Monday, January 27, 2020

Relationship Between Information Rich in Information Poor

Relationship Between Information Rich in Information Poor 1. Introduction In order to discuss Feathers chapter 5 â€Å"information rich and information poor† conclusion of his book â€Å"The information Society, a study of continuity and change†, we need to understand what actually is information rich and information poor in relation to information society. We need to analyze what the political dilemma is; is it only a political dimension related issue within the information society? Is it a choice? And if there is, which way should be chosen and consider as politically correct? And finally we need to find what other real opportunities or options are given to us. This certainly is a discussion full of perplexity on which I will argue that despite the geo-political discrepancies between developing countries and developed countries the â€Å"digital divide† is not sine qua non to socio-economic political decisions anymore but has evolved in the past years into an Auto-Democratisation and Liberalisation and should be bridged by a more eff icient and targeted educational plan, internationally applied beyond any economical barriers. 2. Defining what information society is The Internet is the only mass medium that is newly created in the second half of last century and as Mehra (2004) says, the internet has tremendous potential to achieve greater social equity and empowerment and improve everyday life for those on the margins of society. The acceleration of development in information and communication technology over the last decade has a major impact on social, political, cultural or economical issues. What is the role being played by the Internet in the information society? The Internet is nowadays seen as the pivotal point of view of the â€Å"information society† and can be regarded as a reflection of our daily reality with its multiple opportunities and danger. The â€Å"information society† produces a â€Å"class division†, a clash between people who havent access to the majority of knowledge and those who are â€Å"information rich†, contributing to the economic wealth. This gap between â€Å"haves† and â€Å"have-nots†, between â€Å"information rich† and â€Å"information poor† keeps increasing and has radical effects of changing or at least substantially affecting our society. A more critical definition of â€Å"information society† given at BusinessDictionary.com combines both: Post-industrial society in which information technology (IT) is transforming every aspect of cultural, political, and social life and which is based on the production and distribution of information. It is characterized by the pervasive influence of IT on home, work, and recreational aspects of the individuals daily routine, stratification into new classes those who are information-rich and those who are information-poor It is generally referred to as the â€Å"digital divide† terminology: â€Å"the gap between those people who have Internet access and those who do not† Collins English Dictionary (2003). With a slightly differentiation Mehra (2004) uses adjectives and add the technical aspect of computers to this definition. Looking at the multiple and almost identical definitions of â€Å"information society† and its inextricable â€Å"digital divide† we can conclude that by â€Å"digital divide† it is meant the splitting of those who use or not use Internet resources. the â€Å"have-nots† cannot access computers and Internet resources and therefore are disadvantaged, falling into a an unequal position compared to the †haves†, the one who gains access to information throughout new technologies and therefore participate actively to the social, political, cultural and economical life. This concept comes from â€Å"information society† theorists, which predicts an exceptional social impact on the product society, Webster (2006). Herbert Schillers corporate capitalism (p. 128), Jà ¼rgen Habermass public sphere (p. 163), Anthony Giddenss surveillance and reflexive modernisation (p.206), post-modernist Jean Baudrillards signs signification (p. 244) or Zygmunt Baumans liquid life (p. 260), not to forget Daniel Bells post-industrial society, techniques and technologies of production, change from Primary Industries such as agriculture and industrialism to post-industrialism, are the basis for evidence that technology is central for the productivity increase and resulting economic wealth, referred as Technological determinism. (p. 120). Manuel Castells on the other hand with his network society is focusing on social plurality; leaving the old working class concepts and stratification structures behind, bringing to it new Parameters like flexibility and adaptabilit y and herewith become informational Labour, referred as informational Capitalism. (p. 100) 3. Are â€Å"Haves† and â€Å"Have-nots† always â€Å"information-rich† and â€Å"information poor†? Looking at the given definitions it would almost imply that people having a computer and Internet access would automatically be seen as haves, but sometimes in developing countries and certainly in developed countries were consumers widely have access to these technologies we meet situations where they are not considered as information rich. We should look at a different approach and formalise the differentiation within our daily reality. The â€Å"Information poor† are consumers who use traditional mass media information such as television, DVDs, radios and magazines. They possess a wide range of electronic devices, MP3 players, PDAs, game consoles and other computing machines. They are considered as passive consumers of information and nowadays as passive users of new technologies, downloading digital