Information and Communication Technology

Today, news from any part of the world reaches us in moments. A football match in Spain, a flood in the Terai, a new invention in Japan: we can know about them almost as they happen.

The tools we use to get and share information are called means of communication. A radio, a phone and a newspaper are means of communication. A computer joined to the internet is the most modern one. It has changed every part of our lives: schools, hospitals, farming, shops and banks.

With a computer, we can:

• write letters, stories and reports;
• draw pictures and edit photos;
• do sums and keep accounts;
• send what we make to other people by email.

With the internet, we can do even more from home:

• pay bills for electricity, water and the phone;
• send and receive money through a bank;
• look up information about anything, and buy things online;
• find books, videos and lessons for learning.

So every one of us needs to know how to use a computer.

What is information?

Every day, we learn about people, things, places and events. These facts and data are called information.

Where does information come from? There are two kinds of sources of information.

• Primary sources: we see, hear or feel something ourselves. This is called direct observation. You see dark clouds and know rain is coming. You taste the dal and know it needs salt.
• Other sources (secondary sources): someone else collects the information and passes it to us. Newspapers, radio, television, books, the internet, online magazines, mobile phones and computers are sources like this. They are also called media. They carry information from one place to another.

One phone, many jobs

A mobile phone is an easy and handy source of information. With the internet, a phone or a computer can also bring us the newspaper, the radio and much more.

Sending information from one place or person to another is called communication. The tools that carry the information are called means of communication, or communication tools. Newspapers, radio, television, books, computers and telephones are all means of communication.

New means of communication are being invented very fast. News from anywhere now reaches the whole world at once. So people say the whole world has become like one village.

Three kinds of communication

In Pemba’s story, the information went to three kinds of “listener”: Pemba’s own mind, a few people, and the whole public. So communication is of three kinds.

a. Intrapersonal communication

Intra means “inside”. Intrapersonal communication happens inside one person’s own mind. We think, compare, ask ourselves questions, tell right from wrong, and decide. We learn a lot this way.

Pemba saw the lake. His eyes sent that information to his brain. He thought it over and decided: “The others must be told.” That was intrapersonal communication. It is also called internal or personal communication.

b. Interpersonal communication

Inter means “between”. Interpersonal communication goes from one person to another person, or to a small group. The information flows both ways: each one can speak and answer. Talking face to face, talking on the phone and a class discussion are all interpersonal communication.

Pemba telling the shepherds was interpersonal. So was the Ward Chairperson’s phone call to the FM station.

c. Mass communication

Mass means “a very large number”. Radio, television, newspapers and online magazines carry the same information to a huge number of people in many places at the same time. This is mass communication. The information flows one way: listeners can’t answer back through it.

The FM radio’s warning to all the villages at once was mass communication.

Forms of communication

Information can be shared in four forms.

• Non-verbal (symbolic): with signs, actions and symbols, without words. A nod, a wave, a traffic light, a zebra crossing.
• Verbal (oral): with spoken words. Talking, a phone call, a speech.
• Written: with written words. A letter, a notice, a book, a text message.
• Audio-visual: with sound and pictures together. A film, the TV news, a video call.

1. Choose the correct answer

2. Is it correct (✓) or wrong (✗)?

3. Fill in the blanks

communication, symbolic, mind, personal, mass, two-way

A computer is an electronic machine that can do many different jobs. It is also a modern means of communication. It takes in data and instructions, works on them, and gives us the result. It solves hard problems quickly. If its program is right, it makes no mistakes. It can also keep (store) what we put in.

How a computer works

A computer does its work in four steps.

1. Input: we give the computer data or commands. Example: pressing a key on the keyboard.
2. Processing: the computer works on the data, following the instructions of its programs. This is done by the CPU. Example: the CPU works out which letter you pressed.
3. Output: the computer shows us the result. Example: the letter appears on the monitor.
4. Storage: the computer keeps the data to use again later. Example: saving a file on a drive.

