Technological Infrastructure and Use of ICT in Education in ... - ADEA

Technological Infrastructure and Use of ICT in Education in Africa: an overview
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term has emerged to reflect the growth in technological convergence of
information, communication, and broadcasting technologies. This trend
is, therefore, worth exploring briefly.
2.3.....Technological Convergence
In terms of a dictionary definition, convergence is described as ‘movement
towards or terminating in the same point’ (Onions, 1987, p418). In
itself, this provides an obvious enough definition, but it requires further
explanation in terms of its relevance to technological trends. One
simple description of convergence provides a useful starting point for
understanding the concept from a technological perspective. In brief,
convergence may be described as:
The coming together of two or more disparate disciplines
or technologies. For example, the so-called fax
revolution was produced by a convergence of telecommunications
technology, optical scanning technology,
and printing technology.
(ZDNet Webopedia, 1999)
This description is helpful because it provides an illustration of a completed
process of technological convergence, which in turn helps us to
separate the general concept from its application to a specific process
of technological convergence currently taking place.
From the perspective of this report, however, the term ‘convergence’ will
be used to describe one particular process of technological convergence.
This can be summarized as follows:
In information technology, convergence is a term for
the combining of personal computers, telecommunication,
and television into a user experience that is
accessible to everyone.
(Whatis.com, 1999)
Convergence is an on-going process which entails the coming together
of the following:
• content from the audiovisual and publishing industries;
• potentially separate physical infrastructures (such as those supporting
broadcast television or telecommunications services) able to carry
similar sorts of information at increasingly lower costs;
• the interactive information storage and processing capabilities of
the computer world;
2. Definition of Terms