Friday, 4 December 2009
Presentation Review
On a personal level I kept within my time limit, I didn’t really have much choice but to keep to it as I pre-timed my slides to change automatically. In retrospect this added more pressure on getting the speech across to the audience whilst also keeping in time, along with extreme nerves. But I feel it was fairly successful.
I only had a few key words for my speech in front of me. This worked well as I was aiming for a natural flow to the presentation, but also added to the pressure of getting it correct with little to fall back on if it went pear shaped, thankfully it didn’t.
If I was to redo the presentation I would probably not have the slides self timed. I would also try to practice more in front of larger audiences in an effort to reduce nerves on the day.
As a group everybody designed their own slideshow, along with their speeches. This was successful as each individual felt comfortable with what they were presenting and saying. On the day the team did an excellent job, nobody forgot their speech and everyone presented clearly.
Meeting Minutes
Outcome:
All must research chosen products.
Find quality images for use.
Remember to reference images and research.
Come to next scheduled meeting.
Abstract, Introduction and Conclusion
Mobile phones have been a part of our life for decades and have found uses that they were never intended for by the creators. They have found their way into many different aspects of life including home, social, work and education. Some say the mobile phone has a positive effect, some say otherwise. This report will look at the arguments for and against these theories, conduct research into the feelings of those around us, compare the results and finally state the findings and recommendations.
Introduction:
This essay will look into the effect that mobile phones have had on society and compare the positive and negative effects to get an understanding of whether they have pushed society in the right direction or if they are leading the new e-generation into a dark hole of despair. To get a better insight as to what extent the mobile phone has affected us, the effects that were brought about by the original introduction of the telephone will briefly be looked into.
Back in the seventeenth century if one wanted to contact another outside of travelling distance they would have relied on the postal service; a slow and possibly unreliable method where a handwritten letter would be put in an envelope and physically taken by hand to where ever the letter was addressed. If you were well off maybe a telegram, a slightly faster service but possibly too expensive for the working class. Now days this method of person to person, non commercial contact is all but going extinct (let alone the hand written bit). The option of sending a letter is not comparable to the convenience, cost, speed and reliability of other methods available in the world of today.
During the eighteenth century there was a lot of development in the communications industry, more specifically in the telecommunications industry. The telephone worked its way into society and a new method of mass communication was born. With one million four hundred thousand telephones around at the beginning of the eighteenth century people were able to pick up the ear piece, dial a number (most likely using a rotary dial system) and speak to another as though they were next to each other (Russell, 200?). Granted the quality was at first poor, and maybe the equipment was a little expensive but the business boomed. People could now telephone friends and loved ones, news would travel further and faster than ever before, business could now spread out, as quick reliable communication was achievable. Now, fast forward about seventy three years and a revolution is in the mist with the introduction of the first ‘mobile’ phone, the Motorola DynaTAC. The background of which was brought into reality and practicality by Joel Engel and Richard Frenkiel (Ament, 2006).
Heading now to the 1990’s the second generation mobile phones were introduced and now another method of communication was born, maybe one which has far more impact and relevance in society today than would have been imagined at its conception, the text message. At this point people can call or text anyone with a mobile phone, anywhere (as long as they were in a network covered area). So considering the mobile phone is just an extension of the telephone, a revolutionary communications device that made business and family life easier than ever, how would this new technology affect society in years to come?
Conclusion:
In conclusion mobile phones have had a big impact on society. Mobile phones have diffused into all age groups and cultures. These devices, originally designed as an extension of the telephone, have evolved to encompass new uses and now even have their own language which again is adopted by people of all age groups, not only youths. Mobile phones have found themselves useful in all walks of life, some would even say starting to encroach and have a negative impact on life. The findings of this report show that the opinion of many is very negative on the effect of mobile phones in education. The report also confirms that health warnings on mobile phones do little to change the way people use their mobile phone probably due to not enough research available to say mobile phones have a negative effect on health. The mobile phone does appear to be having a good impact on family and social life as people can keep in contact which surely is only a good thing.
Evaluation Of Results
The questionnaire agrees to a large extent with Aykac 2008 that mobile phones are viewed as having a negative impact on children in the education system, 83% of volunteers having this view, and disagrees with Castells theory that mobile phones and the text language sparks creativity. However the survey shows that the abbreviated text language has had a huge impact on society with 60% of volunteers using such a language, this is almost double that of non users of the text language.
The questionnaire agrees with the findings of Ofcom in that although 83.3% of volunteers were aware of the health issues only 16.7% were inclined to change the way they used their mobile phone, suggesting that there is not enough evidence to prove mobile phones are actually bad for your health. Mobile phone masts themselves were only a cause for concern for one third of the volunteers suggesting evidence contrary to the findings of Hale, Poulter and Whiteside that children in schools were at risk from the harmful effects of radiation from phone masts.
When investigating the uses of mobile phones it can be seen that only 7% of volunteers use their phone for work contrary to the theory of Chelsey that mobile phones have encouraged the spill over of work and home life. The survey shows that the primary use of mobile phones is for social purposes with 60%, family coming in second with 30%.
Thursday, 5 November 2009
Questionnaire
My name is Tristan Wahl; I am currently studying for a degree in Engineering at Anglia Ruskin University. As part of my degree I am writing an essay considering the effects of the mobile phone on society. To complete research in the subject area I have put together a fully anonymous questionnaire. All the questions are optional, if you don’t want to answer a particular question then please do not.
| What age range are you? | ||||||
| 18 – 24 | 25 – 30 | 31 – 40 | 41 – 50 | 51 – 60 | 61 + | |
| | | | | | | |
| Do you own a mobile phone? | ||||||
| Yes | No | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| What do you primarily use your mobile phone for? (please tick only one) | ||||||
| Social | Family | Work | N/A | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| What medium do you primarily use your mobile phone for? (please tick a maximum of two) | ||||||
| Call | Text | | Web | Photo | Video | N/A |
| | | | | | | |
| Are you aware of health issues surrounding mobile phones? | ||||||
| Yes | No | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| Does this affect the way you use your mobile phone? | ||||||
| Yes | No | N/A | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| Do phone masts and the radiation emitted from them give you cause for concern? | ||||||
| Yes | No | N/A | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| When you write a text message do you use abbreviated ‘txt’ language or proper words? | ||||||
| ‘txt’ | Proper | N/A | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| Do you feel that the ‘txt’ language has a positive or negative impact on the language of children in education? | ||||||
| Positive | Negative | Don’t Know | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| Please add any comments about your thoughts on mobile phones: | ||||||
| | ||||||
Thank you for taking the time to complete the survey, I greatly appreciate all input received.
Research Methodology
The survey will consist of convenience samples of different age groups, and administered in the form of an interview, this is best practice meaning the data collected will be more reliable as the conditions the survey was taken in and the manor in which answered can be controlled (Robson 2007).
For the purposes of this report the survey will consist of thirty samples due to time and resource constraints. Ideally a much larger and representative sample would be used to represent the opinion of the general society. No pilot questionnaire will be undertaken.
The survey will supply objective data which will be used to produce statistics for comparison to current theories. There will be ten questions to cover the basis of the report. The questions will be easy to understand and not leading. Answers to the questions will be multiple choices as this is a quick way to collect objective data.
There will be a short letter of introduction to explain why the survey is being carried out and to explain that the survey and all answers are optional. The survey will be completely anonymous as personal information will not help with the report.





