Lecture №14. Information technologies in the professional sphere. Industrial ICT.

Plan:
1.The software for the solution of tasks of the specialized professional sphere. 2.Modern IT
trends in the professional sphere: medicine, power, etc.
3.Use of search engines and electronic resources in the professional purposes. Safety issues
in industrial information and communication technologies.

Aim of the lecture: to outline the uses of computers in the day to day life and
comprehensively model the environmental effects as well as the physical impacts.

Having studied this session the student will be able to:

Describe why the computers are used at places of work

1.The software for the solution of tasks of the specialized professional sphere.
You might have not seen a place of work without a single computer in use. The computer
has become such essential equipment for almost all places of work no matter if it is a small scale
or large scale company. Computer literacy in varying extents has become an essential item under
the qualifications required for most of the job vacancies. However, the utilization of computers
may vary from place to place depending on the nature of the business they perform.
When we consider the both private and government sector places of work in Sri Lanka,
following can be considered as the typical uses of computers.
 Managing data – keep track of data about customers, products, demographics and other
information important to the business, uses secured mechanisms for storages.
 Maintain financial status – Keep track of the financial status of the company on an
annually, monthly or even day-to-day basis. Spreadsheet software is commonly used to track
expenditures, sales, and profit and losses. Accounting software provides a business with even
more assistance with financial matters, as it is used to do payroll, invoice customers, prepare
taxes and execute other essential functions. Companies can use their computers to print checks
for payroll and expenditures, and can form a direct link to the company's bank account.
 Communication–Uses e-mails, publishes information on web, keeps in touch with stake
holders via social networks, conference meetings avoids the need of physical availability of
participants of the meetings,
 Networking- shares resources, common database of files accessible for authorized
members
 Research work – Investigate new products, improve the quality of the existing products
through effective research
 Audio and Video business presentation
 Process simulations- The processes allows you to see effect of changes, without having to
actually make those changes to your processes, can use to maximize the overall confidence with
the proposed changes without implementing
 Increase productivity through Industry specific software
Though the typical usage of computers at work has been summarized as above, there will be
many more answers to the question „What are the uses and advantages of computers in your
office?‟ depending on the nature of work handled within the company/office of the person. So it
is not a marvelous fact that most of the organizations move towards automating the tasks with
the help of modern computers.
 Usage of ICT in different sectors

We ooked at the usage of computers in a typical office in the previous section. It was quite
difficult to list of uses as it is vast. However, it can be clearly identify the sectors where ICT is
now used in the Sri Lanka and in the world, in general as listed below.

2.Modern IT trends in the professional sphere: medicine, power, etc.

ICT cn be potentially used in the following sectors. Note that the following list is given in
general but not specific to our country. Some of the sectors may be already familiar to you in
your everyday life.

 Eucation
 Heals care/medicine
 Agriculture
 Banking
 Business/trade and commerce
 Transport
 Manufacturing
 Travel and Tourism
 Environment
 Gender
 Culture

Following sections will give a brief to some of the above sectors with respect to usage of
ICT.
ICT in Education
The usage of concepts in ICT in the education sector also varies on its application such as,
 ICT as a subject (i.e., computer studies)
 ICT as a tool to support traditional subjects (i.e., computer-based learning, presentation,
research)
 ICT as an administrative tool (i.e., education management information systems/EMIS)
 ICT as a medium of knowledge exchange
Accordingly, as a student who follows this course unit, you are dealt with the above first
category; ICT as a subject. However, you will be able to get more familiar to use the computer
for your studies not only this course unit but also the other courses you follow at OUSL by using
your computer as a tool to support your studies. This category is often referred to as e-learning.
We will be discussing deeply about e-learning in session 25 in this course material. However, the
following description is given as it is worth to get a brief idea on what e-learning is before
proceeding to the next sections.