e-books, listening to their favourite music, playing computer games, reading the last international news. But they do not interact nor create any of this provided Information and are certainly not involved in decision taking. On the opposite â€Å"information rich† stands for a new elite within the information society. They are involved into acquiring and processing information, using web 2.0 online applications, producing personalised journals on community platforms, elaborating group discussions in forums with a certain level of knowledgeable competence. They are acting at manager levels thanks to their acquired knowledge and overall literacy. They are the protagonists of this ever-growing information and technology society who possesses the knowhow of Selective processing, generating and distributing information. This selective process of evaluating provided information is determined by the consumers rather than the producers. Consumers pull out the information that fits their needs to increase the value of the already acquired information. They allocates their own criteria of values to the chosen information, they can absorb in its totality, the Values could also reach a certain level of accumulation where the effective processing of it becomes then ineffective, considered as â€Å"information overload†, but the average â€Å"information rich† does know how to handle this, as I will deepen later. Do it now â€Å"The limit is the sky† would be a perfect slogan on planet Utopia where every active user would have become â€Å"information rich†, information access would have been made unlimited, where the knowledge boundaries would be bridged on an information rainbow but on planet Earth our economical reality becomes a barrier where the consumers are blocked by the depth of that availability made in the acquisition of the needed information. Some are available for free supplied by institutions and governmental authorities, some are partially available for publicity purposes (book retailers, information providers) and others specifically recognised to be accessible only with subscriptions or tuition fees. This brings us to the undeniable fact that information consumers are forced to accept the concept of economical value attributed to information by its producer or provider and herewith underline the political dilemma the â€Å"information society† is confronted with. Information itself contributes to extend the already existing gap between developing countries and developed ones. We could not agree more on Feathers statementthat the comparative success of the information-rich economies, and the relative weakness of those that are comparatively information poor, is in itself an argument for the importance of information. The attributed values to information are considered by information society theorists to be one aspect of the evolution of social economic societies; social, political and cultural wealth have always been mirrors of strong economic powers where it could flourish and participate to its economical success. Following Feathers analysis on developing countries, development and exploitation of information technology has become indispensable and value of information fundamental, as shown with Japan, Singapore and Korea, were scientific and economic information are largely accessible and beneficially contribute to primordial economic changes. But unlike these three economically successful Asian countries, major differentiation could also be seen within industrialized countries; between the northern highly agriculturized countries and the Southern ones, accessibility ofinformation resources on comparative basis, the consumer gains from information evaluation but also could suffer in detriment of its productivity. To what extent information becomes one of the tools and enhances already existing knowledge to improve long used agricultural and industrial processes. Information does not become the centre of its economical wealth while contributes to it. The awareness based on analysis of acquired information and its resulting decisions to an enhancement or changes in primer sectors economy corroborates the views information helps â€Å"economic societies† but does not evolve to an â€Å"information society† as such. 4. The digital divide as political dimension The question if Internet opens emancipatory possibilities or whether further enlarges the gap that already exists between the â€Å"haves† and â€Å"have-nots† remains controversial. You will not achieve equality by providing each Third World villagers, ethnic minorities or other â€Å"have-nots† with a computer and Internet access. Access to information communication technology cannot be seen as a standalone solution. The origins of this disparity are far deepening within their educational, socio-cultural and socio-economical problems as Berude (2005) explains. Early Finding by the Orbicom initiative, Sciadas (2003) in collaboration with the Canadian International Development Agency, the InfoDev Programme of the World Bank and UNESCO, shows definitively the enormity of digital divide, separating the â€Å"haves† and â€Å"have-nots† countries by many decades of development, mainly concentrated in Africa but some of them also in the Asian area. Desp ite the fact that the digital divide is generally speaking closing, this report shows that the progress made between the poorest and the â€Å"in-between† countries was not sufficient to close this disparity, while â€Å"upper-middle† countries made distinctive progress to the top and herewith widen the overall gap between the very rich and very poor, and this regardless of the acquisition of ICT and installing new fibreglass high debit telephone lines. There is an undeniable necessity