Module 1 and 2
Module 1 and 2
MODULE 1: INTRODUCTION TO
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION
TECHNOLOGY
Overview
The quickening pace of evolution in technology is very evident in this era. It seems that it is
progressing faster than ever. From year to year, the evolution of technology is one of staggering
promise and opportunity--as well as uncertainty. Basically, technology has been around before,
and as long as there are people, information technology will be there also because there were
always ways of communicating through technology available at that point in time. The future may
be unknown, but digital advancement continues to reshape our world in ways that encourage
people to form new habits, find new ways to work together, and become better human beings.
And, in most cases, these changes translate into a range of opportunities and disruptions across
every industry. Humans have always been quick to adapt technologies for better and faster
communication.
Objectives
• After successful completion of this module, the student can be able to;
• Demonstrate a sense of readiness for the upcoming semester;
• Identify their learning outcomes and expectations for the course;
• Recognize their capacity to create new understandings from reflecting on the course;
• Know the role and importance of ICT.
Although there is no single, universal definition of ICT, the term is generally accepted to
mean all devices, networking components, applications and systems that combined allow
people and organizations (i.e., businesses, nonprofit agencies, governments and criminal
enterprises) to interact in the digital world.
Communication
We all know that ICT take a major role for us by means of communicating, way back in
the past our parents use to make letter and send it via post mail. But now with the help of
ICT it is easier to communicate with our love ones. We can use cellular phones that design
for communicating with other people even they are miles away far from you.
Nowadays people are in touch with the help of ICT. Through chatting, E-mail, voice mail
and social networking people communicate with each other. It is the cheapest means of
communication.
ICT allows students to monitor and manage their own learning, think critically and
creatively, solve simulated real-world problems, work collaboratively, engage in ethical
decision-making, and adopt a global perspective towards issues and ideas. It also
provides students from remote areas access to expert teachers and learning resources,
and gives administrators and policy makers the data and expertise they need to work more
efficiently.
Job Opportunities
For example, many pharmacies use robot technology to assist with picking prescribed
drugs. This allows highly trained pharmaceutical staff to focus on jobs requiring human
intelligence and interaction, such as dispensing and checking medication.
Nowadays, employers expect their staff to have basic ICT skills. This expectation even
applies to job roles where ICT skills may not have been an essential requirement in the
past.
Nowadays, finding a job is different, you can just use your smart phone, laptop, desktop
or any gadgets that is available in the comfort of your home.
Education
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) can impact student learning when
teachers are digitally literate and understand how to integrate it into curriculum.
Schools use a diverse set of ICT tools to communicate, create, disseminate, store, and
manage information.(6) In some contexts, ICT has also become integral to the teaching-
learning interaction, through such approaches as replacing chalkboards with interactive
digital whiteboards, using students’ own smartphones or other devices for learning during
class time, and the “flipped classroom” model where students watch lectures at home on
the computer and use classroom time for more interactive exercises.
When teachers are digitally literate and trained to use ICT, these approaches can lead to
higher order thinking skills, provide creative and individualized options for students to
express their understandings, and leave students better prepared to deal with ongoing
technological change in society and the workplace.
Socializing
Social media has changed the world. The rapid and vast adoption of these technologies
is changing how we find partners, how we access information from the news, and how we
organize to demand political change.
The internet and social media provide young people with a range of benefits, and
opportunities to empower themselves in a variety of ways. Young people can maintain
social connections and support networks that otherwise wouldn't be possible and can
access more information than ever before. The communities and social interactions young
people form online can be invaluable for bolstering and developing young people's self-
confidence and social skills.
As the ICT has become ubiquitous, faster and increasingly accessible to non-technical
communities, social networking and collaborative services have grown rapidly enabling
people to communicate and share interest in many more ways, sites like Facebook, Twitter
LinkedIn You tube, Flicker, second life delicious blogs wiki’s and many more let people of
all ages rapidly share their interest of the movement without others everywhere. But
Facebook seems to be the leading areas of where people communicate and share their
opinions. What a change! “Nothing is permanent, but change” (As Heraditus in the
4thcentury BC). Internet can be seen as the international networks of interconnection of
computer networks, the main purpose for the institution of internet are quest for
information i.e. browsing, electronic mail, knew groups fill transfer and access and use of
other computer. Socialization can be seen as a process by which a child adapts a behavior
to be an effective member of the society, which can only be achieved through learning or
education.
access are better, and often cheaper, communications, such as VoIP phone and Instant
Messaging.
• Improved access to education, e.g. distance learning and online tutorials. New ways of
learning, e.g. interactive multi-media and virtual reality.
