The computer has changed society today as much as the industrial revolution changed society in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
People interact directly with computers in fields such as education, finance, government, health care, science, publishing, travel, and manufacturing. In addition, they can reap the benefits from breakthroughs and advances in these fields. The following lines describe how computers have made a difference in people's interactions with these disciplines.
Education
Education is the process of acquiring knowledge. In the traditional model, people learn from other people such as parents, teachers, and employers. Many forms of printed material such as books and manuals are used as learning tools. Today, educators also are turning to computers to assist with education.
Many schools and companies equip labs and classrooms with computers. Some schools require students to have a mobile computer or mobile device to access the school's network or Internet wirelessly. To promote education by computer, many vendors offer substantial student discounts on software.
Sometimes, the delivery of education occurs at one place while the learning occurs at other locations. For example, students can take a class on the Web. Some classes are blended; that is, part of the learning occurs in a classroom and the other part occurs on the Web. More than 70 percent of colleges offer distance learning classes. A few even offer entire degrees online.
Finance
Many people and companies use computers to help manage their finances. Some use finance software to balance checkbooks, pays bills, track personal income and expenses, manage investments, and evaluate financial plan. This software usually includes a variety of online services. For example, computer users can track investments and do online banking. With online banking, users access account balances, pay bills, and copy monthly transactions from the bank's computer right into their personal computers.
Many financial institutions' Web sites also offer online banking. When using a Web site instead of finance software on your computer, all your account information is stored on the bank's computer. The advantage is you can access your financial records from anywhere in the world.
Investor often use online investing to buy and sell stocks and bonds – without using a broker. With online investing, the transaction fee for each trade usually is much less than when trading through a broker.
Government
A government provides society with direction by making and administering policies. To provide citizens with up-to-date information, most government offices have Web sites. People in the United States access government Web sites to file taxes, apply for permits and licenses, pay parking tickets, buy stamps, report crimes, apply for financial aid, and renew vehicle registrations and driver's licenses. To provide these services, some Web sites require users provide personal information.
Employees of government agencies use computers as part of their daily routine. North American 911 call centers use computers to dispatch call for fire, police, and medical assistance. Military and other agency officials use the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's network of information about domestic security threats to help protect against terrorist attacks. Law enforcement officers have online access to the FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC) through in-vehicle notebook computers, fingerprint readers and mobile devices. The NCIC contains more than 52 million missing persons and criminal records, including names, fingerprint, parole/probation records, mug shots, and other information.
Health Care
Nearly every area of health care today uses computers. Whether you are visiting a family doctor for a regular checkup, having lab work or an outpatient test, or being rushed in for emergency surgery, the medical staff around you will be using computers for various purposes:
- Hospitals and doctors use computers and mobile devices to maintain and access patients records.
- Computers monitor patients' vital signs in hospital rooms and at home.
- Robots deliver medication to nurse stations in hospitals.
- Computers and computerized devices assist doctors, nurses, and technicians with medical tests.
- Doctors use the Web and medical software to assist with researching and diagnosing health conditions.
- Doctors use e-mail to correspond with patients.
- Pharmacists use computers to file insurance claims.
- Surgeons implant computerized devices, such as pacemakers, that allow patients to live longer.
- Surgeons use computer-controlled devices to provide them with greater precision during operations, such as for laser eye surgery and robot-assisted heart surgery.
Many Web sites provide up-to-date medical, fitness, nutrition, or exercise information. These Web sites also maintain lists of doctors and dentist to help you find the one that suits your needs. They have chat rooms, so that you can talk to others diagnosed with similar conditions. Some Web sites even allow you to order prescriptions online.
Two forms of long-distance health care are telemedicine and telesurgery. Through telemedicine, health-care professionals in separate locations conduct live conferences on the computer. For example, a doctor at one location can have a conference with a doctor at another location to discuss a bone X-ray. Live images of each doctor, along with the X-ray, are displayed on each doctor's computer.
With telesurgery, also called remote surgery, a surgeon performs an operation on a patient who is not located in the same physical room as the surgeon. Telesurgery enables surgeons to direct robots to perform an operation via computers connected to a high-speed network.
Science
All branches of science, from biology to astronomy to meteorology, use computers to assist them with collecting, analyzing, and modeling data. Scientists also use the Internet to communicate with colleagues around the world.
Breakthroughs in surgery, medicine, and treatments often result from scientists' use of computers. Tiny computers now imitate functions of the central nervous system, retina of the eye, and cochlea of the ear. A cochlear implant allows a deaf person to listen. Electrodes implanted in the brain stop tremors associated with Parkinson's disease. Cameras small enough to swallow – sometimes called a camera pill – take pictures inside your body to detect polyps, cancer, and other abnormalities.
A neural network is a system that attempts to imitate the behavior of the human brain. Scientists create neural networks by connecting thousands of processors together much like the neurons in the brain are connected. The capability of a personal computer to recognize spoken words is a direct result of scientific experimentation with neural networks.
Publishing
Publishing is the process of making works available to the public. These works include books, magazines, newspapers, music, film, and video. Special software assists graphic designers in developing pages that include text, graphics, and photos; artists in composing and enhancing songs; filmmakers in creating and editing film; and journalists and mobile users in capturing and modifying video clips.
Many publishers make their works available online. Some Web sites allow you to copy the work, such as a book or music, to your desktop computer, mobile computer, smart phone, or other mobile device.
Travel
Whether traveling by car or airplane, your goal is to arrive safely at your destination. As you make the journey, you may interact with some of the latest technology.
Vehicles manufactured today often include some type of onboard navigation system, such as Onstar. Many mobile devices such as smart phones have built-in navigation systems. Some mobile users prefer to carry specialized handheld navigation devices.
In preparing for a trip, you may need to reserve a car, hotel, or flight. Many Web sites offer these services to the public. For example, you can order airline tickets on the Web. If you plan to drive somewhere and are unsure of the road to take to your destination, you can print direction s and a map from the Web.
Manufacturing
Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) refers to the use of computers to assist with manufacturing processes such as fabrication and assembly. Industries use CAM to reduce product development costs, shorten a product's time to market, and stay ahead of the competition.
Often, robots carry out processes in a CAM environment. CAM is used by variety of industries, including oil drilling, power generation, food production, and automobile manufacturing. Automobile plants, for example, have an entire line of industrial robots that assemble a car.
Special computers on the shop floor record actual labor, material, machine, and computer time used to manufacture a particular product. The computers process this data and automatically update inventory, production, payroll, and accounting records on the company's network.
