Running head: WHAT ARE NEW WAYS PEOPLE CAN USE TECHNOLOGY TO CHANGE THE WORLD? 1 What are New Ways People Can Use Technology to Change the World? Reem Alsamiri Northern Virginia Community College WHAT ARE NEW WAYS PEOPLE CAN USE TECHNOLOGY TO CHANGE THE WORLD? 2 Mobile Money Introduction Mobile money is the transfer of electronic wallet or money from one user to another within a country or in many countries. Electronic wallet services enable the users to send or receive and store money using a mobile phone. Mobile money is a new technology which has not been adopted by many countries. It is commonly used in East Africa, India and recently few countries in Asia and more from Africa have adopted it too. Development of new technology in the banking sector has brought a revolution in handling money leading to deprivation of poverty. Mobile money is fast growing because it is safe, easy to use and offers alternative to bank accounts. Mobile money does not depend on the internet, and it can be used by both smart phones and the basic feature phones. Credit card or debit card are being replaced with digital form in the mobile device. Instead of making transactions using the physical plastic card, mobile phones are used instead. The banking sector has also undergone drastic change by adopting mobile banking. Financial institutions have enabled their customers to carry out financial transactions using the mobile phone from remote areas where banks cannot be established. Customers can deposit, withdraw, pay loan or request for credit using the mobile phone. Mobile money has brought digitalization of money easing the mode of trading and sending of cash from one place to another or from one person to another. Background Mobile money was introduced in 2007 in Kenya by Vodafone for Safaricom, a mobile operator. Safaricom company is the largest mobile-network provider in Kenya, and it launched a mobile money system known as M-Pesa. M for mobile while Pesa is a Kiswahili name for money. WHAT ARE NEW WAYS PEOPLE CAN USE TECHNOLOGY TO CHANGE THE WORLD? 3 The mobile money allows the users to deposit cash into their account of the mobile phone. The sim card number is the number of the account. Each customer has PIN which is secured, hence being secret. Balances can be checked, and deposits can be redeemed, as well as one can buy goods and services. The system is mostly used for sending money from one person to another. By the year 2010, mobile money had become the best successful mobile phone service provider in the world (T.S, 2015). Users of the system are charged a small fee for sending and withdrawing cash. It has agent branches across the country from where the mobile banking services take place. The idea of mobile software to support M-Pesa was developed at Moi University student in Kenya who was later convinced by Safaricom, a mobile operator in Kenya and sold the idea to them. Apart from depositing and withdrawing money, other mobile money services offered include paying bills, transferring cash to other users, transferring money with banks and purchase of airtime as well as goods and services. The mobile service system has ever since expanded across the globe to countries such as Tanzania, South Africa, India, Afghanistan, Romania in 2014 and Albania in 2015. Initially, mobile money was designed to allow microfinance loan repayment to microfinances using mobile phones. It was aimed at reducing the interest rates due to reduced risks while handling cash. Later on, its services broadened to where it is today. Several mobile-money services have been launched after m-pesa in Kenya became effective. Mobile money in other countries has been opposed by bankers and regulators over the concern of money laundering (Hanouch, 2013). In Various countries, the mobile banking system is connected to the banking sector where one can get an instant loan. The money gets into the applicant's e-wallet from anywhere as long the user has been active with mobile money for at least six months. Tigo services in Ghana has been WHAT ARE NEW WAYS PEOPLE CAN USE TECHNOLOGY TO CHANGE THE WORLD? 4 offering free life insurance cover is tied to mobile phone usage which started as a mobile money product. Potential Benefits Mobile money is of many benefits among them payment of bills and salaries reducing stress and wastage of time lining in the banks. The system enables deposit of money, hence becomes safer to carry it inform of plastic money instead of cash. Withdrawal of money at the convenience of the user and transfer of money from one user to another has helped to reduce poverty especially in the rural areas (century, 2016). Mobile money has promoted the growth of the economy since money is at constant circulation in the economy. Banking has been made easier since account holders can access their accounts without necessary being in the bank physically. Mobile money users can be able to access loans as it is with the case of M-Shwari in Kenya. Legal and Ethical Issues For one to be registered as a user of the system, an individual must produce a valid national identity or a valid visa. Then the PIN is sent via a message to the mobile phone of the applicant (Omwansa & Sullivan, 2012). It is illegal for mobile banking agent to register an individual without producing either of the documents. Also, when withdrawing or depositing, the user has to produce either. This is to ensure that someone's money is secure from criminals. Chances of sending money to the wrong person are minimal as there are good guidelines. M-pesa mobile banking, for example, has collaborated with UK's Financial Conduct Authority and the Payment Card Industry to ensure that the customer’s information is best protected. Security Concerns WHAT ARE NEW WAYS PEOPLE CAN USE TECHNOLOGY TO CHANGE THE WORLD? 