The Advent

of the
Information Society
GPDR113 – Introduction to Information and Communication Technology
Department of ICT Education
Faculty of Science Education
University of Education, Winneba
The Information Society
• John Naisbitt, “the Megatrends” - 1984
• introduces the “INFORMATION SOCIETY” concept.
• A society in which a majority of workers are involved in the
transmittal of information

• Time Magazine - 1982

• Names the computer “Machine of Year” – signified the
computer’s “coming of age”.

07/21/2021 Department of ICT Education, UEW 2

Economic Transitions
Economic Primary Transforming Tools Skills Needed
Era Resource Agent Needed to Function
Agrarian Land Natural Plough, Hoe, Ploughing, tilling
Energy Farm Sowing
Equipment
Industrial Capital Processed Machines Technical
Energy (Oil, Engineering
Coal, Hydro) Management
Information Mind Knowledge Computer Computer
Literacy
Information
Literacy
07/21/2021 Department of ICT Education, UEW 3
What is a Computer?
• A computer is an electronic device which
• accepts data,
• processes the data,
• stores and
• produces the result as information
• under the
• direction of a stored program of instructions
(software)
• with speed and accuracy
07/21/2021 Department of ICT Education, UEW 4
The Digital and ICT Revolutions
• Technological advancement have revolutionized communication
and spread of information

• Landmarks
• In 1875, for example, the invention of the telephone breached
distance through sound.
• Between 1910 and 1920, the first AM radio stations began to
broadcast sound.
• By the 1940s television was broadcasting both sound and
visuals
07/21/2021 Department of ICT Education, UEW 5
The Digital and ICT Revolutions
• Landmarks …
• In 1943, the world’s first electronic computer was created.
• Microprocessor invented in the 1970s and computers became
accessible to the public.
• In the 1990s, the Internet migrated from universities and
research institutions to corporate headquarters and homes.

07/21/2021 Department of ICT Education, UEW 6

The Digital Revolution
• Earlier technologies relied on Analog transmission
(incorporated a combination of light and sound waves to
transmit messages)
• Alexander Graham Bell invented of the telephone in 1875 used
analog transmission
• In the late 1940s, an alternative to analog transmission of voice
the pulse-code modulation (an encoded signal of pulses)
marked the start of digitization in telecommunications
• 1961 that the first digital carrier system was installed in U.S
• Digitization meant the widespread replacement of telephone operators
with digital switches.
07/21/2021 Department of ICT Education, UEW 7
The Digital Revolution
• In 1971 the first fiber optic cables suitable for communications
made - leading to efforts to send communications signals via
light waves. (Light wave transmission systems are inherently
digital.
• By about 1989, “ones and zeros” had become the language of
telephone networks in the US
• Today, voice is translated into data packets, sent over networks
to remote locations, usually thousands of kilometers away, and,
upon receipt, translated back to voice.

07/21/2021 Department of ICT Education, UEW 8

Consequences of Digital and ICT
Revolutions
• On a societal level, the digital and ICT revolutions make possible
better and cheaper access to knowledge and information. This
speeds up transactions and processes and reduces their cost,
which in turn benefit citizens and consumers.

• The ability of ICTs to traverse time and distance allows human

beings to interact with each other in new ways. Distance is no
longer a consideration.

07/21/2021 Department of ICT Education, UEW 9

Consequences of Digital and ICT
revolutions …
• Emerging Information Economy
• An information economy is where the productivity and
competitiveness of units or agents in the economy (be they
firms, regions or nations) depend mainly on their capacity to
generate, process, and apply efficiently knowledge-based
information

• Pervasive use of information and communications technology

has made information plentiful in this economy.

07/21/2021 Department of ICT Education, UEW 10

Features of the Information Economy
• The information economy is global.
• has the capacity to work as a unit in real time on a planetary
scale
• Corporations and firms now have a worldwide base for skilled
labor to tap
• it is highly productive
• profits come from speed of innovation and the ability to
attract and keep customers

• Information economy is the same as “knowledge economy”, the

“new economy”, or the “network economy”
07/21/2021 Department of ICT Education, UEW 11
Technology/Computer Literacy
– Why is it Necessary in the
Information Age?

07/21/2021 Department of ICT Education, UEW 12

ICT Literacy
• Computers are everywhere
• Businesses
• Government
• Education
• We live in Global Village
• We are part of the Information network
• Technology for students is about economic competitiveness

07/21/2021 Department of ICT Education, UEW 13

Adverse Effects of ICT’s in Society
• Discussion
• Education
• Business/Economy
• Employment
• Crime
• Morals
• etc

07/21/2021 Department of ICT Education, UEW 14