18 Information and Communication Technology
T. Radha
Introduction
Knowledge is one of the primary resources for improving the lives of people and the key for rapid development lies in building a knowledge-based society. Within the span of a hundred years, entirely new fields of science and technology came into existence and the fundamental political and economic structure of the world has changed several times. The scope and pace of recent changes is a function of revolutionary advances in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Various reason of using ICT like resource gathering, online shopping, net-banking, matrimony, playing games and educational purposes and entertainment etc.
Television, radio and telephone are considered as the old ICTs and the new ICTs are Wireless technology satellite computers and the internet .
When compared to traditional communication technology, the media or global media are capable of a much higher degree of interactivity than that offered by traditional technology. Use of teleconferencing and videoconferencing are most interactive media today.
The population of India has crossed one billion and is still increasing alarmingly and that push a great pressure on the food grain production. Information and better communication are critical requirements for sustainable agricultural development. Modern communication technologies when applied to conditions in rural areas can help to improve communication, increase participation and disseminate information and share knowledge and skills.
ICT bridging the gap between the resource poor and rich and opportunities are plenty. New ICT gadgets are helping the community in multidimensional way and giving solutions to the problems to people especially poverty level and providing opportunity to bridge the gap between the rich and poor and helps for continuous development. In remote areas there are no proper communication facilities. This kind of ICT technology helps the rural poor in wider aspects. The various kinds of development through ICT such as social , economic, political cultural development and knowledge sharing.
Information
Data are the names given to any basic fact. Data can be numbers, alphabets or any other form like pictures, figures, sound etc. The data, which have been converted or organized into a more useful or meaningful form for any kind of use or benefit of people, is known as information.
Information Technology (IT)
Any electronic technology which is useful to present, store, reuse, convert, organize or restructure any kind of data may be in the form of number, alphabets pictures, figures, sound for people to receive and use is known as Information Technology. Connectivity, computer and content are the basic components of IT.
Computer:
It is a electronic data processing machine that accepts data, processes it according to the provided set of instructions and produces the desired output. Any computer has four functions.
1. Accepting the data and instructions as input
2. Storing data/obtaining when required
3. Procesing the data as per instructions
4. Communicating information as output
Qualities like speed, storage/reuse of information, consistency, auto- operation, Accuracy and versatility have made computers powerful tool in the field of IT.
Computer Software
Software plays a vital role to perform the task in a effective manner. Software is the pool of information that makes the user to interrelate with the computer. For a computer to be functional, most computers will include a software operating system and a collection of different software programmes.
Software applications of computer for office use:
Word processing
It is a very effective word processing application that enables you to create documents such as letter, labels, drawings, tables or envelopes. It also allows you to format your document using the different tools available such as automatic formatting, borders, pagination etc. The spell checker, grammar checker and the thesaurus are other tools, which will help you to create well-written documents. It’s quite straightforward to learn and the process involved in producing documents is easy to understand .
Excel
A spreadsheet is defined as a large sheet containing any information arranged in a matrix of rows and columns.
A Spreadsheet software is a program we that enters , calculates, analyses and manipulates n of numbers.
MS Excel is the most popular spreadsheet package.
Application of MS-Excel
- It can be used to make time table.
- It can be used to make result of the class.
- It can be make used to mark sheet of a student.
- It can be used to make accounts of the company.
- It can be used to make budget.
- It can be used to make sales record of the company.
- It can be used to maintain Employees record in the company for e.g. employees information, employees salary, etc.
Power point
Power point makes it easy to organize, illustrate and deliver your ideas professionally. Whether you’re conducting a meeting, presenting to an audience or delivering your message over the Internet, these are the tools you need to make your point- powerfully.
Applications of computer
- Commercial Application: pay roll , invoice , market research, personal record, Etc.
- Customer Service; Electric bill, railway, airlines, banking service, Etc.
- Education : Result processing, class note , teaching, online examination, etc.
- Government: planning, budgeting , records day to day dealing
- Research : review, planning, analysis of results, etc.
