Out of various roles of Information and communication technologies in our life, here we come up with the most important ones.
- Immateriality: they carry out the process of creating essentially immaterial information, which can be transposed with transparency and instantaneously to distant places.
- Interactivity: the tics make possible the exchange of information between a user and a computer, and it is precisely this interaction that allows to adapt the resources used to the requirements and characteristics of said user.
- Interconnection: it has to do with the creation of new possibilities, starting from the link between two technologies. An example of interconnection is telematics, which results from the union between information technology and communication technologies, and has given rise to new tools such as the famous e-mail or e-mail.
- Instantaneity: this feature refers to the ability of Information and Communication Technologies to transmit information over long distances and in a very fast manner.
- Digitization: information is represented in a unique universal format, which allows sounds, texts, images, etc., to be transmitted through the same means.
- Wide scope that covers the cultural, economic, educational fields, among others: Information and Communication Technologies have not only generated a considerable impact in a single area or in a specific group of individuals, but have also expanded and penetrated important areas such as the economy , education, medicine, among others, all this at a global level.
- Greater influence on processes than on products: Information and Communication Technologies not only give individuals the possibility of accessing a large amount of information to build knowledge from it, but also allows them to do so through association with other connected users to network. Individuals have a greater role in the creation of knowledge collectively.
- Innovation: the development of tics has been characterized by generating a need for innovation, especially with regard to the social field, giving rise to the creation of new means to enhance communications.
Examples of ICT
- Television
- Radio
- The landline and mobile phone
- MP3 players
- Memory cards
- Portable digital versatile discs (DVD)
- Global positioning system (GPS) devices
- Computers: these have generated the greatest impact, mainly due to the advantage of allowing us to access the internet, a global communications network that has facilitated access to information provided by any server worldwide, also favoring interaction between people located in different physical spaces.
It should be noted that this does not always mean the social rejection of previous technologies, but it can also lead to the resurgence of a certain medium, through the creation of a medium of a similar nature but with greater potentialities.
Such is the case of the personal correspondence medium, whose use was considerably reduced after the appearance of the telephone, but increased again with the creation of the electronic mail system.
- Diversity: information and communication technologies do not fulfill a single purpose, on the contrary, they are quite useful for the execution of more than one function. In this way, they can be used to carry out communication between people, as well as for the creation of new information.
- Tendency to automation: the development of tools for the automatic management of information in a large number of social and professional activities is discussed.
Advantages of Information and Communication Technologies
Given that Information and Communication Technologies have a very broad scope, reaching impact on important sectors of today’s society, such as the economic, social, educational, etc., there are specific advantages that their use can facilitate for each of these areas.
However, it is possible to point out some of the general advantages that can be derived from the application of these technologies:
1. They facilitate long distance communication. There are fewer and fewer barriers that hinder the interaction between each other, since information and communication technologies have made it possible to exchange messages remotely and instantaneously.
2. They provide access to abundant and varied information. Thanks to ICT we can be aware of what happens in any part of the world, in addition to having information from different sources but that revolves around the same topic.
3. They allow the development of activities or operations through the network, as is the case of popular e-commerce or electronic commerce, which has greatly facilitated the lives of its users and every day continues adding more and more of them.
In this way, our need to move and leave the physical space in which we find ourselves to obtain a product have considerably decreased.
Like e-commerce, other similar terms have also been developed, such as e-business (e-business), e-health (e-health), e-government (e-government), e-learning (e-learning), e- work (teleworking), and the already well-known e-mail (e-mail), all thanks to the impact generated by the application of ICT in the different sectors of society and the global economy.
4. They give rise to the creation of new jobs in the area of telecommunications (teleworking), and have made possible the emergence of new professions such as: software engineer, multimedia designer and web designer, network engineer, network technician, computer teacher, teleworker, etc.
5. Information and Communication Technologies favor the promotion of business and business activity, through the combination of the internet and marketing.
Types of ICT users
The term “user” is the one that defines individuals who keep in touch with Information and Communication Technologies. Now, just like these technologies, users can be classified according to their level of experience in the field. In such way, we have the following:
- Advanced user: this is a person who has digital skills worked on and is very familiar with the use of Information and Communication Technologies.
- Programmer: “programmer” is defined as the user who has the ability to program computers professionally.
- Systems analyst: a systems analyst or applications analyst is a user who, in addition to having the ability to program computers professionally, has the ability to create programs and applications in the field of computing, as well as to develop systems of complex information.
- Digital illiterate: corresponds to all those people who do not have any contact with this type of technology.
Featured image used from shutterstock by chaythawin
