ICT APPLICATIONS: -

COMMUNITCATION: -

 Newsletters and posters-

o Mostly produced in word processors
o Includes photos which can be downloaded from the internet
STEPS TO PRODUCE IT:
 Open word processor
 Photos obtained-
- Digital camera
- Internet
- Hard copies scanned in
 Camera pictures imported
 Photos selected and saved to HDD or SDD
 Photos imported and edited, cropped and resized
 Text typed in
 Previously saved text is imported
 Text is wrapped and photos placed in the correct position
 Whole document goes through proofreading and spellcheck
o Spell checkers-
 Language may be different e.g. BRITISH ENG and
AMERICAN ENG is different
 Proper nouns may be highlighted as an error
 Similar sounding words will not be picked up by spell check
 The correct word may not exist in dictionary

Newsletters:
o Can be printed out or online
Guidelines on how to make it attractive:
 Not too much info in one page
 Clear, easy to read fonts
  Decide on columns
 Avoid capital letters
 Use bold text for headings
 Use real photos not clipart

Posters:
o To publicise
Contains:
 Details of event
 An image

o Can be printed out or posted online

o Can be any size
o High cost of display (need to rent)
o Hard copies subjected to weather conditions

 Websites:
o Can develop by yourself
 Employing team of web designers
 May need to buy hardware or software
 Expensive
 Programmers needed to maintain cyber security
 But now can just pay hosting fees to rent space on a web server
 No need to buy paper or pay people to  Can be hacked or modified
deliver
 Animation can be added  Pharming

 Hyper-links allowed  Need computer and connection

 Buttons to move around  Not as portable as paper

 Hit counters to see how many people visited  Pharming can lead to distrust

 Globally available  Expensive to maintain

 Cannot be defaced  Difficult to target specific audience

 Easier to update  Need to find a way for people to find

about the website
 Multimedia presentations: -

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 o Use animations, sound, video, or music
o Presented through multimedia projector
 Grabs attention  Special equipment needed
 Hyperlinks possible  Equipment might fail
 Transition effects allowed  Need internet
 Can be interactive  People may focus on media not content
 More flexible  Easy to make bad slides with many animation
 Media streaming: -
o When users watch movies /silent on a device, connected to the
internet
o Streaming: -
 A continuous transmission of video or audio files from a remote
server where they are stored
 Data transmitted and played in real time
 File sent as a series of data packets
 Only works when internet speed is stable
 Should be at least 25 Mbits/second for an HD video
o Downloading: -
 Necessary for user to store entire file on HDD or SSD
 Uses up valuable storage
 Download time depend on internet speed, video quality and
duration of video
o Buffering: -
 data packets are buffered
 makes sure the video plays back smoothly without freezing
 While receiving data packets, sending data from previous
packets to playback device

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 E- publications
o Publication can be downloaded on a device connected to the
internet
o Moving pages done using finger to swipe pages
o Can expand the size and include media, like videos or moving
pictures
o Cheaper than traditional paper based publications
o No typos

 Mobile Communication
o Phones communicate by using towers
o These towers allow transmission of data
o Mobile devices use SIM (subscriber identity module) card or
wireless connectivity
 SMS (short message service) messaging
 phone calls
 Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communication
 video calling
 internet access.
o SMS- quick communication thru text
 Quicker and less expensive
 Can be sent anytime, anywhere
 Predictive texting
 Auto correct
o Phone calls
 hv their own power source, no need to go to a booth for call
 can call on the move
 easier to keep contacts
o VOIP & vid calling-talk to people using internet
 Converts sound to digital packets and send over internet
 Free phone calls
 Bad sound quality
 Security issues
 Cloud-based video calling prevents the need for users to invest
in expensive infrastructure

