10.6 The Role of Communication Systems

If you wanted to send the entire Encyclopedia Britanica to your Aunty in Australia, you wouldn't send it by SMS (text message). You probably wouldn't email it either. These communications systems are useful for specific reasons but are limited.

In this particular instance you would probably blow it onto a DVD and send it by snail mail.

The choice of communication system is dependent upon several things:

• (S) The required speed of delivery
• (A) Availibility of technology
  
• (S) The size of message
• (S) Security of transmission
• (E) Ease of use of technology
• (C) The cost of sending

When deciding upon what communication device is best for a particular scenerio, think about these 6 areas.

Important links:

• BBC Click on-line archive
• TeachICT Comms links

10.4 Capabilities and Limitations - Overview

10.5 The social impact of ICT

ICT has impacted in many different areas of our society. The main areas we are going to explore are:

• Manufacturing
• Commerce
• Banking
• Medicine
• The home
• Education

10.4 Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT)

Electronic funds transfer, often abbreviated EFT, is a system for moving money from one account to another without the use of checks. This banking system transfers funds through computers and other electronic equipment. EFT includes five main types of facilities and systems:

• automated teller machines (ATMs),
• telephone-banking systems,
• computer-banking systems,
• automated clearinghouses, and
• point-of-sale terminals.

10.5 Social impact of ICT

Finance has completely changed due to the Internet and ICT is being developed for the developing world.

10.4 Limitations of ICT

Although computers have made out lives easier and more efficient, there can be limitations in their powers:

• hardware limitations - speed of components
• software limitations - poorly written or incompatible software
• communication limitations - comms bottleneck - shared broadband?
• inappropriate design - poorly designed
• poor data control and mechanisms - GIGO, humans

There are lots of cases of computers gone mad here.

10.4 Capabilities of ICT

Computers have become endemic in our modern life. They are everywhere from shopping to medicine. But why is this so?

• They can be fast
• Search large datasets quickly
• Store vast amounts of data
• They will perform tasks accurately
• Don't mind performing repetitive tasks
• Can be automatic
• Can combine data to create information
• Link to other computer systems - is the Internet useful?

Supermarkets have changed enormously over the years due to the application of computerisation. Computers have made supermarkets more effective at finding out shopping habits and customer profiles (this helps marketing, helps decide what to sell, store layout etc.) and more cost efficient which should result in lower prices.

How could the application of computerised systems help this scenerio?