Mobile phone

A mobile phone (also known as ahandphone,^[1] wireless phone, cell phone,cellular phone, cellular telephone or cell telephone) is a long-range, electronic deviceused for mobile voice or data communication over a network of specialized base stations known as cell sites. In addition to the standard voice function of a mobile phone, telephone, current mobile phones may support many additional services, and accessories, such asSMS for text messaging, email, packet switching for access to the Internet, gaming, Bluetooth, infrared,camera with video recorder and MMS for sending and receiving photos and video, MP3 player, radio andGPS. Most current mobile phones connect to a cellular network of base stations (cell sites), which is in turn interconnected to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) (the exception is satellite phones).

A mobile phone proper typically has a telephone keypad, more advanced devices have a separate key for each letter. Some mobile phones have a touchscreen.

Information and communication technologies for development

Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) is a general term referring to the application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) within the field of socio-economic development. ICTs can be applied either in the direct sense, where their use directly benefits the disadvantaged population in some manner, or in an indirect sense, where the ICTs assist aid organizations or non-governmental organizations orgovernments in order to improve socio-economic conditions. In many impoverished regions of the world, legislative and political measures are required to facilitate or enable application of ICTs, especially with respect to monopolistic communications structures and censorshiplaws.

ICT4D is geographically unspecific, and as such concerns itself directly with overcoming the barriers of the digital divide. It is becoming recognised as an interdisciplinary research field as can be noted by the number of conferences, workshops and publications in the field.^[1][2] Such research have been spurred on in part by the need for scientifically validated benchmarks and results, which can be used to measure the efficacy of current projects.^[3] Many international aid agencies recognize the importance of ICT4D. For example the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) has a dedicated team working on these issues.

Information technology

Information technology (IT), as defined by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), is "the study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware."^[1] IT deals with the use of electronic computersand computer software to convert, store, protect, process, transmit, and securely retrieve information.

Today, the term information technology has ballooned to encompass many aspects of computing and technology, and the term has become very recognizable. The information technology umbrella can be quite large, covering many fields. IT professionals perform a variety of duties that range from installing applications to designing complex computer networks and information databases. A few of the duties that IT professionals perform may include data management, networking, engineering computer hardware, database and software design, as well as the management and administration of entire systems.

When computer and communications technologies are combined, the result is information technology, or "infotech". Information Technology (IT) is a general term that describes any technology that helps to produce, manipulate, store, communicate, and/or disseminate information. Presumably, when speaking of Information Technology (IT) as a whole, it is noted that the use of computers and information are associated.

The term Information Technology (IT) is sometimes said to have been coined by Jim Domsic of Michigan in November 1981.^{[citation needed]} Domsic, who worked as a computer manager for an automotive related industry, is supposed to have created the term to modernize the outdated phrase "data processing". The Oxford English Dictionary, however, in defining information technology as "the branch of technology concerned with the dissemination, processing, and storage of information, esp. by means of computers" provides an illustrative quote from the year 1958 (Leavitt & Whisler in Harvard Business Rev. XXXVI. 41/1 "The new technology does not yet have a single established name. We shall call it information technology.") that predates the so-far unsubstantiated Domsic coinage.

In recent years ABET and the ACM have collaborated to form accreditation and curriculum standardsfor degrees in Information Technology as a distinct field of study separate from both Computer Scienceand Information Systems. SIGITE is the ACM working group for defining these standards.