• New tools, new opportunities: ICT gives access to new tools that did not previously exist:
digital cameras, photo-editing software and high quality printers, screen magnification or
screen reading software enables partially sighted or blind people to work with ordinary text
rather than Braille.
• Communication: Cost savings by using e.g. VoIP instead of normal telephone, email /
messaging instead of post, video conferencing instead of traveling to meetings, e-
commerce web sites instead of sales catalogues. Access to larger, even worldwide,
markets.
• Information management: Data mining of customer information to produce lists for
targeted advertising. Improved stock control, resulting in less wastage, better cash flow,
etc.
• Security: ICT solves or reduces some security problems, e.g. Encryption methods can
keep data safe from unauthorized people, both while it is being stored or while it is being
sent electronically.
• ICT allows people to participate in a wider, even worldwide, society.
• Distance learning: students can access teaching materials from all over the world.
• ICT facilitates the ability to perform ‘impossible’ experiments’ by using simulations.
• Creation of new more interesting jobs. Examples would be systems analysts,
programmers and software engineers, as well as help desk operators and trainers.
References
• W. Samuel, S. G. Ajumo, E. C. Anderson and S. Worgu (2016). ICT As A Change Angent
For Socialization and Social Engineering. IOSR Journal of Computer Engineering (IOSR-
Assessment
Objectives
At the end of the chapter, students must be able to:
• Gain familiarity of the different discoveries during the different periods.
• Learn different inventions and discoveries during electro-mechanical age that lead
to the inventions of today’s technology.
• Identify different technologies and their improvements during the different
generations.
Definition of Computer
• Computer is a programmable machine.
• Computer is an electronic device that manipulates information, or data. It has the ability to
store, retrieve, and process data.
• Computer is a machine that manipulates data according to a list of instructions (program).
• Computer is any device which aids humans in performing various kinds of computations
or calculations.
1. Business
Almost every business uses computers nowadays. They can be employed to store and
maintain accounts, personnel records, manage projects, track inventory, create
presentations and reports. They enable communication with people both within and
outside the business, using various technologies, including e-mail. They can be used to
promote the business and enable direct interaction with customers.
2. Education
Computers can be used to give learners audio-visual packages, interactive exercises, and
remote learning, including tutoring over the internet. They can be used to access
educational information from intranet and internet sources, or via e-books. They can be
used to maintain and monitor student performance, including through the use of online
examinations, as well as to create projects and assignments.
3. Healthcare
Healthcare continues to be revolutionized by computers. As well as digitized medical
information making it easier to store and access patient data, complex information can
also be analyzed by software to aid discovery of diagnoses, as well as search for risks of
diseases. Computers control lab equipment, heart rate monitors, and blood pressure
monitors. They enable doctors to have greater access to information on the latest drugs,
as well as the ability to share information on diseases with other medical specialists.
5. Government
Various government departments use computers to improve the quality and efficiency of
their services. Examples include city planning, law enforcement, traffic, and tourism.
Computers can be used to store information, promote services, communicate internally
and externally, as well as for routine administrative purposes.
6. Marketing
Computers enable marketing campaigns to be more precise through the analysis and
manipulation of data. They facilitate the creation of websites and promotional materials.
They can be used to generate social media campaigns. They enable direct communication
with customers through email and online chat.
7. Science
Scientists were one of the first groups to adopt computers as a work tool. In science,
computers can be used for research, sharing information with other specialists both locally
and internationally, as well as collecting, categorizing, analyzing, and storing data.
Computers also play a vital role in launching, controlling, and maintaining space craft, as
8. Publishing
Computers can be used to design pretty much any type of publication. These might include
newsletters, marketing materials, fashion magazines, novels, or newspapers. Computers
are used in the publishing of both hard-copy and e-books. They are also used to market
publications and track sales.
10. Communication
Computers have made real-time communication over the internet easy, thanks to software
and videoconferencing services such as Skype. Families can connect with audio and
video, businesses can hold meetings between remote participants, and news
organizations can interview people without the need for a film crew. Modern computers
usually have microphones and webcams built-in nowadays to facilitate software like
Skype. Older communications technologies such as email are also still used widely.
12. Transport
Road vehicles, trains, planes, and boats are increasingly automated with computers being
used to maintain safety and navigation systems, and increasingly to drive, fly, or steer.
They can also highlight problems that require attention, such as low fuel levels, oil
changes, or a failing mechanical part. Computers can be used to customize settings for
individuals, for example, seat setup, air-conditioning temperatures.
13. Navigation
Navigation has become increasingly computerized, especially since computer technology
has been combined with GPS technology. Computers combined with satellites mean that
it's now easy to pinpoint your exact location, know which way that you are moving on a
map, and have a good idea of amenities and places of interest around you.
