EMPOWERMENT

TECHNOLOGIES
UNIT 1
A connected world needs more
than a network of computers and
gadgets. It needs a technology-
enabled, confidently mindful, and
compassionate digitally aware
community of lifelong learners.
LESSON 1: What is
Information and
Communications
Technology (ICT)?
CHALLENGE QUESTION
A survey called “Networked World
Readiness” contains 5 categories,
namely: Access, Learning, Society,
Economy, and Policy.
Which category is most important
to you?
 As you continue your work, you
may realize that digital tools, such
as those appearing in the following
image would give you an idea of
the range of possibilities to
discover, disclose, connect, and
co-create, in a Networked World.
How many of the items or
icons in the image are you
familiar with?

Which ones are you

unfamiliar with?
Whatever your answer, take a
closer look at the Trivia/Glossary
of Terms. The list contains some
key phrases that characterize
the ICT tools that, when used
properly, can empower users to
make positive social change.
TRIVIA/GLOSSARY OF TERM
1. Assistive Media - a
component under Assistive
technology (AT), which is a
generic term used to refer to a
group of software or hardware
devices by which people
with disabilities can access
computers. Assistive Media is also a
name of a company: “the Internet's
first audio solution for persons with
print reading/access barriers. The
audio recordings of the literary
works produced by Assistive Media
are now easily accessible,
on-demand, to the ever growing
number of persons with disabilities
who now use the Internet.”
2. Collaborative platforms - “is a
category of business software that
adds broad social networking
capabilities to work processes.”
3. Convergent Technologies - an
extension of the term
convergence, which means a
“coming together of two or more
disparate disciplines or
technologies. For example, the so-
called fax revolution was produced
by a convergence of
telecommunications technology,
optical scanning technology, and
printing technology.” Convergent
Technologies also refers to an
American computer company
formed by a small group of people
who left Intel Corporation and
Xerox PARC in 1979.
4. Information and Communications
Technology (ICT) - ICT is an
umbrella term that includes any
communication device or
application, encompassing: radio,
television, cellular phones,
computer and network hardware
and software, satellite systems and
network hardware and software,
satellite systems and so on, as well
as the various services and
applications associated with them,
such as videoconferencing and
distance learning. ICTs are often
spoken of in a particular context,
such as ICTs in education, health
care, or libraries. The term is
somewhat more common outside
of the United States. It may also be
defined as, Information and
Communication Technologies (ICT
or ICTs) are digital forms of
communication including tools
available on the Internet, such as
blogging and email, as well as
computer software, such as
Microsoft PowerPoint and Word.
5. Mobile Media - This refers to
“media devices such as mobile
phones and PDA’s were the
primary source of portable media
from which we could obtain
information and communicate with
one another. More recently, the
smartphone (which has combined
many features of the cell phone
with the PDA) has rendered the
PDA next to obsolete. The growth of
new mobile media as a true force
in society was marked by
smartphone sales outpacing
personal computer sales in 2011.”
6. Online systems - are online
versions of information systems,
which is “the process of and tools
for storing, managing, using, and
gathering of data and
communications in an organization.
An example of information systems
are tools for sending out
communications and storing files in
a business.”
7. Social Media - “are computer-
mediated tools that allow people
or companies to create, share, or
exchange information, career
interests, ideas, and pictures/videos
in virtual communities and
networks.”
8. Web 2.0 - “describes World Wide
Web sites that emphasize user-
generated content, usability, and
interoperability. The term was
popularized by Tim O'Reilly and Dale
Dougherty at the O'Reilly Media Web
2.0 Conference in late 2004, though it
was coined by Darcy DiNucci in 1999.”
9. Web 3.0 - “a phrase coined by
John Markoff of the New York Times
in 2006, refers to a supposed third
generation of Internet-based
services that collectively comprise
what might be called ‘the
intelligent Web’—such as those
using semantic web, microformats,
natural language search, data-
mining, machine learning,
recommendation agents, and
artificial intelligence technologies—
which emphasize machine-facilitated
understanding of information in order
to provide a more productive and
intuitive user experience.”
ACTIVITY
1. Explore the content of the
Networked World Readiness6
assessment via this link:
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/readi
nessguide/intro.html or whenever
available, its printed version.
ACTIVITY
2. Compare and contrast the
implications of varied online
platforms, sites and content; to best
achieve specific needs, objectives;
or to best address the challenges in
the classroom or that of your
ACTIVITY
community. On a piece of paper or
in whatever suitable digital tool is
available, write down your insight in
300 words.