Direct.Gov!

Direct.Gov!

Direct.gov is government’s official website; it consists of tabs/links to allow you to easily find for example:

o       Buy vehicle tax/Buy DVLA registration

o       Apply for Driving license

o       Student loans

o       Find University applications

o       Benefits/Taxes

o       Apply for passports

o       Voting

o       Look for jobs

o       Find schools

o       Health service, Dentists, NHS, opticians

In my opinion, the direct.gov website is useful if you know what you are looking for. For example if you want to buy your vehicle tax (car tax) you can easily pay for it online and receive it through post. There are also other useful tabs like Passports, University, Travel and transport, Environment and crime, all of these links might be useful  to people who need help in that particular area.

Online payment

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/HowToTaxYourVehicle/DG_4022118

(Car tax)

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/Disabledpeople/DG_201317

(Personal Independence Payment)

Online reporting and advice

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/YoungPeople/HealthAndRelationships/index.htm

(Advice for young people)

 http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/floods/31632.aspx

(Flooding advice)

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Roadsafetyadvice/index.htm

(Road safety advice)

Information services

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/UniversityAndHigherEducation/StudentFinance/index.htm

 (Help for people who want to apply for university)

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/BritonsLivingAbroad/Moneyabroad/index.htm

(Money abroad)

Downloading!

Downloading

-         Music

-         Films

-         Images

-         Files

-         Apps

-         Games

-         Books

The reason why I downloaded, for example music instead of going to the shop and buying and actual physical CD was because it’s some of the music is free  to download online however for some of it you have to pay ( like on ITunes). Another advantage of downloading rather than buying is that you can do it at home (as long as you have internet) making it easier for people as they don’t have to go to the actual shop.

Why download rather than buy the actual physical copy?

Most people nowadays would rather download something rather than buying the actual product/copy because it’s simply quicker and easier. You can download a product sitting at home comfortably rather than having to go into the shop where the product/ copy you want might be out of stock or at a higher price than if you were to download it. Another thing is that you don’t have to wait to receive the product you buy/download; you will have it on your device straight away.

What problems have you encouraged when downloading products?

Some problems people might face when downloading a product online from an unauthorised website might be that they receive a virus. It’s less likely to happen if you’re downloading a product/copy form an actual, official website. However, if you’re one of those people who don’t want to pay but still get the product, you might some difficulties, for example the thing you want might take forever to download if you have a poor internet connection or a slow computer/laptop. This isn’t the case if you buy a product (like music or films from ITunes) as you know they are official and safe.

Apple I Tunes - http://www.apple.com/itunes/

How does it fulfil its purpose?

In my opinion and from my own experience, majority of the people nowadays are more likely to go online a download for example a Book or a film rather than go to a shop (e.g. HMV) and buy an original copy, meaning that in the future there will be less stores selling music and films on the high streets, but there will be far more online shops where people will be able to download products/copies from. In my opinion, online services like I tunes which allow you to download music, films, apps and books all at the same time are much more easier to use and are far more ‘21^st century’ like. 

Online Banking!

Online Banking

Internet Banking is the option by witch the bank customers can make transactions like:

• Balance Inquiry
• Fund Transfer
• Check Statements
• Pay bills etc.

Normally a customer would have to make a trip to the nearest bank to transactions but now with the ease of an online bank account you can do all of this and more sitting at home or anywhere where you’ve got internet connection.

It helps you to control what goes in and out of your bank account as you can check it at any time.

Most of the people nowadays use Online Banking rather than going to one of the branches, and stand in a line. Most people work from 9am  till 5pm , and usually most banks close at about 5pm, meaning that most people simply don’t have the time to go to bank to pay their bills and/or transfer money onto a different account or from their savings account. Online Banking makes it easier for those people as they can transfer money and/or set up a Direct Debit to pay the bills.

Anyone who is a bank customer can set up their own Online Banking Account. Some banks require an ‘IB number’ witch is an Internet Banking number you receive through post, its like your personal log in number and makes it safer to access your bank information. Some banks (for example Barclays), require you to have a ‘memorable word’, when you log into your Online bank account it then asks you for a particular letters of your word, (e.g. letter 2 and 5). Both of these safety features make your bank information safer and private, meaning that no one else can access them.

