Information and Communication Technologies

Information and Communication

Technologies

Foundations of TechnologyStandard 17

Students will develop an understanding of and be able to select and use information and communication technologies.

Information and Communication Technologies

• People often use the terms information and communication together.

• These terms are related, but each means something different.

• Two words you need to know to understand communication technology are data and information.

• Data includes individual facts, statistics (numerical data), and ideas.

• These facts and ideas are not sorted or arranged in any manner.


• Information is data that has been sorted and arranged.

• It consists of organized facts and opinions people receive during daily life.

• Changing data into information is called data processing or information processing.

• It involves gathering, organizing, and reporting data so it is useful to people.

• It is often done using information technology.


• The classic communication system is made up of an information source, an encoder, a transmitter, a receiver, a decoder, storage, retrieval, and an information destination.

• Feedback may be included in this process as well.


• Noise, an unwanted signal that can interfere with the communication process, can interrupt the signal at any point in the process.

• Data and information can be stored to be retrieved later.

• Storage devices include, CD-ROMs or DVDs, hard drives, flash memory, and memory chips.


• There are many ways to communicate information, such as graphic and electronic means.

• Graphic communication systems involve the design, development, and production of visual images.

• Examples of graphic systems include printing and photochemical processes, while examples of electronic systems are computers, DVD players, digital audiotapes, and telephones.


• This information can be expressed in various forms: electrical information can be formatted as digital (discrete bit) or analog (continuously variable signals).

• Multimedia combines information from a number of formats (audio, video, and data) and then transmits it.

• Television studios and telephone companies exemplify businesses that deal with multimedia.


• Messages are influenced by many factors, such as timing, sequencing, and processing.

• Because people today are bombarded daily with numerous messages, the usefulness of information depends on such factors as relevancy, timeliness, truth, completeness, and cultural value.


• The knowledge and information that is provided through information and communication systems can help to inform people, shape personal views and concepts of reality, and entertain.


• Information has become such a valued commodity in today’s society, many commercial companies are involved in information and communication technologies.

• You need to evaluate the quality of information that is received from these companies by comparing and contrasting information sources and examining the relevancy of the message.


• Graphic communication systems involve visual messages, such as words and pictures — newspapers, magazines, and print media exemplify this type of communication.

• Entertainment, including television, movies, videotape, music, and compact discs (CDs) is also a growing area of communication.


• Symbols, measurement, conventions, icons, and graphic images are recognized components in the language of technology that are used to communicate messages.

• You should communicate to others using the language of technology.


• Information and communication technologies include the inputs, processes, and outputs associated with sending and receiving information.

• All of the parts are necessary if information is to be shared and understood by the sender and receiver.

Information and Communication Technologies• Communication is designed to impact

someone. • The communication can meet one or

more of three basic goals:1. Inform by providing information about

people, events, or relationships. We read books, magazines, and newspapers to

obtain information. Radio news programs, television news programs,

and documentaries are designed to provide information.


2. Persuade people to act in a certain way. Examples include the “Say No to

Drugs,” “Buckle Up” and “Give a Hoot, Don’t Pollute” campaigns.

Print and electronic advertisements, billboards, and signs are typical persuasive communication media.


3. Entertain people as they participate in or observe events and performances. Television programs, movies, and novels

are common entertainment-type communication.

Information and Communication Technologies• The three goals may be merged.

• Two new words in our language arise from this merging of goals.

• The first is infotainment, which means providing information in an entertaining way.

• You may learn as you watch a quiz show on television or play with video games and computer simulations.

• Both of these are enjoyable ways of gaining new and useful information.


• The second term, edutainment, takes communication one step beyond infotainment.

• Edutainment is more than allowing the information to be available in an entertaining way.

• It creates a situation in which people want to gain the information.

• The television program Sesame Street is a good example of edutainment.


• Data and information are of little use, however, unless they are shared.

• This is what communication does. • Communication is the act of exchanging

ideas, information, and opinions. • It involves a message someone wants

someone else or something to receive. • When we use technical equipment in

communicating, it is called communication technology.


• People must process information before they can communicate. – You may know something. – The knowledge is in your mind. – It belongs to you. – No one has access to it. – There are a number of ways you can share

your knowledge. – You can use your ability to speak and tell

someone what you know, or you can write a paper containing the information you have.

Information and Communication Technologies• A person can read the paper to learn what you

know. • You can draw a picture communicating the

information. • The picture shows a person what you know. • You can take a photograph communicating

what you know, use a symbol, or develop a sign representing the information.

• The use of drawings, symbols, and measurements promotes clear communication by offering a general language with which to convey ideas.


• Technological knowledge and processes are communicated using symbols, measurement, conventions, icons, graphic images, and languages that incorporate a variety of visual, auditory, and tactile stimuli.


• For example, the international symbols developed for transportation systems have helped to communicate critical information to travelers: a circle with a slash represents “No” or “Do

not do.” • Emerging technologies often generate new

symbols, measurement systems, and terminology. For example, ;-) is a symbol used in email

and on-line chat rooms to represent a wink.


• The development of the personal computer has spurred new terminology, such as gigabyte (a unit of computer storage capacity equal to one billion bytes) and nanosecond (one billionth of a second).

