market pertain to the DSL and the broadband internet.
The DSL provides the consumers with a dedicated and a more secure link, with various options of ADSL and SDSL options but is restricted in terms of availability in rural and remote regions. The broadband internet provides customers with ease of access, fast internet, and 24-hour connectivity but over a shared link resulting in a less secure internet.
The conclusion highlights that the DSL internet is more suited for businesses and professionals while the cable or broadband internet is more suited for general consumers and households.
Introduction
The internet technology has come a long way in the past decade and the utilization of the internet by general as well professional consumers has become extensive. The internet is currently being used to manage large business, integrate communication in enterprises, transfer money and documents, as well as for leisure activities like gaming, streaming and downloading multimedia and shopping. The increasing numbers of users have put a strain on the speed of the internet while the complicated applications on the internet also demand high speed dedicated links. The high level of usage has prompted an increase in the speed and the performance of the internet technology. As a result DSL and broadband internets have been introduced into the market.
A DSL internet is a Digital Subscribed Line based internet where the user is directly connected with a telecom company which provides the user with a dedicated high speed phone line for the internet which results in a constant bandwidth every time a consumer connects to the internet. The bandwidth which is offered by the DSL ranges from 128 KBPS to 1.54 MBPS. The cable or broadband internet on the other hand uses coaxial cable for transfer and communication.
This form of the internet is provided by cable service providers who provide the TV signals and digital video streaming to consumers. This form of the internet link is shared with other consumers clustered by the cable service providers in their distribution network. As a result the speed and the bandwidth may be compromised if many consumers are using the link at the same time. The bandwidths offered by broadband pertains to an average if 500 KBPS to 700 KBPS.
Comparison of DSL and Broadband Internet
The DSL and The Broadband internet are similar in terms of their functionality and the service provided to the customers; however, they are significantly different when it comes to their characteristics. The DSL provides its customers with a constant high speed internet with very high bandwidth and a dedicated line. The broadband on the other hand provides easy and continuous access to the consumers and is widely available in most regions.
The advantages that are presented by the DSL internet pertain to the fact that the consumers are provided a dedicated link and link for internet usage. These results in a private and less risky medium which is more secure from hackers as compared to cable or broadband internet. In addition to this the consumers have a choice of links and bandwidths when it pomes to DSL. Unlike cable, DSL is usually available in multiple flavors at different price points. Your choices include ADSL, in which upload speeds are slower than downloads; SDSL, where upstream and downstream speeds are the same; and IDSL, which overlays a DSL connection on ISDN. (Spanbauer, 2001)
The broadband internet on the other hand is easily and widely available to the consumer sand is much less complicated to use than the DSL internet. Cable networks are simpler, and they can carry more information because cable was designed for broadcasting video signals (Isenberg, 2000). It is fast and convenient for the consumer and allows them to stay connected on a continuous basis.
The main disadvantage however which is posed by the cable or broadband internet is that it is a shared link between consumers clustered together by the ISP. This increases the risk factor by increasing the threat of exposure to virus and hackers. Theoretically the speed of the Broadband is much faster as compared to DSL (Mitchell) but in the real world, the number of users sharing the broadband can considerably reduce the speed of the internet and the bandwidth available to the consumer. A research published in 2005 pointed out that broadband service is becoming a utility, it isnt as predictable and uniform in performance as the term suggests (Internet Service Cable vs. DSL vs. dial-up, 2005)
Similarly the DSL also has specific disadvantage which pertain to lower bandwidth and speed of the internet and the restriction of the service to thickly settled urban and suburban areas as DSL links are supposed to be located with 18,000 feet form the telecommunication company providing the DSL internet service. Other disadvantages pertain to additional phone charges, installation and set up of complex hardware and the relatively high costs.
