Technology and Society (Junior Cert Applied Technology): Revision Notes
📚 Revision Notes
Ethical Technology Use
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Ethical technology use means adding moral values when creating, building, and using technology. By focusing on responsible innovation, technology can improve lives and benefit society. It's important to understand this balance to manage ethical issues in the fast-changing digital world today.
Definitions
- Ethical Technology Use: Using moral principles in technology that help individuals and society.
- Privacy: Keeping personal data safe and using it only with permission.
- Consent: Getting users' permission to use their data.
- Transparency: Clearly showing how data is collected and used to build user trust.
Definition and Importance
- Ethical technology involves using moral ideas in technology, ensuring innovations follow ethical standards.
- Importance:
- Builds trust.
- Ensures safety.
- Keeps societal standards like privacy and fairness.
Moral and Ethical Considerations
- Privacy: Protecting user data, especially with AI tools like surveillance.
- Consent: Clearly obtained in digital settings, such as app permissions.
- Transparency: Key for building trust, especially in data handling.
- Examples:
- Data sharing.
- AI decisions in job hiring and surveillance.
chatImportant
Common Pitfall: Failing to ensure consent can lead to significant privacy breaches.
Environmental Considerations
- Impact:
- Electronic waste and carbon emissions from digital services.
- Ethical responsibility:
- Design sustainably and perform lifecycle assessments.
- Use circular economy strategies to cut down e-waste.
Impact on Society
- Influences:
- Changes in social behaviours and norms.
- Impact on individual rights.
- Examples:
- Technology enabling remote work.
- Managing personal data through wearable tech.
Case Studies
- Real-world examples: Show why strong ethical standards are crucial.
- Examples:
- Facebook data management issues, especially highlighted by the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
- Other data breaches, focusing on impacts and ethical lessons learnt.
Guidelines and Best Practices
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Guidelines focus on data protection and being transparent.
- Best practices include:
- Regular ethical checks and training sessions.
- Diverse ethics boards in tech companies to set inclusive policies.
Summary
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- Ethical technology means integrating moral values into tech development and use.
- Key aspects are privacy, consent, and transparency.
- Environmental impacts need sustainable practices.
- Ethical technology changes how society and personal lives are shaped.
- Case studies show why following ethical guidelines is important.
- Guidelines aim to support ethical technology across various fields.