INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT

(University of Sierra Leone)

LECTURE ONE

INTRODUCTION TO ICT

MOHAMED PATEH BAH

+232 76 254715 / +232 77 953046 / +232 31 076095

bmohamedpateh@gmail.com / bahpatehmpb@yahoo.com / bahpatehmpb@hotmail.com

 INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT
(University of Sierra Leone)

LECTURE 1

INTRODUCTION TO ICT

ICT is an acronym for Information and Communication Technology and is define, as a “diverse
set of technological tools and resources used to create, process, store, protect, transmit and retrieve
information from anywhere, anytime.” These technological tools include computers, the Internet,
broadcasting technologies (radio and television), and telephony.

ICT has become an integral part of everyday life and as such has an impact on nearly every aspect
of our lives – from working to socializing, learning to playing. It increases its importance in
people’s lives and it is expected that this trend will continue, to the extent that ICT literacy will
become a functional requirement for people’s work, social, and personal lives. This digital age has
transformed the way people communicate, network, seek help, access information and learn.

As ICT is an ever changing and complex field of science, a lot of people find it confusing.
Therefore, one always need to be at the top with the latest happenings in the field in order to stay
relevant. Today, in order to be considered successful anywhere, be it academics, employment, or
even just to be a responsible citizen, having at least some basic knowledge of ICT and how to
make use of it to be more productive, is essential, and determines how capable we will be as part
of the modern society which relies upon ICT for almost everything. This is why digital literacy is
extremely important in today’s world. Hence, in this 21st century, an ability to work with
information and communication technologies is becoming as essential to education, life and
workplace success as reading, writing and arithmetic. Hence, as society today is greatly impacted
by ICT, it is important to understand how it works, and how it should be used ethically and safely.

ICT is an umbrella term which contains both Information Technology (IT) as well as
Communications Technology under its fold. Information technology encompasses all of the
technology that we use to collect, process, protect and store information. It can be seen as the
capability to electronically input, process, store, output, transmit, and receive data and information,
including text, graphics, sound, and video, as well as the ability to control machines of all kinds
electronically. It refers to hardware, software (computer programs), computer networks and data
management. It is a subset of Information Systems (IS) which is an organized combination of

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people, hardware, software, communication networks, data resources, policies and procedures that
stores, retrieves, transforms and disseminate information.

Communication is simply the act of transferring information from one place to another and it has
improved and evolved to facilitate our daily activities. In the 21st century, everything related to
communication utilizes technology to ‘send out’ or disseminate information either to an individual
or to a wider audience. Information can be ‘sent out’ in many ways. Technologies such as the
television, radio, cellular phones, tablets and other electronic devices are important in enhancing
communication. Examples of how such is done can be Online Chat (Text, Audio and Video based),
Mobile Technology (Conferencing, Phone), Satellite (Television channel, Video Conferencing),
Discussion Forums, Blogs, e-Groups, Wikipedia (Knowledge base), search (Google), Mobile
SMS, MMS and Podcasting.

For us to get information, we need data. This data consists of raw facts. When these facts are
arranged in a meaningful manner, they become information. The process of converting the data
into the required output (information) is called data processing or simply processing. Information
technology; preferably the computer is used to process data into information as illustrated in figure
1.1. For information to be useful it needs to be communicated.

Figure 1. 1: Data processing

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THE COMPUTER
Computers are everywhere: at work, at school, and at home, people use all types and sizes of
computers for a variety of reasons and in a range of places. Some computers sit on top of a desk
or on the floor, whilst others such as mobile computers and mobile devices are small enough to
carry. Computers are a primary means of local and global communication for billions of people
around the globe. Through computers, society has instant access to information such as local and
national news, weather reports, sports scores, airline schedules, telephone directories, maps and
directions, job listings, credit reports, and countless forms of educational material from around the
globe. Consumers use computers to correspond with businesses, employees with other employees
and customers, students with classmates and teachers/lecturers, and family members with friends
and other family members. In addition to sending simple notes, people use computers to share
photos, drawings, documents, calendars, journals, music, and videos. From the computer, you can
make a telephone call, meet new friends, share opinions or life stories, book flights, shop, fill
prescriptions, file taxes, take a course, receive alerts, and automate your home or office. It can be
seen that computers are an integral part of our everyday existence, making our work easier and
faster. As they are such an integral part of our lives, we must know what they are and how they
function.

