Introduction to ICT

What is a computer?
In simple terms, computer is a machine. What is a machine?
Any device that simplifies work load of the human beings is a machine. Such a device or tool
would accept what we give it as input and provide us the output after a process in it. The process
is controlled according to the needs of the human being.

Control

Input Process Output

When the computer is considered,

it is an electronic device that accepts data as its input, processes them according to the given
instructions and provide information as its output.

Control
Instructions

Data Process & Storage Information

Input Output
Process
For what purposes do we use computers?
Basically, for the process of data we use computers. Although the computer is created and
instructed by man due to its following features, it is efficient than the human being.
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But as computer works according to human instructions there are instances where human data
processing is better than computers due to following reasons.
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Activities of a computer
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Every activity in a computer does according to the instructions given to it. All the instructions from
starting to the end are stored in it. Controlling of the machine, retrieval of data, procession,
output etc. are done according to these instructions.

Using the computer

At the very beginning, the computer was used in the Engineering and Science fields. Due to its
ability of calculation and the storage capability these were later used for the business and
management sector. Later the computers are used in the education section and the offices as
they could assist their work. With the development of computer graphics, two and three
dimensional videos and the games, the computer is used for entertainment too. The
development of communication techniques and the networks, they are used to communicate
around the globe. Also, they are used in other like
 banks  due to storage capability and efficiency,
 security  due to accuracy and speed etc.

Information and Communication Technology

Computer Technology
At the very beginning the computer was used to process data only. Later it was developed for
data storage. Accordingly the computer technology to input data, process, store, retrieve and
output information was developed.

Communication Technology
Also, communication technology was developed with the ability of broadcasting signals and
accepting them.

Information Technology
With the combination of computer and the communication ability, the communication between
the computers evolved. This paved the way to communication between the computers and other
devices which further developed into the ability of communicating information.

Information and Communication Technology

The Information and Communication Technology was evolved with the combination of the
ordinary social human communication media.

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Data
The term data is used to refer raw facts and figures which are input into a system in order to process
and create meaningful information. Data consists of numbers, words, sounds and images which
neither bear a particular meaning nor have organized in order to make decisions.

Life Cycle of Data

Lifecycle of data consists of data creation, management of data and removal of obsolete data.
For the purpose of creating meaningful information,
Data
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Obselete Data Management
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This is known as the life cycle of data.

Data can be classified into two types as quantitative and qualitative.

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 Quantitative data
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Information
Information can be defined as the data organized meaningfully. Although information is an output of
a process the same information would be a data for another process. Therefore to understand the
data and the information distinctively, it is important to identify the process and its input and the
output.

Valuable information should have characteristics such as

 Relevance
 Timeliness
 Accuracy
 Completeness
 Understandability

Valuable information assists to make smart decisions.

 Relevance
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 Accuracy
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Data Vs. Information

Data can be identified as the inputs into a system that intends to create meaningful information.
Information can be defined as the data organized meaningfully. Creation of information can be
identified as processing of data. For the purpose of processing there should be instructions to follow.

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After processing data according to the instructions given, information is produced which is the
outcome of the processed data. Although information is an output of a process the same
information would be a data for another process. Thus, data and information can be identified
distinctly through examining inputs and outputs of a particular process.

The Golden Rule of Information

The golden rule of information graphically represents the value of

information in its maximum level at the moment the information is created
or the information is released. The value of the information is reduced
gradually with the time and become less valuable.

Big Data

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Organizations such as private companies and research institutions capture terabytes of data about
their users’ interactions in businesses and social media. The volume of data that one has to deal has
been exploded to unimaginable levels with the time. The challenge of this era is to make sense of
this large amount of data. It is challengeable to capture, store, analyse, search, share, communicate,
show, query, update and protect privacy of them.

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Big Data Analysis

This is where the big data analytics is needed to manage the data life cycle. Big Data Analytics largely
involve collecting data from different sources, manage it in a way that it becomes available to be
consumed by analysts and finally deliver data products to fulfil the organization’s data requirements.

Big data analytics is the use of advanced analytic techniques against very large, diverse data sets that
include structured, semi-structured and unstructured data, from different sources, and in different
sizes from terabytes to zettabytes.

V3 Characterization of Big Data

Volume
Variety
Velocity

V7 Characterization of Big Data

Volume
Variety
Velocity
Veracity
Variability
Venue
Vocabulary

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Answer the following questions.

1. Define data and the life cycle of data.

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2. What is input?
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3. What is information?
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4. What is processing?
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5. Offer an advice for a person who needs processing of data.
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6. “There is a strong relationship between data and information and to distinctly
define them there should be a process.” Explain this statement.
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7. What are the types of data? Explain with examples.
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8. Explain the characteristics of useful information.
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9. What is Big Data?
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10. What is the Golden Rule of Information?
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 11. Read the following and answer the questions.

• Joel has twelve employees in his stores and he uses two big trucks for transportation
of goods. There is a specific number of times a vehicle is to be used per month and
the wages of the drivers are calculated taking the mileage run per month into
consideration. If the necessary number of mileage is not done, the driver’s salary will
be decreased, but if he had run over mileage, his salary will be increased according
to the extra mileage. The store keepers’ salary is also calculated inclusive of OT
hours. For these calculations and the work of the stores, Joel is using a computer. In
it he has saved his employees’ names, number of hours work etc.

a. Write three examples for data from above.

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b. Write two examples for quantitative data.
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c. Write one example for qualitative data.
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d. Write two examples for information.
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e. Consider one instance in this scenario and write the IPO of it.
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