Information Communication Technology - Essay Example

by Table of Contents Introduction Information Communication Technology is playing a vital role in the institutions in the form of improving the overall performance of the students. Information Communication Technology has facilitated all the institutes in improving the technology round the globe. ICT helps in sharing information across the world. ICT has provided different advantages or facilities at institute level which help in enhancing the capabilities of student in academic and research work. The focus area of our research is to explore the facilities which are provided by Information Communication Technology. Networking From the very beginning when we explore the structure of an ICT environment then we have to face a stand alone PC. A stand alone system can be helpful initially for the teachers to provide training to the users who are unfamiliar with the use of computer systems. A computer system helps in enhancing the knowledge new users who want to accelerate in this domain. A single or stand alone computer can only solve the issues who are just required in a closed vicinity. But when we have to think about the communication over the globe or whole world then the concept of computer networking can solve this issue. Networking helps in connecting computer systems over the globe and it provides an immense set of advantages in domain of ICT which we will have to discuss one by one. Networking helps in file sharing between all the computers who are connected together. It provides a sort of more flexibility than using floppy drives and USB drive. We can share different types of data like photos, documents, music files, and many more. A network approach also helps us in saving our important data on a different computer by using a home network. Home network helps us in making backup or duplicate copies of our critical data. When a network facility is available and different computers are connected via media then it becomes easy to share a single printer among all computers. When a shared printer will be available on the net then there would not be the need of jumping from one system to another one for printing purpose. Just like printers we can also share other devices e.g. network scanners, web cams, CD burners etc. In a network all the connected computers or family members of the network can access the internet connectivity simultaneously without paying to ISP for multiple accounts. When we will use a dial up connection which is not a DSL or broadband then speed of the connection will slows down when several systems will have to access the internet. Dial up internet facility is better for few systems and not for a fully loaded network where too many systems will be in use by the users. So for large networks or for loaded networks DSL or broadband internet systems are better which can handle or manage the load efficiently. When internet facility will be in hand then students in the institutes and any other user using the internet can also avail the internet based telephone facility. VoIP (Voice over IP) provides us the facility to make and receive the phone calls across the world and it also helps in saving money. Internet facility helps students in searching research data for their research work and also for their academic work. Students can find out different conference and journal papers using internet. Wireless Network So far we have discussed the cable network but we can’t ignore the facilities provided by the wireless network system. The institutes have to consider different reasons in building a wireless network. For example in present times the Notebook computers and many other portable devices are available at very low costs. When a wireless network will be in the access of students and teachers then they can access the network using the wireless network. For the access of wireless network the place is not a matter of concern and people can access the network easily from anywhere. When we have to ponder about the word wireless then immediately there comes in the mind something without wires. The networks using wire as a media are costly but still the institutes are using wires as media. The facility of wireless network keeps us away from the technical aspects of wiring media or cables and saves the time and energy which we have to utilize in laying out cables. When the institutes have to avail network facility then they also avail the facility of internet for the sake of research. All the applications which are providing services over the network are web based applications. The web based applications provide different benefits over the network. The facilities provided by these web based applications are numerous which we will discuss one by one. Web Based Applications The web based applications provide cross platform compatibility than other software applications. The technologies like ASP.Net, Java, Flash, and Ajax provide an integrated platform for effective development of web based applications which support all the major operating systems. One major facility which we see in web based applications is the requirement of less memory or RAM but it is not so in installed or PC based applications. The web based applications use the memory of those computers on which these applications are running. So these applications have to leave more space for running multiple applications at the same time without disturbing other applications. The web based applications facilitate us in a more efficient way because there is no need to download these applications and then no need to install and configure them on the system. Their availability is only dependent upon the account of the user when the user login the web based applications will readily be accessible without hardware and software dependencies. The web based applications are updated to the last release and these applications don’t disturb the user during course of action and they don’t disturb the routine work of user. The web based applications are a sort of Open Source Software and are readily available to us without any cost. But when we are in need of proprietary softwares with more details then we must have to purchase a license of the software for achieving a full functionality of the application. PC Based Applications These applications work as stand alone applications and help the people in different ways. Some of the examples of these applications are Microsoft Office, Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Framework, Acrobat and Oracle. All of these applications are used for a specific purpose. For example in MS Office the Word application is used to type documentation, in excel we have to manage inventories, invoices etc, in .Net we have to develop applications which can be web based or pc based and Acrobat is used as a reader for reading a .pdf file. The PC based applications facilitate us in the overall implementation of our ICT environment. Oracle is used for the development of database applications. Implementation in Anglia Ruskin University The University has modern well equipped computer labs. Currently the lab consists of round about 25 computers per lab. The computers in the University are connected by a local area network (LAN) and the unlimited access of internet is provided to the students. All the campuses are linked by wireless network. The wireless network helps in the exchange of data and voice. The University has a computerized management system which used for the registration of students, for course management, for payroll and administrative works. The University management has deeper interest in Information Technology there the University is committed to offer a wide availability of ICT facilities to the all the students and for individual and teaching purposes. All students and teachers have access to e-mail facilities and the network both from within university and from home. The university is providing Internet services to the students and teachers via the university network, which can handle a large number of simultaneous users. The university is also providing a Virtual Learning Environment on which each department in the university update the academic material daily. Main Conclusion Without ICT it is impossible for an institute, university, school or organization that they can confront the challenges of the latest technologies without having a sound knowledge about them and it is only possible when a well framed ICT architecture will be in hands. Conclusion ICT is playing a major role in the development and prosperity of a nation. This development and prosperity has a major concern with the latest available technologies in the world. And the rudimentary knowledge about these up-to-date technologies can only be obtained with the help of internet. The facility of internet demands a constellation of all the accessories which are mentioned above in the essay. This constellation is comprised of PCs, networking, availability of internet, web based software applications, PC based applications and a comprehensive information communication system. With the help of ICT the technological knowledge can be enhanced by using a shared data which is readily accessible to all the people from anywhere. Bibliography Bradley Mitchell. “What Are the Benefits of Networking?” http://compnetworking.com/cs/wireless/f/whywirelsslan.htm Network. http://homepages.uel.ac.uk/u0306091/Network.htm Benefits Of Web Based Applications and Microsoft Announcement of the Live Era. http://masternewmedia.org/ Ivan Bayross. “Web Enabled Commercial Applications Development Using… HTML, DHTML, JavaScript, Perl CGI”, 2nd Revised Edition. Behrouz A. Forouzan. Data Communications and Networking. Third Edition Read More