The word computer is derived from the word compute, which means to calculate. Hence, it was
originally defined as a super-fast calculator. It had the capacity to solve complex arithmetic and
scientific problems at very high speed. Computers nowadays in addition to handling complex
arithmetic computations, perform many other tasks like accepting, sorting, selecting, moving,
comparing various types of information as well as performing arithmetic and logical operations on
alphabetic, numeric and other types of information.

By definition a computer is an electronic device, operating under the control of instructions that
can accept data (input), manipulate the data (process), produce information (output) from the
processing, and store the results for future use or reference. Figure 1.2 is an example of a computer.

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Figure 1. 2: A Typical Computer

The Computer System

The computer is part of a system (a set of related components with defined boundaries that work
together to achieve a common objective) which includes hardware, software, data and users.
Hence, the term Computer System is generally used to describe a collection of devices that function
together. Two of the components that cannot work without each other and hence, necessary for the
functionality of the computer are the hardware and the software. Hence, a computer is a collection
of hardware and software components that help you accomplish many different tasks.

Figure 1. 3: The Computer System

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Hardware
Hardware is the collection of physical elements that constitutes a computer system. It refers to the
part of the computer you can touch. It consists of interconnected electronic devices and any
equipment connected to the computer such as the monitor, mouse, keyboard, hard drive disk
(HDD), system unit (graphic cards, sound cards, memory, motherboard and chips), peripherals
(printer, scanner, modem, speaker) etc. Most people refer to the hardware as the computer itself.
A peripheral is any hardware device connected to the computer that support the use of the
computer. The computer can however function without peripherals. The hardware be it a peripheral
or not, can be categorized into input, output, storage and processing devices.

Software
This can be defined as a set of executable instructions that tells the computer what to do. Without
the software the hardware is useless and vice versa. The software can be categorized into system
software and application software.

The system software is the software that directs the functionality of the basic system components
including input, output, process and storage. There are two types of system software. These are
operating system (this is a set of programs containing instructions that coordinate all the activities
among computer hardware resources) and utility software (this is a type of system software that
performs a specific task, usually related to managing a computer, its devices or its programs).

The application software is software designed to perform a specific task. Examples include word
processing software, spreadsheet software, database software, and presentation graphics software.
They can be general purpose or custom made to suit the needs of the customer.

Relationship between Hardware and Software

• Hardware and software are mutually dependent on each other. Both of them must work
together to make a computer produce a useful output.
• Software cannot be utilized without supporting hardware.
• Hardware without a set of programs to operate upon cannot be utilized and is useless.
• To get a particular job done on the computer, relevant software should be loaded into the
hardware.

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• Different software applications can be loaded on a hardware to run different jobs.

• A software (particularly the operating system) acts as an interface between the user and the
hardware.

Data
All computer processing requires data, which is a collection of raw facts, figures and symbols,
such as numbers, words, images, video and sound, given to the computer during the input phase.
This data can be an employee number, total hours worked in a week, inventory part numbers, or
sales orders. Computers manipulate this data to create information. Hence, information is data that
is organized, meaningful, and useful. It is seen as a collection of facts organized so that they have
additional value beyond the value of the individual facts. For instance, sales managers might find
that knowing the total monthly sales suits their purpose more (i.e., is more valuable) than knowing
the number of sales for each sales representative.

Users
Anyone who communicates with a computer or utilizes the information it generates is referred to
as a user. Hence, users are the essential ingredient for the successful operation of computers. The
users include end users and specialists.
➢ End users (also called users or clients) are people who use computers or the information
they produce. They can be students, lecturers, salespersons, engineers, clerks, accountants,
or managers and are found at all levels of an organization. In fact, most of us are end users.
➢ Specialists are people who develop the hardware as well as the software that operate the
computers. They include systems analysts, software developers, hardware engineers,
network architect and engineers etc.

In addition to being part of a system, the

computer is also a system on its own. This
system comprises hardware (input, output,
processing and storage devices), as shown in
Figure 1.4 and software (operating system,
application software).
Figure 1. 4: Basic components of the Computer

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Basic functions of a computer

Computers are made in all shapes and sizes, from the common personal computer, to embedded
computers that work inside appliances, to the huge, room-sized mainframes. Despite the
differences in size and use, all of these computers mainly perform the following four basic
functions as illustrated in figure 1.5.

