Ghanaians urged to embrace technology
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Type Company Limited, Mr Coby Asmah, has underscored the need for Ghanaians to embrace technology instead of resisting its application at the work place.
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He explained that technology impacted positively on societies and helped to develop the economy, as it made life more convenient to people with access to it.
Mr Asmah, who was speaking on the weekly motivational programme, the Springboard on Joy FM, observed that many people opposed technology because they saw it as invading their space.
The development of high technology, including the information and communications technology such as the Internet and the telephone, he said, had helped to shatter communication barriers and bridged the gap between people all over the world.
Mr Asmah admitted that while technology continued to offer better means to man’s day to day living, it also had unwanted results such as pollution of all kinds.
In fact, technology has evolved to serve not just human beings but also other members of the animal species as well. Technology is often seen as a consequence of science and engineering.
“Its influence on society could also be seen in how people use technology and its ethical significance in the community,” he said in a contribution to the programme, which is hosted by Reverend Albert Ocran, a pastor, an entrepreneur, author and a public speaker.
It was the second edition of a new series, “Pros & Cons” aimed at analysing leadership and human interest issues from different perspectives.
Mr Asmah was opposing the motion “E-books and E-bibles have destroyed the culture of reading and research,’’ in the October 9 edition of the radio seminar which was caste in a debate format.
The Head, Corporate Communications of Ecobank, Reverend Mrs Patricia Sappor, spoke for the motion while the Pastor in Charge of International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), Open Heavens, Rev Eric Xexemeku, spoke against the motion.
Computer and the internet have revolutionised numerous industries right from defence to education. In the past, people loved to read conventional books but technology has changed and they have become more interested in reading electronic books.
Rev Xexemeku explained that although technology was presently evolving rapidly electronic books (E-books) and traditional books such as the bible would co-exist to complement each other.
He stressed that compared to the conventional alternative, electronic books could be easily accessed from the website, hence anywhere.
“Some of them are free; therefore you can download them on the computer without the fear of intellectual copyright violations. After downloading, you can disconnect the internet and read the book on the laptop or your tablet,” he said.
Electronic books were mostly cost effective as they existed in the virtual (electronic) space, and people could easily use different devices to access and read the contents on the move.
Traditional books, however, required large cupboards to stock them, while their electronic counterparts did not face such a problem challenge, he argued.
That, he said, was because users could increase the secondary storage capacity of their computers to store thousands of e-books, a cheaper option preferred by many users.
“In order to carry 100 books from one place to another, you may require transportation. In contrast thousands of electronic books could be stored on a tablet while you are traveling. They provide portability and access to information at the press of a button,” he said.
He said while reading e-books one could instantly jump to any page according to their choice. But conventional books required the reader to flip through the pages in a sequential manner to find the needed content.
“It supports cross word or multi-tasking, there are often several English dictionaries in the electronic reader which help an individual to search when he or she comes across a word,” he added.
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He noted that it was possible to resize the font of an electronic book on the computer or tablet benefiting people with weak eyesight due to old age and disabled users could also download software that would turn e-books into audio versions.
Mrs Sappor disagrees
Mrs Sappor, who is also the President Elect of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, was of the view that reading was very crucial for the development of an individual.
But, she indicated that although technology was an enabler for the society it was presently changing the reading habit of human beings, both for good and evil.
While alluding to the benefits to the electronic books and electronic bibles, “I believe it had its own down sides which obviously inhibit the culture of research and reading,” she said.
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Making her argument for the motion, she opined that the physical books for instance had some level of attraction which often encouraged people to read.
“The traditional book on its own encourage you to read, the colour of the cover page, its tangibility and other features of a physical book attract people towards it,” she said.
According to Mrs Sappor, who is also the author of “The Christian Woman”, due to the complex nature of electronic gadgets such as tablets and smartphones it will be difficult for an individual to do focused reading without destruction from incoming emails and calls.
She added that electronic gadgets were more expensive compared to the traditional hard copy books, saying “it is even data dependent at a period where people want to cut cost.”
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“Then also using paper you will be able to see the volume of the physical book which will help you to plan your sequence of reading from page to page,” she said.
Mrs Sappor indicated that the tendency of technology failing at a point one needed it the most was real but the physical book could not fail at any time.