A major advantage of using this form of banking makes it easier for people to access their banking information on the go. If they’re in a hurry and want to know how much money they can take out, they can quickly log on and check. Its easier and simpler to use rather than the official website.

A disadvantage might be that some people might see your account details and how much money you currently have in your bank. Although the online safety is pretty high, some people might still find ways in witch they can log into your account and get your personal information. For example, HSBC bank uses a ‘Card’ witch only HSCB customers have, every time you log in its asks you to press certain numbers (they are different every time). This is a safer way to log on as 1. You need the card and 2. You need the correct numbers. However, Halifax for example doesn’t offer a ‘card’ or anything else witch would make your online account safer, this makes it easier for ‘hackers’ to hack into your account and for example transfer your money onto their accounts and/or get your personal details.   

Weather In Armthorpe!

Wednesday 19th September 2012

BBC Weather -           19/09/2012, according to BBC Weather, overall, it should be sunny throughout the day, the highest average temperature will be º 14 and the lowest average temperature will be º10. The wind speed will be 13 mph.

Actual Weather -          Just like BBC predicted, throughout most of the day, the temperature was around 14 degrees however you could feel the cold wind.

Thursday 20^th September 2012

BBC Weather -            20/09/2012 Thursday - Today, BBC Weather predicts that throughout the day there will be some light showers and some sun shine. The highest temperature will be º15 and the lowest º11; the wind speed will be 8mph.

Actual Weather -          There were a few, light rain showers throughout the day just like BBC predicted, However the temperature (in my opinion) was lower than 15 degrees.

Friday 21^st September 2012

BBC Weather -            21/09/2012, BBC predicts that it will be quite cloudy with some light rain; the highest temperature throughout the day will be 12 º and the lowest 6 º. The wind speed will be around 7mph.

Actual Weather -         Once again BBC was right, the sky was cloudy for most of the day with a few rain showers here and there.

Saturday 22^nd September 2012

BBC Weather –          According to BBC, There should be plenty of sunshine through the day with minimum wind of 3mph.  Throughout the day, the highest average temperature should be 12°C and lowest 7 °C.

Actual Weather -        The weather forecast has been accurate to the BBC weather page. Some light rain fell at predicted times and there was no sun shine all day.

Sunday 23^rd September 2012

BBC Weather -              BBC predicts that today the highest temperature will be 11°C and the lowest 9°C. Throughout the day we might see some rain but overall it should be quite sunny with clear sky.

Actual Weather -      Once again the BBC Weather was right. Overall the day was chilly but the sky was clear, however afternoon we saw some light rain showers.

In conclusion the BBC Weather page is accurate as it’s shown above. The weather predictions we’re all correct and true to some extend. Some of the predictions weren’t 100% true.

Google Groups!

Google groups is a form of communication which allows people to post for example questions that  people from all over the world can then answer. It’s like a forum witch allow people to get their personal opinions across. For example if someone was looking for opinions for/against digital divide, he would get their personal, honest opinions. However there are some limitations to this form of communication. You need to have an account to post comments, also, if no one comments on your post, you’re post is more likely to get lost.

Google group isn’t the only way to communicate in this form. There are many others, for example, Yahoo groups witch just like Google groups but it’s only for people who have a Yahoo account.

To be able to form newsgroup, you need to have an account. Then you can create a group on anything you want. The only disadvantage about creating your own group is that is no one posts on it or comments on it won’t exist.

E-mail!

Today, I’ve sent an Email to my Dad. The reason why I decided to use Email rather than for example Facebook was because he wanted me to send him some of mine and my brothers pictures form our Holidays. On facebook you can send pictures and attach files but it takes a long time as you have to do it one-by-one whereas in an Email you can highlight the pictures you want to send and easily attach them all in one. When my dad receives his email from me, he will be able to open it ( and the pictures) at anytime as long as hes connected to the internet or what he can do is save the pictures onto his computer and he doesn’t need to worry about loosing them.

Real Time Information!

