This document is a student assignment on how information technology is changing working lives. It begins with an introduction describing the rise of IT and mobile phone adoption in developing countries like Indonesia. It then defines information technology and discusses major innovations like the internet, personal computing, and cloud computing. The paper analyzes how IT has changed working lives in business through teleworking and in education through distance learning. It concludes that IT has become an important part of our working lives by transforming the ways people work.

1. University of Manchester
Institute for Development Policy and Management
Mock Assignment
Topic: 2) What is ‘information technology’? How is it changing our working lives?
Title: A Transformation of Human’s Working Lives by Information Technology
Personal tutors: Dr Sharon Morgan
Name : Larastri Kumaralalita
Program: M&IS
Word counts: 1,029 words

2. A. Introduction
World has changed a lot within the existence of Information of Technology
(IT). IT has transformed many aspect (Dutton, 2005; Stroman 2012) and has
become a integral part of our life (Kling, 2000). General speaking, around
some decades ago, we might think that IT was counted as extravagant items
which expensive and not a primary need.
Observing specifically in developing country, for instance Indonesia, back to
end of 1990s, only a very rich people can afford to spend their money for a
mobile phone handset. However, now, Rao (2012), a Research Project
Director for MobileMonday, reports that, in Indonesia, total number of mobile
subscriptions is 220 million of 240 million populations in totals by 92%
percentage of mobile penetration. In the same idea, according to World Bank
(2012) data of Indonesia, in 2001 there were merely 3 mobile cellular
subscriptions per 100 people and the number rose rapidly in 2011 by 98
subscriptions per 100 people. Cheap mobile data rate and devices are analysed
as the stimulator of this high percentage of penetration (Rao, 2012). For the
same reason, in another developing country, Uganda, because of the cheaper
price of mobile phone, it enables urban or even rural - people with less income
- are able to buy a mobile phone handset (Diga, 2008).
We should be realized that IT has transformed and really become part of our
life. This transformation of IT is on going and will continue beyond year 2012.
Therefore, if we step back for a moment, and think about what changes that
has been occurred, how far IT has been changing our working lives?
This essay will discuss about the changing of IT in our working lives by
exploring a little bit about terminology of IT and its major innovations, then
continue to look more how it is changing our working lives by analysing
several different sources.
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3. B. Information Technology
Information Technology, or in short terms called ‘IT’, refers to all hardware
and software – all computing - that a company utilized to achieve its business
objective (ACM 2008, Laudon 2010). Another terms which often is seen as IT
is information and communication technologies (ICT) since the moment of
increasing role of telecommunications within information systems in the last
twenty – thirty years (Heeks & Morgan 2012).
Decade by decade, IT is transforming rapidly and still going to bring another
interesting innovation. The major innovation in technical information
communication between 1968 and 2011 is described in Table 1.
Table 1 Major Innovation of Information Technology
Innovation Description
Internet This is the most far-reaching and
defining since 1968.
Personal computing This has made computing power
available to just everyone.
Communication technology This is cheap and continuously
available from anywhere.
Convergence of technologies This enables college student to
download class schedules, course
material, and lecture podcasts from
one device, example pc tablet.
Cloud Computing This delivers real-time business
results that bring closer to colleagues
and customer without compromising
security, integration, or mobility.
Source: Adapted from Renehan (2008:2), Dartmouth Institute (2012), Dell (2012).
Basically, the gradual innovation of these IT, listed in the Table 1, enables the
new ways of our working lives.
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4. C. What Changes Information Technology Brings to Working Lives
After we followed the IT term and its gradual innovation, so how the
transformation is occurred. First at all, we define the areas of working lives in
this discussion: business and education.
In business, around 1960s IT really started to take over, corporations and
universities were buying of approximately 2000 computers per year (Renehan,
2008). Furthermore, Kato (2007) stated that the structure and process of
business world are revolutionized by electric network with the advance of
technology. IT enables to link companies and people via email and intranets
(Kato, 2007), group-ware and web technologies (Sánchez, 2006). With the
existence of those technologies, some new ways of working in business are
also created; one of them is called teleworking. Teleworking is an changing
idea of work and workplace as an alternative way to organise or performing
work by using complete or partial use of IT to enable workers work remotely
from employer’s premises (Bailey & Kurland, 2002; Sánchez, 2006; European
Foundation, 2010).
Previous to the introduction of teleworking, employee has a fixed schedule
and place of work. For example, they have to come to office and doing job
from 09.00 am until 05.00 pm. By using email and groupware, workers is able
to submit their job or communicate to office through the network without
working physically at office. According to data Eurofound (2008) based on
The United Kingdom (UK) Labour Force Survey (LFS), the number of
teleworking users or teleworkers rose from 2.3 million (40%) in 1997 to 3.2
million (79%) in 2007 as teleworkers contribute as 8.9% of national workforce
in the spring 2007, rising slightly from 8.5% in 2005.
In education, before the invention of internet, the traditional learning activities
depends much on text books which are limited in number and content scope.
The invention of internet has changed the way of learning experience quite
much, for example by distance learning. The Levin Institute (2011) describes
that IT improves education availability by eliminate barriers of distance
between learners and the content and also improving the content of material
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5. itself. A big gratitude for internet that enable learners to access any
information at anytime from different resources. Learners can also get
flexibility by having distance learning. UNESCO (2002) supports this fact by
stating that open and distance learning means increased access and flexibility
and also the combination of work and education. Giving some example, a
student who has a distance learning postgraduate can be registered as student
for another country’s university. They don’t need to be physically in class like
normal class but instead having the class through network.
D. Conclusion
This essay has defined the nature of IT and also demonstrated how IT has
transformed the way people in working lives. By delivering two examples in
business (teleworking) and education (distance learning) has given a clear
description on how the changing has occurred. Finally, the difference in doing
things with and without IT has showed that IT has become important part of
our working lives.
Reference
1. Dartmouth Institute. (2012) Convergence Technology: Empowering Us or
Controlling Us?, Darmouth Institute for Writing & Rhetoric, Available:
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~writ8/index.php/perspectives/convergence-
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3. Diga, K. (2008) Mobile Cell Phones and Poverty Reduction: Technology
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