Early research and development:
96-407: The systems architect is an information and communications technology professional. Systems architects define the architecture of a computerized system (i.e., a system composed of software and hardware) in order to fulfill certain requirements . Such definitions include: a breakdown of the system into components, the component interactions and interfaces (including with the environment, especially
192-422: A "player" or "user" journey. The broad nature of the test scenario ensures that the focus is on the journey and not on technical or system-specific details, staying away from "click-by-click" test steps to allow for a variance in users' behavior. Test scenarios can be broken down into logical "days", which are usually where the actor (player/customer/operator) or system (backoffice, front end) changes. In industry,
288-594: A building architect to use it. In the UK the architects registration board excludes the usage of architect (when used in the context of software and IT) from its restricted usage. Information and communications technology Merging the networks and creating the Internet: Commercialization, privatization, broader access leads to the modern Internet: Examples of Internet services: Information and communications technology ( ICT )
384-619: A bygone era, and laptops becoming the preferred method of computing, ICT continues to insinuate and alter itself in the ever-changing globe. Information communication technologies play a role in facilitating accelerated pluralism in new social movements today. The internet according to Bruce Bimber is "accelerating the process of issue group formation and action" and coined the term accelerated pluralism to explain this new phenomena. ICTs are tools for "enabling social movement leaders and empowering dictators" in effect promoting societal change. ICTs can be used to garner grassroots support for
480-477: A cause due to the internet allowing for political discourse and direct interventions with state policy as well as change the way complaints from the populace are handled by governments. Furthermore, ICTs in a household are associated with women rejecting justifications for intimate partner violence. According to a study published in 2017, this is likely because "access to ICTs exposes women to different ways of life and different notions about women's role in society and
576-415: A common UAT is a factory acceptance test (FAT). This test takes place before the installation of the equipment. Most of the time testers not only check that the equipment meets the specification but also that it is fully functional. A FAT usually includes a check of completeness, a verification against contractual requirements, a proof of functionality (either by simulation or a conventional function test), and
672-626: A division of the United Nations, has made integrating ICT into education as part of its efforts to ensure equity and access to education. The following, which was taken directly from a UNESCO publication on educational ICT, explains the organization's position on the initiative. Information and Communication Technology can contribute to universal access to education, equity in education, the delivery of quality learning and teaching, teachers' professional development and more efficient education management, governance, and administration. UNESCO takes
768-535: A final inspection. The results of these tests give clients confidence in how the system will perform in production. There may also be legal or contractual requirements for acceptance of the system. Operational acceptance testing (OAT) is used to conduct operational readiness (pre-release) of a product, service or system as part of a quality management system . OAT is a common type of non-functional software testing , used mainly in software development and software maintenance projects. This type of testing focuses on
864-817: A final verification of the required business functionality and proper functioning of the system, emulating real-world conditions on behalf of the paying client or a specific large customer. If the software works as required and without issues during normal use, one can reasonably extrapolate the same level of stability in production. User tests, usually performed by clients or by end-users, do not normally focus on identifying simple cosmetic problems such as spelling errors, nor on showstopper defects, such as software crashes ; testers and developers identify and fix these issues during earlier unit testing , integration testing , and system testing phases. UAT should be executed against test scenarios. Test scenarios usually differ from System or Functional test cases in that they represent
960-448: A holistic and comprehensive approach to promote ICT in education. Access, inclusion, and quality are among the main challenges they can address. The Organization's Intersectoral Platform for ICT in education focuses on these issues through the joint work of three of its sectors: Communication & Information, Education and Science. Despite the power of computers to enhance and reform teaching and learning practices, improper implementation
1056-412: A housing complex, we may have one architect for the complex, and one for each type of building, as part of an architectural team. Large automation systems also require an architect and much engineering talent. If the engineered system is large and complex enough, the systems architect may defer to a hardware architect and/or a software architect for parts of the job, although they all may be members of
