INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY AND ETHICS NOTES

1. INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY – Click to view
2. INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS – Click to view
3. HARDWARE, SOFTWARE SELECTION AND ACQUISITION – Click to view
4. COMPUTER PERSONNEL – Click to view
5. COMPUTER SAFETY AND ERGONOMICS – Click to view
6. INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNICATION NETWORK – Click to view
7. ICT ETHICS AND LEGISLATIONS – Click to view
8. LIFE SKILLS – Click to view

Meaning of ICT

ICT is an acronym that stands for Information Communications Technology. 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, radio, television, cellular phones, satellite systems and so on, as well as the various services and applications associated with them, such as videoconferencing and distance learning.

Uses of ICT

• Teachers use computers to research for teaching materials, participate in online forums and online conferences as well as to aid their teaching.
• Students use the computers as a reference tool. They use computers to browse the Internet to look for information.
• Computers are used in offices for administrative purposes to make sure that the entire office operations run smoothly.
• Word Processing – Word Processing software automatically types, corrects, rearranges, or deletes text in documents. If the content of a document repeats, you don’t have to type it each time. You can use the copy and paste features. You can also print documents and make several copies.
• Mathematical Calculations – Thanks to computers, which have computing speeds of over a million calculations per second we can perform complex mathematical calculations.
• In banking, all financial transactions are done by computer software. They provide security, speed and convenience.
• 2In travel, one can book air/ railway/bus tickets and make hotel reservations online.
• In business, shops and supermarkets use software, which calculate bills and manage stock levels.
• Airplane pilots train on software, which simulates flying.
• Supercomputers are used to analyze and predict weather.
• In industry computers are used to facilitate production planning and control systems, to support chain management and to help in product design. In some productions, robots are used to take over jobs that are dangerous to the workers.
• E-commerce helps in boosting the economy. It makes buying and selling activities easier, more efficient and faster. For this application, computers, Internet and shared software are needed
• Other programs include recreational programs for playing games, composing and hearing music. Programs have also been written that turn household appliances on and off.

ICT equipment/facilities found in organizations

Computers

A computer is an electronic device designed to accept data, perform prescribed mathematical and logical operations at high speed, and display the results of these operations.

The computer as we know it is a group of pieces of hardware put together to get a job done faster. To accomplish its various tasks, the computer is made of different parts, each serving a particular purpose in conjunction with other parts.

A computer is primarily made up of the CPU, the monitor, the keyboard, and the mouse. Other pieces of hardware, commonly referred to as peripherals, can enhance or improve your experience with the computer.

Photocopiers

A photocopier (also known as a copier or copy machine) is a machine that makes paper copies of documents and other visual images quickly and cheaply. Most current photocopiers use a technology called xerography, a dry process using heat. Copiers can also use other technologies such as ink jet, but xerography is standard for office copying.

Photocopying is widely used in business, education, and government. There have been many predictions that photocopiers will eventually become obsolete as information workers continue to increase their digital document creation and distribution, and rely less on distributing actual pieces of paper.

Telephone

The telephone often referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sound, most commonly the human voice. Telephones allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other. It is one of the most common appliances , and has long been considered indispensable to businesses, households and governments.

All telephones have a microphone to speak into, an earphone which reproduces the voice of the other person, a ringer which makes a sound to alert the owner when a call is coming in, and a keypad (or in older phones a telephone dial) to enter the telephone number of the telephone being called. The microphone and earphone are usually built into a handset which is held up to the face to talk. The keypad may be part of the handset or of a base unit to which the handset would be connected. A landline telephone is connected by a pair of wires to the telephone network, while a mobile phone or cell phone is portable and communicates with the telephone network by radio.

The microphone converts the sound waves to electrical signals, which are sent through the telephone network to the other phone, where they are converted back to sound waves by the earphone in the other phone’s handset.