2.3 Models of an ICT system

To help me to introduce you to important ideas about ICT systems, I'm going to take a three-stage approach. ICTs involve conveying, manipulating and storing data. This is going to be the basis of my approach.

Firstly, in the next few sections, we'll look at ICT systems where the primary function is to convey data. We can think of these systems as communication systems and I'll use a mobile phone system as an example.

In sections 8–14, I'll focus on ICT systems where the chief function is to manipulate and store data. A computer is a primary example of this kind of ICT system, so I'll use a personal computer like the one you are using in your study of this course as an illustration.

Finally, in section 15–19 I'll show how the conveying, manipulating and storing of data can all come together in an ICT system. This convergence of conveying, storing and manipulating data has led to many new and exciting developments, as you will see during your study of this course.