engineering

Infocommunications

Infocommunications is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Infocommunications rather than just read about it. In short: Infocommunications is the natural expansion of telecommunications with information processing and content handling functions including all types of electronic communications (fixed and mobile telephony, data communications, media communications, broadcasting, etc.) on a common digital technology base, mainly through Internet technology. History The term Infocommunications, or in short form, Infocom(s) or Infocomm(s)…

Key takeaways

Infocommunications belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Infocommunications to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Infocommunications from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Infocommunications is the natural expansion of telecommunications with information processing and content handling functions including all types of electronic communications (fixed and mobile telephony, data communications, media communications, broadcasting, etc.) on a common digital technology base, mainly through Internet technology.

History The term Infocommunications, or in short form, Infocom(s) or Infocomm(s) first emerged in the beginning of eighties at scientific conferences and then was gradually adopted in the 1990s by the players of telecommunications sector, including manufacturers, service providers, regulatory authorities and international organizations to clearly express their participation in the convergence process of the telecommunications and information technology sectors. The convergence process is triggered by the huge scale development of digital technology. Digital technology has unified, Internet technology radically reshaped telecommunications, integrated information processing and content management functions.

Related terms The term "infocommunications" is also used in politics in a wider sense as a shorter form of information and communication(s) technology (ICT). The terms info-com(s) and info-communications (with a hyphen) are also used to express the integration of the information technology (IT) and (tele)communication sectors, or simply to interpret the abbreviation ICT. The term Information and Communication(s) Technology (ICT) has been defined as an extended synonym for information technology (IT) to emphasize the integration with (tele)communications. Content published in mass communication media such as printed, audio-visual and online contents and related services are not considered as ICT products, but are referred to as the Media & Content products. The abbreviation TIM, as the Telecom IT Media sector is used to express the full integration of the Telecommunications, IT and Media & Content sectors. As well, the abbreviation TIME, as the Telecom IT/Internet Media & Entertainment/Edutainment sector is used to express the integration of these sectors. The relationship and position of the terms can be demonstrated by a digital convergence prism (Figure 1), which shows the three components (T, I, M) and their pairs and the triple combination (convergent TIM triplet) according to the rule of additive colour mixing. Assuming that telecommunications (Telecom) is blue, informatics (IT) is green and Media & Content is red, then teleinformatics/telematics is cyan, telemedia/networked media is magenta, media informatics is yellow, and the convergent TIM is white. In such a way, the integrated TIM sector corresponds to the prism as a whole, the ICT sector to the whole minus the red area (Media & Content), and the Infocommunications relates to Telecom and neighbouring three areas (blue, cyan, magenta and white). That means that, for example, media informatics is a part of ICT but not part of Infocommunications.

See also Information Age Cognitive infocommunications Information and communication technologies for environmental sustainability

References

External links Infocommunications Journal Detailed information on infocommunications and the related terms

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Infocommunications

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Infocommunications claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Infocommunications before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Infocommunications ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Infocommunications

In research: Infocommunications appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Infocommunications in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Infocommunications is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics IT infrastructure, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Infocommunications outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Infocommunications in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Infocommunications means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Infocommunications out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Infocommunications in simple terms?

Why does Infocommunications matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Infocommunications?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Infocommunications.