Hardware and software

A computer has parts we can see and touch, outside and inside. The keyboard, mouse, monitor, printer, speakers, and the parts inside the box are its hardware. Hardware is the computer’s body.

A computer also needs programs to do each job. A program is a set of instructions that tells the hardware what to do. Programs and apps are called software. A word processor, a typing program, a presentation program, a spreadsheet and a web browser are all software. We can’t touch software, but without it the hardware can do nothing.

Input, processing, output and storage devices

• Input devices give data and instructions to the computer: the keyboard and the mouse, and also a microphone, a scanner and a camera.
• The CPU turns this raw data into useful results. This is processing.
• Output devices show us, print or play the results: the monitor shows them, the printer prints them on paper, and the speakers (sound box) play them.
• Storage devices keep our work safely: the hard disk, the SSD (solid-state drive) and the pen drive. Our documents, photos, songs and videos are stored on them.

Our body and the computer

Our body works a little like a computer.

• Our sense organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin) take in information. We also take in food and oxygen. These organs are like the input devices of a computer.
• Food and oxygen reach the cells of our body, and react there to give us energy. Our brain works on the information from our senses. The brain and the organs that do this work are like the computer’s CPU.
• The energy we get, and our growth, are like the output. Our mouth speaks, and our hands write and draw.
• Our brain remembers things, like a computer’s storage.

So the brain is like the CPU, the eye like a camera, the ear like a microphone, and the mouth like a speaker.

Humans and computers are different

A computer is like us in some ways. But it is a machine, made by people. Here is how humans and computers differ.

1. Choose the correct answer

2. Is it correct (✓) or wrong (✗)?

3. Fill in the blanks

results, input, storage, processing, output

Offices, schools, hospitals, bakeries and shops now type their letters and accounts on computers, and keep them there. A typed document can be sent to other people over the internet as an electronic copy. It can also be printed on paper as a hard copy.

Typing programs help us learn to type quickly and easily. Typeshala, Typing Master and Typing Tutor are some of them. Typeshala is used all over Nepal. It teaches typing in Nepali as well as English.

Ten fingers, not two

A keyboard has keys for letters, numbers and commands. To type fast, use all the fingers of both hands. Each finger has its own keys.

Rest your fingers on the middle row of letters. This row is called the home row. Your left fingers rest on A S D F, and your right fingers on J K L ;. Your thumbs rest on the space bar. Each finger reaches up or down for its other keys, and then comes back home.

Introduction to the keyboard

The keyboard is the main input device of a computer. Its keys are in groups, by the work they do.

a. Number and letter keys

These type numbers, letters and symbols. They are also called the typing keys.

b. Function keys

The keys F1 to F12 in the top row do special jobs. The job can change from program to program. In most programs:

• F1 opens the help.
• F2 renames a file or folder that you have selected.
• F3 searches for something in the open program.
• Alt + F4 closes the open window. On an empty desktop, it opens the box for turning the computer off.
• F5 refreshes the screen: a web page loads again, or a folder shows its newest files.
• F12 opens Save As, in Microsoft Word.

c. Navigation keys

These move you around in a file or a page.

• Home takes the cursor to the start of the line. In a web page, or when you are reading a document, it takes you to the very top.
• End takes the cursor to the end of the line. In a web page, it takes you to the very bottom.
• Page Up moves up one screen.
• Page Down moves down one screen.
• The arrow keys move the cursor one step in the direction of the arrow.

d. Special keys

• Delete removes the letter to the right of the cursor.
• Backspace removes the letter to the left of the cursor.
• Caps Lock makes every letter a capital, until you press it again.
• Shift, held down with a letter, makes one capital letter: Shift + a = A. Held down with a number key, it makes the symbol on that key: Shift + 5 = %.
• The space bar moves the cursor, and any text after it, one space forward.
• Enter moves the cursor, and any text after it, to the next line.

The Ctrl key works together with other keys. These are called shortcuts.

