Lesson 1

Introduction to Information and Communication Technologies

Information and Communication Technologies

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) deals with the use of different communication
technologies such as mobile phones, telephones, internet, etc. to locate, save, send, and edit information.

ICT in the Philippines

Several international companies dub the Philippines as the “ICT Hub of Asia,” It is no secret that there is a
huge growth of ICT-related jobs around the country, one of which is the call center or BPO (Business Process
Outsourcing) centers.

According to the 2013 edition of Measuring the Information Society by the International Telecommunication
Union, there are 106.8 cell phones per 100 Filipinos in the year 2012. That would mean that for every 100 Filipinos
you meet, there is a high chance that they have a cell phone and approximately for the seven of them, they have
two.

In data gathered by the Annual Survey of Philippine Business and industries, NSO, in 2020, the ICT industry
shares 19.3% of the total employment population here in the Philippines.

To add to these statistics, Time Magazine’s “The Selfiest Cities around the World” of 2013 places two cities from
the Philippines in the top 1 and top 10 spots. The study was conducted using Instagram, a popular photo sharing
application.

Web 2.0 Dynamic Web Pages

Web 2.0 is a term coined by Darcy Di Nucci on January 1999. In her article titled “Fragmented Future” she wrote:

Web 2.0 is the evolution of Web 1.0 by adding dynamic web pages—the user is able to see a website
differently than others.

Examples of Web 2.0

social networking sites

blogs
wikis
video sharing sites
hosted services
web applications

Features of Web 2.0

1. Folksonomy - allows users to categorize and classify arrange information user freely chosen keywords (e.g.
tagging). Uses tags that starts with pound sign (#). This is also referred to as hashtag.

2. Rich User Experience-content is dynamic and is responsive to user’s input.

3. User Participation-the owner of the website is not the one who is able to put content. Others are able to place
content of their own by means of, comments, reviews, and evaluation.

4. Long Tail- services that are offered on demand rather than on a one time purchase. In a certain cases, time-
based pricing is better than file size-based pricing or vice versa.

5. Software as a Service-users will subscribe to a software only when needed rather than purchasing them. This is a
cheaper option if you do not always need to use a software. Software as service allows you to rent a software for a
minimal fee.

6. Mass Participation- diverse information sharing through universal web access. Since most user can use the
internet, Web 2.0’s content is based on people from various cultures.

Web 3.0 and the Semantic Web

The Semantic Web is a movement led by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The W3C standard
encourages web developers to include semantic content in their web pages.

According to the W3C, The Semantic Web provides a common framework that allows data to be shared and
reused across application, enterprise, and community boundaries. The aim of Web 3.0 is to have machines (or
servers) understand the user’s preferences to be able to deliver web content specifically targeting the user

Web 3.0 is yet to be fully realized because of several problems:

1. Compatibility. HTML files and current web browsers could not support Web 3.0.

2. Security. The user's security is also in question since the machine is saving his or her preferences.

3. Vastness. The World Wide Web already contains billions of web pages.

4. Vagueness. Certain words are imprecise. The words "old" and "small" would depend on the user.

5. Logic. Since machines use logic, there are certain limitations for a computer to be able to predict what the user is
referring to at a given time.

Trends in ICT

1. Convergence

Technological convergence is the synergy of technological advancements to work on a similar goal or task.
Convergence is using several technologies to accomplish a task conveniently.

2. Social Media

Social media is a website, application, or online channel that enables web users to create, co-create,
discuss, modify, and exchange user-generated content.

There are six types of social media:

Social Networks. These are sites that allow you to connect with other people with the same interests or
background.

Bookmarking Sites. These are sites that allow you to store and manage links to various websites and resources.
 Social News. These are the sites that allow users to post their own news item or links to other news source. The
user can also comment on the post and comments may also be ranked.
Media Sharing. These are sites that allowed that allow you to upload and share media content like images,
music, and video.
Microblogging. These are sites that focus on short updates from the user.
Blogs and Forums. These website allow users to post their content. Other users are able to comment on the
said topic.

