Overview

These days we take computers for granted. We use these machines to control the speed of our car, to turn on our garden lighting, to video conference with friends while we are at the beach and, sometimes, for work. Those now entering the workforce have grown up in a computer-controlled world and often do not realize how quickly it has changed around us.

The Internet, as far as individuals are concerned only appeared in the mid nineties and it was a few years after that that business first realized its potential.  Then in the early years of the new millennium we woke up one day to find that Facebook was about to change the way we interacted with one another. Now, just a few years later, the world has gone mobile.

Our social and work environments are changing at a rapid pace and we need to keep abreast of these changes if we are to make the most of them. Businesses, especially, ignore current trends at their dire risk. At the same time, embracing them provides opportunity.

It was in answer to the challenge of how best to adapt to the new environment that our course Get connected, get business was developed to show how to use technology to improve business productivity and, for those who may not have a business of their own, how social networking and other new developments can improve our life quality.

This initial module sets the scene. It takes us from the world of vacuum tubes to the latest in hand-held devices and shows us how we got to where we are today and what we need to do to take advantage of the opportunities we have.