Transcript Capabilities and Limitations of ICT

Capabilities and
Limitations of ICT
FatMax 2007. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License
Introduction/Objectives
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In this topic we look at three things:
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The capabilities of ICT for providing organisations with
useful (and valuable) information.
How the response speed of ICT systems facilitates the
use of feedback
The current limitations of ICT
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Core Uses of ICT
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There are six things ICT is good at or six core uses
of ICT that make it valuable to organisations:
Repetitive
Calculations
Communications
Vast storage
Core uses of ICT
Searching
and Sorting
Fast response
•Combining data
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Repetitive Calculation
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Computers can carry out millions of repetitive calculations
per second – something that would be very labour
intensive and costly without computers.
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Banking
Utility Billing (gas etc.)
Research
Payroll
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With a computer it doesn’t matter if it is ten calculations or
ten million – it costs the same.
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Not strictly speaking true but you get my drift ;-)
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Vast Storage Capacity
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Computer systems store 100s billions of data items. With the
large capacity of modern hard drives, vast amounts of data
can be stored electronically.
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Banking records
Customer databases
Stock control
Government databases
Internet
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Searching and Sorting
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Computer databases allow us to retrieve related information
quickly and accurately.
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Banks
Billing Systems
Police databases
Online Retailing
Stock Control
Are there any other examples you can think of?
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Combining Data
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Computer analysis of data can show up patterns and
trends not previously seen or impossible to see without
vast processing power
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Satellite Imaging
Medical Research
Scientific Research
Police databases (e.g. HOLMES 2)
Astronomical Research
Market Research
Computer Modelling
& Simulation
Why is ICT so
important in weather
forecasting?
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Communications
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In recent years computers have revolutionised the world
of communications so much a C was added to IT!!!
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Internet
Cell Phones
Digital Broadcasting
Satellite communications
Global Positioning System (GPS)
Don’t forget ICT doesn’t just refer to desktop computers!
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Fast Response Times
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Allows ‘real time’ feedback
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Retail Systems
Banking (e.g. ATM)
Computer Games
Systems Control
Ticket Booking systems
Medical monitoring
Note: May be pseudo real time
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Feedback
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Feedback = Output affects Input
Example 1 - Stock Control
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Sufficient stock must be kept to satisfy customers but…
Storage of large levels of stock is expensive
The ICT system continually adjusts stock levels to make JIT
orders of stock
Example 2 – Systems Control
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Systems control on a car, aeroplane etc. continually responds
to changes in its environment (measured by sensors)
Feedback is only possible because of the response
speed of ICT
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Dependence on ICT
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Technology based countries are now almost totally reliant
on computers
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Even small scale failure can have devastating and costly
consequences
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Major systems/infrastructure couldn’t function without
computers
• Water, Gas, Electricity supply
• T.V., Radio, Telephony
• Food/Fuel transport, Rail, Air, Road travel
• Financial Systems
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Limitations of ICT
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Hardware is pushed to its limits
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Processor speed, disk capacity, bandwidth
Think about video calls on MSN etc.
Software “bugs” and design flaws
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Can make a system fail or behave in an unpredictable way
Systems may be poorly designed and don’t achieve what
they set out to do. There are many examples of failure
covered in ICT4
Computer output can only be as good as the input
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GIGO!
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AI (Artificial Intelligence)
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AI is the goal of computer
scientists but…
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Many tasks that humans
find easy are hardest to
replicate in computers!
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Reading handwriting
accurately
Interpreting images
Adapting to new
environments
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Revision
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Use your textbook (Mott &
Leeming chapter 3) and Internet
sources to make supplementary
notes on Capabilities and
Limitations of ICT
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Choose any real life situation or
system e.g. preparing a gas bill.
Which of the six capabilities
identified in the diagram earlier
in this presentation apply to the
system
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