Conclusion
The comparison of the DSL and the broadband internet depicts that DSL is more costly and highly secure, offering lower bandwidth and internet speed, while the cable or broadband internet is base don a shared link therefore less secure and more open to outside parties like hackers. However it is more convenient for the consumer and provides high bandwidth and speed at lower costs while enabling them to have 24 hour connectivity. This provides that the DSL lines are much better suited for consumers who are professionals or businesses who need a dedicated link for their use. The broadband internet is more suitable for the general users in the market who mostly use the internet for leisure, work as well as downloading and streaming purposes.
References
(2005), Internet Service Cable vs. DSL vs. dial-up, Consumer Reports, Vol. 70 Issue 9, p19-21, 3p, 1 chart, 1 color. Web.
Goldsborough, (1999), DSL vs. table: The latest in high-speed Internet access, Public Relations Tactics, Vol. 6 Issue 11, p22, 0p, 1 color. Web.
Isenberg, D.S., (2000), You Think Its DSL vs. Cable? Guess Again, Fortune, Vol. 142 Issue 8, p64-66, 2p, 2 color. Web.
Mitchell, B., DSL vs. Cable Broadband Internet Speed Comparison Which Is Faster?, About. Web.
Spanbauer, S., (2001), Cable vs. DSL vs. Everything Else, PC World, Vol. 19 Issue 1, p94, 4p, 1 chart. Web.
The topic I have selected is on Internet based collaboration tools. I have chosen this topic with an aim to understand the tools that people use to electronically communicate with each other since the introduction of the new technology has brought a lot of changes in various fields and information being one of them. It is to my realization that information can be passed to people without even watching the television, making phone calls or listening to radio.Meetings can now be conducted without people moving to the conference places just because of improvement in the computer software system.
Concept map on internet based collaboration tools.
Figure 1. Concept map on internet based collaboration tools. Source: Self
The hypothesis I have constructed is to find out the internet based collaboration tools and their applications in learning environment and the whole business world environment areas. The following questions I suggest will help me search for the information on the topic where by to add more lather or taste on the finding Iam to exhaust all the relevant sources of information. One is what are internet based collaboration tools? What are the meanings and application of the following ten internet collaboration tools, Desktop video conferencing, E-mail, listservs, newsgroups, BBSes, Muds (Moos), VRML chat system, I phone and internet radio, Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and web conferencing. I have tried to look at each other specifically with a view of identifying their applications. How do students use the various collaboration tools? What are the preparations the student should make before attempting to use the various collaboration tools in classroom? What are other areas in which the internet collaboration tools are applied? By answering these questions successfully, I believe my research will contain the materials required.
The use of modern computer software technology has made people to communicate easily using the different kinds of internet collaboration tools. These tools have moved people from the manual or traditional way of communication to modern way of communication electronically. Apart from being used by students in education environment there are quite a number of areas they are applied or used. The following are the internet collaboration tools discussed in this research paper and their applications in education sector majorly by students in the universities and the entire global environment.
I would begin with discussing the Desktop Video conferencing (DVC) as an example of internet collaboration tools. The Desktop Video Conferencing (DVC) is a set of interaction on the telecommunication system which uses video and sound to interact at the same time. Sound and pictures of people in discussion or conferences are featured to those involved and participating. It is normally used in communication system using computer-based technology by merging both the voice and video in a format that an interaction can take place. The DVC acknowledges the use of camera in order to send the video from and to the desktop environment where the user is either required to participate in a conference or meeting.
In this system of communication, a method of receiving and sending the audio information is also provided by the computer. The components used in the desktop video conferencing are the camera, some types of application software and a desktop or laptop computer just from what the name suggests. Connecting to a colleagues desktop video machine is done by providing an internet protocol (IP) address. After entering this IP address, there is a system that will echo back the video and sound provided as required by the user. If this is not achieved by seeing some pictures and some sounds heard then this means that there is a problem with the connections of the desktop video system or may be the local network is experiencing some problems. The local network problems normally do arise as a result of continuous changing of the IP address whenever one connects to the network (Shinji, 2005, p.49).
