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Difference between revisions of "Information and Communications Technology (ICT)"

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Converging technologies that exemplify ICT include the merging of audiovisual, telephone and computer networks through a common cabling system. [[Internet Service Provider (ISP)|Internet service providers (ISPs)]] commonly provide internet, phone and television services to homes and businesses through a single optical cable. The elimination of the telephone networks has provided huge economic incentives to implement this convergence, which eliminates many of the costs associated with cabling, signal distribution, user installation, servicing and maintenance costs.<ref>explaining ICT [https://www.techopedia.com/definition/24152/information-and-communications-technology-ict Techopedia]</ref>
 
Converging technologies that exemplify ICT include the merging of audiovisual, telephone and computer networks through a common cabling system. [[Internet Service Provider (ISP)|Internet service providers (ISPs)]] commonly provide internet, phone and television services to homes and businesses through a single optical cable. The elimination of the telephone networks has provided huge economic incentives to implement this convergence, which eliminates many of the costs associated with cabling, signal distribution, user installation, servicing and maintenance costs.<ref>explaining ICT [https://www.techopedia.com/definition/24152/information-and-communications-technology-ict Techopedia]</ref>
  
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== The Societal and Economic Impact of ICT<ref>The Societal and Economic Impact of ICT [https://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/ICT-information-and-communications-technology-or-technologies Techtarget]</ref> ==
  
The Societal and Economic Impact of ICT<ref>The Societal and Economic Impact of ICT [https://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/ICT-information-and-communications-technology-or-technologies Techtarget]</ref>
 
 
ICT is leveraged for economic, societal and interpersonal transactions and interactions. ICT has drastically changed how people work, communicate, learn and live. Moreover, ICT continues to revolutionize all parts of the human experience as first computers and now robots do many of the tasks once handled by humans. For example, computers once answered phones and directed calls to the appropriate individuals to respond; now robots not only can answer the calls, but they can often more quickly and efficiently handle callers' requests for services.
 
ICT is leveraged for economic, societal and interpersonal transactions and interactions. ICT has drastically changed how people work, communicate, learn and live. Moreover, ICT continues to revolutionize all parts of the human experience as first computers and now robots do many of the tasks once handled by humans. For example, computers once answered phones and directed calls to the appropriate individuals to respond; now robots not only can answer the calls, but they can often more quickly and efficiently handle callers' requests for services.
  
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Within the ICT market, the advancement of ICT capabilities has made the development and delivery of various technologies cheaper for ICT vendors and their customers while also providing new market opportunities. For instance, telephone companies that once had to build and maintain miles of telephone lines have shifted to more advanced networking materials and can provide telephone, television and internet services; consumers now enjoy more choices in delivery and price points as a result.
 
Within the ICT market, the advancement of ICT capabilities has made the development and delivery of various technologies cheaper for ICT vendors and their customers while also providing new market opportunities. For instance, telephone companies that once had to build and maintain miles of telephone lines have shifted to more advanced networking materials and can provide telephone, television and internet services; consumers now enjoy more choices in delivery and price points as a result.
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== See Also ==
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== References ==
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Revision as of 19:29, 14 May 2020

Definition of Information and Communications Technology (ICT)[1]

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) may be defined as the convergence of electronics, computing, and telecommunications. It has unleashed a tidal wave of technological innovation in the collecting, storing, processing, transmission, and presentation of information that has not only transformed the information technology sector itself into a highly dynamic and expanding field of activity- creating new markets and generating new investment, income and jobs but also provided other sectors with more rapid and efficient mechanisms for responding to shifts in demand patterns and changes in international comparative advantage, through more efficient production processes and new and improved products and services.

Today, the definition of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is much broader, encompassing nearly every type of business. From manufacturers, retailers, banks, and publishers to research firms, medical institutions, law enforcement agencies, government companies and library everywhere rely on Information and Communication Technology workers to run their daily businesses.

Dictionaries consistently define ICT as: managing a network of computers, creating original web pages, producing videos digitally, designing computer systems as a consultant, selling products on the Internet, 3-D artwork, administering a company’s database, coding software, providing technical support, managing projects, and budgets, writing technical documentation.

ICT is a combination of Information Technology and Communication Technology.


Information and Communications Technology (ICT)
source: The world od ICT


Converging technologies that exemplify ICT include the merging of audiovisual, telephone and computer networks through a common cabling system. Internet service providers (ISPs) commonly provide internet, phone and television services to homes and businesses through a single optical cable. The elimination of the telephone networks has provided huge economic incentives to implement this convergence, which eliminates many of the costs associated with cabling, signal distribution, user installation, servicing and maintenance costs.[2]


The Societal and Economic Impact of ICT[3]

ICT is leveraged for economic, societal and interpersonal transactions and interactions. ICT has drastically changed how people work, communicate, learn and live. Moreover, ICT continues to revolutionize all parts of the human experience as first computers and now robots do many of the tasks once handled by humans. For example, computers once answered phones and directed calls to the appropriate individuals to respond; now robots not only can answer the calls, but they can often more quickly and efficiently handle callers' requests for services.

ICT's importance to economic development and business growth has been so monumental, in fact, that it's credited with ushering in what many have labeled the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

ICT also underpins broad shifts in society, as individuals en masse are moving from personal, face-to-face interactions to ones in the digital space. This new era is frequently termed the Digital Age.

For all its revolutionary aspects, though, ICT capabilities aren't evenly distributed. Simply put, richer countries and richer individuals enjoy more access and thus have a greater ability to seize on the advantages and opportunities powered by ICT.

Consider, for example, some findings from the World Bank. In 2016, it stated that more than 75% of people worldwide have access to a cellphone. However, internet access through either mobile or fixed broadband remains prohibitively expensive in many countries due to a lack of ICT infrastructure. Furthermore, the World Bank estimated that out of the global population of 7.4 billion people, more than 4 billion don't have access to the internet. Additionally, it estimated that only 1.1 billion people have access to high-speed internet.

In the United States and elsewhere, this discrepancy in access to ICT has created the so-called digital divide.

The World Bank, numerous governmental authorities and non-government organizations (NGOs) advocate policies and programs that aim to bridge the digital divide by providing greater access to ICT among those individuals and populations struggling to afford it.

These various institutions assert that those without ICT capabilities are left out of the multiple opportunities and benefits that ICT creates and will therefore fall further behind in socio-economic terms.

The United Nations considers one of its Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) to "significantly increase access to information and communications technology and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the internet in least developed countries by 2020."

Economic advantages are found both within the ICT market as well as in the larger areas of business and society as a whole.

Within the ICT market, the advancement of ICT capabilities has made the development and delivery of various technologies cheaper for ICT vendors and their customers while also providing new market opportunities. For instance, telephone companies that once had to build and maintain miles of telephone lines have shifted to more advanced networking materials and can provide telephone, television and internet services; consumers now enjoy more choices in delivery and price points as a result.


See Also

References

  1. Definition- What Does Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Mean? Lis BD Network
  2. explaining ICT Techopedia
  3. The Societal and Economic Impact of ICT Techtarget