E-Learning
As per a definition given in an international journey, e-learning, sometimes termed
computer-based training (CBT), internet-based training (IBT) or web-based training (WBT),
includes all forms of electronically supported learning and teaching, including educational
technology. The information and communication systems, whether networked learning or not,
serve as specific media to implement the learning process. Accordingly you can see that the term
e-Learning is really just an umbrella term which covers a wide set of electronic educational
applications and processes.
 Mostly, the electronic technology used here is the use of computers with the accessibility to
the internet. You will be able acquire and develop your knowledge so that you will be able to
demonstrate the particular topic learned which proves that it has positively influenced in your
behaviors. You may consider the OUMoodle (http://ousl.nodes.lk/) which is the Learning
Management System used in the Open University as a major learner support tool.
The advantages of e-learning with respect to both teaching and the learning parties can be
considered as;
 Cost effective
 Saves time without sacrificing quality
 Minimizes travel cost
 Can be accessed from anywhere any time in the world
 Consistent course delivery
 Individual instruction
ICT in Business/Trade and Commerce
Nowadays, the business IT specialist applies ICT in their organizations to achieve their
commercial objectives. It makes them be quick, cheap, and more attractive to the client of their
business. One of the major applications of ICT in businesses is the existence of industries where
buying and selling of products or services done through internet or other computer networks.
This area is called Electronic Commerce or E-commerce. You will learn what e-commerce is
deeply in session 25 of this material. However, again for your benefit, a brief description of e-
commerce is given below before moving on to the next topic.
ICT in Banking
Nowadays, for almost all operations in a bank are done with the help of the computers and
the internet or any other network. Basically, the banks store all their customers account details on
computers. This allows them to easily find out account information on their customers, and make
changes to their account balance easily, for things such as when money is put in and withdrawn
from the bank. Have you ever used an ATM card? Hopefully the answer is yes. Use of ATM
cards is one of the operations used in the banking sector with the ICT. You may know that you
can perform some of your banking activities without the physical movement into the bank. In
another words, you do your banking online. This facility is known as E-Banking.
ICT in Medicine
ICT is used in many ways related to the Medicine sector. E-Medicine is one of such facility.
E-Medicine is an online clinical medical knowledge database with a collection of thousands
ofarticles, images, videos which support you to browse and get knowledge in any matter related
to the medicine field such as details of diseases, drugs, medications, health news, first-aid guides,
etc. Further, you can get the answers for your own health care related question as well.
3.Use of search engines and electronic resources in the professional purposes. Safety
issues in industrial information and communication technologies.
Health, Safety, and Environment for computers
Having read the previous sections of this session you might now have the feeling „what a
vast range of uses we get from out computers today‟. Computer, being such common equipment
used by people no matter a kid or an adult; did you ever think whether you are working in a good
computer based environment? Did you ever think that there are specific guide lines to use your
computer with respect to its physical environment? How many hours do you spend a day in front
of the computer? You might not thought of these types of questions before.
Following sections discuss about the computer based good working environment and the
facts that you need to keep in mind and obey as a computer user.
Work environment
It is essential to maintain your best possible work environment to ensure the health and the
productivity of all computer users. You may think that you have arranged the furniture and the
computer equipment correctly, but still it may give health issues arise if the working
environment is poor. Following are the physical aspects that you need to consider with respect to
a good working environment.
 Working space
 Location of workstations
 Lighting
 Decor
 Atmospheric conditions
 Noise
 Housekeeping
A briefing of each above aspect is given below.
Working space
You must have enough space to perform your tasks safely and comfortably. The amount of
working space depends on the user, nature of work you do, and the devices and the furniture you
need to use. Everything should not be crowded. Sometimes, you get stressed or less productive
when the space is too compact. Therefore, you need to make sure that your work space gives you
a good comfortable posture and that you have easy access to and from the location of your
computer.
Location
It is important to think about the visual environment when locating your computer with
other peripherals. Here, the arrangement of lighting, the type of light fittings used, and the
location of the window are important to consider.
 The office layout should be planned around the position of light fixtures to prevent walls
or partitions blocking or creating shadows over the work area.
 If the user is sitting near photocopiers and printers they may be distracted by noise and
the heat generated by the other machines and also may get disturbed by the people who are
coming often to operate those other machines.
 Make sure that you have an easy access to hardware and power points. Well positioned
power points can prevent use of multi-plug boards and extra cable lying.
Lighting
You may use artificial to provide lighting, but it is better to go for a combination of natural
and artificial light. Some instances like using LCDs or if the user is an older person, then you
may require high level of lighting. Your lighting should be:
 Adjustable in direction and intensity level
 Does not produce excessive contrasts in different regions of your working area
 Does not result in glare or screen reflections at nearby users. Glare may cause visual
discomfort and may cause headaches as well as reduces the performance of the user.
Decor
Too much of dark colors can create contrasts in brightness so that additional lighting is
needed. As a general rule the ceiling should be brighter than walls and walls brighter than the
floor.
Atmospheric conditions
It is a known fact that people react strongly when they think the air is stuffy, stale or
polluted and may express this as general dissatisfaction with the environment. So your working
area should be well ventilated and have a comfortable temperature. You may use air conditioners
to satisfy this condition.
Noise
Noise in your working area (may be generated from equipment, ringing phones, air
conditioners/fans, people work close by) can make communicating and concentrating difficult,
and may be leading to stresses. Generally, the more complex a task, the lower a user‟s tolerance
for noise is. So it is required assure that your work area is minimized with noise.
Housekeeping
Good housekeeping is promoting maintenance of good health and safety in your work place.
So the floors should be tidy and cleaned, environment should be dust free, and it is required to
make sure that the power cables do not present tripping hazards.
Computer related health problems
There are four potential health issues identified as associated with computer work. They are:
 Physical discomfort, pain, or injury
 Visual discomfort
 Stress
 Fatigue
These may often influence each other. Let us have a look at each issue separately.

Questions:
1. Using suitable examples, describe how computerization would help an organization to
perform more efficiently and effectively.
2. Briefly describe the following terms.
3. a. E-Commerce b. E-Banking c. E-Medicine
4. What are the advantages of e-learning with respect to both teaching and learning?
5. Briefly explain the nature of the environment that is preferable for a computer based
working area.

References
1. June J. Parsons and Dan Oja, New Perspectives on Computer Concepts 16th Edition -
Comprehensive, Thomson Course Technology, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc Cambridge,
MA, COPYRIGHT © 2014.
2. Lorenzo Cantoni (University of Lugano, Switzerland) James A. Danowski (University of
Illinois at Chicago, IL, USA) Communication and Technology, 576 pages.
3. Craig Van Slyke Information Communication Technologies: Concepts, Methodologies,
Tools, and Applications (6 Volumes). ISBN13: 9781599049496, 2008, Pages: 4288
4. Utelbaeva A.K.,Utelbaeva A.K. Study guide for lectures on discipline “Computer
science”, Shimkent 2008, 84 pages.