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#17327870043391152-462: A joint architectural team. The architect should sub-allocate the system requirements to major components or subsystems that are within the scope of a single hardware or software engineer, or engineering manager and team. But the architect must never be viewed as an engineering supervisor. (If the item is sufficiently large and/or complex, the chief architect will sub-allocate portions to more specialized architects.) Ideally, each such component/subsystem
1248-447: A layering approach, where each layer is composed of a number of individually comprehensible sub-layers-- each having its own principal engineer and/or architect. A complete layer at one level will be shown as a functional 'component' of a higher layer (and may disappear altogether at the highest layers). Architects are expected to understand human needs and develop humanly functional and aesthetically-pleasing products. A good architect
1344-534: A more consistent curriculum across the educational service area. In 2011, UNESCO started a yearly symposium called Mobile Learning Week with the purpose of gathering stakeholders to discuss the M-learning initiative. Implementation is not without its challenges. While mobile phone and internet use are increasing much more rapidly in Sub-Saharan Africa than in other developing countries, the progress
1440-576: A production release. A user story is not considered complete until it has passed its acceptance tests. This means that new acceptance tests must be created for each iteration, or the development team will report zero progress. Typical types of acceptance testing include the following According to the Project Management Institute , acceptance criteria is a "set of conditions that is required to be met before deliverables are accepted." Requirements found in acceptance criteria for
1536-446: A range of benefits closely related to the specific functions of literacy practices." Furthermore, literacy and social development are intertwined, and the literacy divide does not exist on the individual level. Warschauer draws on Scribner and Cole 's research to argue that ICT literacy functions similarly to literacy acquisition, as they both require resources rather than a narrow cognitive skill. Conclusions about literacy serve as
1632-408: A reasonable amount of time and with a reasonable expenditure of energy, or of getting needed information to customers and staff. A systems architect is expected to combine knowledge of both the architecture of the users' world and of (all potentially useful) engineering systems architectures . The former is a joint activity with the users; the latter is a joint activity with the engineers. The product
1728-434: A shift toward mobile technology; fewer people are purchasing broadband connection and are instead relying on their smartphones for Internet access, which can be found for free at public places such as libraries. Indeed, smartphones are on the rise, with 37% of Americans using smartphones as their primary medium for internet access and 96% of Americans owning a smartphone. In 1981, Sylvia Scribner and Michael Cole studied
1824-460: A smartphone, information and data are increasing by leaps and bounds. This rapid growth, especially in developing countries, has led ICT to become a keystone of everyday life, in which life without some facet of technology renders most of clerical, work and routine tasks dysfunctional. The most recent authoritative data, released in 2014, shows "that Internet use continues to grow steadily, at 6.6% globally in 2014 (3.3% in developed countries, 8.7% in
1920-574: A tribe in Liberia , the Vai people , who have their own local script . Since about half of those literate in Vai have never had formal schooling, Scribner and Cole were able to test more than 1,000 subjects to measure the mental capabilities of literates over non-literates. This research, which they laid out in their book The Psychology of Literacy , allowed them to study whether the literacy divide exists at
2016-481: A user story has been correctly implemented. A story can have one or many acceptance tests, whatever it takes to ensure the functionality works. Acceptance tests are black-box system tests. Each acceptance test represents some expected result from the system. Customers are responsible for verifying the correctness of the acceptance tests and reviewing test scores to decide which failed tests are of highest priority. Acceptance tests are also used as regression tests prior to
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#17327870043392112-479: A workable, reliable, extensible and robust product. The provision of needed services to the users is the true function of an engineered system. However, as systems become ever larger and more complex, and as their emphases move away from simple hardware and software components, the narrow application of traditional systems development principles have been found to be insufficient— the application of more general principles of systems, hardware, and software architecture to
2208-540: Is 20 times more than it was in 2010. To tackle the environmental issues of ICT, the EU commission plans proper monitoring and reporting of the GHG emissions of different ICT platforms, countries and infrastructure in general. Further the establishment of international norms for reporting and compliance are promoted to foster transparency in this sector. Moreover it is suggested by scientists to make more ICT investments to exploit