1. Receive input – accept

data/information from outside
through various input devices
like keyboard, mouse etc.
2. Process information – perform
arithmetic or logical operations
on the data.
3. Produce output – communicate Figure 1. 5: The basic functions of a computer
information to the outside through
output devices like monitor, printer etc.
4. Store information – store the information in storage devices like hard disk, compact
disc etc.

Characteristics of Computers
Speed: the speed of a computer is measured in terms of the number of instructions that it can
perform or execute in a second. The speeds of computers are measured in milliseconds (10-3 sec),
micro-seconds (10-6 sec), and nano-seconds (10-9sec). Computers are superfast machines and can
process millions of instructions per second. Smaller computers can execute thousands of
instructions per second, while the more complex machines can execute millions of instructions per
second.
Accuracy: Computers are very accurate. They are capable of executing hundreds of instructions
without any errors. They do not make mistakes in their computations. They perform each and every
calculation with the same accuracy.
Efficiency: The efficiency of computers does not decrease with age. The computers can perform
repeated tasks with the same efficiency any number of times without exhaustion. Even if they are

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instructed to execute millions of instructions, they are capable of executing them all with the same
speed and efficiency without exhaustion.
Storage Capability: Computers are capable of storing large amounts of data in their storage
devices. These dev ices occupy very less space and can store millions of characters in condensed
forms. These storage devices typically include hard disks, compact discs, flash drives etc. The data
stored on these devices can be retrieved and reused whenever it is required in future.
Versatility: Computers are very versatile. They are capable not only of performing complex
mathematical tasks of science and engineering, but also other nonnumerical operations fielding
air-line reservation, electricity bills, data base management etc.
Limitations of Computers
Although the computers of today are highly intelligent and sophisticated, they have their own
limitations.
✓ The computer cannot think on its own. It can only do what is has been programmed to do.
It can execute only those jobs that can be expressed as a finite set of instructions to achieve
a specific goal. Each of the steps has to be clearly defined.
✓ Computers do not learn from previous experience nor can they arrive at a conclusion
without going through all the intermediate steps.
✓ Computers cannot generate information on their own. While it is true that a computer has
the capacity to put together information from many sources, it can only do this if it has
been programmed to do so.
✓ Computers cannot correct wrong instruction. If a computer is fed with incorrect instructions
or data, whether intentionally or unintentionally, it does not have the capability to detect
mistakes and correct them. In computer language, this is known as GIGO (garbage in
garbage out). This means that a computer that has been fed with a wrong set of instructions
or data will similarly produce wrong information and hence, wrong decisions will be made.
Therefore, any corrections must be done by the programmer.

Brief History of Computers

The Abacus (which emerged about 5000 years ago in Asia and is still in use today), allows users
to make computations using a system of sliding beads arranged on a rack. Early merchants used
Abacus to keep trading transactions.

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Blaise Pascal, a French mathematician invented the first mechanical machine, a rectangular brass
box, called Pascaline which could perform addition and subtraction on whole numbers. This was
in the seventeenth century.
Colmar, a Frenchman invented a machine that could perform the four basic arithmetic functions
of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Colmar’s mechanical calculator,
“Arithmometer”, presented a more practical approach to computing. With its enhanced versatility,
the “Arithmometer” was widely used until the First World War.
Charles Babbage a British mathematician at Cambridge University invented the first analytical
engine or difference engine. This machine could be programmed by instructions coded on punch
cards and had mechanical memory to store the results. For his contributions in this field Charles
Babbage is known as ‘the father of modern digital computers’

First Generation Computers (1940-1956) – Vacuum Tubes

The computers of the first generation were very bulky and emitted large amount of heat which
required air conditioning. They were large in size and cumbersome to handle. They had to be
manually assembled and had limited commercial use. The concept of operating systems was not
known at that time. Each computer had a different binary coded program called a machine
language that told it how to operate.
The first-generation computers made use of:
✓ Vacuum tube technology,
✓ Punched cards for data input,
✓ Punched cards and paper tape for output,
✓ Machine Language for writing programs,
✓ Magnetic tapes and drums for external storage. Figure 1. 6: Vacuum Tube
Some first-generation computers include: Mark 1, ABC (Atanasoff-
Berry Computer), ENIAC (Electronic Numeric Integrator and Calculator), EDVAC (Electronic
discrete Variable Automatic Computer), UNIVAC 1 (Universal Automatic Computer)