The audio and video system is currently being used or applied in broadcasting stations. In education world, students have been able to use the technology to improve their research skills especially when preparing for conferences. Those doing or practicing graphing gain a lot since they are able to create pictures, come up with graphs on white boards for use in video conferencing. In summary it has helped to improve students motivation and urge to learn in addition to bringing experts to classrooms. However, for this system to be used in classroom it requires effective and careful planning and preparation on the teachers part and student or else information to be passed may be distorted (Yoseph, 1996, p.342).
On business application it has of been great help where people from different places can have meetings on short notice. This saves time and money that could be wasted in traveling especially during such meetings. The technology like VOIP (Voice Over-Internet Protocol) is normally used together with desktop video conferencing to provide face to face business meetings especially where the offices are widely spaced. Employees can also use it to work from home their homes.
Another internet collaboration tool is web conferencing. It is where online meetings are made involving two or more people or participants together conducted on a dedicated website using an internet browser. These participants conduct their meetings using the web via an audio bridge. The person overseeing the conference or meeting sets up a new meeting tool then invites his colleagues to accompany the meeting by sending them an email having the meetings time, date, password, URL and login instructions. All these require internet connection and that is why it is a collaboration tool because it uses the internet.
Web conferencing has been applied in universities especially from developed countries like United States. Students can participate in academic discussions with other participants by use of computer microphones while some of them do interact via video. Symposiums can be made possible among students from different universities by the use of web conferencing without them coming together.Top government officials also conduct their meeting via the web. The major area it is commonly found is in business field across different places where it has been found to be cheap. This has been made possible since quiet a number of tools have been collaborated with web conferencing to add conveniences. Such tools include screen sharing capabilities. Full screen view is used as the presenter may choose to send a portion of his own picture. Other tools include multiple presenters. This works when delegations of duties are used where one can stand in for somebody in meetings. Drawing and annotation tools are also used when presenting a document or the web page to colleagues. Live meetings can now be conducted by the use of web conferencing surely what a change in information technology (Lyn, 200, p.241).
Another internet tool is known as the internet relay chat (IRC). It is a form of a real time internet chat that is used when communication is to be carried among many people. Mostly designed for group discussions forums and it allow data transfer via private message. The system is a little bit hard to use but the IRC administrators and operators normally manage the servers. To connect to the Internet Relay Chat an IRC client is very important for fast connection. The client will simply give some commands, like turning PRIVMSG into MSG and this will allow the user to talk freely. The client also converts some of the unprocessed data or raw information into window (Ahmed, 2002, p.346).
There are a number of search engines available to help the user of internet relay chat to capture or obtain whatever they need. They include the back end or the spider/crawler. This is important when crawling IRC servers to index the information being sent across them. The second part is the front bend search which provides the user with a clue on how to search databases of indexed data to get information they are seeking to obtain (Jones 1996, pp. 98-102).
Email is one of the most important internet collaboration tools. It is the official means of communication where mails are sent via the internet. Most universities use mails as a means of communication. When opening email, an email account is opened by students or they sign up to open an account. This account is created for them automatically whenever they enroll for a course at the university. It is for communication purposes from the academic staff or from the faculty which the student is registered.
Each student can have his or her password so that the student can access the web. Web mail is often the most convenient and commonly used. Students are able to check the mails or compose the mail whenever they want to retrieve or pass some information. Nowadays assignments are being posted by the lecturers using the university email as an official means of communication. Other useful information can also be communicated via the email. For example those who are graduating in a particular year or those who have terminated the course can be checked from the university email (Robert, 2003, p.248).
Listserv on the other hand is another internet collaboration tool used when bulk mailing or group mailing is to be done. The system provides the public or private mailing lists where one can send a mail to all members of a group or to a chosen member of the group. The massages can also be retrieved in the archives within the listervs.
Deans of faculties in universities, head of departments and even directors of companies may opt to use the VIP mail request form to send bulk information on announcements to the university community or company employees.