2304-494: Is a list of OECD countries by share of ICT sector in total value added in 2013. The ICT Development Index ranks and compares the level of ICT use and access across the various countries around the world. In 2014 ITU (International Telecommunication Union) released the latest rankings of the IDI, with Denmark attaining the top spot, followed by South Korea. The top 30 countries in the rankings include most high-income countries where
2400-444: Is a matter not only of education but also of power. Therefore, Warschauer concludes that access to ICT cannot rest on devices or conduits alone; it must also engage physical, digital, human, and social resources. Each of these categories of resources have iterative relations with ICT use. If ICT is used well, it can promote these resources, but if it is used poorly, it can contribute to a cycle of underdevelopment and exclusion. In
2496-408: Is a set of high-level requirements reflecting the users' requirements which can be used by the engineers to develop systems design requirements. Because requirements evolve over the course of a project, especially a long one, an architect is needed until the system is accepted by the user: the architect ensures that all changes and interpretations made during the course of development do not compromise
2592-458: Is a sufficiently stand-alone object that it can be tested as a complete component, separate from the whole, using only a simple testbed to supply simulated inputs and record outputs. That is, it is not necessary to know how an air traffic control system works in order to design and build a data management subsystem for it. It is only necessary to know the constraints under which the subsystem will be expected to operate. A good architect ensures that
2688-418: Is a test conducted to determine if the requirements of a specification or contract are met. It may involve chemical tests , physical tests , or performance tests . In systems engineering , it may involve black-box testing performed on a system (for example: a piece of software , lots of manufactured mechanical parts, or batches of chemical products) prior to its delivery. In software testing ,
2784-440: Is a widespread issue beyond the reach of increased funding and technological advances with little evidence that teachers and tutors are properly integrating ICT into everyday learning. Intrinsic barriers such as a belief in more traditional teaching practices and individual attitudes towards computers in education as well as the teachers own comfort with computers and their ability to use them all as result in varying effectiveness in
2880-430: Is also the principal keeper of the users' vision of the end product, and of the process of deriving requirements from and implementing that vision. Architects do not follow exact procedures. They communicate with users/sponsors in a highly interactive, relatively informal way— together they extract the true requirements necessary for the designed (end) system. The architect must remain constantly in communication with
2976-407: Is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications ( telephone lines and wireless signals) and computers, as well as necessary enterprise software , middleware , storage and audiovisual, that enable users to access, store, transmit, understand and manipulate information. ICT is also used to refer to
Systems architect - Misplaced Pages Continue
3072-455: Is devices. In this model, access is defined most simply as the ownership of a device such as a phone or computer. Warschauer identifies many flaws with this model, including its inability to account for additional costs of ownership such as software, access to telecommunications, knowledge gaps surrounding computer use, and the role of government regulation in some countries. Therefore, Warschauer argues that considering only devices understates
3168-497: Is relevant because communicative practice is a key asset for refugees and immigrants as they immerse themselves in a new language and a new society. Well-designed mobile language learning activities connect refugees with mainstream cultures, helping them learn in authentic contexts. ICT has been employed as an educational enhancement in Sub-Saharan Africa since the 1960s. Beginning with television and radio, it extended
3264-414: Is said to pass. If it does, the system may either be rejected or accepted on conditions previously agreed between the sponsor and the manufacturer. The anticipated result of a successful test execution: The objective is to provide confidence that the developed product meets both the functional and non-functional requirements. The purpose of conducting acceptance testing is that once completed, and provided
3360-441: Is still slow compared to the rest of the developed world, with smartphone penetration only expected to reach 20% by 2017. Additionally, there are gender, social, and geo-political barriers to educational access, and the severity of these barriers vary greatly by country. Overall, 29.6 million children in Sub-Saharan Africa were not in school in the year 2012, owing not just to the geographical divide, but also to political instability,
3456-577: Is the informational equivalent to 1.25 stacks of CD-ROM from the earth to the moon in 2007, and the equivalent of 4,500 stacks of printed books from the earth to the sun in 2014. The world's technological capacity to receive information through one-way broadcast networks was 432 exabytes of (optimally compressed) information in 1986, 715 (optimally compressed) exabytes in 1993, 1.2 (optimally compressed) zettabytes in 2000, and 1.9 zettabytes in 2007. The world's effective capacity to exchange information through two-way telecommunication networks
