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D1.1 · Assess ways to reduce computing impacts

Learn to assess ways to reduce computing impacts through clear examples and targeted practice.

Ontario Grade 12 Computer Science

Topics in Computer Science

Assessing choices that affect people and the environment

Computing can help people communicate, learn, work, and solve problems. It also has impacts: devices use materials and energy, and choices about how technology is designed and used can affect people differently. In this lesson, you will assess ways to reduce those impacts. Assessing means more than naming a possible solution: consider what impact it addresses, who benefits or may face a drawback, and whether the available evidence supports the choice. You do not need specialized environmental measurements to make a careful comparison. You do need to distinguish known information from assumptions.

What you will learn

  • Identify ways computing can affect people and the environment.
  • Compare practical actions for reducing negative impacts.
  • Use evidence, trade-offs, and the needs of affected people to support a recommendation.

1. Start with the impact and the people affected

A useful starting point is to ask what is affected, when the effect occurs, and who experiences it. A device has impacts before it reaches its user: materials must be obtained, components made, and products transported. During use, devices and the services they connect to require energy. At the end of a device’s useful life, reuse, repair, recycling, or disposal can lead to different outcomes. These stages help you avoid treating a computer as if its impact begins and ends with switching it on.
Impacts also concern people. For example, a digital service may be difficult to use for someone with a disability, limited connectivity, or an older device. A feature that collects personal information can create a privacy concern. These are reasons to consider who benefits, who could be excluded or put at risk, and what changes could reduce the problem. Do not assume that a tool benefits everyone in the same way.
ICS3U experience with designing and building programs provides a useful foundation: choices about requirements and design shape how a product works for its users. For this expectation, the focus is not on writing code. It is on judging possible ways to reduce computing impacts and explaining why a proposed action is suitable.
  • Consider impacts across a device’s life, not only while it is in use.
  • Include effects on users and other affected people, not only environmental effects.
  • Separate established facts from information that would need to be checked.

2. Compare actions rather than assuming one fix solves everything

Different actions address different impacts. Keeping a working device in use longer, repairing it when practical, or passing it on for reuse may reduce the need to replace it immediately. These choices do not mean that every old device should be kept: a device might no longer meet a person’s needs, be repairable, or be safe to use. Consider the actual situation before recommending an action.
For energy-related impacts, people and organizations can consider whether equipment or services are needed, how they are used, and whether a less resource-intensive option meets the same need. A change should be judged against its purpose. For example, removing a feature that users rely on may create a new problem even if it reduces some resource use. Without measured data, do not claim a particular option saves a specific amount of energy.
For impacts on people, design and use choices can improve access and reduce risk. Providing accessible ways to use a service may help more people take part. Collecting less personal information can reduce unnecessary exposure, though a service still needs enough information to perform its stated purpose. A good assessment identifies both the intended benefit and any important limitation.
Use a simple comparison: name the impact, describe the action, identify who or what it may help, and note a trade-off or condition. Then decide whether the action fits the evidence and situation. This is more reliable than calling an option ‘green’ or ‘ethical’ without explaining what it changes.
  • Match each action to a specific impact.
  • Check practical conditions, including usefulness, repairability, access, and safety.
  • Do not invent numerical savings or claim an impact has disappeared when it has only been reduced.

3. Build a justified recommendation

A concise recommendation can follow four steps. First, state the impact you are trying to reduce. Second, describe the proposed action. Third, explain why it is likely to help in this case, using the information available. Fourth, acknowledge a trade-off or state what evidence would be needed to decide more confidently. This structure makes your reasoning inspectable: another person can see what you considered and where uncertainty remains.
For example, a school considering whether to replace a set of devices should not decide only from their age. It could first establish whether they still meet learning needs, whether repair is possible, and whether students can use them reliably. It should also consider what will happen to devices that are replaced. If those facts are not available, say so and identify them as information to gather rather than presenting a guess as a result.
A recommendation is strongest when it is proportionate. A small convenience does not automatically justify a large burden on users, and a proposed environmental improvement does not automatically make an inaccessible service acceptable. Compare the likely benefit with the costs, limitations, and people affected. The goal is a defensible choice, not a claim that computing can have no impacts.
  • Support recommendations with relevant information and transparent reasoning.
  • Make uncertainty visible instead of filling gaps with invented measurements.
  • Look for ways to reduce harm while preserving the useful purpose of the technology.

Worked example

Keep, repair, or replace a classroom laptop

A classroom laptop is slow but still starts. The school is considering replacing it. No repair quote or energy measurements are available. Recommend a responsible next step.
  1. Identify the impact
    Replacing a device can mean producing and obtaining another device, while keeping a device that cannot meet classroom needs may also undermine learning. The known facts do not establish which choice has the lower overall impact.
  2. Gather decision-relevant information
    Check whether the laptop meets the required learning tasks, whether a repair is practical, and what responsible reuse or recycling options exist if it is replaced. These checks address the missing facts without pretending they are already known.
  3. Recommend conditionally
    If a practical repair restores the laptop to a useful condition, repair and continued use may avoid an unnecessary replacement. If it cannot reliably meet learning needs or cannot be repaired appropriately, replacement may be justified, with a plan for the old device. No numerical environmental savings can be claimed from the information given.
Answer: Assess repairability and classroom suitability before deciding; repair and continue using it if that meets learning needs, otherwise replace it responsibly.
Check: The recommendation is conditional because repair, performance, and end-of-life details are not supplied.

