DP Digital Society Questionbank

Identify three characteristics of open-source software.

The increasing use of cloud-based applications and online collaborative tools has led to Orams Academy introducing an acceptable use policy for students and teachers.

Explain three reasons why Orams Academy decided to introduce an acceptable use policy.

To what extent do the benefits of using Lyrebird’s voice-cloning software outweigh the concerns that may arise from its use?

Fake news

We see and hear news every day and trust that the information provided is accurate. That belief may soon end.

Artificial intelligence (AI) software is now being developed that can produce fake video footage of public figures using recordings of their own voices. Using as little as one minute of user-generated content (data), it can reproduce a particular person’s voice. The developer of this software demonstrated the results by using the voices of Bill Clinton, George Bush and Barack Obama in a computer-generated conversation.

Once a person’s voice has been reproduced, a fake video can be created by processing hundreds of videos of the person’s face. Video footage of politicians are often used, as there is so much data available online.

Law professor John Silverman commented that, as humans we tend to believe what we see, and the increased number of tools to make fake media that is unrecognizable from real media is going to prove a major challenge in the future.

Discuss the claim that companies who develop software that can create fake videos of politicians should be accountable for the fake videos posted by users of their software on social media platforms.

Two methods for informing tourists about wildfires in Kinakora National Park are:

• short message service (SMS) texting/text messaging
• posting information on the Kinakora National Park website.

Analyse these two methods.

There are two possible methods for ensuring students use the TailorEd online learning system responsibly. They are:

• restricting access to sites that may be considered inappropriate
• educating the students about acceptable use.

Analyse these two methods.

Sharing dashcam* footage with police

Many police departments have started campaigns to encourage members of the public to upload footage of possible offences committed by drivers to police websites. The police are looking for footage of activities such as dangerous driving and driving whilst talking on a cellphone/mobile phone.

Members of the public can create an account on the police website to upload footage from their dashcam (see Figure 3). They can also upload their dashcam footage anonymously.

The police claim that using dashcam footage uploaded by the public will help reduce the number of accidents caused by dangerous driving.

Figure 3: An example of a dashcam

* dashcam: a video camera mounted in a vehicle to record activity on roads

Discuss whether this dashcam footage should be used by the police as part of their strategy to reduce the number of accidents caused by dangerous driving.

Automated medical image analysis

EBBZS IT, based in Groningen, the Netherlands, intends to develop a system using artificial intelligence (AI) to help doctors at Joelstraat Hospital interpret medical images.

Due to the high resolution* of the digital images (see Figure 4), EBBZS IT claims the AI system will be able to learn from these images to assist doctors when diagnosing patients’ illnesses.

EBBZS IT also claims the AI system will be able to cope with the significant increase in the volume of patients and the increased complexity of their symptoms and conditions.

Figure 4: Examples of digital images used in the AI system

Explain why the avatar developers would create avatars that do not look like humans.

Compare and contrast the effectiveness of the approaches outlined in Source C and Source D towards the responsible use of mobile devices.

Suggest two reasons why there has been a significant decrease in in-person communication with teenagers between 2013 and 2019 in Source B.

Mobile devices provide many benefits for children but can also be used inappropriately. Some groups claim it is the responsibility of parents to ensure their children use their mobile devices responsibly, while other groups claim that responsibility lies with other stakeholders, such as schools.

With reference to all the sources and your own knowledge, to what extent do you agree that parents should be responsible for ensuring their children develop safe and healthy habits for mobile device usage?

Identify two types of digital media that could be used to show the potential tracks of Hurricane Irma.

How to appropriately interact in an online environment

Increasing numbers of parents are claiming digital technologies that monitor online activities are the best way to protect their children from offensive content. A number of companies, such as mSpy and Qustodio, have developed online monitoring apps.

Other parents claim it is not necessary to monitor their children’s online behaviour, preferring to encourage their children to develop the knowledge and skills to make appropriate choices.

Parents can consider two different interventions to ensure their children use the online environment appropriately:

1. Monitor their children’s online behaviour using apps
2. Encourage their children to develop the knowledge and skills to use the online environment and make appropriate choices.

With reference to real-life scenarios, evaluate these two interventions.

Should we completely automate journalism?

Some of the news articles that you read are written by automated journalism software. This software uses algorithms and natural language generators to turn facts and trends into news stories.

Narrative Science, a company that produces automated journalism software, predicts that by 2026 up to 90 % of news articles could be generated by machine learning algorithms.

Discuss whether it is acceptable for news articles to be generated by automated journalism software.

Many citizens have raised concerns about the surveillance of their web browsing history or the censorship of selected websites by their national government.

To what extent is it appropriate for national governments to use surveillance and censorship to control citizens’ access to websites?

Many schools block access to social networking websites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. However, other schools are investigating two different options:

• Monitoring the network to view what websites the students are viewing.
• Giving different ages of students different levels of access to social media sites.

Analyse these two options.

Identify two advantages of using text messaging to communicate.

Identify two types of digital media ACP could use on its website.

Explain why each image is watermarked before it is uploaded to ACP’s website.

Explain why each image has its resolution reduced before it is uploaded to ACP’s website.

Some people feel uncomfortable about having their photographs taken and posted on a public website.

To what extent is it acceptable for ACP to take photographs of participants, post them online, and sell them without asking their permission?

Umair has decided on a strategy to develop his software and Braille keyboard by using crowdfunding and open-source software.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this strategy.

Identify two types of image file.