3. Mobile Technologies
The popularity of smartphones and tablets has taken a major rise over the years. This is largely because of
the devices capability to do tasks that were originally found in personal computers.

mobile devices use different operating systems.

iOS - used in Apple devices such as the iPhone and iPad

Android - an open source operating system developed by Google. Being open source means several mobile
phone companies use this OS for free.
Blackberry OS - used in Blackberry devices
Windows - Phone OS a closed source and proprietary operating system developed by Microsoft
Symbian- the original smartphone OS; used by Nokia devices
WebOS-originally used for smartphones; now used for smart TVs
Windows Mobile - developed by Microsoft for smartphones and pocket PCS

4. Assistive media
Assistive media is a non-profit service designed to help people who have visual and reading impairments. A
database of audio recordings is used to read to the use. You may visit http://www.assistivemedia.org/ for several of
their audio recordings.

Online Safety and Security

The internet, truly, is a powerful tool. It can be used to promote business, gain new friends, in stay in touch with the
old ones. It is also a source of entertainment through games, online communities, and everything in between. But
like most things in this world, there is always the “other side of the coin”. The Internet is one of the most
dangerous places, especially if you do not know what you are doing with it. But there is no need to worry, it is never
that late. Hopefully, by the end of this lesson, you are able to consider how you go about your use of the Internet.

Let us go back to the “how safe are you” test. Let us visit each item and see how risky it is to share them.

Type of Information

First Name

Last name

Middle Name

Current and previous school(s

Your cellphone number

The name of your mother and father

The name of your siblings

Your address

Your home phone number

Your birthday

The Internet is defined as the Information superhighway. This means that anyone has access to this highway, can
place information and can grab that information, Any Information, even things that you have set privately, can be
accessed one way or another. This is why social networking sites like Facebook continue to improve their security
features..

Tips to Stay Safe Online

1. Be mindful of what you share online and what site you share it to.
2. Do not just accept terms and conditions.
3. Check out the privacy policy page of a website to learn how the website handles the information you share.
4. Know the security features of the social networking site you use. By keeping you profile private, search
engines will not be able to scan your profile.
5. Do not share your password with anyone.
6. Avoid logging in to public network/Wi-Fi. Browsing in “incognito (or private) mode”, a feature of the
browser, will not protect you from hackers.
7. Do not talk to strangers whether online or face to face.
8. Never post anything about a future vacation. It is similar to posting, “rob my house this date”.
9. Add friends you know in real life.
10. Avoid visiting untrusted websites.
11. Install and update an anti-virus software on your computer. Use only one anti-virus software to avoid
conflicts.
12. If you have a Wi-Fi at home, make it a private network by adding a password.
13. Avoid downloading anything from untrusted websites. You are most vulnerable in peer to peer downloads
(torrents) as the download is most likely not monitored by the site owner.
14. Buy the software; do not use pirated ones.
15. Do not reply or click links from suspicious emails.

Internet Threats

Here are some of the threats you should be aware of when using the internet:

1. Malware - stands for malicious software

a. Virus - a malicious program designed to replicate itself and transfer from one computer to another either
through the Internet and local networks or data storage like flash drives and CDs.
b. Worm – a malicious program that transfers from one computer to another by any type of means. Often, it
uses a computer network to spread itself.
 c. Trojan – a malicious program that is disguised as a useful program but once downloaded or installed, leaves
your PC unprotected and allows hackers to get your information.
 Rogue security software- tricks the user into posing that it is security software. It asks the user to
pay to improve his/her security but in reality, they are not protected at all.
d. Spyware- a program that runs in the background without you knowing it (thus called “spy”). It has the
ability to monitor what you are currently doing and typing through keylogging.
 Keyloggers - used to record the keystroke done by the users. This is done to steal their password or
any other sensitive information. It can record email, messages, or any information you type using
your keyboard.
e. Adware- a program designed to send you advertisements, mostly as pop-ups
2. Spam- unwanted email mostly from bots or advertisers. It can be used to send malware
3. Phishing- its goal is to acquire sensitive personal information like passwords and credit card details. This is done
by sending you an email that will direct the user to visit a website and be asked to update his/her username,
password, credit card, or personal information.
 Pharming- a more complicated way of phishing where it exploits the DNS (Domain Name Service)
system.

