The Difference Between Information & Communication Technology

Put simply, information technology is all about how computers work and what they can do, while communication technology is about facilitating communication between people. Communication technology includes not only computers, but also telephones, radios, faxes and other devices.

Information technology refers to devices (hardware) and algorithms or programs (software) used to store, retrieve and process data. In simple terms, it refers to all computer applications and devices.

In the modern sense of the term, communication technology includes electronic systems used for communication between individuals or groups not physically present at the same location. It is about ways people can talk or write to each other and exchange messages, pictures or sounds.

By some definitions, communication technology could have started about five thousand years ago when the Sumerians invented writing; or perhaps two thousand years ago when the Chinese invented paper. Soon after learning to write, people invented ways of storing information. Modern telecommunication started in the early 1800s with the invention of the telegraph and continued with the first electronic computer in 1946.

Because of the convergence of the two technologies in the sense that we increasingly use digital data to communicate, a new term has been coined: information and communication technology (ITC). Today we use computers to call each other and telephones to process data and send emails.