15. Military
Computers are used extensively by the military. They are use for training purposes. They
are used for analyzing intelligence data. They are used to control smart technology, such
as guided missiles and drones, as well as for tracking incoming missiles and destroying
them. They work with other technologies such as satellites to provide geospatial
information and analysis. They aid communications. They help tanks and planes to target
enemy forces.
20. Robotics
Robotics is an expanding area of technology which combines computers with science and
engineering to produce machines that can either replace humans, or do specific jobs that
humans are unable to do. One of the first use of robotics was in manufacturing to build
cars. Since then, robots have been developed to explore areas where conditions are too
harsh for humans, to help law enforcement, to help the military, and to assist healthcare
professionals.
Earliest Computers originally calculations were computed by humans, whose job title was
computers.
• These human computers were typically engaged in the calculation of a mathematical expression.
• The calculations of this period were specialized and expensive, requiring years of training in
mathematics.
• The first use of the word "computer" was recorded in 1613, referring to a person who carried out
calculations, or computations, and the word continued to be used in that sense until the middle of
the 20th century.
a) Tally sticks
A tally stick was an ancient memory aid device to record and document numbers,
quantities, or even messages.
b) Abacus
An abacus is a mechanical device used to aid an individual in performing mathematical
calculations.
c) Napier’s Bones
• Invented by John Napier in 1614.
• Allowed the operator to multiply, divide and calculate square and cube roots by
moving the rods around and placing them in specially constructed boards.
d) Slide Rule
Invented by William Oughtred in 1622.
• Is based on Napier's ideas about logarithms.
• Used primarily for – multiplication – division – roots – logarithms – Trigonometry
• Not normally used for addition or subtraction.
e) Pascaline
• Invented by Blaise Pascal in 1642.
• It was its limitation to addition and subtraction.
• It is too expensive.
f) Stepped Reckoner
• Invented by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in 1672.
• The machine that can add, subtract, multiply and divide automatically.
g) Jacquard Loom
• The Jacquard loom is a mechanical loom, invented by Joseph-Marie Jacquard in
1881.
• It is an automatic loom controlled by punched cards.
h) Arithmometer
• A mechanical calculator invented by Thomas de Colmar in 1820,
• The first reliable, useful and commercially successful calculating machine.
• The machine could perform the four basic mathematic functions.
• The first mass-produced calculating machine.
l. Tabulating Machine
• Invented by Herman Hollerith in 1890.
• To assist in summarizing information and accounting.
m. Harvard Mark 1
• Also known as IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC).
• Invented by Howard H. Aiken in 1943
• The first electro-mechanical computer.
n. Z1
• The first programmable computer.
• Created by Konrad Zuse in Germany from 1936 to 1938.
• To program the Z1 required that the user insert punch tape into a punch tape
reader and all output was also generated through punch tape.
Figure 1.14 Z1
p. ENIAC
• ENIAC stands for Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer.
• It was the first electronic general-purpose computer.
• Completed in 1946.
• Developed by John Presper Eckert and John Mauchly.
q. UNIVAC 1
• The UNIVAC I (UNIVersal Automatic Computer 1) was the first commercial
computer.
• Designed by John Presper Eckert and John Mauchly.
r. EDVAC
• EDVAC stands for Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer
• The First Stored Program Computer
• Designed by Von Neumann in 1952.
• It has a memory to hold both a stored program as well as data.
a. Premechanical
The premechanical age is the earliest age of information technology. It can be defined as
the time between 3000B.C. and 1450A.D. We are talking about a long time ago. When
humans first started communicating they would try to use language or simple picture
drawings known as petroglyths which were usually carved in rock. Early alphabets were
developed such as the Phoenician alphabet.
As alphabets became more popular and more people were writing information down, pens
and paper began to be developed. It started off as just marks in wet clay, but later paper
was created out of papyrus plant. The most popular kind of paper made was probably by
the Chinese who made paper from rags.
Now that people were writing a lot of information down, they needed ways to keep it all in
permanent storage. This is where the first books and libraries are developed. You’ve
probably heard of Egyptian scrolls which were popular ways of writing down information
to save. Some groups of people were actually binding paper together into a book-like form.
Also, during this period were the first numbering systems. Around 100A.D. was when the
first 1-9 system was created by people from India. However, it wasn’t until 875A.D. (775
years later) that the number 0 was invented. And yes, now that numbers were created,
people wanted stuff to do with them, so they created calculators. A calculator was the very
first sign of an information processor. The popular model of that time was the abacus.
b. Mechanical
The mechanical age is when we first start to see connections between our current
technology and its ancestors. The mechanical age can be defined as the time between
1450 and 1840. A lot of new technologies are developed in this era as there is a large
explosion in interest with this area. Technologies like the slide rule (an analog computer
used for multiplying and dividing) were invented. Blaise Pascal invented the Pascaline
which was a very popular mechanical computer. Charles Babbage developed the
difference engine which tabulated polynomial equations using the method of finite
differences.
