Online Entertainment

Online entertainment has grown rapidly in the past few years, due to the increase in the amount of people spending more time on the internet. The entertainment business has taken full advantage of this, and as a result, it is now easier than ever to watch films, listen to or download music, play games, and connect with friends over the internet.

            Downloading

The ability to download certain things off the internet is probably on of the most useful purposes of the internet, as it allows you to download it to your PC, tablet or smartphone, meaning you will constantly have access to the content, wherever you are, and as you have physically downloaded it onto your device, it means once the download is complete, you will not have to be connected to the internet to listen to, watch, or play the downloaded content. The massive increase in popularity of downloading music has lead to a change in the way in which we record music sales. It used to be based on how many CD’s were bought from shops, but now, it is based on downloads as so many more people are downloading music straight to their device, opposed to buying the CD and having to upload it through their computer. This also makes it a lot easy to document and keep track of who is selling the most singles etc. However, it is not just music that you can download; films, games, apps, books and podcasts are all available for download, so as long as you have internet access and a compatible device, you have access to millions of forms of entertainment.

            On the other hand, with the huge increase in popularity of downloads, comes the huge problem concerning illegal downloading. This is where people upload content on to websites, which allows other people to download it for free, meaning that the people who actually own the content are missing out on millions of pounds every year. Many people have argued that it cannot be seen as theft or stealing as the people who upload it to these illegal websites and allow people to download it for free, have obviously purchased the content themselves, meaning that it is technically theirs, and they can do what they want with it, however, the music industry in particular are trying to put a stop to it, saying that you wouldn’t just walk into a shop, and walk out with a handful of CD’s without paying, so why do it over the internet?

            Personally, I use iTunes to download music onto my phone, as illegal downloading can actually be a lot more hassle, and takes longer, whereas with iTunes, as soon as you have paid for your content, it downloads it straight to your music library, and you also have reassurance in the fact that it will be good quality, unlike some illegal  downloads.

Social Entertainment

 Websites such as Vine and Instagram can’t really be classed at Social Networking, but instead, as Social Entertainment Websites. This is because they are mainly about creating photos and videos for your own entertainment but they also allow you to share them with friends, which make them social websites. People can also comment and ‘like’ what you upload, giving you feedback on your videos and pictures.

            Vine has been particularly successful, becoming an overnight favourite for all ages. It specialises in allowing you to make funny and creative videos, a lot of which have now gone viral. It is hugely popular with the younger generation, as before they were really only ever able to share their thoughts and experiences through still photos, but now they can show people exactly what they are seeing, straight away.

            However, there is now fierce competition between Vine and Instagram, with Instagram being the original favourite, but has recently been criticized for ‘copying’ vine, after launching the option to record videos as well as pictures very soon after Vine became popular, due to its video recording and editing feature. There are also privacy issues with both sites, as although there is the option to set your account to ‘private’, meaning that only people and accounts that you approve of can see your details and posts, the use of ‘hashtags’ means that anyone who searches a particular hashtag that you have tagged in your photo or video, can see it.  There is also the risk of minors stumbling across inappropriate content, as it is vey hard to monitor every post that people upload and make sure it is suituable for everyone.

            Personally, I use both Instagram and Vine, and rarely encounter problems with either of them, but I can undertand how some people would. The only slight worry I have , is the issue of privacy, as I do not want people I do not know being able to access photos or videos of me, so I am always very careful with what I post online.

E-Government

E-Government

·       Governments always had a responsibility to communicate with the general public (keep them informed).

·       Development of e government parallels the development of the internet. More interactive. We can communicate with them as well as them communicating with us. We can interact in a transactional way as well. Complete interaction between ourselves and the government.

·       Leads to a few issues- digital divide, only available to people with computers. People without out access to computers are at a disadvantage. Not everyone can use a computer as well as they should be able to.

·       UK250.co.uk – collection of government websites, proves how e-government is growing.

·       Government Gateway

·       Gov.uk – enables you to see what government is all about, can report people.

·       Find out about your area – crime rates, council tax, house prices, schools performance.

·       Directgov

·       DVLA- car tax, quick and easy. Record of MOT and Insurance. Legal Documents. Why do people still go to the post office to tax their car instead of doing it on the internet?- facilities have to close as they are not being used anymore.

·       Pension-  directly into bank account, don’t have to go to post office or accountant.

·       Student loans and admissions- apply for university online

·       Driving theory test online

·       Apply for passports

·       Job seekers allowance

·       Yougov.co.uk – more interactive – can start an online petition, government have to have a debate about it in parliament.

