Information and Communication Technology · Classes 11-12 · Chapter 1 · 1.1

Concept of a Global Village, Communication and Employment.

These days a person's email address matters more than the address of their house. That is because where distance stops being a wall, the whole world turns into one village. This note covers what that village is, what it takes to build, and its first two components: communication and employment.

1. The global village: one village across the distance

A global village is an environment, or a society, in which people from different parts of the world are connected through information technology. They can talk to one another and lend a helping hand.

The idea grew out of a simple thought. Suppose distance did not matter and everyone lived side by side like villagers, setting aside political, economic, racial and religious divides. Then a stronger sense of community would follow, and progress would be shared everywhere.

The Canadian philosopher Herbert Marshall McLuhan first put this forward in the 1960s. His point was that electronic technology and the fast spread of information could wipe out the ideas of space and time, and turn the whole world into a village.

2. Gains, risks and conditions

The good side is large. Lifestyles and work efficiency improve, business and commerce spread, remote learning and remote health care become possible, and new jobs open up all around the world.

There is a downside too. When information is free and easy to reach, fake and untrue information gets in as well, and that can bring chaos at the level of society or the nation. Add to that invasion of privacy, cyber attacks, and a growing gap between those who have technology and those who do not.

Building a global village takes preparation on two sides. On the people's side we need awareness, ability, interest, knowledge, skill and usefulness. On the technology side we need connectivity with the network, hardware and software, and the ability to store and process data from trusted sources. Of these, connectivity is the most important, which is how the exercise and the board questions explain it. Turn the six cards to see which side each need belongs to.

3. The eleven components

The book breaks the global village into eleven principal components: communication, employment, education, medical facilities, research, office, residence, business, news, entertainment and social communication, and exchange of cultural activities. This note takes the first two, communication and employment.

4. Communication: the principal component

In the global village, communication means exchanging information and messages, whether by speech, writing or audiovisuals. This exchange is the principal component of the global village.

Communication comes in two kinds: telecommunication and information communication. Telecommunication devices are the telephone, mobile phone, radio, television and walkie-talkie. The wired telephone was once the only means, and the others arrived after wireless telecommunication was invented. Place the nine chips in the right box.

In the age of information technology, the most important thing is to share and exchange information while following protocols and security measures. The internet and its services are the examples: email, social networking, websites and video conferencing.

Email is a way of exchanging messages reliably over the internet. Today a person's email address is more important than their physical address.

Social networking is used to communicate and to share information, photos, videos and news. Many large social and political movements have been built using sites such as Facebook and Twitter. In video conferencing, the participants hold a meeting in an audio-visual way.

These services became popular mainly because they save time and money. But too much dependence on them can turn into addiction among the younger generation.

5. Employment: work from home

Thanks to information and communication technology, people in developing countries can apply for jobs at home and abroad from their own homes, which helps against unemployment. They can also work from home and earn foreign currency.

Outsourcing: using information technology and modern communication, a citizen of one country remotely provides services to a person or an organization of another country. Freelancing: working independently, part-time or on a project basis, according to one's own skills. Tell them apart in the six lines below.

The world's popular marketplaces, or job-sharing websites, are Upwork, Freelancer, Belancer and Fiverr. The work on offer includes data analysis, copywriting, graphics design, software development, web development, affiliate marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), AdSense, virtual assistance, research and survey, and article and blog writing.

Work has grown at home as well. Every union of Bangladesh now has an Information Services Center, which has created work and encouraged entrepreneurs. Services like Uber and Pathao have given numerous people jobs in transport.

A freelancer in Dhaka works for a client in New York. Turn the clock to see how their two days line up, then send a letter and a message and compare.

Freelancing is popular because it offers comfort in work and has no strict boundaries of place or time. But the negatives come to six: separation from family, late night shifts, not getting work that matches one's skill, mental stress, lack of proper evaluation or trouble with payment, and no social recognition as a vocation. Think first, then tap each of the eight reasons to see whether it is a plus or a minus.

6. Check yourself

The first question is on the core idea of the global village.

The second tests another point from this section.

In the last one, watch the book's exact words.

The whole note on seven cards.

Source: Information and Communication Technology, Classes 11-12 (NCTB), Chapter 1 “Information and Communication Technology: World and Bangladesh Perspective”, section 1.1.