Grade 10

Information And Communication Technology

ICT has bridged access to information from anywhere anytime which improves information dissemination around the world. As a result the world has become a global village. Hence everyone should have an idea of ICT to come up with the technology. So let’s go through the basic concepts of ICT.

Concept of ICT

This section will cover :

How to identify data and information ?
What is Information and Communication Technology ?
Applications of Information and Communication Technology
Demerits of Information and Communication Technology

Data

The numbers, words, images and symbols which do not carry a meaning, when standing alone.

Data are raw facts.
It’s a collection of non formal and disorganized items.
Examples :- weights, prices, numbers of items sold etc…

Information

Information is the processed data on which decisions and actions are based.

We can use information to make decisions.
They are meaningful.
Examples :- time table, report card, weather report etc…

Characteristics of Information

1. Relevance

Information should be relevant to the purpose for which it is required.
It must be suitable.
As an example it is not needed to submit all the academic information from Grade 1 on wards, when the need is to submit only the highest educational qualification.

2. Completeness

It should contain all the facts that are necessary for the decision maker to satisfactorily solve the problem. Incomplete information could lead to drawing wrong decisions.

3. Accuracy

Good information is based on correct and complete data, and this has been processed correctly as expected.
If a doctor gets wrong information about the patient’s health, it could be harmful to the patient.

4. Timeliness

Information must be on time for the purpose for which it is required. Hence information received too late will be wrong.
Today’s weather report may not be suitable to decide on tomorrow’s weather.

5. Cost Effectiveness

It is not free and it costs money to develop a system, and to maintain it.
If a company spends money more than the profits to collect some details in order to increase profits, it would be a business loss to that company.

What is “Information System”?

Submitting data for processing is called “Input” and the result we get after processing is called “Output”. We can call the collection of all these components above a “Information System”.

Let’s consider some examples of Information System

Example 1 – Finger print reader to record the attendance of an organization

Example 2 – ATM Automatic Teller Machine. When the bank ATM card is inserted to ATM machine, information regarding the account is given.

What is “ICT”?

We can get information by processing data and that information can be used to make decisions . And when we share the information among individual people or systems, it is called communication of information.

Man has been processing and sharing information since past. But he had to face many troubles in data communication. But today it has become an easy task with the advancement of technology.

Technology is used in various ways to convert data into information and then to exchange them. This is called Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

Applications of ICT

Today, you could hardly come across any person or a place that does not use information and communication technology in day to day activities. Let’s study such cases shortly:

e-Government		Government information services
		Aid for tourists
		Publish government circulars
		Business registration
Education		In the classroom
		Education anywhere anytime
		Teaching aid for teachers
		Learning Management System
		Higher education for everyone
Health	In diagnosis	Computerized Axial Tomography (CAT) machine
		Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine
		Electrocardiogram (ECG) machine
		Cardiac screening machine
		Electroencephalography(EEG)
		Blood sugar testing machine
		Blood pressure measuring machine
	Telemedicine	Emergency telemedicine
		Home health medicine
		Telemedicine consultation
		Tele surgery
		Tele training
Agriculture		Meteorological devices
		Automated insect control
		Field conditions measuring devices
		Drip irrigation
		Automatic weed remover
		Seedling planter using robotics
		Crop harvesting using robots
		Greenhouse
		Radio frequency identification devices(RFID)
		For security (CCTV)
		Farm management
Transport		Closed circuit TV (CCTV)
		Traffic light control system
		Parking identification placard
Entertainment		Social network
		Digital photography
		Video games
Business		Video conferencing
		Human resource management
		e-banking system
Industry		Use of robots

Demerits of ICT

Not only does ICT help us as enabler to do our day to day activities, but it has become a close friend also. However, if you associate this friend in an bad manner it may bring-forth effects to you as well to the whole society. The following are some of them.

Addiction – A student or any other person who immerses himself/herself in the excessive use of computer or who plays games on internet without a limit, may lose the track of education and/or end up with ailments such as sore eyes, back pain, headache etc.
Building unsuitable friendships through social media.

When the computer is infected by virus due to improper use of internet it may not work well or go out of order.
Mental disorders may affect a person causing harm to himself/herself and to society by visiting improper websites.
Publishing of distorted photographs and videos of individuals affecting their personal lives.
Fatness due to less exercise
Isolation
Violating copyrights

Therefore, it is our duty to use ICT in a fine manner as the systems made by ICT make most of man’s usual work easy.

Zainab Mufazir