Information and communications technology

Information and communications technology (ICT) is a term that means much the same as information technology (IT), but it puts extra focus on the role of unified communications. It brings together telecommunications, such as telephone lines and Wireless signals, with computers. ICT also includes the enterprise software, middleware, storage and audiovisual tools that help people access, store, transmit, understand and change information.

ICT also refers to the convergence of audiovisual systems and telephone networks with computer networks through a single cabling or link system. There are large economic reasons to combine these networks into one unified system for cabling, signal distribution and management. ICT is an umbrella term that covers any communication device, including radio, television, cell phones, computers, network hardware and satellite systems, as well as services such as video conferencing and distance learning. It also includes older, analog technology, such as paper communication.

ICT is a broad subject, and its ideas keep changing. It covers any product that can store, retrieve, manipulate, process, transmit or receive information electronically in digital form, such as personal computers, smartphones, digital television, email or robots. The Skills Framework for the Information Age is one of many models used to describe and manage the skills that ICT professionals need in the 21st century.

Etymology

Academic researchers have used the phrase "information and communication technologies" since the 1980s. The short form "ICT" became popular after Dennis Stevenson used it in a report to the UK government in 1997. It was then used in the revised National Curriculum for England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2000. However, in 2012, the Royal Society recommended that the term "ICT" should be discontinued in British schools, as it "has attracted too many negative connotations". Since 2014, the National Curriculum has used the word computing, which reflects the addition of computer programming to the curriculum.

Versions of the phrase have spread around the world. The United Nations has created a "United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force" and an internal "Office of Information and Communications Technology".

Monetization

Around the world, about US$3.8 trillion was spent on IT in 2017, and spending has grown by less than 5% a year since 2009. The whole ICT field was estimated to grow by 5% in 2018. The fastest growth, about 16%, was expected in new technologies such as IoT, Robotics, AR/VR, and AI. The amount spent in 2022 is estimated at just over US$6 trillion.

The US federal government's IT budget in 2014 was nearly $82 billion. IT costs, as a share of company income, have grown 50% since 2002, which puts pressure on IT budgets. Of companies' IT budgets, about 75% goes to everyday running costs that "keep the lights on" in the IT department, and about 25% goes to developing new technology.

Technological capacity

The world's ability to store information grew from 2.6 (optimally compressed) exabytes in 1986 to 15.8 in 1993, over 54.5 in 2000, and to 295 (optimally compressed) exabytes in 2007. By 2014, it was some 5 zettabytes. In 2007, this was the same as 1.25 stacks of CD-ROM reaching from the earth to the moon. In 2014, it was the same as 4,500 stacks of printed books reaching from the earth to the sun.

The world's ability to receive information through one-way broadcast networks was 432 exabytes (optimally compressed) in 1986, 715 (optimally compressed) exabytes in 1993, 1.2 (optimally compressed) zettabytes in 2000, and 1.9 zettabytes in 2007. The ability to exchange information through two-way telecommunication networks was 281 petabytes (optimally compressed) in 1986, 471 petabytes in 1993, 2.2 (optimally compressed) exabytes in 2000, 65 (optimally compressed) exabytes in 2007, and some 100 exabytes in 2014. The ability to compute information with general-purpose computers guided by people grew from 3.0 × 10^8 MIPS in 1986 to 6.4 x 10^12 MIPS in 2007.

Sector in the OECD

This list shows OECD countries and how much of their total value added came from the ICT sector in 2013.

ICT Development Index

The ICT Development Index ranks and compares how much countries around the world use and have access to ICT. In 2014, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) released the latest rankings. Denmark was in first place, followed by South Korea.

The top 30 countries included most high-income countries, where people's quality of life is higher than average. These included countries in Europe and other places such as Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Japan, Macao (China), New Zealand, Singapore, and the United States. Almost all countries surveyed improved their ranking that year.

The WSIS process and development goals

On 21 December 2001, the United Nations General Assembly approved Resolution 56/183, which supported holding the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The summit was meant to discuss the chances and challenges facing today's information society. The resolution linked the summit to the goal in the United Nations Millennium Declaration of using ICT to reach the Millennium Development Goals. It also stressed that many groups should work together, including civil society and the private sector, as well as governments.

To help bring ICT to every inhabited part of the world, 2015 is the deadline for reaching the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which global leaders agreed upon in 2000.

In education

ICT works best in education when it is fully built into pedagogy, or teaching methods. Using ICT together with Writing to Learn improved literacy and math results more than traditional methods alone or ICT alone. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), a division of the United Nations, supports ICT in education to help ensure fair access to learning. Even with more funding and new technology, many teachers do not yet use ICT well in everyday lessons, because of traditional habits, attitudes toward computers, and how comfortable teachers feel using them.

