Week 5

Today's topic was on ICT and World Change. We went over the evolution of mass media: how the distribution of media has changed from a one-way direction to one in which the average Joe is able to produce his own content and distribute it. 

Moving forward, we discussed the future prospects of Web 3.0, in which machines that are connected to the Internet would be able to communicate with one another almost seamlessly, automating more and more aspects of our lives.

This highlights the omnipresence of the Internet, which I feel is quite true in my country. This could have been an issue of further discussion. The Internet is easily within reach as Singapore rolls out 4G/LTE and fibre broadband networks to more and more customers.

While the future of the world with all these technological advances seems rosy, what captured my attention was that this will bring in problems such as the Digital Divide. People without access to such digital devices or network will be left behind, which would translate to a financial divide as well. This is of concern if countries were to deliberately isolate themselves from the ICT networks, or to set up firewalls to prevent access to certain parts of the Internet.

I found the topic of cloud computing interesting; it fascinated me that cloud computing is able to level the playing field so drastically for small businesses and startups. Far from being a mediocre substitution, I was convinced that cloud computing is actually far more productive, customisable and flexible.

The future holds many possibilities and one of the messages I could take away from that was that it is very exciting for us people who have ready access to the networks, yet there are still many people who are left behind.

I would rate the session as an 8. ICT is a topic that I have an interest in and I am glad that I was given the chance to do my Individual Presentation on it.