3552-526: Is usually designed to be identical, or as close as possible, to the anticipated production environment. It includes all facilities, hardware, software, firmware, procedures, and/or documentation intended for or used to perform the testing of software. UAT and OAT test cases are ideally derived in collaboration with business customers, business analysts, testers, and developers. These tests must include both business logic tests as well as operational environment conditions. The business customers (product owners) are
3648-531: The ISTQB defines acceptance testing as: Formal testing with respect to user needs, requirements, and business processes conducted to determine whether a system satisfies the acceptance criteria and to enable the user, customers or other authorized entity to determine whether to accept the system. The final test in the QA lifecycle, user acceptance testing, is conducted just before the final release to assess whether
3744-564: The OECD countries a reduction of 0.235% energy use is caused by an increase in ICT capital by 1%. On the other side the more digitization is happening, the more energy is consumed, that means for OECD countries 1% increase in internet users causes a raise of 0.026% electricity consumption per capita and for emerging countries the impact is more than 4 times as high. Currently the scientific forecasts are showing an increase up to 30700 TWh in 2030 which
3840-887: The Royal Society recommended that the use of the term "ICT" should be discontinued in British schools "as it has attracted too many negative connotations". From 2014, the National Curriculum has used the word computing , which reflects the addition of computer programming into the curriculum. Variations of the phrase have spread worldwide. The United Nations has created a " United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force " and an internal "Office of Information and Communications Technology". The money spent on IT worldwide has been estimated as US$ 3.8 trillion in 2017 and has been growing at less than 5% per year since 2009. The estimate 2018 growth of
3936-486: The convergence of audiovisuals and telephone networks with computer networks through a single cabling or link system. There are large economic incentives to merge the telephone networks with the computer network system using a single unified system of cabling, signal distribution, and management. ICT is an umbrella term that includes any communication device, encompassing radio, television, cell phones, computer and network hardware, satellite systems and so on, as well as
Systems architect - Misplaced Pages Continue
4032-492: The engineer proposes to develop and/or select and combine the components of the technical infrastructure to support the CHI. In the absence of an experienced architect, there is an unfortunate tendency to confuse the two architectures. But — the engineer thinks in terms of hardware and software and the technical solution space, whereas the users may be thinking in terms of solving a problem of getting people from point A to point B in
4128-625: The higher layers, and may disappear altogether at the highest layers. The acceptance test is a principal responsibility of the systems architect. It is the chief means by which the program lead will prove to the users that the system is as originally planned and that all involved architects and engineers have met their objectives. A building architect uses sketches, models, and drawings. An automation systems (or software or hardware) architect should use sketches, models, and prototypes to discuss different solutions and results with users, engineers, and other architects. An early, draft version of
4224-539: The Information Age is one of many models for describing and managing competencies for ICT professionals in the 21st century. The phrase "information and communication technologies" has been used by academic researchers since the 1980s. The abbreviation "ICT" became popular after it was used in a report to the UK government by Dennis Stevenson in 1997, and then in the revised National Curriculum for England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2000. However, in 2012,
4320-707: The Information Society (WSIS) to discuss the opportunities and challenges facing today's information society. According to this resolution, the General Assembly related the Summit to the United Nations Millennium Declaration 's goal of implementing ICT to achieve Millennium Development Goals . It also emphasized a multi-stakeholder approach to achieve these goals, using all stakeholders including civil society and
4416-445: The acceptance criteria are met, it is expected the sponsors will sign off on the product development/enhancement as satisfying the defined requirements (previously agreed between business and product provider/developer). User acceptance testing (UAT) consists of a process of verifying that a solution works for the user. It is not system testing (ensuring software does not crash and meets documented requirements) but rather ensures that
4512-402: The aid of other specialists— in safety , security , communications , special purpose hardware, graphics , human factors , test and evaluation , quality control , reliability , maintainability , availability , interface management, etc. An effective systems architectural team must have access to specialists in critical specialties as needed. An architect planning a building works on
4608-432: The architects (and engineers) are responsible for: Large systems architecture was developed as a way to handle systems too large for one person to conceive of, let alone design. Systems of this size are rapidly becoming the norm, so architectural approaches and architects are increasingly needed to solve the problems of large to very large systems. In general, increasingly large systems are reduced to 'human' proportions by