Think Before You Click

Here are things you might want to consider before posting something over the Internet:

1. Before you post something on the web, ask these questions to yourself: Would you want your parents or
grandparents to see it? Would you want your future boss to see it? Once you post something on the web,
you have no control of who sees your posts.
2. Your friends depend on you to protect their reputation online. Talk to your friends about this serious
responsibility.
3. Set your post to “private”. In this way, search engines will not be able to scan that post.
4. Avoid using names. Names are easy for search engines to scan.
5. If you feel that a post can affect you or other’s reputation, ask the one who posted it to pull it down on
report it as inappropriate.

Copyright Infringement

If you create something—an idea, an invention, a form of literary work, or a research, you have the right as to
how it should be used by others. This is called intellectual propert.

Here are some tips that could help you avoid copyright infringement:

1. Understand, Copyright protects literary works, photographs, paintings, drawings, films, music (and lyrics),
choreography, and sculptures, but it generally does NOT protect underlying ideas and facts.

2. Be responsible, Even if a material does not say that it is copyrighted, it is not a valid defense against
copyright.

3. Be creative, Ask yourself whether what you are making is something that came from you or something
made from somebody else’s creativity.

Know the law. There are some limitations to copyright laws. For instance in the Philippines, copyrights only last a
lifetime (of the author) plus 50 years. There are also provisions for “fair use” which means that an intellectual
property may be used without a consent as long as it is used in commentaries, criticisms, search engines, parodies,
news reports, research, library archiving, teaching and education.

Online Research
 1. Have a question in mind. Focus on a question you want answered. If it is a series of questions, start with
one.
2. Narrow it down. Search engines like Google, Bing, or Yahoo use several filters to determine the most
appropriate results for you.”
3. Advance Search. The best way to filter information you het from search engines is by using the advanced
search. This will allow you to filter out information you do not need.

Symbol Function
Finds web pages that contain all the terms that are preceded by the + symbol; allows you to
included terms that are usually ignored
““ Finds the exact words in a phrase
() Finds or excludes web pages that contain a group of words
AND or & Finds web pages that contain all the terms or phrases
NOT or - Excludes web pages that contain a term or phrase
OR or l Finds web pages that contain either of the terms of phrases

4. Look for credible source. Some wikis, though filled with updated information, are not a credible source.
This is due to the fact that anyone can edit its content. When using wikis, check out the link of the cited
text (indicated by superscript number) to be navigated to the footnote where the list of sources is located.
Click the source of the information and see if it is credible.

5 Give Credit. If you are going to use the information from a source for educational purposes, give credit to the
original author of the page or information.

Mail Merge and Label Generation In the professional world, sending out information to convey important
information is vital. Because of ICT, things are now sent much faster than the traditional newsletters or postal mail.
You can now use the Internet to send out information you need to share. What if we could still do things much
faster-an automated way of creating and sending uniform letters with different recipients? Would that not be more
convenient?

Mail Merge

One of the important reasons in using computers per se is its ability to do recurring tasks automatically. But
this ability has to be honed by learning the characteristics and features of the software you use with your computer.
After all, no matter how good or advance your computer and software may be, it can only be as good as the person
using it.

Two Components of Mail Merge

1. Form Document

Our sample letter above is what we call a form document—the first component of our mail merged
document. It is generally the document that contains the main body of the message we want to convey or send. The
main body of the message is the part of the form document that remains the same no matter whom you send it to
from among your list.

2. List or Data File

 The second component of our mail merged document is the list or data file. This is where the individual
Information or data that needs to be plugged in merged) to the form document is placed and maintained. One of
the best things about the mail merge feature is that it allows data file to be created from within the Microsoft Word
application itself, or it gets data from a file created in Microsoft Excel or other data formats. In this way, fields that
needed to be filled up on form document can easily be maintained without accidentally altering the form or
maintain document. You can easily add, remove modify, or extract your data more efficiently by using other data
management applications like Excel or Access and import them in Word during the mail merge process.