A word processor is a computer program for writing. With it we can type (input) a text, change it (edit), make it look good (format), and print it. Microsoft Word, Google Docs and LibreOffice Writer are word processors. Notepad and WordPad (on older Windows computers) are simpler ones: Notepad types plain text only, with no bold or color.

Opening a word processor

One way:

1. Click the Start button at the bottom left of the screen.
2. A list of all the programs appears above it. (Or simply type Word.)
3. Find Microsoft Office, and click it to open its group.
4. Double-click the Microsoft Word icon with the left mouse button.

Another way:

1. Right-click on an empty part of the desktop.
2. A list appears. Put the pointer on New. Another list opens.
3. Click Microsoft Word Document. A new Word file appears on the desktop. Type a name for it and press Enter.
4. Right-click the file and click Open (or double-click it). The Word file opens.

At the top of Word is a strip of buttons called the Ribbon. It has tabs: File, Home, Insert and more. The Home tab has the font buttons. The Insert tab adds a table, a picture or a shape.

The Font group

To change some words, first select them. Put the cursor at the start of the words. Hold down Shift and keep pressing the right arrow key (→). Or press the left mouse button and drag over the words. The selected words are highlighted.

There are programs for drawing and coloring pictures on a computer. MacPaint (on early Apple computers), Tux Paint (free, and made for children) and Microsoft Paint are some of them.

Microsoft Paint

Microsoft Paint comes free with Windows. With it you can draw pictures, fill them with color, and change other pictures.

A. Opening Paint

1. Click the Windows icon (Start) at the bottom left of the screen. A list of programs appears.
2. Find Paint in the list. (In some versions, it is inside the Windows Accessories group. Or just type Paint.)
3. Click Paint to open it. You can also right-click it and click Open, or drag it to the desktop to make a shortcut.

At the top left of Paint are three tabs: File, Home and View. To draw, use the Home tab. It has the groups Clipboard, Image, Tools, Brushes, Shapes, Size and Colors. You draw in the white area below them, called the canvas. You can make the canvas bigger or smaller.

B. Drawing and filling color

1. Click the pencil tool.
2. Choose a color in Colors. Color 1 is the color the pencil, brush and fill tool use. Color 2 is the background color.
3. Hold down the left mouse button and move the mouse to draw an outline on the canvas.
4. Color your picture with a brush. Click the small arrow under Brushes to choose a kind of brush: an oil brush, a watercolor brush, an airbrush and others.
5. Or use the fill with color tool (a tipping bucket). Click inside a shape you drew, and it fills with color. The shape must be closed all round, or the color leaks out.
6. Use the eraser to rub out the parts you don’t want. The eraser paints with Color 2, the background color.
7. Change how thick the pencil, brush or eraser is with the Size button.

C. Drawing a shape and filling color

1. Choose a shape in Shapes: a rectangle, an oval, a triangle, a star and more. Hold down the left mouse button and drag on the canvas to draw it.
2. Choose a color in Colors. Fill the shape with the fill with color tool.
3. Change the color of a shape’s line with Outline, and the color inside it with Shape fill.

D. Adding text

1. Click the Text tool (A). Then click where you want the words on the canvas. A box appears for typing.
2. Choose the font and its size.
3. Choose a color, and type your words or numbers in the box.

E. Selecting part of a picture

Click Select. Choose a kind of selection: a rectangle, free-form (any shape you draw), or Select all. Then hold down the left mouse button and drag over the part you want. Now you can cut, copy, crop, resize or rotate that part.

F. Saving the picture

1. Click the File tab.
2. Click Save.
3. Where it says “Untitled”, type a name for your picture. Choose the place on the computer to keep it. Click the Save button.
4. Now you can open, look at and change the picture again whenever you like.

1. Choose the correct answer

2. Is it correct (✓) or wrong (✗)?

3. Fill in the blanks

select, text, file, size, save

4. Match the pairs

5. Answer these questions