public administration notes e administration e governance notes bca bcs bsc computer science information technology

Unit 4: Challenges before e administration

Point 4.1: lack of e literary

There are several challenges that students and educators may need help with while developing or teaching digital literacy, such as lack of awareness about the ethical use of the internet, lack of guidance, difficulty in navigating the overwhelming amount of information available online, and more. Let’s dive deep into these challenges:

Here are some of the challenges associated with digital literacy:

Lack of Access to and Knowledge of Technology

One of the most challenging aspects of digital literacy is the requirement for a certain level of technical expertise and understanding. Not everyone has access to cutting-edge technology and tools or has been properly trained to use them, which can result in a digital divide in which certain people lag in digital skills and knowledge. This can have severe consequences for access to school, employment, and social and civic participation.

Trouble in Finding the Right Resource

Another barrier to digital literacy is the lack of capability to find the right resource from the billions that are available online. With so much information at your fingertips, it can be difficult to identify which sources are genuine and trustworthy. Critical thinking and analytical skills are needed to evaluate the quality of material found online and discern between facts and opinions, biases, disinformation and propaganda. This necessitates a critical approach with experience, awareness and knowledge.

Lack of Guidance

Concerns about privacy and security are amplified when we talk about digital literacy. Many people are unaware of the potential dangers of the internet and lack supervision from a digital expert. With a lack of information about digital literacy, trainers and practitioners, it is a topic that needs greater attention than we think.

Lack of Awareness & Interest in Digital Technology

Another challenge is the lack of awareness and interest in digital technology among certain sections of the population, particularly older adults and women. Nearly half of the world’s population is still not online. While Asia has the highest number of people without access, Africa tops the world in the percentage of the population without connection at 88 per cent. Furthermore, in digitally connected countries, male internet users outnumber their female counterparts in every region of the world. This ‘digital divide’ does not just signify those who have access to the internet and those who do not. The gap also encompasses several other discrepancies, including the quality of digital infrastructure in rural communities, the speed of connectivity in remote areas, and the training and skills required to navigate such technology.

Lack of Emphasis on Digital Literacy in Education

There is a lack of emphasis on making individuals digitally literate. Despite the growing importance of digital skills in the job market, many schools and colleges worldwide do not offer adequate training in digital literacy. This results in a lack of digital skills among young people, which can hinder their employment prospects in the future.

Point 4.2: IT security

Computer security, cybersecurity or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from information disclosure, theft of or damage to their hardware, software, or electronic data, as well as from the disruption or misdirection of the services they provide.

Cyber Security – Cyber Swachhta KendraI - t is the Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre under the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). The aim of Cyber Swachhta Kendra is to promote awareness among Indian citizens to secure their data in computers, mobile phones, and other electronic devices.

Information security is the practice of protecting information by mitigating information risks. It involves the protection of information systems and the information processed, stored, and transmitted by these systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction. This includes the protection of personal information, financial information, and sensitive or confidential information stored in both digital and physical forms. Effective information security requires a comprehensive and multi-disciplinary approach, involving people, processes, and technology.

• Protecting sensitive information: Information security helps protect sensitive information from being accessed, disclosed, or modified by unauthorized individuals. This includes personal information, financial data, and trade secrets, as well as confidential government and military information.

• Mitigating risk: By implementing information security measures, organizations can mitigate the risks associated with cyber threats and other security incidents. This includes minimizing the risk of data breaches, denial-of-service attacks, and other malicious activities.

• Compliance with regulations: Many industries and jurisdictions have specific regulations governing the protection of sensitive information. Information security measures help ensure compliance with these regulations, reducing the risk of fines and legal liability.

• Protecting reputation: Security breaches can damage an organization’s reputation and lead to lost business. Effective information security can help protect an organization’s reputation by minimizing the risk of security incidents.

• Ensuring business continuity: Information security helps ensure that critical business functions can continue even in the event of a security incident. This includes maintaining access to key systems and data, and minimizing the impact of any disruptions.

 3 Principles of Information Security

• Confidentiality – Means information is not disclosed to unauthorized individuals, entities and process. For example if we say I have a password for my Gmail account but someone saw while I was doing a login into Gmail account. In that case my password has been compromised and Confidentiality has been breached.

• Integrity – Means maintaining accuracy and completeness of data. This means data cannot be edited in an unauthorized way. For example if an employee leaves an organisation then in that case data for that employee in all departments like accounts, should be updated to reflect status to JOB LEFT so that data is complete and accurate and in addition to this only authorized person should be allowed to edit employee data.

• Availability – Means information must be available when needed. For example if one needs to access information of a particular employee to check whether employee has outstanded the number of leaves, in that case it requires collaboration from different organizational teams like network operations, development operations, incident response and policy/change management. 

Point 4.3: Miss Use of Social Media

What is social media misuse?

Improper usage of social media, engaging in illegal activities like sharing false information, cyberbullying, morphing, and violation of privacy are known as social media misuse.

Understanding The Risk Factors:

1. Cyberbullying: The repetition of abuse, online threats, and harassment, toward other individuals or groups of individuals. It often happens whenever one tries to upset another individual. Photos and videos of the victim are also dont taken down even when they are asked to which makes the situation of the person more worse. Cyberbullying among students is very common. Around 33% of students faced online bullying. This has had a negative impact on their mental health as well. It includes many disorders like eating disorders, depression, etc.
2. Sharing false information: Every day, we come across false information about people on social media. False information is when someone makes a false or fabricated story about someone eventually leading to confusion and mislead.
3. Morphing: Changing the photo into another through a smooth transition. Deep fake is also altering a video and changing the image into another which causes the sharing of false information. According to Deep Media, 500,000 videos and voice deep fakes were shared on social media.
4. Privacy violation: nowadays privacy has become a very important concern on social media all over the world. 14% of people experienced privacy violations on social media. Privacy violation leads to the unwanted exposure of individual personal information. This is a compromise with users’ privacy.

5. Identity Theft And Stalking:

   One of the serious threats associated with social media misuse is identity theft. Financial fraud and scams are some of the common activities that happen in it. Identity theft happens when someone steals personal information mainly the info related to bank credit cards and social security numbers

6. Raising Mental Issues Among Youngsters And Hacking:

   Social media has become a platform where everyone wants to look beautiful and the introduction of many filters and editing also made things possible. However, it gave rise to unexpected beauty standards which affect teenagers’ self-esteem and confidence. 

7. Deepfakes:

   Deepfaking can be a huge threat to people online on the web as it is one of the most heinous crimes one can commit on social media faking someone’s identity is mostly done by media through pictures and videos.