- Textiles/industries/engineering : designing, drafting machine handling
- Transport : traffic control and booking
Telecommunication and computer networking:
Computer is used to create less-prepared office. If head of any organization wants to monitor all his branches spread over a large area, he can use networking to do so. Networking is group of computers that are connected together for sharing information and some resources like printer, scanner. You can communicate with other people using e- mail, video conferencing and obtain and share the information. There are two types of networking:
- Local Area Network (LAN) : Network of interconnected computers in a single room, rooms within same building within same premise.
- Wide Area Network (WAN): It is computer networking spanning a regional, national or geographical area. When many networks in the world are connected to each other by optical fiber cables, telephone lines or satellite then it is known as WAN. Internet is the ultimate system of WAN because it connects many thousands of computers and LAN around the world.
Internet Technology
In 1969 the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) established the first WAN. In 1973 American computer scientist, Vinton Cerf developed the internet technology. In India Internet services were officially made available to public from 15th August 1995 through the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL)
What is Internet?
- Internet is an open interconnection of networks that enable connected computers to communicate directly. These networks are scattered all over the world.
- Any individual/organization or country does not own the internet, it is open for all
Basic requirement for Internet connection;
1. Browser: it is a software, which allows you to get connected to the Internet. It works as interface between you and the internet. When you ask for some information, browser sends the query to the web server and on receipt of the same displays on the screen. Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator are the commonly used internet browsers.
2.Modem: Modem is the device that takes digital information from your computer and converts into analog that can be transferred through telephone lines. These can be converted back into digital information by another’s computer modem. It is required to communicate /transfer data between computers at different places through telephone line or any connectivity. Each modem has the capacity to transmit and receive data. Modems with different speeds are available in the market.
3. Internet service provider: Though the Internet facility is free for all, one cannot gain it directly. We have to register with an Internet Service Provider which is an agency or an organization that provides the user and access to the Internet. BSNL and VSNL are some of the Internet service providers in India.
Communication facilities on Internet
1. World Wide Web (WWW): English computer scientist Timothy Berners- Lee developed the in World Wide Web 1989. It has become an important ingredient of Internet . The WWW is a system of resources available to computer users who are connected to the internet. It enables users to view and interact with variety of information including magazines, archives, public and university libraries, current news and programmes. It provides web interactive documents that contain text, pictures graphics, multimedia, animations etc. The web provides unlimited potential for finding useful information.
2. E-mail: it is known as electronic mail. It is a way of sending a letter or message in electronic form using Internet . We can send any type of files like audio, video, images or documents as attachments through the e-mail. For e- mail both sender and receiver should have e-mail account and Internet access. Some of e-mail service providers are google, hotmail, yahoo, epatra, rediffmail and India times.
3. Voice mail: With the advancement of electronics and telecommunication voice message system, voice answering system etc. can be used with our telephone system. Under the voice message system the caller can record the message wherever required and send it to more than one person at a time. The receiver (s) can open their voice mailbox and know who has sent the message and can store and use the message system the caller can record the message and send it to more than one person at a time. The receivers (s) can open their voice mailbox and know who has sent the message and can store and use the message whenever required. There is facility of forwarding calls to any other telephone. If you wish, Recorded messages can be accessed at a later time when you come back.
4. Worldwide video conferencing:
5. Chatting and conferencing :
Using internet Relay chat you can have live conversations through written, audio and visual form with other users around the world virtually.
6. Customer support service :
Many software organizations are also using the internet to provide unprecedented levels of timely customer support. The combined electronic mail, FTP, and other services on the internet provide all of the enabling tools necessary to provide such first –rate customer support.
7. Exchange of views on topics of common interest :
The Internet has a number of news groups. Each news group allows a group of users to exchange their views on some topic of common interest.
8. Facsimile (FAX)
Facsimile transmission has become most convenient tool in almost all offices, business corporate , government as well as private sectors. These devices scan the image of A document like written text, photographs, sketches and drawings and convert the image into signals that an be sent over a telephone line to a receiving fax machine.
