Information and Communication Technology English Version chapter 1: ICT World and Bangladesh Perspective

Chapter One

Information and Communication Technology: World and Bangladesh Perspective

Similar to the industrial revolutions of the past, we are currently going through the fourth industrial revolution, which is known as 4IR (Fourth Industrial Revolution). The main component of this revolution is information and communication technology. The characteristic of this revolution is that it has touched the lifestyle of every person with ICT. For the first time, all people of the whole world have got the opportunity to present themselves as a common human group, bound by the bond of mutual cooperation and compassion, and all the processes of using ICT are becoming automated.

After completing this chapter the students can-

• Explain the concepts of global village
• Know the elements of a global village
• Learn the contribution of information and technology in establishing global villages
• Learn about virtual reality
• Know about the effects of virtual reality in our daily lives
• Learn the recent trends of information technology
• Explain the importance of morality while using information technology
• Evaluate the effects of information technology in society
• Explain the role of information technology in economic development
• Respect the values regarding the use of information technology

Printed page 2

1.1 Concept of a global village

Peacefulness and serenity are the two words that come to mind when we try to picture our ideal village. In an ideal village, everyone knows everyone, they care about each other, they share their happiness and as well as their griefs. The amount of care and empathy the villagers share among themselves can not be imagined by people living in urban areas. So what if the geographical distances did not matter and we could live in peace and harmony with each other, ignoring the political, economical, racial and religious divides - just like the villagers do? Surely the feeling of brotherhood and compassion towards everyone will drive us towards a greater sense of communal feeling and combined progress. This chain of thought led us towards the concept of a global village.

Figure: Figure 1.1: Canadian philosopher Herbert Marshall McLuhan

Description: Portrait photograph of a man in a tan suit jacket, white shirt and dark tie, set against a striped grey background.

The unimaginable progress of information technology and rapid increase in sharing of information between people from all over the world are building new relations and binding us together in such a way that for the first time the concept of creating a global village seems possible. Due to the advent of technology, we can certainly feel that no one in the world is too far away or too disconnected from us, as an individual.

In the 60s, acclaimed Canadian philosopher Herbert Marshall McLuhan first proposed the concept of how electronic technology and fast dissemination of information can elude the concepts of space and time to turn the whole world into a village. The global village provides such an environment or a society where people from different parts of the world are connected through information technology. They can communicate and extend a helping hand to one another. The globalization of information technology has allowed everyone the unlimited and accessible flow of information.The downside of free and available information is the invasion of fake news and untrue information which sometime creates chaose at a national level, invasion of privacy, cyber attacks and technological inequality. The globalization enabling a greater improvement of lifestyle, increased work efficiency, business and commerce, remote learning, remote health care and created new vocations all around the world. Now we can easily and immediately provide the latest products of our

Printed page 3

civilization to everyone's doorsteps. But to achieve this we need to create awareness, increase abilities, utility knowledge and efficiency among us. We also need connectivity with Network, Hardware, Software and the ability to collect and analyse from trusted data sources. In the light of that, let us discuss the principal components regarding the concept of a global village.

1.1.1 Communication

For a long time our concept of communication was to travel between two different places. Communication means a whole different thing right now and it plays one of the most important roles in the concept of a global village. Though we have made quite a huge progress over physical transport, yet it takes us a couple of hours to travel to different parts of the world. But from the perspective of a global village, communication means the exchange of information and messages in the wink of an eye. Be it through writing or through audiovisuals, the exchange of information is called communication and is the principal component in the concept of a global village.

As a result, each new information technology invention has brought a revolutionary change on how we communicate. We have left behind the decades old wired telephones in favour of wireless mediums like mobile phones, fax machines, emails and internet. We can now instantly connect to any part of the world through the use of these modern communications.

We can generally classify communication into two types telecommunication and information communication. As mentioned before, there was once a time when wired telephone was the only possible method of telecommunication. But the invention of wireless telecommunication made way for different devices like mobile phones, radio, television and walkie talkies.

On the other hand, sharing and exchanging information by following all the protocols and security measures is the most important aspect of the modern information technology age. These include the internet and services based on the internet like email, social media, video conferencing, websites and such. Email is a way of exchanging messages with people using the internet. Nowadays a person's email address has become more important than their physical address. Social networking is used for sharing and communicating a person's information, photos, videos and news with others. Many major social or political movements have been built around the world using social networking sites such as Facebook,Twitter, etc. Video conferencing is an audio-visual way of arranging

Printed page 4

virtual conferences and meetings. Almost every organization and corporation of the world makes their presence and works known to the world through websites on the internet. These internet services gained rapid popularity because they save a lot of time and money and bring better results.

There is of course a flip side to all of these, the over-dependence on internet and social networking services has led to addictive behaviors in the younger generation. These adversarial effects have made the world rethink and re-evaluate the use of these services.

1.1.2 Employment

Unemployment has been a major headache for every country of the world. The advent of information technology and communication systems has allowed a huge number of the population to apply for work and to do work anywhere in the world while staying at home. This opportunity has provided an answer to many of the problems related to the unemployment. Even in Bangladesh, we have such job and employment related portals providing their services for almost two decades. Among them www.bdjobs.com, www.chakri.com and www.everjobs.com are prominent examples. One can use these websites to apply for jobs online while keeping their personal information secured. There are also a huge number of opportunities to work for companies outside the country while at home. Using the wonders of information technology and modern communication, a citizen of one country can easily provide their services to an organization of a different country. This type of remote work is known as outsourcing. We have an Information Services Center in every union of our country which created many new opportunities for work and also inspired entrepreneurs to create work opportunities for others. Services like Uber and Pathao deserve a special mention here. They have created numerous job opportunities for people while providing transport services to the mass. One can also use their own expertise and skills to work for an organization on a part time or project basis all the while sitting at home. These types of jobs are gaining popularity as they provide a chance to work from one's own comfort zone and do not have a strict time and location boundaries. This type of part time or project basis work is known as freelancing. Globally popular freelancing websites such as Upwork, Freelancer, Fiverr, Belancer offer opportunities to different types of work including data analysis, copywriting, graphics design, software development, affiliate marketing, search engine optimizations, AdSense, virtual assistance, research and survey, article writing and many more.

Printed page 5

While earning from freelancing work seems enticing from hindsight, it demands a very different lifestyle. Separation from family members while staying at home is a big sacrifice to make in this vocation. Working late night shifts, not getting work matching one's skill level, mental stress, lack of proper evaluation and difficulties in payment are some of the negative aspects of freelancing works. More importantly though in our country freelancing jobs are not yet socially recognized as a viable vocation, many are discouraged to pursue them.