EMPOWERMENT TECHNOLOGY

Functions and Platforms

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) refers to the technologies, both hardware
and software, that enables humans to communicate with one another. Common misconception: ICT is
Internet or computer alone.
ICT is any form of technology that enables you to communicate.

According to the 2013 edition of Measuring the Information Society by the International
Telecommunication Union, there are 106.8 cellphones per 100 Filipinos in the year 2012. That would mean
that for every 100 Filipinos you meet, there is a high chance that they have a cellphone and approximately
for the seven of them, they have two.
In a data gathered by the Annual Survey of the Philippine Business and Industries, NSO, in 2010, the
ICT industry shares 19.3% of the total employment population here in the Philippines. With the numbers,
there is no doubt that the Philippines, is one of the countries that benefits most out of ICT.

When WWW was invented, most web pages were static. Static (also known as flat page or stationary
page) in the same that the page “as is” and cannot be manipulated by the user. This referred to as Web 1.0.

Example of Web 2.0:

 Social Networking Sites
 Blogs
 Wikis
 Video sharing sites

WEB 2.0: DYNAMIC WEB PAGES
The internet has been a vital tool to our modern lives that is why it is also important to take the best of
the internet.
 Web 2.0 allows the user to interact with page known as Dynamic Page; instead of just reading a page,
the user may be able to comment or create a user account. Dynamic page refers to the web pages that
are affected by user input or preference.

Key Features of Web 2.0

 Folksonomy- allows users to categorize and classify/arrange information using freely chosen keywords
(e.g. tagging). Popular social networking sites such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc. use tags that
start with a pound sigh (#) or hashtag.
 Rich User Interface- content is dynamic and is responsive to user’s input. And example would be a
website that shows local content. In the case of social networking sites, when logged on, your account
is used to modify what you see in their website.
 User Participation- the owner f website is not the only one who is able to put content. Others are able
to place a content on their own by means of comments, reviews, and evaluation.
 Long Tail- services are offered on demand rather than on a one-time purchase. This is synonymous to
subscribing to a data plan that charges you for the amount of time you spent on Internet or a data plan
that charges you for the amount of bandwidth you used.

WEB 3.0 AND THE SEMANTIC WEB

 Semantic Web- is a movement led by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The semantic web
provides a framework that allows data to be shared and reuse to deliver web content specifically
targeting the user.
Web 3.0 is yet to be fully realized because of several problems:
 Compatibility- HTML files and current web browsers could not support Web 3.0
 Security- The user’s security is also question since the machine is saving his/her preferences.
 Vastness- The World Wide Web already contains billions of web pages.
 Vagueness- Certain words are imprecise. The word “old” and “small” would depend to the user.
 Logic- since machines use logic, there are certain limitations for a computer to be able to predict
what the user is referring to at a given time.
Trends in ICT
1. Convergence
 is the synergy of technological advancements to work on a similar goal or task. For example,
besides using your personal computer to create word documents, you can now use your
smartphone.
2. Social Media
 is a website, application, or online channel that enables web users web users to create, co-create,
discuss modify, and exchange user generated content.

6 Types of Social Media

a) Social Networks
☑ These are sites that allows you to connect with other people with the same interests or background.
Once the user creates his/her account, he/she can set up a profile, add people, share content, etc. FB
and Google+
b) Bookmarking Sites
☑ Sites that allow you to store and manage links to various website and resources. Most of the sites
allow you to create a tag to others. Stumble Upon and Pinterest
c) Social News
☑ Sites that allow users to post their own news items or links to other news sources. The users can also
comment on the post and comments may also be rank. Reddit and Digg
d) Media Sharing
☑ sites that allow you to upload and share media content like images, music and video. Flickr, YT, and
IG
e) Microblogging
☑ focus on short updates from the user. Those that subscribed to the user will be able to receive these
updates. Twitter and Plurk
f) Blogs and Forums
☑ allow user to post their content. Other users are able to comment on the said topic. Blogger,
WordPress, and Tumblr
3. Mobile Technologies
 The popularity of smartphones and tablets has taken a major rise over the years. This is largely
because of the devices capability to do the tasks that were originally found in PCs. Several of these
devices are capable of using a high-speed internet. Today the latest model devices use 4G
Networking (LTE), which is currently the fastest.
Mobile OS
 iOS – use in apple devices such as iPhone and iPad
 Android – an open source OS developed by Google. Being open source means mobile phone
companies use this OS for free.
 Blackberry OS – use in blackberry devices
 Windows phone OS – A closed source and proprietary operating system developed by Microsoft.
 Symbian – the original smartphone OS. Used by Nokia devices
 WebOS- originally used in smartphone; now in smart TVs.
 Windows Mobile – developed by Microsoft for smartphones and pocket PCs
4. Assistive Media
 is a non- profit service designed to help people who have visual and reading impairments. A
database of audio recordings is used to read to the user.
Key Terms:
 Web 1.0 - static websites without interactivity
 Web 2.0 – websites that contain dynamic content
 Web 3.0 – a concept of the World Wide Web that is designed to cater to the individual user
 Static – refer to the web that are the same regardless of the user
 Dynamic – refers to the things that are affected by the user iinput or preference
 Folksonomy – allows the user to categorize and classify/arrange information
 Hashtag # - used to “categorize” posts in website
 Convergence – the synergy of technological advancements to work a similar goal/tasks
 HTML – Hypertext Markup Language
 iOS- an operating system used for mobile devices manufactured by Apple Inc
 Reddit is a social news website and forum where content is socially curated and promoted by site
members through voting. The site name is play on the words “I read it”.