Label Generation

Included in the mail merge feature on Microsoft Word is the label Generator. It just makes sense that after
you print out your form letters, you will need to send it to individual recipients in an envelope with the matching
address printed directly on the envelope or on a mailing label to stick on. By using virtually, the same process as a
standard mail merge Microsoft Word will print individual addresses to a standard form that it has already pre-
formatted. Simply put, it creates a blank form document that simulates either a blank label or envelope of pre-
defined size and will use the data file that you selected to print the information, typically individual addresses. So
even in generating labels, the two essential components of creating a merged document are present the form
document and the data file. Only in this case, you did not have to type or create the form document yourself
because it was already created and pre-formatted in Microsoft Word. All you need to do is select the correct or
appropriate size for the label or envelope and select the data file that contains the addresses (data) to be printed.
You can also preview your merged labels before printing if you want to.

Exploration 3.1. Mail Merge and Label Generation

Now that we have learned the components needed to accomplish a successful mall merge, let us put
theory into practice. Let us take a look at the steps to create a simple mail merge document.

Title Name Company Address Address Address

Line 1 Line 2 Line3
Sir Arnold Reyes ABC Inc. 23 Sierra St. Alabang Muntinlupa City

Madam Maria Santos XYZ Corp. 45 Oro Drive San Juan Metro Manila

… … … … … …

Steps in creating a simple mail merge:

Open Microsoft* Word and start a new blank document. You can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+N after
1.
Microsoft* Word has been loaded or opened.

On the Mailings tab, from the Start Mail Merge group, choose Start Mail Merge →Letters.
2.

3. Save your letter and name it “Sample Letter.”

4. Insert the fields you need in the letter (Name, Company, Address Line 1, Address Line 2, Address Line 3, and Title).
You may want to make special markings on these fields as you are typing it. Most common marking you can do is by
typing it in capital letters or ALL CAPS so you can easily identify them later.
5. Save the main document once more. You can use Ctrl+S to quickly do this step.
6. On the Mailings tab in the Start Mail Merge group, choose Select Recipients→Type a New List.
7. Click the Customize Columns button on the dialog box for the New Address List.
8. Select a field that you do not need then click the Delete button. a confirmation dialog box appears.

9. Click Yes in the confirmation dialog box. The dialog box closes, and the unnecessary field disappears.

10. Repeat steps 8 and 9 for each field you do not need. After removing the excess fields, the next step is to add the
fields you need.

11. To add a field that you need in your document, click the Add button.

12. Type the field name on the prompt inside a small Add field dialog box and click the Ok button.

13. Repeat steps 11 and 12 for each new field you need in your main document.

14. Click the Ok button on the Customize Address List dialog box to confirm your changes.

15. The New Address List dialog box will appear again ready for you to type in your data.

16. Type the individual data from your list corresponding to Name, Company, Address, Line 1, Address Line 2,
Address Line 3, and title.

17. Press the Tab key each time to enter the next field.

18. To add a new record, press the Tab key after inputting the last field. When you press the Tab key on the last field
record, a new record is automatically created added on the next line.

19. Repeat steps 16 through 18 until you enter all the records you want.

Once you are done typing your data, click the Ok button on the Add New List dialog box to save your data. A
special Save Address List dialog box pops up, allowing you to save the recipient list.

20. Type a name for the address list. Name it “Client List”.

21. Click the Save button. You should be back on your main document soon after.

22. Select a field placeholder (ALL CAPS) in the main document.

23. Click the Insert Merge Field command button.

24. Choose the proper field to insert into your text. For example, if you are replace the text name in your document
with a name field, choose the Name Field for the Insert Merge Field menu, The field is inserted into your document
replaces ALL CAPS text.

25. Continue adding fields until the document is complete. Repeat after 22 through 24 as necessary to stick all fields
into your document.