to acquire research skills, literacy skills or generally related computer skills before a user can be called an internaut, a protagonist: The use of Internet requires a much higher literacy skill than traditional media like television, radio or magazines in order to find analyse and process the requested information. There is no title page with table of contents (publications) and no fixed schedule (television, radio) on the Internet. The Internet is basically a â€Å"pull medium† where targeting specific information, articles, research strategies and selective thinking are necessary. Media literacy can therefore be considered as a barrier to Internet access, and this in any type of consumer groups, not only in developing countries but also in our Western countries. Unless there are strong political wills were ICT is recognized by governments as a development tool, were significant efforts are made in education, introduction to ICT in schools, were teaching programs are developed, these countries will not have any significant economical growth. In developed countries the Internet was mainly of layers with higher incomes and educational levels. ENLARGE VIEW while the population in many developing countries are totally excluded from access to the Internet. ENLARGE VIEW 5. Other opportunities and options The danger of such a gap within the society cannot be minimized that easily and solutions offered by public institutions like â€Å"Internet access for all† in public libraries, set up of information communication technologies within public schools or private funded projects like Microsoft founder Bill Gates â€Å"one computer for each children†, were the first stones set to cross the gap between information rich and information poor. But it unfortunately is not taking all citizens and generation groups into account. ENUMERE It is necessary to illuminate the different social perspectives which would integrate this socio-economical as well at it socio-cultural aspects in order to create an awareness of the complicity of this dilemma. Bourdieu already suggested and identified this perspective as overall capital. DESCRIBE According to Bourdieu (1993), the overall capital of different fractions of the social classes is composed of differing proportions of the various kinds of capital. It is mainly in relation to the middle and upper classes that Bourdieu elaborates this variation in volume and composition of the four types of capital These differences are a consequence of complex relationships between individual and class trajectories. Moreover, the values attached to the different forms of capital are stakes in the struggle between different class fractions Meritocratic teaching Particular attention should be thrown on the field of media education. The Internet, as an above medium influenced the perception of the users, the Media literacy is seen against the background of Info-Poor-/Info-Rich-effects. Thus, an Internet literacy can lead because of lack of cultural assimilation, for example when many senior citizens to information-poor effects. But even in children and adolescents in turn, the media education challenged when it comes to issues such as the ability, credibility with the media, particularly via the Internet to assess common information. 6. Conclusion By redefining socio-economic gaps between â€Å"haves† and â€Å"have-nots† and whether it is part of the political dilemma, the information society is on its way to become a powerful tool that could eradicate worlds poverty. Yet it the remaining problems are not only to be seen as a sociological struggle, but rather are perceived as a pedagogical challenge. 7. References Beasley-Murray, J. (2000, June 15). Value and Capital in Bourdieu and Marx. InI one-stop shopping for the real news. Retrieved December 30, 2009, from http://www.williambowles.info/sa/cultural_capital.html Berude, L. (2006). The Digital Divide, or Who Gets to Be Part of the Information Society? Multimedia Information and Technology Digital, 32(3), 26-33. Families, cultural resources and the digital divide: ICTs and educational advantage. (2003, April 1). Australian Journal of Education, 47, 18-39. Retrieved December 30, 2009, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6475/is_1_47/ai_n29004669 Feather, J. (2008). The Information Society: A Study of Continuity and Change (5 ed.). London: Facet Publishing. Sciadas, G. (2003). Monitoring the Digital Divideand Beyond. Montreal, Canada: Orbicom. Webster, F. (2006). Theories of the Information Society: Third Edition (International Library of Sociology). New York: Routledge. information society definition. (n.d.). BusinessDictionary.com Online Business Dictionary. Retrieved January 2, 2010, from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/information-society.html

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Prejudice Essay -- essays research papers