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  MODELLING APPLICATIONS:
o Computer modelling:
 A simulation is the creation of a model of a real system in order
to study the behavior of the system.
 Done to predict and see how system behaves and to see if it
possible to influence this future behavior
Less expensive than building the real Model is as good as programming
thing entered
Safer to use simulation Modelling can also be expensive
(need to compare costs)
Can try different scenarios People’s reaction may not be positive
Can carry out tasks that are impossible People may not trust the results
to do in real life
Can get results faster for and There will always be a difference in
application that would take a longer real world and modelling
time to get results from
o Personal finance
 Spreadsheet modelling (keeping account of for e.g.: money)
 Can introduce many variables

o Bridge and design building:

 when designing building or bridge need to test it
 can try number of scenarios like:
 amount of load on bridge during traffic jam
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  effect of strong winds
 natural disasters and extreme weather conditions
 effect of vibrations
 can zoom in to see fine details
 design can be rotated
 can identify potential flaws before building
 various scenarios can be tried out
o Flood water management
 to identify sources of potential flooding
 to identify extent of flooding
 to identify mitigation or protection measures
 Input to the system
 cross-section of rivers
 dimensions of any bridges
 factors that can affect water flow rates
 boundary conditions
 start and finishing date for the simulation
 observation of actual flooding in the past
o weather forecasting
 Weather stations are set up to automatically gather data
 use a variety of sensors
 measure:
 rainfall
 temperature
 wind speed
 wind direction
 barometric pressure (air pressure)
 humidity.
 Data gathered every hour of every day of the week
 Steps include:
 Data is input into the model and a prediction of the
weather for the next few days is made.
 At the end of the weather forecast period, the model
compares its weather forecast with the actual weather that
occurred.
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  The model ‘learns’ from previous weather situations;
improvements to how it predicts weather are constantly
made.
 The new data is then input into the model, and a weather
forecast for the next few days is made.
 A very powerful computer is needed to run this model,
since it has to ‘number crunch’ vast amounts of data.

 COMPUTER CONTROLLED SYSTEMS:

o Robotics in manufacturing-
 Used in many areas of manufacturing
 bodywork on cars, paint spraying of car bodies, welding, ,
manufacturing of microchips, manufacturing electrical goods
and stock movement in automatic warehouses
 control of robots through built in microprocessors or linkage to
system
 programming of robot done in two ways
 robot programmed by with a sequence of instructions
 human operator manually carries out the series of tasks
 robots equipped with sensors to gather info and prevent
mistakes
 robots do not get bored from monotonous work
 Advantages in using robots Disadvantages in using robots
 Can work in environments find it difficult to do ‘unusual’ tasks
harmful to human
operators.
 They can work non-stop). can cause higher unemployment
 less expensive in the long there is a real risk of certain skills
term (such as welding) being lost.
 have higher productivity factories can be moved anywhere
in the world causing
enemployment
 provide greater consistency The initial set-up and maintenance
of robots can be expensive.
 can do boring, repetitive
tasks, leaving humans free
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 to do other more skilled
work
 an carry out different tasks
by fitting them with
different end-effectors

o Production line control

 Extensively used
 Used in bottle filling, filing cans etc
 ADV:
 Faster operations
 Greater productivity
 Greater consistency
 Quality control
 Reduced costs
 Use of sensors:
 Sensor 1- pressure or light sensor to detect presence
 When bottle is present, send signal to actuator and valve
opens
 Sensor 2- level sensor to detect correct liquid height,
sends signal to actuator to close valve
 After valve closes, signal sent to another actuator which
operates the motor to move the conveyer belt

 School management systems:

manage a number of different tasks in their day-to-day running
o Registration and attendance records of students
 Traditional way (recording in registers) very time consuming
 Many ways of automatic registration process:
 Method 1:
 Issue each student with an ID card with a
magnetic strip

