INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

M.AMUDHA

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INTRODUCTION

Information and communications technology (ICT) refers to all the technology used to handle telecommunications, broadcast media, intelligent building management systems, audiovisual processing and transmission systems, and network-based control and monitoring functions.

Although ICT is often considered an extended synonym for information technology (IT), its scope is broader.

ICT has more recently been used to describe the convergence of several technologies and the use of common transmission lines carrying very diverse data and communication types and formats.

There is no universally accepted definition of ICT because the concepts, methods and applications involved in ICT are constantly evolving on an almost daily basis. It is difficult to keep up with the changes as they happen so fast.

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WHAT IS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ?

COMPUTER

TECHNOLOGY

COMMUNICATION

TECHNOLOGY

INFORMATION

TECHNOLOGY

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WHAT IS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY?

Fourth generation of human communication. The Internet gives us all the opportunity

to act as a global community; advertise and operate across all frontiers; AND over borders and beyond the control of any national government.

The inherent vulnerability of internet lies in the form of computer network break-ins, pornography, password sniffing, spoofing, telecommunication frauds, spamming, advertisement of unlicensed products, credit card fraud and hacking of computers.

The internet with all its benefits of reliability, convenience and anonymity has become an appropriate breeding place for persons interested in illegal use of IT.

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FOCUS ON ICT:

To understand ICT in proper sense is to

consider all the uses of digital technology that already exist to help

individuals, businesses and

organisations to use the information.

ICT covers any product that will store, retrieve, manipulate, transmit or receive information electronically in a digital form. • For example, personal

computers, digital television, email, robots.

So, ICT is concerned with the storage,

retrieval, manipulation or receipt of digital

data. Importantly, it is also concerned with

the way these different uses can work with

each other.

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CATEGORIES OF ICT:

In business, ICT is often categorised into two broad types of

product: - The traditional computer-based technologies (things you can

typically do on a personal computer or using computers at home

or at work); and

The more recent, and fast-growing range of digital communication

technologies (which allow people and organisations to

communicate and share information digitally)

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The traditional computer-based technologies 

 Standard Office Applications – Examples

Word processing E.g. Microsoft Word: Write letters, reports etc

Spreadsheets E.g. Microsoft Excel; Analyse financial information; calculations;

create forecasting models etc

Presentation software

E.g. Microsoft PowerPoint; make presentations, either directly

using a computer screen or data projector. Publish in digital format

via email or over the Internet

Desktop publishing E.g. Adobe Indesign, Quark Express, Microsoft Publisher; produce

newsletters, magazines and other complex documents.

Graphics software E.g Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator; create and edit images such

as logos, drawings or pictures for use in DTP, web sites or other

publications

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TYPES OF NETWORKS:

The C part of ICT refers to the communication of data by electronic means, usually over some distance. This is often achieved via networks of sending and receiving equipment, wires and satellite links.

1. Internal networks Usually internal networks is referred to as a local area network

(LAN), this involves linking a number of hardware items (input and output devices plus computer processing) together within an office or building.

The aim of a LAN is to be able to share hardware facilities such as printers or scanners, software applications and data. This type of network is invaluable in the office environment where colleagues need to have access to common data or programmes.

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Local Area Network

A local area network is a computer network that interconnects computers within a limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, or office building, using network media. 

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2. External networks

Often it is needed to communicate with

someone outside the internal network, in this

case it is necessary to be part of a Wide Area Network (WAN). The

Internet is the ultimate WAN, it is a vast network

of networks.

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Digital communication Technology

DCT's are digital tools that allow two or more people to communicate with one

another. These can be written, verbal, visual or audible communication.

EXAMPLES

• Having a text conversation with someone via mobile phone

• Using Facebook or Twitter to keep in touch with family or friends

• Collaborating on a wiki or a blog to with students in a work group 

DIGITAL COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

• Email

• Short Message Service (SMS) 

• Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) 

• Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP)

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DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION:

Sociologists, psychologists, economists and communication experts are of the opinion that the proper use of communication can foster the pace and process of development.

In general terms, communication means interaction between two individuals or within a group or a community or a nation.

The foundation of communication is based upon four principal elements communication source, a message, a channel or medium and a receiver or audience.

But in development communication it becomes the process of affecting or influencing behaviour of individuals or groups towards certain desired goals and objectives, necessarily for the benefit of the entire society. Thus, the receiver is expected to show the behaviour desired by the source of communication.

Nora C. Quebral, a leading academic in this field defines Development Communication as the “art and science of human communication applied to the speedy transformation of a country and the mass of its people from poverty to a dynamic state of economic growth that makes possible greater social equality and the larger fulfillment of the human potential

Development Communication can also be defined as the integration of strategic communication in development projects. Strategic communication is a powerful tool that can improve the chances of success of development projects. It strives for behaviour change and not just information dissemination, education or awareness-raising.

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ICTs ON SOCIAL CHANGE

The point of departure for any strategy to combat poverty and promote sustainable development is to foster positive change and particularly pro-poor change.

The Millennium Development Goals point to a set of desired first-order changes in the situation of developing countries fewer people in absolute poverty, fewer women dying in childbirth, more girls in school, etc. Yet they presume and fundamentally depend upon, a deeper set of changes, such as higher and broader economic growth in developing countries, more capable and responsive government institutions, better policies, stronger voice for the poor etc.

ICTs, properly adapted to local circumstances, can be a powerful tool to combat poverty and foster sustainable development. Yet the key to deploying ICTs as an agent of positive change in a given country is to begin not from measures of what ICTs that country lacks but from a clear picture of that country‟s key development challenges and a rigorous analysis of where and how, ICTs could make an impact on those challenges in a sustainable fashion, of sufficient magnitude to justify investment in ICT by donors or developing countries or both.

In other words, one begins not with the question of what ICTs a given country lacks and what we can do about it but what specific types of change are required to make this country more sustainably prosperous, in ways that include even the poorest.

The new technologies and the new forms of economic and social activity they make possible would transform the way we live.

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CONCLUSION

An Information Society without media would be like agriculture without farmers. Hence, the concept of the Information Society should be wider than the role of Information and Communication Technologies and should incorporate issues related to the mass media such as freedom of expression , access to information and the role of journalism.