For this oral history paper I was very excited to find someone with a quite interesting and culturally diverse family background that I think would contribute a lot to the topic of prejudice and stereotype. This paper will discuss the views of stereotype and prejudice of my interviewee and also how the two factors have affected her life. Brown (1995) defines prejudice as a negative attitude, emotion, or behavior towards members of a group as a result of their membership of that group. This negative attitude, emotion, or behavior that we project toward members of a particular group is influenced by the attitudes of others around us and the norms of our ingroup. In this paper I would try to use the interviewee’s stories which in many instances are filled with treatments of prejudices and stereotypes coming from herself and others. The person I interview is FDG, a 23 year-old female college student with a Motion Picture/Movie Production at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. FDG was born and raised in Jakarta, Indonesia. Her father is Indonesian and her mother is from Turkmenistan (formerly part of the Soviet Union). Her father comes from a very religious (Moslem) family in Sumatra and it was quite a horror to his family when he decided to marry a foreign Jewish girl (her mother then converted to Islam when FDG was 7 years old). FDG comes from a very comfortable economic background, both her parents are chemical engineers. FDG said that she grew up in a very sheltered environment where almost every she needed were provided for. As a child of a mixed raced couple, FDG becomes a member of the minority group in the country she was living in where most couples come from similar economic, religious, and ethnic backgrounds. FDG now acknowledges that during her childhood and adolescence she had encountered and experienced stereotyping and prejudice. Because Russian is her first language, in kindergarten she was teased by her friends for not being able to speak Indonesian fluently and looking different than the others. â€Å"I’ve always hated my blonde hair,† says FDG, â€Å"one time a friend accused me of being an albino Indonesian†¦ I guess he couldn’t accept the fact that I had a Russian mother with blonde her too!† In the 4th grade she got into a fight and punched a classmate after he yelled, â€Å"Go back to where you belong†¦ you Russian terrorist!† FDG remarks that looking ba... ... being categorized in the Chinese group. FDG knows what it feels like to be prejudiced against, without realizing it she still cannot help from being a prejudiced person herself towards certain members of one group (Chinese Indonesians). Like many of other native Indonesians, she also has adopted some prejudiced views against Chinese Indonesians. When I ask FDG if she realizes that she is treating this particular group with the same stereotypes and prejudices that she was treated with while she was living in Indonesia, she says yes. FDG said that she acknowledges it but later on comments that she cannot help but be influenced by the perception of the majority. Although FDG may always encounter prejudices and stereotypes in the future, she now know that it is important to get to know a person based on their intelligence and not by their ethnic backgrounds. Now that she is living in a more â€Å"international† environment such as San Francisco, I think FDG is now able to broaden her perception towards prejudices and stereotypes and hopefully she will finally come to terms with her own diverse heritage and not have negative perceptions regarding others that are different from herself.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Abortions in America

Abortion is a very touchy topic in America. For several decades there has been a debate if abortions are legal or not. In this paper I will attempt to take you through the history of abortions with a specification on politics. The practice of abortion dates back to ancient times. Pregnancies were terminated through a number of methods, including tools, taking abortion herbs, the use of sharpened tools, abdominal pressure, and other techniques. In western parts of the world during the 20th century various women's rights groups, doctors, and social reformers successfully worked to have abortion bans repealed. Various anti-abortion laws have been on every state statute book since at least 1900. During this time, abortion was illegal in 30 states, and legal in 20 states under certain circumstances. These circumstances were rape, incest, and date drug. Abortions were seen as only need in life and death situations. The criminalization of abortion accelerated during the 1860’s. By the 1900’s it was generally punished as a felony. In the 1930’s approximately 800,000 abortions a year were performed by licensed physicians. In 1962 Colorado became the first state to legalize abortions but only under the circumstances I previously disclosed. Soon similar laws were passed in California, Oregon, and North Carolina. In 1970, Hawaii was the first state to legalize abortions on the request of the mother. This lead the way for New York, to repeal its laws and allow women to terminate their pregnancy up to 24 weeks. A law in Washington, DC allowed abortion to protect the life and health of the women, was challenged in the Supreme Court in 1971. The case was United States v. Vuitvch. In this case, the Supreme Court upheld the law, stating that â€Å"health† meant a women’s physical and mental well-being. This allowed women in Washington, DC to receive abortions. The Supreme Court decision, Roe v Wade set guidelines for the availability of abortion. The case established that the â€Å"must be considered against important state interests in regulation. † The Supreme Court ruled that the Texas statute forbidding abortion except when necessary to save the life of the mother was unconstitutional. The decision in this case was later modified by the Planned Parenthood v Casey case in 1992. It upheld the decision on central holding, but it revised the trimester system with the point of fetal viability. It defined fetal viability as the states right to verride the women’s autonomy. The Constitutional protection of women’s decision to terminate her pregnancy comes from the due process clause of the Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment states that no state shall â€Å"deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law†. In a more recent case, on April 18, 2007 the Supreme Court issued a ruling in the case Gonzales v. Carhart. The case dealt with the federal law â€Å"Partial Abortion Ban Act of 2003†. President George W. Bush signed it into law. The sentence that carried for breaking this law was up to 2. 