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  Magnetic strip contains name of school, name
of student, student birth info, student’s sign
and ID number
 whenever student enters need to swipe card on
magnetic card reader
 student’s attendance would be known at all
times
 use of a PIN to stop another student swiping
in with the wrong card
 use of GPS tracking to know whereabouts of
student, but privacy concerns
 Method 2:
 Use of biometrics –fingerprint of facial
recognition
advantage disadvantage
Fingerprints are unique- Long time to collect
student cannot pretend fingerprints
to be somebody else
Cards can be lost- Expensive to get the
fingerprints are right equipment
impossible to lose
Id cards are affected by Fingerprint may not be
magnetic fields identified if student gets
hurt on finger
Cards are easier to clone Invasion of privacy
o Student performance:
 Spreadsheets can be used to record results of students
 It would be easier to import and export data
 Need to have access of:
 student’s exam and test results
 behavioral data
 CAT scores
o Computer-aided Learning (CAL)
 computer-based systems to assist in teaching
 enhances traditional classroom teaching
 Advantages  Disadvantages
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  Can learn at your own  Cannot do experiments
pace
 VR can be used  Expensive and time
consuming
 Students can start at any  Students can get distracted
point and return later
 Can take many retests  Isolation-no human
interaction
 Make learning more  CAL is not a self-contained
interactive learning system.
 Uses various multimedia
 Stimulates student
learning
 instant results and
feedback
 Topics broken down to
small modules- easy to
learn

 BOOKING SYSTEMS:
o online booking systems
 prevents double  setting up &
booking maintenance is
expensive
 Get to know  Need reliable connection
immediately about
availability of seats
 Book anytime anywhere  Difficult to cancel

 Can inform about deals  Server may need to go

etc. thru mail
 Can reserve seats
on maintenance or it
may crash
 Website may not be
well designed and could
end up paying more to
correct mistake
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  No printed tickets-  Cannot ‘butter up’ the
saves postal costs agent to get special
offers
 Just need to carry
smartphone which has
ticket QR code
 Easier to browse seating
plans
o Travel Industry
 Flight booking
 Book flights by just filling a form with detail
o Events such as concerts etc.
 Seating is displayed, easy to choose

o Booking sporting events:

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  Can book flights hotels etc. simultaneously
 Banking Systems:
o ATMs
 Allow customer to withdraw cash, deposit cash, check balance,
pay bills, transfer money etc.
Sequences for withdrawing
cash
Puts card into ATM
PIN entered using keypad
Option displayed on screen
Customer selects an option
(for eg: withdraw cash)
Customer selects amount
Customer asked if receipt is
needed & card is returned
Money dispensed
Advantages:
 Can withdraw anytime
 No need to go to bank
 Access account anywhere
in the world
 Quicker service than in a
bank
What goes on behind the
scene
Contact made with bank’s
computer
Pin checked to see if correct-
if correct-can proceed
if wrong-asked to retype
after retype, still wrong-card
retained
Account checked to see if
they have sufficient funds
Account balance updated
Disadvantages:
 Theft can take place at night
 Shoulder surfing and card
cloning possible
 Some banks charge
 Cash withdrawal limit
 If card is faulty, no transaction
can take place
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  Loss of personal touch

o EFT:
 Money transfer instructions sent straight to a bank’s computer
system
 No actual money transferred
Secure Cannot reverse transaction
Very quick Need funds to be available
immediately
Less expensive than cheques Cannot guarantee the recipient
Can dispute payment up to 60 Risk of cyberattacks
days
o Credit/Debit card
 Designed to enhance security because not relying only on
signature
Type Adv Disadv
 Customer protection  Can hv high IR
CREDIT  Internationally  Annual fees
accepted  Credit damage as
 Interest free if paid on sums mount up
time  Security risks
 Can do online shopping
 No interest charge  Less customer
DEBIT  Safer than carrying protection
cash  No credit allowed-
 Can buy stuff online must have funds
available
 Security risks

o Cheques
More convenient and safer than Not legal tender- can be
cash rejected
Can stop payments Slow
Can be drawn any time More fraudsters
Can be post-dated Relatively expensive
Can be traced if lost