4704-403: The architects work together to integrate their subsystems or aspects, and respond to a chief architect responsible for the entire system. In general, the role of the architect is to act as a mediator between the users and the engineers, reconciling the users' needs and requirements with what the engineers have determined to be doable within the given (engineering) constraints. In systems design ,
4800-501: The basis for a theory of the digital divide and ICT access, as detailed below: There is not just one type of ICT access, but many types. The meaning and value of access varies in particular social contexts. Access exists in gradations rather than in a bipolar opposition. Computer and Internet use brings no automatic benefit outside of its particular functions. ICT use is a social practice, involving access to physical artifacts, content, skills, and social support. And acquisition of ICT access
4896-545: The classroom. Since then, multiple projects have endeavoured to continue the expansion of ICT's reach in the region, including the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, which by 2015 had distributed over 2.4 million laptops to nearly two million students and teachers. The inclusion of ICT in the classroom, often referred to as M-Learning , has expanded the reach of educators and improved their ability to track student progress in Sub-Saharan Africa. In particular,
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#17327870043394992-456: The core properties of the system and those that are hardest to change later. In small systems the architecture is typically defined directly by the developers. However, in larger systems, a systems architect should be appointed to outline the overall system, and to interface between the users, sponsors, and other stakeholders on one side and the engineers on the other. Very large, highly complex systems may include multiple architects, in which case
5088-463: The cost, time and other constraints. When the users needs are translated into a set of high-level requirements is also the best time to write the first version of the acceptance test , which should, thereafter, be religiously kept up to date with the requirements. That way, the users will be absolutely clear about what they are getting. It is also a safeguard against untestable requirements, misunderstandings, and requirements creep. The development of
5184-545: The criteria that a system or component must satisfy in order to be accepted by a user, customer, or other authorized entity. Testing is a set of activities conducted to facilitate the discovery and/or evaluation of properties of one or more items under test. Each test, known as a test case, exercises a set of predefined test activities, developed to drive the execution of the test item to meet test objectives; including correct implementation, error identification, quality verification, and other valued details. The test environment
5280-408: The design of (sub)systems is seen to be needed. Architecture may also be seen as a simplified model of the finished end product— its primary function is to define the parts and their relationships to each other so that the whole can be seen to be a consistent, complete, and correct representation of what the users' had in mind— especially for the computer-human-interface. It is also used to ensure that
5376-591: The developing world); the number of Internet users in developing countries has doubled in five years (2009–2014), with two-thirds of all people online now living in the developing world." However, hurdles are still large. "Of the 4.3 billion people not yet using the Internet, 90% live in developing countries. In the world's 42 Least Connected Countries (LCCs), which are home to 2.5 billion people, access to ICTs remains largely out of reach, particularly for these countries' large rural populations." ICT has yet to penetrate
5472-406: The early 21st century a rapid development of ICT services and electronical devices took place, in which the internet servers multiplied by a factor of 1000 to 395 million and its still increasing. This increase can be explained by moores law , which states, that the development of ICT increases every year by 16–20%, so it will double in numbers every four to five years. Alongside this development and
5568-426: The end users and with the (principal) systems engineers. Therefore, the architect must be intimately familiar with the users' environment and problem, and with the engineering environment(s) of likely solution spaces. The user requirements specification should be a joint product of the users and architect: the users bring their needs and wish list, the architect brings knowledge of what is likely to prove doable within
5664-450: The entire ICT is 5%. The biggest growth of 16% is expected in the area of new technologies ( IoT , Robotics , AR / VR , and AI ). The 2014 IT budget of the US federal government was nearly $ 82 billion. IT costs, as a percentage of corporate revenue, have grown 50% since 2002, putting a strain on IT budgets. When looking at current companies' IT budgets, 75% are recurrent costs, used to "keep
5760-439: The final stages of a project often occurs before a client or customer accepts the new system. Users of the system perform tests in line with what would occur in real-life scenarios. The materials given to the tester must be similar to the materials that the end user will have. Testers should be given real-life scenarios such as the three most common or difficult tasks that the users they represent will undertake. The UAT acts as
