Elizabeth Nsubuga

Living in the IT Era

1st Semester 2023-2024
Handout 1P
Prelim Period
Spend your energy focusing on what you are learning,
instead of worrying about your grade…. ~Anonymous
 Course Description
This course:
❑Explores the ethics and influence of
information technology on culture and
science…
❑Aims to strike a balance between
conceptual instructions that are socially
and culturally oriented discussions that not
only explain the basic concepts and key
terms in IT but also the major IT trends
and the issues and challenges they bring…
❑Uses the outcome-based approach with
assessment tests and tasks to measure
student learning effectively…
 Course Description
At the end of this Course, the
student is expected to:
❑Appreciate the evolution of the
Computer…
❑Understand the fundamental
aspects of the Computer…
❑Be Knowledgeable about Social,
Legal, and Ethical Computer
Issues…
 Objectives of this subject

To understand, acknowledge and

appreciate:
❑The uses and influence of Information
Technology on our society
❑The major IT trends and the issues
and challenges these developments
bring

4
 Standard Grading

Quizzes 35%
Seat Works 25%
Major Examination 40%
FINAL GRADE = (Prelim Term Grade +
Midterm Grade + Final Grade)/3

5
 Course Overview
Prelim Term Period

1. Introduction to Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

2. Computers in Our Daily Life
Prelim Exam

Midterm Period
3. The Internet and the Worldwide web
4. Information Control and Privacy
Midterm Exams

Final Period
5. IT, Culture, and Society
6. IT Trends, Issues, and Challenges
Final Exam
 Topic 1
Introduction to Information and
Communication Technology (ICT)

Major Topics to be Included:

❑Overview of Information and Communication Technology
(ICT)
❑Evolution of Technology
❑History of Computer
❑Components of Computers
❑Computer Classification
❑Digital Age. Information Age and Computer Age
 Introduction to (ICT)
Overview of Information and Communication Technology

❑Information and Communication Technology (ICT) also referred

to as just IT, is a very important tool that can be used to achieve
economic, administrative, and social improvement…
❑The role and importance of ICT has become glaringly obvious in
the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, where society has been
forced to rely even more heavily on technology for basic daily
living including accessing basic goods, maintaining connections
with others, working from home, and having the ability to complete
schoolwork.
 Introduction to (ICT)
Overview of Information and Communication Technology

❑Meanwhile, people (or countries and regions), mainly those in

developing countries, do not have enough opportunities to use or
acquire IT...
❑Therefore, People are not able to reap the benefits offered by these
technologies.
❑Inconsequence, the gap between these people (or countries and
regions) who have access to use and acquire IT, what is the called
“digital divide,” has become an important issue…
❑The digital divide generates an economic divide, and, if the divide
becomes too wide it may lead to social unrest.
 Video: Brief introduction of ICT

https://youtu.be/7Q67Poh7cGA
 Introduction to (ICT)
Evolution of Technology
❑Technological change is about the increase in the efficiency of a product
or process that results in an increase in output without an increase in
input…
❑For instance, someone invents a product or a process, which is then used
to get a bigger reward for the same amount of work…
❑A telephone is a very good example that has gone through a lot
technological changes that has made it very efficient...
❑The three stages of Technological change
➢Invention: The creation of a new product or process
➢Innovation: The application of the invention for the first time
➢Diffusion: How fast others begin to adopt the innovation
 Introduction to (ICT)
Evolution of Technology
❑A telephone is a vey good example that has gone through
a lot technological changes that has made it very
efficient...
 Video: Evolution of Technology

https://youtu.be/DENG7Q7VRgo
 Introduction to ICT
History of Computers

History of Computers
❑History of Computers
❑Generation of Computers
 Introduction to (ICT)
History of Computers
❑The history of Computers is about the
developments leading up to the stored-program
computers today…
❑History places us in time: Who invented the
computer and when…
❑Generation of computers presents the physical
and technological evolution/change of the
computer
 Introduction to (ICT)
History of Computers
Five Generations of Computer Technology

First Generation (1940-1956) Vacuum Tubes

Second Generation (1956-1963) Transistors
Third Generation (1964-1971) Integrated Circuits
Fourth Generation (1971-2010) Microprocessors
Fifth Generation (2010 to Present Day) Artificial Intelligence
 Introduction to (ICT)
History of Computers

Generation of Computers

❑Each of the five generations of computers

is characterized by a major technological
development that fundamentally changed
the way computers operate.
❑Most major developments resulted in
increasingly smaller, cheaper, more
powerful, efficient and easier to use
computing devices.
 Introduction to (ICT)
History of Computers

Generation of Computers

❑Two things happened

1. The progression in hardware representation of a bit of data:
❑Vacuum Tubes (1950s) - one bit on the size of a thumb;
❑Transistors (1950s and 1960s) - one bit on the size of a fingernail;
❑Integrated Circuits (1960s and 70s) - thousands of bits on the size of
a hand
❑Silicon computer chips (1970s and on) - millions of bits on the size
of a fingernail.
2. The progression of the ease of use of computers:
❑Almost impossible to use except by very patient geniuses (1950s);
❑Programmable by highly trained people only (1960s and 1970s);
❑Useable by just about anyone (1980s and on).

18
 History of Computer
https://slideplayer.com/slide/6938071/
 Assessment 2P
Quiz 1P 50 points
Coverage:
❑Introduction to Information and
Communication Technology (ICT)
 References

❑ https://www.computerhope.com/
❑ https://www.youtube.com/@DilshanSoftLab
❑ https://study.com/learn/lesson/technological-change-stages-
examples.html#:~:text=Technological%20change%20has%20three%20important,Invention%2C%20innovation%2C%20a
nd%20diffusion.
❑ https://www.youtube.com/@Buckleupfacts
❑ https://www.computerhope.com/jargon/n/network-media.htm
❑ https://www.youtube.com/@blastertechnology
❑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xJSlKDgSqA
❑ https://slideplayer.com/slide/6938071/
❑ https://www.gograph.com/vector-clip-art/dial-phone.html
❑ 2014, Introduction to Web Development using HTML 5, Jamsa, Kris, Jones & Bartlett Learning
❑ 2013, HTML5 and CSS, Shelly, Gary B., Cengage Learning
❑ 2013, 8th Edition, Discovering Computers Fundamentals, Gary B. Shelly, Misty E. Vermaat, Jeffrey J. Quasney, Susan L.
Sebok, Steven M. Freund, Cengage Learning
❑ 2013, An introduction to information systems, Whiteley, David, Palgrave Macmillan
❑ Information Communication Technology in the Work Place
❑ Your Interactive Guide To the Digital World 8th Edition
❑ Wells D (2007) Computer Concepts 3rd Edition USA
❑ Shelly D et al(2012) Discovering Computer Fundamentals

21