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Second Generation Computers (1956-1963) - Transistors

This was the generation of “Transistorized” Computers.
Vacuum tubes were replaced by transistors as a result, the
size of the computers started shrinking. These computers
were smaller, faster, more reliable and more energy efficient.
The first transistorized computer was TX-0. The first Figure 1. 7: Transistors
large scale computers that took advantage of the
transistor technology were the early supercomputers, Stretch by IBM and LARC by Sperry Rand.
These machines were mainly developed for atomic energy laboratories. Typical computers of the
second generation were the IBM 1400 and 7000 series, Honeywell 200 and General Electric.
In the second-generation computers:
✓ Vacuum tube technology was replaced by transistorized technology,
✓ Size of the computers started reducing,
✓ Assembly language started being used in place of machine language,
✓ Concept of stored program emerged,
✓ High level languages (COBOL, FORGTRAN and AL-GOL) were invented

Third Generation Computers (1964-1971) – Integrated Circuits

This generation was characterized by the invention of
Integrated Circuits (ICs). This generation of computers
made use of ‘Integrated Circuits that had 10-20
components on each chip, known as Small Scale
Integration (SSI). Later, even more components were Figure 1. 8: Integrated Circuits
fitted onto a single chip, called a semiconductor. This
reduced the size even further. The weight and power
consumption of computers decreased and the speed increased tremendously. Extensive emphasis
was given to the development of software. Operating systems were designed which allowed the
computer to run many different programs at once. A central program monitored and co-ordinate
the computer’s memory. Multiprogramming was made possible, whereby the machine could
perform several jobs at the same time. Computers achieved speeds of executing millions of

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instructions per second. Commercial production became easier and cheaper. Higher level
languages like Pascal and Report Program Generator (RPG) were introduced and applications-
oriented languages like FORTRAN, COBOL, and PL/1 were developed.
The third-generation computers were characterized by:
✓ Use of Integrated circuits,
✓ Phenomenal increase in computation speed,
✓ Substantial reduction in size and power consumption of the machines,
✓ Use of magnetic tapes and drums for external storage,
✓ Design-of Operating systems and new higher-level languages,
✓ Commercial production of computers.

Fourth Generation Computers (1971 – Present) – Microprocessors

The microprocessor brought the fourth generation of
computers, as thousands of integrated circuits were built
onto a single silicon chip. What filled an entire room in the
first-generation computers, could now fit in the palm of
the hand. The Fourth Generation realized Large Scale
Integration (LSI) which could fit hundreds of components Figure 1. 9: The Microprocessor

on one chip and Very Large-Scale integration (VLSI)

which squeezed thousands of components on one chip. Higher capacity storage media like
magnetic disks were developed. Fourth generation languages emerged and applications software
started becoming popular. Computer production became inexpensive and the era of Personal
Computers (PCs) began. In 1981, IBM introduced its personal computer for use in office, home
and schools. In direct competition, the Macintosh was introduced by Apple in 1984. Shared
interactive systems and user-friendly environments were the features of these computers. As the
computers started becoming more and more powerful, they could be linked together or networked
to share not only data but also memory space and software. The networks could reach enormous
proportions with local area networks. A global web of computer circuitry, the Internet, links the
computers worldwide into a single network of information.
The general features of the fourth-generation computers are:
✓ Use of Very Large-Scale Integration,

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✓ Invention of microcomputers,
✓ Introduction of Personal Computers,
✓ Networking,
✓ Fourth Generation Languages.

Fifth Generation Computers (Present and Beyond) – Artificial Intelligence

Fifth generation computing devices, based on artificial intelligence, are still in development,
though there are some applications, such as voice recognition, that are being used today. The use
of parallel processing and superconductors is helping to make artificial intelligence a reality.
Quantum computation, molecular and nanotechnology will radically change the face of computers
in years to come. The goal of fifth-generation computing is to develop devices that respond to
natural language input and are capable of learning and self-organization.

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