5856-408: The first level of engineering requirements is not a purely analytical exercise and should also involve both the architect and engineer. If any compromises are to be made— to meet constraints- the architect must ensure that the final product and overall look and feel do not stray very far from the users' intent. The engineer should focus on developing a design that optimizes the constraints but ensures
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#17327870043395952-403: The high investments in increasing demand for ICT capable products, a high environmental impact came with it. Software and Hardware development as well as production causing already in 2008 the same amount of CO 2 -emissions as global air travels. There are two sides of ICT, the positive environmental possibilities and the shadow side. On the positive side, studies proved, that for instance in
6048-584: The household, especially in culturally conservative regions where traditional gender expectations contrast observed alternatives." Applications of ICTs in science, research and development, and academia include: Scholar Mark Warschauer defines a "models of access" framework for analyzing ICT accessibility. In the second chapter of his book, Technology and Social Inclusion: Rethinking the Digital Divide , he describes three models of access to ICTs: devices, conduits, and literacy. Devices and conduits are
6144-423: The importance of social origins, social structure, and gender inequality. Once in school, students also face barriers to quality education, such as teacher competency, training and preparedness, access to educational materials, and lack of information management. In modern society, ICT is ever-present, with over three billion people having access to the Internet. With approximately 8 out of 10 Internet users owning
6240-500: The individual level. Warschauer applied their literacy research to ICT literacy as part of his model of ICT access. Scribner and Cole found no generalizable cognitive benefits from Vai literacy; instead, individual differences on cognitive tasks were due to other factors, like schooling or living environment. The results suggested that there is "no single construct of literacy that divides people into two cognitive camps; [...] rather, there are gradations and types of literacies, with
6336-411: The initial draft of the test plan should be developed contemporaneously with the requirements. All stakeholders should sign off on the acceptance test descriptions, or equivalent, as the sole determinant of the satisfaction of the requirements, at the outset of the program. The use of any form of the word "architect" is regulated by "title acts" in many states in the US, and a person must be licensed as
6432-533: The integration of ICT in the classroom. School environments play an important role in facilitating language learning. However, language and literacy barriers are obstacles preventing refugees from accessing and attending school, especially outside camp settings. Mobile-assisted language learning apps are key tools for language learning. Mobile solutions can provide support for refugees' language and literacy challenges in three main areas: literacy development, foreign language learning and translations. Mobile technology
6528-536: The level of connectivity of those at the very bottom of the pyramid; an estimated 450 million people worldwide live in places which are still out of reach of mobile cellular service." Favourably, the gap between the access to the Internet and mobile coverage has decreased substantially in the last fifteen years, in which "2015 was the deadline for achievements of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which global leaders agreed upon in
6624-525: The lights on" in the IT department, and 25% are the cost of new initiatives for technology development. The average IT budget has the following breakdown: The estimate of money to be spent in 2022 is just over US$ 6 trillion. The world's technological capacity 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, and some 5 zetta bytes in 2014. This
6720-546: The magnitude of digital inequality. For example, the Pew Research Center notes that 96% of Americans own a smartphone, although most scholars in this field would contend that comprehensive access to ICT in the United States is likely much lower than that. A conduit requires a connection to a supply line, which for ICT could be a telephone line or Internet line. Accessing the supply requires investment in
6816-415: The mobile phone has been most important in this effort. Mobile phone use is widespread, and mobile networks cover a wider area than internet networks in the region. The devices are familiar to student, teacher, and parent, and allow increased communication and access to educational materials. In addition to benefits for students, M-learning also offers the opportunity for better teacher training, which leads to
6912-457: The most common descriptors for access to ICTs, but they are insufficient for meaningful access to ICTs without third model of access, literacy. Combined, these three models roughly incorporate all twelve of the criteria of "Real Access" to ICT use, conceptualized by a non-profit organization called Bridges.org in 2005: The most straightforward model of access for ICT in Warschauer 's theory