9. Feedback about products
In addition to product information, commercial organizations are also using the internet to gather information about user satisfaction of existing products, market opportunities of new products and ideas for potential new products. This is usually accomplished by putting up an interactive survey application by the organization on a WWW or Gopher site on the internet
10. FTP
All over the world many laboratories, institutes and research centers have lot of information regarding various subjects, on their computer. In computer language, this information on computer is called as files. You can get these files using Files Transfer Protocol (FTP)
11. Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
This protocol is used to transfer hyper text file from one place to other place on Internet.
12. Information availability by multimedia:
Multimedia is the presentation of information using the combination of text, sound, pictures, animation and video. Common multimedia computer applications include games, learning software and reference materials, such as the encyclopedia. Most multimedia applications include predefined associations, known as hyperlinks that enable users to switch between media elements and topics. Multimedia applications also reside on the World Wide Web. This is the media rich component of the international communication network on the internet.
13. On-line journals and magazines: The Internet now has literally thousands of electronic subscriptions that can be found both for free and low cost. There are many Gopher and www sites on the Internet that deal with electronic versions of many journals and magazines.
14.On-line shopping: The internet has also facilitated the introduction of a new market concept that consists of virtual shops. These shops remain open 24 hours all the year around and are accessible to purchasers all around the world. They provide information about products or services for sale. Using the Internet services, customers submit specific product queries and request specific sales quotes. Through a well defined authorization and authentication scheme, the internet services are then used to accept orders placed by the customers, to handle order payment and to track orders to fulfillment.
15. Posting of information of general interest : The Internet is also being extensively used as a large electronic bulletin board on which information of general interest can be posted to bring it to the attention of interested users around the world. Some commonly posted information includes career opportunities, conference and event announcements and calls for papers for conferences and journals
16.Product promotion: Several commercial organizations are effectively using the Internet services for promoting their products. These organizations make use of corporate FTP, Gopher or www server sites focused on disseminating timely information about corporate happenings, product announcements, recent strategic alliances, press releases and other information of potential interest to existing and prospective customers.
17. Software sharing: The internet provides access to a large number of shareware software development tools and utilities.
Role of ICT
The role of ICT to develop agriculture and quality of life in rural areas is well established. ICT can help average Indian farmers to get relevant information regarding agro-inputs, crop production technologies, agro processing, market support, agro–finance and management of farm agri-business. The agricultural extension mechinery is becoming dependent on ICT to provide appropriate and location specific technologies for the farmers. ICT can be a best mean not only to develop agricultural extension but also expand agriculture research and education system.
The ICT based agricultural information on net is building up slowly but surely. There is still a lot of work to be done by policy makers .
Voluntary and Non Voluntary Organization are supporting ICT to bring digitized thedigitized the information to the rural area and involving in various research activities and creating awareness and sensitize the rural masses towards the usage of modern gadgets. Building their capacity and computer based skill oriented training will open opportunities to all Indian villages to take benefits of agricultural research.
Searching information on Internet:
With the help of following internet facility, any person can search information of his interest through the internet:
1.URL: Uniform Resource Locator, URL is a standardized naming convention for addressing documents accessible over the internet or intranet. For example, http://www.yahoo.com, http://www.gujaratindia.com
2.Web Directory : They are well organized list of topics and sub topics through which you can navigate to find web sites that matches what you are looking for Yahoo, the yellow pages are names of web directories.
- Search engine : Programme or script available through the Internet that searches various types of documents, for keywords and if found returns the documents containing those keywords. http://www.google.com,www.altavista.com,www.hotbot.com, www.khoj.com,www.agriculture.com etc.
Conclusion
This is a period of change, as people are learning to live with new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Whether at work, at home, at school, or at large, ICTs are having an impact on day-to-day lives. ICTs play an important role in supporting global regional and local development, and a great role and envisaged in the days to come.
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Web links
- www.tutor2u.net
- https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/ICT_in_Education/Definition_of_Terms
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_and_communications_technology
- http://www.mpict.org/ict_education_defined_importance.html
- http://siteresources.worldbank.org/CMUDLP/Resources/Role_ICT_paper.pdf