There were lots of different machines created during this era and while we have not yet
gotten to a machine that can do more than one type of calculation in one, like our modern-
day calculators, we are still learning about how all of our all-in-one machines started. Also,
if you look at the size of the machines invented in this time compared to the power behind
them it seems (to us) absolutely ridiculous to understand why anybody would want to use
them, but to the people living in that time ALL of these inventions were HUGE.
c. Electromechanical
Now we are finally getting close to some technologies that resemble our modern-day
technology. The electromechanical age can be defined as the time between 1840 and
1940. These are the beginnings of telecommunication. The telegraph was created in the
early 1800s. Morse code was created by Samuel Morse in 1835. The telephone (one of
the most popular forms of communication ever) was created by Alexander Graham Bell in
1876. The first radio developed by Guglielmo Marconi in 1894. All of these were extremely
crucial emerging technologies that led to big advances in the information technology field.
The first large-scale automatic digital computer in the United States was the Mark 1
created by Harvard University around 1940. This computer was 8ft high, 50ft long, 2ft
wide, and weighed 5 tons - HUGE. It was programmed using punch cards. How does your
PC match up to this hunk of metal? It was from huge machines like this that people began
to look at downsizing all the parts to first make them usable by businesses and eventually
in your own home.
d. Electronic
The electronic age is what we currently live in. It can be defined as the time between 1940
and right now. The ENIAC was the first high-speed, digital computer capable of being
reprogrammed to solve a full range of computing problems. This computer was designed
to be used by the U.S. Army for artillery firing tables. This machine was even bigger than
the Mark 1 taking up 680 square feet and weighing 30 tons - HUGE. It mainly used vacuum
tubes to do its calculations.
There are 4 main sections of digital computing. The first was the era of vacuum tubes and
punch cards like the ENIAC and Mark 1. Rotating magnetic drums were used for internal
storage. The second generation replaced vacuum tubes with transistors, punch cards
were replaced with magnetic tape, and rotating magnetic drums were replaced by
magnetic cores for internal storage. Also during this time high-level programming
languages were created such as FORTRAN and COBOL. The third generation replaced
transistors with integrated circuits, magnetic tape was used throughout all computers, and
magnetic core turned into metal oxide semiconductors. An actual operating system
showed up around this time along with the advanced programming language BASIC. The
fourth and latest generation brought in CPUs (central processing units) which contained
memory, logic, and control circuits all on a single chip. The personal computer was
developed (Apple II). The graphical user interface (GUI) was developed.
The first computers used vacuum tubes for circuitry and magnetic drums for memory,
and were often enormous, taking up entire rooms. They were very expensive to operate
and in addition to using a great deal of electricity, generated a lot of heat, which was often
the cause of malfunctions. First generation computers relied on machine language, the
lowest-level programming language understood by computers, to perform operations, and
they could only solve one problem at a time. Input was based on punched cards and paper
tape, and output was displayed on printouts.
Examples: – ENIAC – EDSAC – UNIVAC I, UNIVAC II, UNIVAC 1101
Transistors replaced vacuum tubes and ushered in the second generation of computers. One
transistor replaced the equivalent of 40 vacuum tubes. Allowing computers to become smaller,
faster, cheaper, more energy-efficient and more reliable. Still generated a great deal of heat
that can damage the computer.
Examples: UNIVAC III, RCA 501, Philco Transact S-2000, NCR 300 series, IBM 7030
Stretch, IBM 7070, 7080, 7090 series
The development of the integrated circuit was the hallmark of the third generation of
computers. Transistors were miniaturized and placed on silicon chips, called semiconductors,
which drastically increased the speed and efficiency of computers. It could carry out
instructions in billionths of a second. Much smaller and cheaper compare to the second-
generation computers.
Fourth generation computers also saw the development of GUIs, the mouse and handheld
devices.
Based on Artificial Intelligence (AI). Still in development. The use of parallel processing and
superconductors is helping to make artificial intelligence a reality. The goal is to develop
devices that respond to natural language input and are capable of learning and self-
organization. There are some applications, such as voice recognition, that are being used
today.
References
• https://ftms.edu.my/v2/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/csca0201_ch01.pdf
• https://www.sutori.com/story/history-of-ict-information-and-communications-technology--
N7J51bQqSU7vLWcVfdn5M9qa
• https://www.livescience.com/20718-computer-history.html
• https://www.explainthatstuff.com/historyofcomputers.html