These are the links I used today to plan my journey from Doncaster to Stratford Olympic Stadium.

http://goo.gl/vWJcN

http://goo.gl/MysJc

http://goo.gl/Q7pSA

Email!

What Is an E-mail?

E-mail basically means Electronic Mail.

To be able to receive and send E-mails you need to have an e-mail address. When you create an account using a Internet Service Provider you are usually given your own personal e-mail address (it’s usually something like yournamenumber@internetserviceprovider.com).

For example  johnsmith12@yahoo.co.uk.

Why do you need an E-mail address?

For example if you’re applying for a job, most companies will ask you for an e-mail address simply because its easier for them to contact you back by an e-mail rather than send you a letter or ring you.

If you want to set up a Facebook or Twitter account(or any other online account) they usually ask you for your email address.

How E-mail Works?

It appears that if a sender writes an E-mail and sends it to the Recipient the message automatically shows up in their Inbox.

However the whole process is more complicated then it might look.

For example:

• The original sender creates an e-mail in their Mail User Agent (MUA) and then sends it. The MUA is an application that allows the sender to create an e-mail message, receive and read e-mail. E.g. – Outlook or Gmail.
• Senders chosen MUA then transfers the message to a Mail Delivery Agent (MDA)/ Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) which then forwards the message.
• The email is now at the Company Network Cloud.
• From the Company Network Cloud it gets put into Sender’s Mail Server where its Placed into an E-mail queue where all the other undelivered e-mails are.
• The message then goes through different routers; this is usually where the hackers try to change the path of an e-mail to deliberately change the origin of the message.
• After that the e-mail goes through a series of Virus and Spam Blockers were any possible viruses or unwanted pictures etc. get blocked and only your message goes through.
• Now your email is ready to be delivered and it goes to Recipients Mail Server, then into Company Network Cloud and through their MDA/MTA and into their MUA (Inbox).

Instant Messenger!

Instant Messenger

• Facebook Chat
• MSN Messenger
• E-Buddy
• Hotmail
• Gmail
• Blogger
• Skype

I’ve used them on my mobile phone as well as on my laptop to communicate with my friends and family or even teachers from my school.

Using instant messaging is free as long as you are connected to the Internet or Wi-Fi, this means that you don’t have to spend your money on sending a text message from your phone because you can use an Instant Messenger instead.

It’s fast, easy to use and very useful if you need to contact someone or find out some information.

Skype!

Most of the time when I need to contact my Dad who lives in a different country I use Skype. Using skype is easier because as well as talking to someone you can see them as well ( if they have a web cam). The reason why I chose Skype is because its free to use meaning that I don't have to ring my Dad  on his mobile phone and waste my money. On skype you can also write messages to the person you are talking to, so if the person you are trying to contact can't hear you or vice versa you can message them instantly so that they know. My dad also prefers to use Skype because with him living in a different country he can't see me very often so using a web cam helps.  

Twitter!

This morning I used Twitter to check is anyone contacted me (connected with me). Twitter (just like Facebook) is another form of social networking site and its used to communicate with other people all around the world. On Twitter you can "Follow" people, meaning that if they write a 'tweet'(post) you can see it on your notifications page. You can Follow all sorts of people from your close friends to celebrities and famous TV shows. I chose to use twitter instead of a different social networking site because its quicker. 

Facebook

Since Facebook became popular and all of my friends started to use it on a regular basis it soon became a part of my everyday life.

 I check Facebook throughout the day to see if any of my friends have messaged me or if anyone has posted something interesting on my wall. 

On Facebook you can also see whose Birthday it is that day and you can see what other people have posted as well. One of the main reasons why I use facebook to contact my friends rather than for example ring them is because you can see if they are currently “Online” (Logged On) therefore they will receive your message and will instantly see it and hopefully reply.

 Using Facebook is free as long as you are connected to Internet and It gives the latest valuable information. 

Today I used it to quickly message my friends and remind them about something important.

Online Services

This is my personal audit of all my comunications, research and investigation about the different ways of using Online services and information age.

The areas I will be covering will include:
-Communication
-Realtime Communication
-E-Commerce
-E-Government
-Education
-Buissness
-Entertainment