Major medical condition Essay Example for Free

Major medical condition Essay Virtual communities are a good example of how social exploration is impacted by ICT (and impacts) human interaction. A virtual community is an Internet-based medium where persons can ‘post’ thoughts, ideas, and opinions they would like to share with others. People experience a connection and social interaction through the virtual management of information in a digital medium. The virtual community allows information to be gain an open diversity that promotes the broadening of â€Å"horizons in terms of connecting with people of different backgrounds† (Ward p 101 1999). Citizens of the virtual community are not geographically secluded to their local culture, and therefore the management of information across the virtual community â€Å"seems to add to the interest and depth of the community† (Ward p 101 1999). ICT convergence allows for the Internet to be used for communication in multiple manners. The Internet is the medium where internet telephony, phone text message or SMS, online chat or IM, email, podcast, blog, and so forth take place. There is not another medium for transfer of digital information, but there are multiple and convergent methods (cell phone, computer, PDA) to utilize in the transfer. Internet telephony is one example of ICT convergence that has changes the manner in which society communicates. This refers to technology that enables routing of voice conversations over the Internet or any other IP network. The voice data flows over a general-purpose packet-switched network, instead of the traditional dedicated, circuit-switched voice transmission lines. The home computer or mobile laptop can function as a home based telephone, which allows for multiple social connections to be made. Phone text messages, instant messages, online chat and Short Message Service (SMS) are computer programs that enable two-way typing to connect users to each other. Available on digital networks these allow text messages of written characters to be sent and received via the network message centre to the mobile phone, or from the Internet. If the digital device is powered off or out of range, messages are stored in the network and are delivered at later. This increases the opportunity of social connectivity to overcome the concern of time and place, as messages can now be written and received instantly rather than left on a traditional answering machine, and accessed instantly or at a later time. Society places a profound monetary value on information communication technology. People pay for cellular phone access and satellite television. People purchase subscriptions to access the Internet for the ability to make medical, financial, housing, and even education decisions via digital communication. In 2005, 21 million Americans used the Internet to gain career education (Horrigan and Rainie p 4 2006). 17 million Americans used the Internet to help another person with a major medical condition, where 7 million used the Internet to help themselves deal with a major medical condition (Horrigan and Rainie p 4 2006). Another 17 million used the Internet to choose a college, where 16 million Americans used the Internet to purchase a car, and to make a major financial investment (Horrigan and Rainie p 4 2006). 10 million Americans used the Internet to find housing, and 8 million used the Internet to change jobs (Horrigan and Rainie p 4 2006). Podcasts are a form of digital broadcasting that allows the user to publish audio and video files to the Internet for users to download at anytime. This increases the ability to access media related information. A blog and email are written information that is sent instantly to a destination web site, forum, or individual person. Email is mail or text composed and transmitted on a computer network. A blog is basically a web-based journal that are typically updated daily using software that allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain the blog in much the same manner as email, simply by typing the message and pressing send. Another significant example of using information communication technology to achieve a desired goal is the blogging community. Blogging is the act of creating and sharing a blog. A blog is written communication published on the Internet. Blogging has changed the manner in which writers achieve their publishing goals of sharing personal information and stories (Lenhart and Fox p 2 2006). There are about 12 million bloggers in America (persons who maintain a blog). 54% of bloggers â€Å"say they have never published their writing or media creations anywhere else† (Lenhart and Fox p 2 2006). Statistically speaking, that is six million Americans who have utilized a blog by managing information to reach desired writing and publishing goals.