 E-Government, also known as Electronic Government, has developed a lot recently, meaning that it is now a lot easier to communicate with the government, whether it is your local council or higher up. You can use the websites to report people to the police, as well as find out valuable information about your area, including crime rates, council tax, house prices and schools performance. DVLA also counts as E-Government as you can tax your car online and access online records of your MOT and Insurance. Many people also use government websites for sorting out their pensions, student loans and admissions on UCAS, apply for passports and job seekers allowance and even take your driving theory test online.

                  The ability to be able to do this from your own home on the internet means that a lot more people are able to access these services. It also makes it a lot easier and quicker to do things that would otherwise take up a lot of time and effort. Another big advantage of online government services is that some disabled people might not be able to physically go to the post office for example and sort out things like pensions and job seekers allowance etc., so the fact that these services are now available online means that they can easily use the services like any other person.

                  However, with the growing popularity of using government services online, comes the decline in the need for things like Post Offices, therefore putting people out of work as they are no longer needed. There are also huge security issues as some people are not comfortable with entering their personal details online, as it can sometimes leave you vulnerable to scams and identity theft.

                  Personally, the only time I have used online government services is when I applied for university. I did it through the UCAS website, on which you have to enter a number of personal details such as your name and full address, your current and past schools, your exam results (GCSE and A-Levels) and other things such as where you work and what universities you are hoping to attend. I found that they had very good security precautions such as Security questions, which is where you answer certain questions such as the name of your first pet, or the road you grew up on, when first creating your account, so the only way someone can access your account is if they know the answer to these questions, and it is not likely that a complete stranger would know these details about you, therefore I was comfortable to use the website, knowing that no one would be able to access my account without my consent.

Online Education

More and more people, students and teachers, are beginning to use to the internet to aid education, as there are a wide variety of resources available, and you are able to demonstrate things using videos etc.- something you would not be able to do when just using books.

Videos

One of the most popular and useful ways of using the internet for education is through videos. This allows you watch demonstrations, as well as allowing people who learn better through vision or audio rather than reading, to fully understand what they are learning.

However, sometimes websites such as YouTube are not available in school, as they can have unsuitable content on them, so schools block them. This creates problems for students who need to watch videos, as they have to wait until they get home.

Personally, I use YouTube quite a lot, as I find I learn things a lot faster when someone is talking through the points and demonstrating them, rather than just reading a book, but I do encounter problems when I need to use it in school.

Research

The internet is extremely useful for researching different topics, as there are normally millions of results when a topic is typed into a search engine, giving you more than enough information. Sites such as Wikipedia are widely used, as they will most likely have a lot of information on them, however, as Wikipedia is a website that can be edited by anybody, there is no guarantee that the information you are receiving is correct. There are also sites dedicated to students, such as BBC Bitesize for revision.  This allows students to search for things according to the subject, the topic and the year group they are in.

This is the BBC Bitesize home page, which asks you to select which year group you are in, so that you can access the appropriate things.

However, BBC Bitesize only goes as far as GCSE level, meaning that you cannot use it for help with anything higher than that such as A-Levels.

Personally, I try to avoid using websites like Wikipedia, as I know that the information is not always correct, therefore I would rather not use it in a piece of school work, and I can no longer use BBC Bitesize as it does not provide information for A-Levels.

MyMaths

MyMaths is a very widely used website across schools, as it allows teachers to use it to aid their lessons, and it also allows students to access it from home to help them with their homework or complete online tasks that their teacher has set, and submit it to them electronically. It also marks the work for you, so that students know straight away how they did and what they need to revise. This also means that teachers do not have to go through the process of marking the same homework over and over again. Another good feature of My Maths is that no two students will get set the same questions. It will be on the same topic, but the actual questinos will differ, eliminating the possibility of students copying others.

However, not all students will have decent internet access, meaning that they cannot get on the website and do the work that is set, like they would be able to if they were using a textbook. It also raises the question of the need for actual books- if we get to a point where everyone has internet access whereever they live, then surely all work could be set online and therefor books will not be needed for much longer.

Personally, I used MyMaths several times in the lower school, and while i thought the actual idea of it was good, it didn’t always work for me, as sometimes the website would freeze and make it impossible for me to complete the work that was set. It also made it a lot easier to make mistakes, as it is very easy to type in the wrong answer without realising. It would also cause problems if you didn’t know how the website worked exactly, as you have to go through a process of  getting it marked then submitting it to your teacher, and unless someone has taught you exactly how to use it, this could prove difficult.