Information and Communication Technologies• So far, we have discussed people directly

communicating with other people. • This is face-to-face communication. • People show pictures and symbols, or they use

formal language. • These are common types of communication,

but they use little technology. • There are no technical means used. • Machines and equipment are not involved in

the communication. • A communication system is not present.


• Communication technology uses equipment and systems to send and receive information.

• This technology communicates information using graphic and wave systems. – Graphic comes from a word meaning “to

draw or write, as on paper.” – Wave refers to radio waves, a kind of

energy.


• Graphic communication may be communicated using drawings, pictures, graphs, photographs, or words on flat surfaces.

• These kinds of messages are called graphic communication.

• In graphic communication, paper or film carries the message.


• Wave communication systems depend on an energy source called electromagnetic radiation.

• Electromagnetic radiation is energy moving through space in waves.

• It travels at the speed of light — 186 thousand miles per second.


• Sound waves are much slower than electromagnetic waves.

• They travel at different speeds in different media.

• In air, they travel at about 750 mph at sea level.

• They travel about four times faster in water.


• People can use light, sound, or electrical waves to send information.

• The information is coded at the source. • It is then transmitted (sent) to the

receiver. • There, the code must be changed back to

information. • This type of communication is often

called electronic communication.


• For example, suppose your favorite sports figures are interviewed.

• They speak into microphones. • Speech is changed into pulses of

electromagnetic energy. • This energy is transmitted from the radio

station’s broadcast tower. • Your radio’s antenna picks up some of

these impulses of energy.


• Various stages of the radio change the energy.

• Finally, the radio speaker changes pulses back into audible sound.

• You hear voices, but between the microphones and the speaker, no one can hear or see the message.


• Communication technology is used for four distinct types of communication:

Human-to-human communication Human-to-machine communication Machine-to-human communication Machine-to-machine communication


• One way to look at communication is in terms of the sender and receiver.

• We are familiar with people communicating with people.

• This type of communicating is the most common. • It works through our electronic media and our

printed products. • This type of communication is called human-to-

human communication.


• Other types of communication also exist, however.

• Have you ever reacted to a traffic light, a warning light on the dashboard of your car, a railroad crossing signal, or the bell that indicates the end of a class period?

• If so, you have participated in machine-to-human communication.

• This type of communication system is widely used to display machine operating conditions.


• Have you keyed material into a computer or set the temperature on a thermostat?

• If so, you have engaged in human-to-machine communication.

• This type of communication system starts, changes, or ends a machine’s operations.


• Finally, computer-controlled operations use machine-to-machine communication.

• Modern industry is becoming more computer based.

• Humans enter programs and data into the computer, and then the computer directs and controls an apparatus.


• Examples of this type of communication include a computer controlling a printer and a thermostat controlling a heating or cooling system.

• Typical examples of computer-controlled operations are computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM), and robotics.


• Much of communication technology was developed to satisfy the need for mass communication.

• People wanted to tell their message to large numbers of other people through printed media.

• One type of communication system is playing an increasing role in modern life.

• This system is telecommunication, communication at a distance.


• Telecommunication includes a number of specific types of communication.

• Probably the most widely used are radio, television, and the telephone — more specifically the cell phone.

Information and Communication Technologies• A new system of communication is rapidly

changing how people gather and use information.

• It is based on a key invention, the personal computer.

• This new type of communication uses a network of computers to share information.

• The network is called the Internet. • It allows people to gather information using the

World Wide Web and exchange messages using electronic mail.


• Communication and information technologies are part of every person’s life.

• We use graphic and electronic communication media daily.

• This media allows us to send or receive information.


• Information technology allows us to access and use vast quantities of data.

• Communication and information technologies inform us or cause us to take action.

• Without communication and information technologies, we would know little about the world around us.

• Our lives are affected daily through these systems.


summary• We are rapidly moving from the industrial

age into the information age • This new age is characterized by the wide-

scale availability of communication media • People receive and send a constant

barrage of data and information every day

• Each communication message is designed to inform, persuade, entertain, or achieve some combination of these goals


summary• Transfer of communication is done in

terms of human-to-human, human-to-machine, machine-to-human, and machine-to-machine communication

• Each of these systems has a transmitter that decodes and sends the message. The message then travels over a carrier to a receiver. The receiver collects and decodes the message


summary• The most common forms of

communication systems are printed graphic, photographic, telecommunication, technical graphic, and computer and Internet communications

• Communication technology uses technical means (equipment and systems) to exchange ideas, information, and opinions

• Information technology is data that has been sorted and arranged


summary• Knowledge is information that humans

can apply to situations• Interference is anything that impairs the

accurate communication of a message• Human-to-human communication is one

person directly providing data, information, or ideas to another person


summary• Machine-to-human communication is a

device or system providing information and data to a person through mechanical means

• Human-to-machine communication is a person providing information and data to control a machi9ne or system.

• Machine-to-machine communication is a device or system providing information or data to another device or system


summary• Printed graphic communication is

exchanging information and ideas using two-dimensional images reproduced on a substrate

• Printing is the process of producing copies of text and images on a substrate

• Photographic communication is using photographic images to communicate information or ideas


summary• Telecommunication is communication

at a distance through electronic means• Internet (interconnected network of

networks) is a network of computers that enables people to send and receive messages and share information

• The World Wide Web is a system of interconnected computer files linked to one another on the Internet

Information and Communication Technologies

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