Internet telephone and audio conferencing or the Iphone and internet radio as commonly known is also an internet collaboration tool. It is a multimedia and the internet enabled system that allows one to make a call by simply pointing his finger at a name or address book. It is mostly used when making calls. Discussions are also being made by people since it offers a one-to one or group conferencing. This has greatly promoted electronic commerce especially in the United States and Japan whereby the electronic business operators offer their voices over the internet service. They use the internet radio system to broadcast or make advertisements. The Iphone and internet radio apart from making calls, it is also found in music industry. This is an improvement in an entertainment or music industry. Of late Iphone videos have also been produced to reach every one at every point. (Yang 2004, p.220).
Multi User Dimensions (MUDs) and Object-Oriented Muds (MOOs) is another example of internet collaborations tools. They have improved the learning environment where learning has been integrated with the world web in the provision of the graphics. The Mud technology is very much applicable in education in many ways. Students can now have an opportunity to connect and retrieve information from the Muds. Though this system is hard to use, it is important for educators or they need to learn how to use it before they can be able to evaluate the effectiveness in an education setting for example in classroom (Alistair, 1998, p.26).
VRML is another internet collaboration tool and it stands for Virtual Reality Model. Those experienced in elements of cartography and drawing of images have used this system to a greater extent. It refers to an online programming language for creating three dimensional programs. Virtual reality model is specifically produced to allow people to move through or around the three dimensional world placed on the world web. It also provides criteria in which colors of objects, their shapes and lighting factors can be defined. In educational setup it can be used by geographers to create a three dimensional landscapes in such a way that the colors of features like for example vegetation it is represented by a green color and blue color for water or rivers. This adds some virtual impression to the information being passed. Those who are doing graphics can also present their work through the use of virtual reality model to look more attractive. In short, virtual reality model is an internet collaboration tool that specifically refers to a technique of creating three dimensional objects- with appropriate color, shape, size and texture.
The other two internet collaboration tools are news groups and BBSes. They are normally used nowadays saves the cost and time for publishing newsletters, and circulars that may be used to pass information. People can now access newspapers in the internets without buying the paper. These can now be read in the web sites and is targeting low cost customers.
In conclusion, recording to my finding/research I can say that the use of the modern technology through the computer software has led to a big change in the communication systems and learning environment. As an individual the research has built in me a self directed learning where I have come to learn about many tools that people to electronically communicate. Unlike in the past where videos, radios televisions and mobile phones are used to pass information, with my findings learning can take place even without the tutor. Group meetings or discussions can also be held without face to face contact. People can also carry their important meetings using the web conferencing where both the sound and the pictures of the speaker appear when the meeting is going on at the same time. Otherwise the research has been of great help to me since I have developed a potential to face challenges, became creative and innovative in doing well elaborate activity or research activity I can now obtain information from library, journal and even the web in detail. I have seriously gained a lot of knowledge in using library catalogue to search for books and journals. If university educators and students can employ the use of these various collaboration tools I have discussed above then a brighter youth of tomorrow will create wonderful changes in the information technology environment.
References
Robert, M. (2003). On the move to meangful internet system. London: Springer Publishers
Bob, S. (2004). Managing new Product Innovation. New York: CRC Press
Ahmed, K. (2002).Mobile agents for telecommunication application: London: Springer Publishers
Lyn. (2000). Computer Mediated Communication. London: intellect book Publishers.
Shinji, S. (2005). Web and Communication Telecommunication technologies and internet related social issues. London: Springer Publishers.
Yoseph, B. (1996). International technical collaboration using internet, 10 (11): 322-438
Jones, M.P. (1996). Cyberspace: NDT readers for the stars, 5 (38), 98-102.
Alistair, I. (1998). Tools for Computer-mediated collaboration on the internet and the frames of reference structuring our understanding of their use and effectiveness, 7(12), 23-40.
Elsevier, B.V. (2005). Computer assisted radiology and survey (CARS).
Karly, N. (2007). Coolest brainstorming applications.
Yang, Y. (2004). Web collaboration tools for high performance meetings.
