ICT in the Wider World

        When communicating with other people we take for granted how much computers have to do with it. Whether sending a text or fax, or making a phone or video call computers are involved somewhere down the line. The telephone network has many uses for communication, as its name suggests it allows us to make calls from a landline to anywhere else across the world, and send Fax’s, it is also what the internet runs off, and as the telephone line allows us to call people all over the world, it also allows us to e-mail, video conference and chat via the internet as well. A mobile phone is something that almost everyone has, it can be used almost anywhere, it can send text messages (SMS), pictures (MMS) and also surf the Internet (WAP). But without ICT none of these things could function. A mobile phone is part of a network, if you want to send information through any of the means above, or even make a call, the information you input into the phone is sent to a satellite, their base station, and then sent to the other device. The signals are radio waves, but the base station is where ICT is used; it has to decipher all of the information and then send it back out, and it is not just dealing with one at a time, more like thousands.

        Computers have become a way of life, not only in the way we work and communicate but also in recreation where they are used to play games individually or with millions across cyberspace. Computers are now becoming so advanced that they can become part of games consoles and be used separately from a ‘standard’ computer to create very advanced and highly capable platforms, such as the PS3 and Xbox 360. These systems though are still capable of communication and interaction through the Internet and Wi-Fi. And as technology advances computers can only be integrated further into our life.