Main article: Mobile learning for refugees

Language and literacy barriers can keep refugees from going to school, especially outside camp settings. Mobile language learning apps can help refugees with reading, learning other languages, and translation. ICT has been used to improve education in Sub-Saharan Africa since the 1960s, starting with television and radio. By 2015, the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project had given over 2.4 million laptops to nearly two million students and teachers. Using ICT in classrooms, often called M-Learning, has relied heavily on mobile phones, which many families already use. Progress is still slow, and in 2012, 29.6 million children in the region were not in school.

Today, over three billion people use the Internet, and about 74% of the world's population was online in 2025. Newer devices include the Apple Watch, the Nike+ FuelBand, and Google TV. Still, 4.3 billion people were not yet online, and 90% of them lived in developing countries. ICT also helps accelerated pluralism in new social movements. Bruce Bimber used this term to describe how the internet speeds up the forming of issue groups and their actions. ICTs can help gain grassroots support for a cause. A 2017 study found that women in households with ICT access were less likely to accept violence by a partner.

In government

Governments use ICT in many ways. Francis Maude, a UK government minister, supported the use of open standards in government IT. In 2012, he said that "Government must be better connected to the people it serves and partners who can work with it - especially small businesses, voluntary and community organisations." ICT can also change how governments handle complaints from the public. Governments are now moving toward long-term ICT plans. The U.S. Department of State's policy goals for 2024-2026 focused on four main points: better cybersecurity, system updates, stronger and clearer data management, and more digital skills training for workers. Plans like these help modern governments protect their digital privacy against security risks that keep changing.

In health care

Telehealth is one way ICT is used in health care. A review found that, in general, its results are, or can be, as good as care given in person, and that the amount of health care people use stays about the same. People first imagined this kind of care as early as 1925.

ICT also helps in other ways. During the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers used ICT tools to study how people felt on social media. They used computer programs to read millions of posts and track patterns of fear or trust around the world. Other areas include Artificial intelligence in healthcare, mHealth, Clinical decision support system and expert system, Health administration and hospital information system, and other health information technology and health informatics.

In science

ICT helps scientists, researchers, and people who study at universities and colleges. It is used in these ways:

• Internet research
• Online research methods
• Science communication and communication between scientists
• Scholarly databases
• Applied metascience

Models of access

Scholar Mark Warschauer created a "models of access" framework for studying how people can reach information and communication technology (ICT). In his book, he describes three models: devices, conduits, and literacy. A device is something a person owns, such as a phone or computer. A conduit is a connection, such as a telephone or internet line. Warschauer says devices and conduits are not enough on their own, and literacy is also needed. Together, the three models roughly cover twelve criteria for "Real Access" to ICT, which a non-profit organization called Bridges.org came up with in 2005.

Warschauer points out that owning devices can hide how unequal access really is. The Pew Research Center reports that 96% of Americans own a smartphone, but many scholars think real access in the United States is much lower. Conduits often divide people by where they live, and the costs can be hard for lower-income families. Many people now rely on smartphones for internet access instead. Warschauer also uses research by Sylvia Scribner and Michael Cole, who studied the Vai people of Liberia, who have their own local script. Their work found no single literacy divide between people. Warschauer argues that ICT literacy works in a similar way and needs many resources. He concludes that good access depends on physical, digital, human, and social resources. When ICT is used well, it can build these resources, but when it is used poorly, it can add to exclusion.

Environmental impact

See also: Category:Environmental technology and Information and communication technologies for environmental sustainability

In the early 21st century, ICT services and electronic devices grew very quickly. The number of internet servers grew about 1000 times, to 395 million, and is still increasing. This growth follows Moore's law, which says that ICT development grows by 16–20% each year, so it doubles about every four to five years. Making and using these products has a large environmental impact. In 2008, software and hardware development and production caused the same amount of CO₂ emissions as all air travel in the world. ICT has both good and bad sides. Studies found that in OECD countries, a 1% increase in ICT capital reduced energy use by 0.235%. However, as more digitization happens, more energy is used. In OECD countries, a 1% increase in internet users raised electricity use per person by 0.026%, and in emerging countries the effect was more than four times as high. Scientists forecast that ICT could use up to 30,700 TWh in 2030, which is 20 times more than in 2010.

To deal with these problems, the EU commission plans to carefully track and report the GHG emissions of ICT platforms, countries, and infrastructure. It also supports international rules for reporting and compliance to make the sector more open. Scientists also suggest investing more in ICT to use its power to reduce CO₂ emissions, and coordinating ICT, energy, and growth policies more effectively. The Coase theorem suggests investing where the cost of avoiding emissions is lowest, such as in developing countries, which have lower technology standards than high-tech countries. In this way, ICT can reduce environmental damage from economic growth and energy use by helping communication and infrastructure work better. ICTs could also be used to address environmental issues, including climate change, in many ways beyond education.