7008-400: The operational readiness of the system to be supported, and/or to become part of the production environment. Acceptance testing is a term used in agile software development methodologies, particularly extreme programming , referring to the functional testing of a user story by the software development team during the implementation phase. The customer specifies scenarios to test when
7104-433: The overall design, making sure it will be pleasing and useful to its inhabitants. While a single architect by himself may be enough to build a single-family house, many engineers may be needed, in addition, to solve the detailed problems that arise when a novel high-rise building is designed. If the job is large and complex enough, parts of the architecture may be designed as independent components. That is, if we are building
7200-417: The parts fit together and relate in the desired way. It is necessary to distinguish between the architecture of the users' world and the engineered systems architecture. The former represents and addresses problems and solutions in the user's world. It is principally captured in the computer-human-interfaces (CHI) of the engineered system. The engineered system represents the engineering solutions— how
7296-848: The potentials of ICT to alleviate CO 2 -emissions in general, and to implement a more effective coordination of ICT, energy and growth policies. Consequently, applying the principle of the coase theorem makes sense. It recommends to make investments there, where the marginal avoidance costs of emissions are the lowest, therefore in the developing countries with comparatively lower technological standards and policies as high-tech countries. With these measures, ICT can reduce environmental damage from economic growth and energy consumption by facilitating communication and infrastructure. ICTs could also be used to address environmental issues , including climate change , in various ways, including ways beyond education. Acceptance test In engineering and its various subdisciplines , acceptance testing
7392-436: The primary stakeholders of these tests. As the test conditions successfully achieve their acceptance criteria, the stakeholders are reassured the development is progressing in the right direction. The acceptance test suite may need to be performed multiple times, as all of the test cases may not be executed within a single test iteration. The acceptance test suite is run using predefined acceptance test procedures to direct
7488-610: The private sector, in addition to governments. To help anchor and expand ICT to every habitable part of the world, "2015 is the deadline for achievements of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which global leaders agreed upon in the year 2000." There is evidence that, to be effective in education, ICT must be fully integrated into the pedagogy . Specifically, when teaching literacy and math, using ICT in combination with Writing to Learn produces better results than traditional methods alone or ICT alone. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation ( UNESCO ),
7584-430: The product or application can handle real-world scenarios. By replicating user behavior, it checks if the system satisfies business requirements and rejects changes if certain criteria are not met. Some forms of acceptance testing are, user acceptance testing (UAT), end-user testing, operational acceptance testing (OAT), acceptance test-driven development (ATDD) and field (acceptance) testing. Acceptance criteria are
7680-512: The proper infrastructure from a commercial company or local government and recurring payments from the user once the line is set up. For this reason, conduits usually divide people based on their geographic locations. As a Pew Research Center poll reports, rural Americans are 12% less likely to have broadband access than other Americans, thereby making them less likely to own the devices. Additionally, these costs can be prohibitive to lower-income families accessing ICTs. These difficulties have led to
7776-556: The quality of life is higher than average, which includes countries from Europe and other regions such as "Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Japan, Macao (China), New Zealand, Singapore, and the United States; almost all countries surveyed improved their IDI ranking this year." On 21 December 2001, the United Nations General Assembly approved Resolution 56/183, endorsing the holding of the World Summit on
7872-427: The reach of education from the classroom to the living room, and to geographical areas that had been beyond the reach of the traditional classroom. As the technology evolved and became more widely used, efforts in Sub-Saharan Africa were also expanded. In the 1990s a massive effort to push computer hardware and software into schools was undertaken, with the goal of familiarizing both students and teachers with computers in
7968-613: The remote areas of some countries, with many developing countries dearth of any type of Internet. This also includes the availability of telephone lines, particularly the availability of cellular coverage, and other forms of electronic transmission of data. The latest "Measuring the Information Society Report" cautiously stated that the increase in the aforementioned cellular data coverage is ostensible, as "many users have multiple subscriptions, with global growth figures sometimes translating into little real improvement in
8064-428: The solution will work for the user (i.e. tests that the user accepts the solution); software vendors often refer to this as "Beta testing". This testing should be undertaken by the intended end user , or a subject-matter expert (SME), preferably the owner or client of the solution under test and provide a summary of the findings for confirmation to proceed after trial or review. In software development , UAT as one of