 EXPERT SYSTEMS:
o Expert systems
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 Expert systems developed to mimic he expertise and knowledge
of an expert in a particular field
 Used in: prospecting oil and minerals, diagnostics, medical
diagnosis, strategy games, route scheduling, identification of
things
High level of expertise User needs considerable
amount of training to use
system correctly
High accuracy High set up and maintenance
cost
Consistent results Give ‘cold’ responses
Store vast amount of ideas and Only good as the data entered
facts in them
Make traceable diagnostics User may make a very
dangerous assumption that
system is never wrong
Can have multiple types of
expertise
Very fast response type
Unbiased reporting
Indicate probability of the
solution given being correct

 User Interface:
 Allows user to interact with expert system
 Allows interaction through dialogue boxes

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  Usually yes/no questions and answers needed to ask further
questions
 Explanation System:
 Informs reasoning behind conclusion and recommended actions
 Allows user to then probe deeper if necessary
 Will give a conclusion and suggested actions to take
 Gives percentage probability of the accuracy of its conclusions
 Inference Engine
 Main processing element
 Acts like a search engine
 Examines knowledge base while following the inference rules in
the rules base
 Knowledge Base
 Repository of facts
 Contains expertise gathered from human experts or other
reliable sources
 Essential for inference engine to make accurate suggestions
 Rules Base
 Set of inference rules
 Used by inference engine to draw conclusions
 Follow a series of ‘IF’ statements
o Setting up an expert system
 Info gathered from experts and written, reliable sources
 Knowledge base created using this information
 Rules base is created with the inference rules
 Inference engine set up to make reasoned conclusions frm
knowledge base while following the inference rules
 User interface set up to allow communication
 System is tested by comparing results from original data
o QUESTION:
 Expert systems are used by doctors.
a. Describe how an expert system can be used to diagnose
illnesses.[5]
An interactive user interface appears and questions are asked about the
illness. The user answers the Yes or No question and further
questions are asked. The inference engine then searches the
knowledge base the appropriate diagnosis while following the
inference rules in the rules base. the inference engine then gives the
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 diagnosis and the explanation system explains the reasoning behind
this conclusion. The system also gives a percentage probability of
its diagnosis being correct.

 Computers In retail industry:

o POS terminals
 Barcodes scanned by barcode reader to retrieve price of product
 Number underneath barcode: country code, manufacturer code,
product code and a check digit
 Code scanned and checked from stock file-price checked and sent
to terminal-inventory reduced
o EFTPOS
 made by card or electronic device
 communication between the supermarket EFTPOS terminals
and the bank
 payments by:
 chip and pin:
 reader makes a connection with the chip
embedded in the card
 customer enters pin
 Advantages: -
 More secure than magnetic stripe
 Quicker than magnetic stripe
 Disadvantages: -
 Fraud
 Some countries don’t accept chip and pin
 Near Field Communication(NFC)
 Phone held close to nfc reader
 Nfc terminal and phone pass data back and
forth
 Very secure
 Subset of RFID
 Requires sender to be in close proximity
 Three ways:
 Peer to peer:

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 o Info communicated through both,
both are active and passive
 Read/write
o One way
o Passive, links with another device
 Card emulation
o Nfc device functions as
smart/contactless card
 Tokenization
 Setting up a mobile wallet
 User takes pic of card and details are sent to
bank to replace card with random numbers
called tokens.
 This random number is used to make
payments
 Cannot be hacked
o Internet banking and shopping
 Allows management of account online
 Advantages
 No need to travel-less pollution
 Can look at worldwide available products to
see which one is cheaper
 Benefits elderly and disabled people
 Can be done anytime anywhere
 Free to do other stuff
 Shopping can be done using online banking
 Less embarrassing to borrow from bank
 Disadvantages
 Lack of socialization- isolation from world
 Lack of exercise- laziness
 Security issues
 Accidently using fraudulent websites
 Need internet connection
 Can only see picture, cannot try them on
 Delivery fees needs to be paid
 Delivering stuff- pollution
 Can transfer money incorrectly to different
accounts
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  Advantages to companies
 Save costs
 Customer base increased
 Costs may increase to retain existing
employees
 Low customer loyalty
 Less chance of robbery