5 Criminals have been forcing individuals to withdraw cash at the gun point of which tracking them is difficult. The challenge of hacking the service provider is very high and incase it happens, the loss bored can be great (Dwivedi, Clark, & Thiel, 2010). Imposters who pretend to be service provider officials have conned clients by asking them to provide their crucial details only to use the information to withdraw the cash or request for a loan and vanish with it. Insecurity threats are alive due to advancement in technology, though with stringent measures, they can be kept at bay. Social Problems Mobile money has been used by criminals to solicit for ransom after hijacking a person. Those who have been sent money by mistake may withdraw them immediately, hence inconvenient to the user, although, at times, the service provider can recover them later. Fake money has been exchanged through agents of mobile money without noticing. Corruption has been promoted through mobile money as sometimes it’s hard to notice. Further Required Research The safety of information of the clients’ needs to be further researched and improved. Also, the safety of the transactions should be improved to earn fully trust with the users. Terrorists may use mobile money to fund their illegal activities, and close monitor over same should be improved in future. Conclusion Mobile money is a new technology which has developed although not adopted in most of the countries. The new technology will digitalize the money system soon. It, therefore, calls for more research and awareness among the people since mobile phones either smartphones or the basic WHAT ARE NEW WAYS PEOPLE CAN USE TECHNOLOGY TO CHANGE THE WORLD? 6 feature phones have become a necessity. Transacting using mobile phones is easy and saves time making mode of exchange more convenient. However, in the case of network breakdown, mobile money can be a disaster. WHAT ARE NEW WAYS PEOPLE CAN USE TECHNOLOGY TO CHANGE THE WORLD? 7 References Century, B. (2016). Banking beyond banks and money: a guide to banking services in the twentyfir. [Cham]: Springer. The book provides analytical ideas of various scholars reviewing the benefits of digitalization of money and banking. The contributors have a strong sense of ideas, hence useful in the research due to the information on digitization which is modern technology. Dwivedi, H., Clark, C., & Thiel, D. V. (2010). Mobile application security. New York: McGrawHill. The authors discuss the necessary measures that can be undertaken to protect the smartphones from vulnerability. According to Dwivedi et al., the security of a mobile phone is crucial while carrying out mobile money. Their measures in the book are important though less related to the mobile banking and the material. The authors explain the importance of smartphones security. The book is important to the research as it provides information on security measures. Hanouch, M. (2013). Mobile Money: 10 Things You Need to Know. Advancing financial inclusion to improve the lives of the poor, 1-2. The article by Hanouch summarizes major points concerning mobile money in Kenya, the MPesa. The material is useful since it has presented an elaborative information on how mobile money pioneered in Kenya as the primary initiator. Omwansa, T. K., & Sullivan, N. P. (2012). Money, real quick: Kenya's disruptive mobile money innovation. United Kingdom: Balloon View. WHAT ARE NEW WAYS PEOPLE CAN USE TECHNOLOGY TO CHANGE THE WORLD? 8 The book by Omwansa discusses the disruptions that resulted due to the mobile money in developing countries. The authors touch on legal complications as well as economic and social disruptions. The book is useful as it provides insightful information on mobile money legal implications. T.S. (2015). Why does Kenya lead the world in mobile money? The Economist, 1. The article has discussed the how mobile banking and mobile money has developed over time among countries. It has also elaborated on the impacts of the mobile money hence the article useful in the research. ITE 115 Website Project ***No Late Submissions*** Web Site Specifications (10% of final grade) Overview As part of this project, you will publish the research paper on the web and will include graphics and links to related information. Information on your web site must have incorporated instructors’ feedback on research paper and is carefully proofread, spell checked and verified for information accuracy. In addition, your site must not infringe copyrights by using media (e.g. video, images) or text without appropriate permissions. Project Objectives • • Demonstrate your ability to use web based technologies to communicate your understanding of a selected technology related topic Make obvious your ability to seek permission from the originator for the copyrighted material and cite references appropriately • Have at least one of the following additional requirements on at least one if not on all of the content pages: Original artwork, Digital photograph and Public domain Clip art o Original artwork • Original artwork created by you in Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, MS Paint or other graphics software. A single colored or plain gif or jpeg image does not satisfy this requirement. Using this gif or jpeg image as a background image will not satisfy this requirement. o Digital photograph relevant to the chosen topic • Digital photograph (you have taken yourself) and is relevant to the topic. The digital photograph file must be in a gif or jpeg image format. o Clip art (e.g. gif image). If not stated on the web that the media is free, you must consider the media to be copyrighted, and therefore you must have permission to use the media (video, clip art/image, etc.) in your website. 