Topic13

Topic 13
Use, advantages and disadvantages of analogue and digital data by Tomer Lapidot

Today, most of technology is presented both analogically and digitally. Digital data is considered any data that is transferred or stored in the binary form of 0 or 1, while analog data is data in the form of continuous electrical waves which represent an infinite amount of values. The main advantage of the digital data over the analog, is that once recorded, digital data never looses quality once copied, and can be copied infinite amount of times maintaining the same quality, unlike analog data, which although can represent infinite amount of values, data is deteriorated after each copy of it that is made.

1. What are the issues involved in ITGS? 2. How did this technology emerge?

The ITGS industry is one that digitalizing. The digital technology is what is considered more modern, and with better quality. Since information in processed through computers, more information becomes digital. Digital technology emerged with the creation of computers, since computers and chips where the fist machines that worked with a binary base, and thus, stored their data in a binary base. As computers get more powerful, the quality of digital data improves. Computers with today’s computing capacity can already digitize photographs and sound to a level high enough that the human eyes and ears can not distinguish between digital and natural sound and an analog or digital picture anymore. Analog technology however has been around for longer period of time. Ever since the creation of the radio, telephone, and television, information was sent in the form of electric waves, or stored on magnetic strips. However, if not the original recording was used; the quality of the data would decrease and would not be nearly as good as the original.

3. Who are the stake holders? 4. What are the advantages and disadvantages for these stake holders?

Digital and Analog data is around for everybody. Computers, televisions, radios, watches, music player, microphones, speakers, telephones, are all items which fall into analog or digital data. The transfer of electric data is an integral part of modern society; society can not exist without it. The choice between choosing a digital device or an analog one falls into two categories, money, and fashion. Since digital is synonymous with quality, example, digital video camera, digital speakers, digital television broadcasting, these become luxuries which are to be purchased at higher prices. Thus, quality is a function of money, and that quality is based on digital technology. Fashion, however, is based on analog systems as it is on digital, for example, expensive wrist watches tend to be analogical, showing the time with the classic hands instead of LCD digits. However, in the practical utilitarian sense, digital technology is superior, and thus, costs more.

5. What solutions can overcome the problems? 6. What areas of impact does it affect? 7. Evaluate the impact locally and globally.

Since the social issue of the digital and analog market, is directly related to money, the more money one has, better quality he or she can enjoy. The major impact on society of this issue is that the more digital a person is, the higher his or her economic status is. Thus, richer people will enjoy digital technology more than poorer people. And so, anywhere in the world with a civilized society can an electronic industry.

1. What are the ethical issues? 2. Who is responsible? 3. Who is accountable?

Since digital data can be copied any number times without loosing quality, copying becomes easy. This property became abused by sharing and peer to peer programs such as Kazaa, Napster, and eMule, where copying music illegally is done easily. The product of copying digital music files endless for everybody cause the artist, and in the picture, the market to loose millions of dollars. Is it ethical to steal music over the internet just because technology can allow it? Such peer to peer file sharing programs reached global dimensions, can millions of people all over the world are responsible for abusing digital music’s ability to copy, and the composers lose money.

4. What laws apply? 5. Are there alternative ethical decisions? 6. What are the consequences of these decisions?

Clearly, copyright laws come into play when copies can be made as easy as they can with digital data. Because it is only logical that stealing someone else’s is not ethical, because a creator deserves credit for his or her work. An ethical decision would be simply to enjoy digital recording technology’s quality, while respecting copyright laws. Such decision may be harsh on young adults or teens, who can not afford luxuries like digital sound or vision quality, and peer to peer programs appear as a solution for not paying money for music and enjoying the same quality, but it would protect artists and their rights.