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<DIV><SPAN class=312100114-03102004>Don, Ashish, Andy, and all,</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=312100114-03102004></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=312100114-03102004>I think you raise some very interesting
questions as to the implied definition of ICTs. In the various WSIS
documents, both acronyms of ICT and ICTs are used for information AND
communication technologies. I tend to use ICTs with an "s" and am
not as concerned with technical correctness but with the
(redundant) implication that there are various forms including traditional
technology. Similar to my redundant use of Media/ICT for the WG to which I
had previously referred.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=312100114-03102004></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=312100114-03102004>Don, the generalization of
the definition of ICT as is your experience, is in contrast to my
experience that technical people of all types associate ICTs with computers and
the Internet. I was having this discussion with a colleague who had worked
for IBM for 30+ years writing programs since 1960's and now is retired.
She was adamant that ICTs were all about computers and the Internet and
broadening this definition to include traditional (I didn't realize that I was
broadening it, as I always viewed it as inclusive) was encroaching on an
established specialty area. This was from someone who had been involved
with ICT before the Internet. </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=312100114-03102004></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=312100114-03102004> Perhaps there are also regional
differences as to how ICTs are defined as to the inclusion of traditional
technologies and the above may be more peculiar to the
US. Although this would appear to be a very interesting
phenomenon in a country that is considered one of the most saturated of both
traditional and newer technologies.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=312100114-03102004></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=312100114-03102004>Elizabeth</SPAN></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma
size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> Don Cameron
[mailto:donc@internode.on.net]<BR><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, October 03, 2004 3:57
AM<BR><B>To:</B> 'Elizabeth Carll, PhD';
telecentres@wsis-cs.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> RE: [Telecentres] Basic Telecentre
Items/ICT Definition<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=Section1>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">>> in the hopes of informing the public as well
as techies/specialists who may only associate ICTs with the Internet and
computers (snip)<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Elizabeth we are certainly in agreement on the nature
of ICT’s however in my experience it is more the masses, the media,
politicians, academics of non-technical disciplines and other non technical
people who tend to associate ICT’s solely with computers and the Internet.
Most technically trained people are well aware of the silent ‘&’ in ICT’s
as well as the grammatical inappropriateness of adding ‘s’ to an already
inflected plural noun (technology) - yet we use the acronym nonetheless. The
exceptions in technical professions are usually promoters of advanced ICT who
tend to discount any benefits of older yet more adaptable and economical
technology (the ‘essential nature’ of broadband deployment as a case in
point).<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Your comments certainly beg a question… how
appropriate is this acronym of ICT’s? – We are not dealing with Information
Communications Technologies (ICT’s), we are dealing with Information
<U>And</U> Communications Technology (I&CT). Perhaps there would be less
confusion about the true nature of I&CT were we to promote the use of an
accurate descriptor.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">(I think it is acceptable to use ‘&’ instead of
‘A‘ in this day and age however acknowledge that some may prefer the acronym
IACT as in RADAR where the word ‘And’ warrants an ‘A’ to be included).
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Rgds, Don </SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial color=navy
size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>