4. Reference page • Cite all references in accordance with APA style/format on a separate webpage. • In addition to content reference listed in the research paper, include video references (for all videos used), clipart/image references (for all clip art/images used) and original artwork references (for all original artwork used) on the reference webpage. • Media (video, clip art/image, etc.) reference: o Video and clip art/image reference will include the following. Description of the media (video, clip art/image), how it is related to your topic, name of artist/copyright holder, date that you obtained the media (video, clip art/image, etc.), a link to the source URL and a link to the source site’s page granting you permission to use and the conditions of use. • The page granting permission may have the following names but is not limited to these names: Terms of Use, Terms of Service, Copyright or Legal. • If you have obtained specific permission (paper mail, email or verbal) to use the item, use this statement “permission obtained from the artist/copyright holder”. • If you are using Microsoft Clip Art, indicate that you used Microsoft Office (e.g. retrieved from Microsoft Office 2010 Clip Art collection). o Original artwork reference and digital photograph will include the following. Description of the artwork or digital photograph, name of the software used to create the artwork, date the artwork or photograph was created/taken, and the statement "artwork is original and created by me" or the statement “digital photograph was taken by me”. o Each type of media (video/original artwork/digital photograph/clip art) will include an annotation - a sentence or two explaining how the media is related to your research paper. • Each web reference/source will have an active link to the source/database URL including information requested in the research paper instructions. Note: This project must be your own work. If you get help from someone else (e.g. The Media Center), you must state this on your references page (be specific). 5. Menu Insert a table at the top of each page of your research paper that contains links to every page of your project. The borders of the cells must be visible. Use of FRAMES is not permitted Submission The project must be in your NVCC server. There must be a link from your index.html file (i.e., homepage) to your project. Thus, when the instructor goes to http://www.student.nvcc.edu/~username, the instructor will see a link to your project. All projects must be stored in your NVCC server to receive credit. Your pages should include appropriate formatting and graphics, and should be linked to other relevant pages. All links must be active links to navigate the reader to respective webpages. Help STARS Program: The students of the NOVA STARS program are available by appointment to help students taking IT courses with specific tutoring needs. Send an email to the STARS tutor to set up an appointment. Online tutoring is also available. Open Labs - The Open Computer Lab Supevisor - Hussna Azamy is available to provide help sessions on HTML and uploading the files to the NOVA server. You can contact her directly - hazamy@nvcc.edu Woodbridge Tutoring center https://www.nvcc.edu/Woodbridge/tutoring/index.html KEEP CURRENT BACKUPS AT ALL TIMES. "The computer ate my project" will get you sympathy, but no points. Testing Test your project on campus computers. If it does not load in a reasonable amount of time, your instructor may not be able to view it. If we can't view it, we can't grade it. So, it is a good idea to test your website from different location (library, lab, your friend’s machine, etc.). Grading Criteria Comment Code A Content 1. 2. 3. 4. Embedded video not on first page of content No link to paper PDF or Wiki or Blog on title page Website does not contain a webpage for every page in research paper No improvement in paper based on Instructor’s comments on research paper • • • • 5 points 5 points 5 points 5 points B Layout 1. 2. 3. 4. No ordered or unordered list The content including links is difficult to read due to poor color contrast Text formatting (font type and size) not appropriate for web page presentation Webpages do not correspond to each page of the research paper C Internal and External Navigation Use of Media 1. Has more than 2 broken links or more than two inactive links 2. Has no menu table on each page at the top of page with links to each individual page 3. Poor navigation system • • • • • • • 5 points 5 points 5 points 5 points 5 points 5 points 5 points 1. No embedded YouTube video or No Image 2. No Blog or No Wiki or No PDF 3. Media is not appropriate size (too small or large) for the amount of content • • • 5 points 5 points 5 points E Citations 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Missing APA research paper reference in Bibliography Missing APA media reference in Bibliography No annotations No Terms of Use/Service/…etc. link for media reference or no permission statement No APA citation on content pages (in-text citation) No active link to the web source or online database on reference page • • • • • • 5 points 5 points 5 points 5 points 5 points 5 points F Other 1. 2. 3. 4. No project or incorrect access permission, or project modified after due date Project not on NVCC server Honor Code violation Responsible Use of Computing Violation (commercial use or advertising on the web page) 5. Forbidden use of an HTML editor or frames 6. No grade at this time. See you instructor. • 100 Points D Criteria Grading Guide Total Points