 RECOGNITIONSYSTEMS
o OMR
 Questions scanned and light passes on each lozenge
 Scanner picks up position of filled lozenge
 Compared to answer sheet template
 Very fast
 More accurate
 More accurate than OCR
o Forms need to be carefully designed
o sometimes forms need to be checked manually- time
consuming
o ANPR
 Automatic number plate recognition
 Sensor detects vehicle and send signal to camera to take picture
 Algorithm used to separate and isolate number plate
 Brightness and contrast fixed
 Each character is recognized and converted to a string of
editable text
 Text string then stored in database
 Car returns to car park and 2nd step is repeated
 Advantages
 Can monitor average speed
 No need for security guards
 Much faster to issue a ticket and check car ticket on
exiting
 Can be used to automatically control entry and exit
 Used as security system
 Can analyze driver behavior
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  Disadvantages
 Lack of manned security, can lead to vandalism
 Invasion of privacy
 Damaged or dirty plates cannot be recognized by system
 Possible for car plate to be cloned- ANPR only checks
plate not car
o RFID
 Tracking stock
 Passports
 Automobiles
 Contactless payments
 Advantages
 No line of sight contact necessary
 Robust and reliable
 Difficult to forge
 Save costs by reducing staff
 Fast read rate
 Can read and write
 Bulk detection possible
 Disadvantages
 Tag collision
 Easy to jam and interrupt (radio waves used)
 Can be hacked
 Expensive
 Made of two components: Microchip that stores and processes
info AND Antenna which receives and transmits data
 Can be passive-use reader’s radio waves to relay info OR active-
use small embedded battery powered tags
 Can read up to 50m away
o Passports:
 Tiny RFID chips embedded into passport
 User places passport onto the reader and
details are read.
 The gate opens and user proceeds to the
biometric recognition

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  The biometrics that are either fingerprints or
facial is scanned and the data is compared to
the data in the passport.
 If correct gate is opened and user proceeds

 BIOMETRIC RECOGNITION SYSTEM:

o Retina Recognition
 Retina is light sensitive with unique blood vessels pattern
 Cannot be seen without specialized equipment
 Invasive- need to still very still
 Slower to scan and verify
o Iris Recognition
 Digital camera used which has visible and near infrared light


 SATELLITE SYSTEMS:
o GPS and SATNAV
 GPS & SATNAV same thing
 Done using at least 3 satellites
 Three satellites send signals to and fro from cars computer and
cars exact location is calculated
 Route from car to destination is calculated and traffic ec. Is
displayed
 Advantages:
 No need for paper maps
 Removes errors
 Estimate time of travel provided
 Can calculate fastest route
 Can give useful info such as petrol pumps etc.
 Disadvantages:
 Can give incorrect info is maps not up to date
 Loss of satellite signals-problems
o Geographic Information System
 Allows us to map, model, query and analyze large amounts of
data
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  Essentially GIS enables the following:
 amalgamation of information into easily understood maps
 performance of complex analytical calculations
 presentation of results in the form of maps, tables or graphics
 can see the data in different ways in order to see patterns and
relationships
 anything that can be placed on a map is a candidate for GIS.
o Examples:
 Emergency services- closest emergency personnel
 Biologists- protect wildlife in vulnerable areas
 Teachers-geography lessons
 Crime mapping
 Agricultural data management
 Public health issues- Covid-19
Advantages of GIS
» It allows geographical and thematic data of any kind to be
combined in a way which shows how they are connected to each
other.
» It allows the handling and exploration of huge amounts of data
» It allows data to be integrated from a wide range of very different
sources
Disadvantages of GIS
» The learning curve on GIS software can be very long.
» GIS software is very expensive.
» GIS requires enormous amounts of data to be input (thus
increasing the chances of errors).
» It is difficult to make GIS programs which are both fast and user-
friendly; GIS requires very complex command language interfaces
to work properly

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