26. Save the main document.

27. Choose Finish & Merge to edit, print, or send your merged documents through email

28. Or you may want to choose Preview Result to check you work before you send it.

29. You should get a merged document close to this one

30. Save and Close your document.

Integrating Image and External Materials

Integrating or inserting pictures in your documents is fun and it improve the impression of your document. A
common use of inserting a picture on a document is when you are creating your resume.

Kinds of Materials

There are various kinds of materials Microsoft Word is capable of integrating to make your documents richer, more
impressive, and more informative.

The screenshot above shows the kinds of materials that can be integrated or inserted in your Microsoft Word
document.

1. Pictures. Generally, these are electronic or digital pictures or photographs you have saved in any local
storage device.

a. JPG. This is pronounced as “jay-peg,” and is the short form for .jpeg or Joint Photographic Experts
Group.

b. .GIF. This stands for Graphics Interchange Format. This type of image file is capable of displaying
transparencies.

c. .PNG. This is pronounced as "ping." It stands for Portable Network Graphics. It was built
around the capabilities of .GIF

2. Clip Art. This is generally a .GIF type; line art drawings or images used as generic representation
for ideas and objects that you might want to integrate in your document.

3. Shapes. These are printable objects or materials that you can integrate in your document
to allow you to have some tools to use for composing and
representing ideas or messages.
4. Smart Art. Generally, these are predefined sets of different shapes grouped together to form
ideas that are organizational or structural in nature. If you want to graphically represent an
organization, process, relationships, or flow for info graphic documents, then you will find this
easy and handy to use.

5. Chart. Another type of material that you can integrate in your Word document that allows you
to represent data characteristics and trends. This is quite useful when you are preparing
reports that correlate and present data in a graphical manner. You can create charts that can
be integrated in your document either directly in Microsoft Word or imported from external
files like Microsoft Excel.

6. Screenshot. Sometimes, creating reports or manuals for training or procedures will require the
integration of a more realistic image of what you are discussing on your report or manual.
Nothing can get you a more realistic image than a screenshot. Microsoft Word even provides a
snipping tool for your screen shots so you can select and display only the part that you exactly
like to capture on your screen.

Image Placement

In practice, inserting an image or any other material in your document is quite easy especially if the
material already exists in your local storage device. It is just a matter of opening up the image file through the
Microsoft Word dialog box or wizard. Sometimes, if the image you would like to insert is on a web page currently
displayed on your screen, it could be copied and pasted. The real challenge is where to put the image you inserted
or where to move it. In this part of the lesson, we will study the different characteristics of text wrapping options
that you can use with the image you integrated in your document.

1. In Line with Text. This is the default setting for images that are inserted or integrated in your document. It
treats your image like a text font with the bottom side totally aligned with the text line. This setting is
usually used when you need to place your image at the beginning of a paragraph. When placed between
texts in a paragraph or sentence, it distorts the overall appearance and arrangement of the texts in the
paragraph because it will take up the space it needs vertically pushing whole lines of texts upward as in the
example below.

2. Square. This setting allows the image you inserted to be placed anywhere within the paragraph
with the text going around the image in a square pattern like a frame.
3. Tight. This is almost the same as the Square setting, but here the text “hugs” or conforms to the general
shape of the image. This allows you to get a more creative effect on your document. This setting can mostly
be achieved if you are using an image that supports transparency like a .GIF or PNG file.
4. Through. This setting allows the text on your document to flow even tighter, taking the contours and shape
of the image. Again, this can be best used with a .GIF or PNG type of image.
5. Top and Bottom. This setting pushes the texts away vertically to the top and bottom of the image so that
the image occupies a whole text line on its own as in the example.
6. Behind Text. This allows your image to be dragged and placed anywhere on your document but with all
texts floating in front of it. It effective makes your image look like a background.
7. In Front of Text. As it suggests, this setting allows your image to be placed right on top of the text as if your image
was dropped right on it. That means whatever part of the text you placed the image on, it will be covered by the
image. In our example below, notice the difference between using a PNG file (on the left) with a transparency effect,
and a JPG file on the right.