Worked example

Choose whether to collect optional user information

A school event sign-up page asks for a participant’s name, email address, and favourite music genre. The genre is not used to organize or contact participants. What change would reduce a potential impact?
  1. Connect the field to its purpose
    The scenario states that the music genre is not used for sign-up or contact. Asking for it therefore collects information without a stated need for this task.
  2. Choose a proportionate change
    Remove the optional genre question. Keep information that is needed for the stated purpose, such as contact details if they are genuinely required to communicate event information. The scenario does not establish whether every requested field is necessary, so that should be checked rather than assumed.
  3. State the benefit and limit
    Removing an unnecessary field reduces the amount of personal information the sign-up process asks participants to provide. It does not, by itself, prove that all privacy risks are eliminated; the remaining information still needs appropriate handling.
Answer: Remove the unused genre field and check that each remaining field is needed for the event’s stated purpose.
Check: The reasoning links the change to unnecessary collection and avoids claiming that one change eliminates all privacy concerns.

Worked example

Make an online learning service more usable

A learning service provides instructions only through audio. Some students cannot access the audio. The school can provide written instructions as well. Assess this change.
  1. Identify who is affected
    Students who cannot access the audio may miss important instructions. The issue is not merely a preference: the current format creates a barrier to using the learning service.
  2. Assess the proposed change
    Adding written instructions gives students another way to obtain the same information and can reduce that access barrier. The written version should convey the necessary instructions clearly and be available where students need it.
  3. Check for remaining needs
    Providing text is a meaningful improvement in this scenario, but it should not be described as meeting every possible access need. The school can ask affected students whether the instructions are usable and consider other barriers they identify.
Answer: Provide written instructions alongside audio, then check that the alternative is clear and useful to affected students.
Check: This recommendation addresses the stated barrier while recognizing that one alternative may not meet every user’s needs.

Common mistakes and how to avoid them

Assuming that keeping every old device is always the most responsible choice.
Correction: Check whether the device can meet people’s needs, be repaired, and be reused safely; compare those facts with replacement and end-of-life options.
Claiming a choice saves a particular amount of energy or materials without measurements.
Correction: Describe the likely direction of the effect only when supported, and state what measurements or information are missing.
Treating a single improvement as proof that a service has no remaining impacts.
Correction: Explain the specific impact reduced and note other relevant limitations or affected users.

Lesson summary

  • Computing impacts can occur during material production, device use, and end-of-life handling, and can affect people as well as the environment.
  • Assess an action by matching it to an impact, checking who benefits, considering limitations, and using evidence rather than unsupported claims.
  • A strong recommendation explains its reasoning, acknowledges uncertainty, and aims to reduce harm while preserving useful purposes.

Check your understanding

Question 1

A proposed device replacement is described as reducing environmental impact, but no information about the current devices, replacements, or disposal plan is available. What is the best assessment?
  1. Accept the claim because newer devices always have lower impacts.
  2. Reject replacement in every case because using an existing device is always better.
  3. Ask for relevant information about needs, repair, replacement, and end-of-life handling before concluding.
  4. State a numerical reduction based on the devices being newer.
Show answer and explanation
Ask for relevant information about needs, repair, replacement, and end-of-life handling before concluding.
The available facts do not establish which option has lower overall impact. Gathering information about the actual situation supports a defensible comparison.

Question 2

A website asks for a personal detail that it does not use for the service’s stated purpose. Which response best applies this lesson?
  1. Keep the field because collecting more information is always useful.
  2. Consider removing the field, while checking what information is genuinely needed and how it is handled.
  3. Remove every field, including information essential to provide the service.
  4. Claim that removing this one field eliminates all privacy risks.
Show answer and explanation
Consider removing the field, while checking what information is genuinely needed and how it is handled.
Removing unnecessary collection can reduce exposure, but information required for the service may still be needed, and other risks may remain.

Question 3

A learning tool is difficult for some students to use. What should a recommendation include?
  1. A change tied to the stated access barrier and a check that affected students can use the alternative.
  2. A claim that the same design works equally well for every student.
  3. A change chosen without considering the students affected.
  4. A numerical improvement that was not measured.
Show answer and explanation
A change tied to the stated access barrier and a check that affected students can use the alternative.
A relevant change should address the identified barrier, and checking usability helps determine whether it improves access in practice.

Key terms

Impact
An effect of computing on people or the environment.
Assess
Judge an option by considering its purpose, likely effects, evidence, affected people, and limitations.
Trade-off
A benefit of a choice considered alongside a limitation or cost.
End-of-life handling
What happens to a device when it is no longer used, such as repair for continued use, reuse, recycling, or disposal.

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About this lesson and its review

Published by DoAssignment. This reviewed lesson follows Ontario Grade 12 Computer Science (ICS4U), expectation D1.1. It is a study resource, not an official curriculum publication.

Before publication, content is checked for structure, mathematical or chemical notation, calculations, course boundaries, and readability. Errors can still occur, so corrections are welcomed.

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