5 years. Since 1995, The House of Representatives and U. S. Senate, which was led by the Congressional Republicans, tried several times to pass laws banning the specific type of abortion known as, partial abortions. After much emotion filled and long debates on the issue of partial abortions, President Bill Clinton vetoed the bills in April 1966. In October 1997 on the evidence that they did not include health expectations. Other tries of the Congress to override the veto were not successful. On October 2, 2003, the house approved once again the measure of banning partial abortions with a vote of 281-142. With this law in place, a doctor or physician could face up to 2 years in prison and could face civil lawsuits. Women who undergo partial abortions could not be prosecuted under this law. The law did include an exemption for women whose life was threatened without the partial abortions. On October 21, 2003 they passed a similar law with the help of demarcates with a vote of 64-34. The bill was signed by President George W. Bush on November of 2003. The federal judge blocked its enforcement in several states hours after it became law. The Supreme Court still enforced its ruling of a nationwide ban on the procedure of partial abortions from the case Gonzales v Carhart. The Supreme Court made a statement stating that just because there was a 5-4 ruling; The Partial Abortion Ban Act does not cause problems with the previous court decisions towards abortions. The current interpretation of the U. S. Constitution by The U. S. Supreme court based on the landmark case of Roe v Wade in 1973 is that abortion is legal but may be illegal by the states to a certain degree. This means abortions may be illegal from state to state but under the conditions of ape or incest for an example, an abortion can be performed in those states. Many states in America have passed laws to restrict late term abortions. Also, in many states, parental notification is required for minors to receive an abortion, and in clinics, it is mandatory to tell the patient abortion risk information before the procedure is started. The article that is most de bated from The Constitution when it comes to abortions, is the Fourteenth Amendment, which states: ’ All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. † The one problem with legalizing abortions is trying to determine when a fetus is able to live outside of the womb on its own. The majority rule in the case of Roe v Wade states that a fetus is viable at or after 28 weeks but can occur earlier. Viability can even occur as early as 24 weeks. With the technology advances over the last thirty years, a fetus is able to live outside of the womb a few weeks earlier than 24 weeks. These advances only make it harder to determine whether abortions are legal or illegal. To this date, in the youngest child to survive as a premature was delivered at weeks and 3 days. Due to the split laws between the federal government and state government, to get a legal abortion varies from state to state. Eighty-seven percent of U. S. territories and states have no abortion provider. Only seventeen states offer coverage of abortions under state healthcare plans. Legalizing abortions in the United States is a major issue that frequently arises during the nomination of people to the U. S. Supreme Court. With that being said, many nominees prefer to remain silent about that issue during their hearing because abortions may come up while their a judge. On April 1, 2004, President Bush signed The Unborn Victims of Violence Act. The act allows two specific charges to be filled against someone who kills a pregnant mother. One is for the mother and the other is for the fetus. The act specifically bans charges against the mother and the doctor when it comes to abortion procedures. Various states have various laws when it comes to abortions. In March 2006, South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds signed a law that made performing abortions a felony. It was repealed in November 2006. In February 2006, Mississippi’s House Public Health Committee voted to approve a ban on abortions. The bill died after the house and senate failed to agree on compromise legislation. Several states enacted â€Å"trigger laws† which would only take effect if the Roe v Wade decision was overturned. In February of 2009, The Personhood of Children Act, was passed by the North Dakota House of Representatives. The law was later defeated in the North Dakota Senate because if it was passed it would likely have been used to challenge Roe v. Wade. In February 2012, the Virginia House of Delegates passed House Bill 1 with a vote of 66-32. The law outlawed all Virginia abortions by declaring that the rights of persons apply from the moment sperm and egg unite. The second bill that was passed 63-36 vote, that requires a women to have an ultrasound before undergoing abortions. The public opinion towards abortions is split. It’s almost the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, majority of Americans believed abortion should be illegal in or most cases. This was conducted by the NBC News and The Wall Street Journal. Approx. seventy percent of respondents oppose Roe v. Wade being over turned; forty-eight percent supported it being over turned. This paper was written to address the abortion topic in America with a specific on politics. The paper stated the views and laws from the earliest days of abortions to now present day. The laws have changed over time, but still with decades to come you can count on abortions still to be a controversial.