8160-525: The system as a whole performs according to the users' expectations. Many commercial-off-the-shelf or already developed hardware and software components may be selected independently according to constraints such as cost, response, throughput, etc. In some cases, the architect can already assemble the end system (almost) unaided. Or, s/he may still need the help of a hardware or software engineer to select components and to design and build any special purpose function. The architects (or engineers) may also enlist
8256-409: The system is fielded and in use), it is a lot easier subsequently to evolve a simple concept than one laden with exceptions, special cases, and much "fine print." Layering the architecture is important for keeping the architecture sufficiently simple at each layer so that it remains comprehensible to a single mind. As layers are ascended, whole systems at lower layers become simple components at
8352-417: The system, however complex, is built upon relatively simple and "clean" concepts for each (sub)system or layer and is easily understandable by everyone, especially the users, without special training. The architect will use a minimum of heuristics to ensure that each partition is well defined and clean of kludges , work-arounds , short-cuts , or confusing detail and exceptions. As users needs evolve, (once
8448-565: The systems architect must be reasonably knowledgeable of the users' domain of experience. For example, the architect of an air traffic system needs to be more than superficially familiar with all of the tasks of an air traffic system, including those of all levels of users. The title of systems architect connotes higher-level design responsibilities than a systems engineer , software engineer or programmer , though day-to-day activities may overlap. Systems architects interface with multiple stakeholders in an organization in order to understand
8544-403: The testers on which data to use, the step-by-step processes to follow, and the expected result following execution. The actual results are retained for comparison with the expected results. If the actual results match the expected results for each test case, the test case is said to pass. If the quantity of non-passing test cases does not breach the project's predetermined threshold, the test suite
8640-463: The user), and the technologies and resources to be used in its design and implementation. The systems architect's work should seek to avoid implementation issues and readily permit unanticipated extensions/modifications in future stages. Because of the extensive experience required for this, the systems architect is typically a very senior technologist with substantial, but general, knowledge of hardware, software, and similar (user) systems. Above all,
8736-593: The users' manual is invaluable, especially in conjunction with a prototype. Nevertheless, it is important that a workable, well written set of requirements, or specification , be created which is reasonably understandable to the customer (so that they can properly sign off on it, but the principal users' requirements should be captured in a preliminary users' manual for intelligibility). But it must use precise and unambiguous language so that designers and other implementers are left in no doubt as to meanings or intentions. In particular, all requirements must be testable , and
8832-439: The users' viewpoint. Architects are generalists. They are not expected to be experts in any one technology but are expected to be knowledgeable of many technologies and able to judge their applicability to specific situations. They also apply their knowledge to practical situations, but evaluate the cost/benefits of various solutions using different technologies, for example, hardware versus software versus manual, and assure that
8928-469: The various levels of requirements, the domain, the viable technologies, and anticipated development process. Their work includes determining multiple design and implementation alternatives, assessing such alternatives based on all identified constraints (such as cost, schedule, space, power, safety, usability, reliability, maintainability, availability, and other "ilities" ), and selecting the most suitable options for further design. The output of such work sets
9024-507: The various services and appliances with them such as video conferencing and distance learning. ICT also includes analog technology, such as paper communication, and any mode that transmits communication. ICT is a broad subject and the concepts are evolving. It covers any product that will store, retrieve, manipulate, process, transmit, or receive information electronically in a digital form (e.g., personal computers including smartphones, digital television, email, or robots). Skills Framework for
9120-539: The year 2000, and the new data show ICT progress and highlight remaining gaps." ICT continues to take on a new form, with nanotechnology set to usher in a new wave of ICT electronics and gadgets. ICT newest editions into the modern electronic world include smartwatches, such as the Apple Watch , smart wristbands such as the Nike+ FuelBand , and smart TVs such as Google TV . With desktops soon becoming part of
9216-404: Was 281 petabytes of (optimally compressed) information 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 world's technological capacity to compute information with humanly guided general-purpose computers grew from 3.0 × 10^8 MIPS in 1986, to 6.4 x 10^12 MIPS in 2007. The following
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