Friday, January 3, 2020

Course of Study for 6th Grade

Sixth grade is an eagerly-anticipated time of transition for most tweens. The middle school years can be both exciting and challenging. Sixth, 7th, and 8th-grades often mean higher expectations and more responsibility for students academically. They can also be emotionally-challenging years as students reach adolescence. Language Arts A typical course of study in language arts for sixth grade includes components of reading, writing, grammar, spelling, and vocabulary. Students will read a variety of genres including fiction and non-fiction; biographies; poetry; and plays. They will also read more complex texts across the curriculum in subjects such as science and social studies.   Sixth-graders will learn to use techniques such as to cause and effect or compare and contrast  to analyze the plot, characters, and central theme of a  text. Writing shifts to more complex compositions regarding the content and length of time spent on assignments. Students may write long-term research papers or spend a week or more developing a more elaborate narrative. Writing assignments should also include expository and persuasive essays,  autobiographies, and letters. As more proficient writers, sixth-graders will learn to vary their sentence structure for more expressive writing and avoid using a passive voice.  They will use  tools such as a thesaurus to include more varied and descriptive vocabulary. Grammar also becomes more complex and should cover, identifying parts of speech such as direct and indirect objects; predicate adjective; and transitive and intransitive verbs. Students will begin to learn Greek and Latin roots to help them analyze and understand unfamiliar vocabulary.   Math Sixth-grade students have a solid grasp of foundational math skills and are ready to move on to more complex concepts and computations.   A typical course of study for 6th-grade math includes working with negative and rational numbers; ratios, proportion, and percent; reading, writing, and solving  equations with variables; and using the order of operations to solve problems. Students are introduced to statistical thinking using  mean, median, variability, and range. Geometry topics include finding the area, volume, and surface area of polygons such as triangles and quadrilaterals; and determining the diameter, radius, and  circumference of circles. Science In sixth grade, students continue to use the scientific method to increase their understanding of earth, physical, and life science topics.   Life science topics include the classification of living things; the human body; cell structure and function; sexual and asexual reproduction; genetics; microbes, algae, and fungi; and plant reproduction.   Physical science covers concepts such as sound, light, and heat; elements and compounds; electricity and its uses; electric and magnetic interaction; potential and kinetic energy; simple machines; inventions; and nuclear power. Earth science may cover topics such as climate and  weather; conservation;  space  and the universe; oceans, geology; and recycling. Social Studies The topics covered in social studies can vary widely in 6th grade, particularly with homeschooling families based on the curriculum they use and their homeschooling style. History topics may include ancient civilizations, such as the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. Some students may be covering the Middle Ages or Renaissance.   Other common topics for sixth grade include the U.S. government and Constitution; the presidential election process; types of governments; the Industrial Revolution;  and the rise of the United States as a political power. Geography often covers a detailed study of various regions or cultures, including the history, foods, customs; and religion of the area.   Art There is no typical  course of study for art in middle school. Instead, the general guideline is to allow students to experiment with a variety of art forms to discover what interests them. Students may enjoy performance arts such as drama or playing a musical instrument. Others may prefer visual arts such as painting, drawing, or photography. Textile arts, such as sewing, weaving, or knitting, may appeal to some 6th graders.  Ã‚   The study of art can also include art history or the study of famous artists or composers and their work. Technology Technology plays a huge role in modern society. By middle school, most students will have already had a great deal of experience with technology. However, sixth grade is an excellent time to make sure that students are proficient in areas of technology that they will use throughout high school. Students should be competent in their keyboarding skills. They should be familiar with common applications such as those used to produce text documents and spreadsheets.   Students must also understand and follow safety guidelines when using the internet and know how to adhere to fair use rules and obey copyright laws.