This article provides an essay on information technology.
Information is data that have been put into a meaningful and useful context and communicated to a recipient who uses it to make decisions. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) ordinarily refers to computer- based technology and telecommunications.
These are electronic systems for receiving, processing, storing, retrieving and transmitting information. Thus, IT includes both computing and communications technology. Properly developed, selected and used, IT can provide good support to knowledge-based extension system.
IT includes Compact Disc-Read Only Memory (CD-ROM), Computer Networks, Desktop Publishing (DTP), Decision Support Systems, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and Interactive Multimedia etc. The new media integrate the characteristics of both interpersonal and mass communication. They are interactive, meaning that the participants in a communication process have control over, and can exchange roles, in their mutual discourse.
The use of information technology enables one to overcome the limitations of physical distance and time lag in communication. Rapid improvements in information technology have reduced their cost and space requirements, enhanced speed and storage capacity and increased connectivity between people, media and organizations. IT also facilitates preparation of conventional communication materials like posters, charts, leaflets, folders, bulletins, audio tape, transparency, photographs, slides, video tape etc. in a better way in less time.
Effective use of IT by the extension agency requires appropriate organizational change, improvement in information management and skill development of its users. IT, however, cannot replace face-to-face contact between extension agents and their clients. Users of IT should be careful about the problems of urban bias and information overload.
Simply gathering more information is not enough. It is essential to ensure that the information is of good quality, reliable, timely and presented in a useful and meaningful way.
To do so, information system designers must clearly identify users’ goals, the information that users need to achieve those goals, and the process by which that information will be gathered and entered into the system. This step must be taken before adopting any information technology system. It is this step that makes the adoption of information technology ‘needs-driven’, rather than ‘technology-driven’.
Following Zijp (1994), some information technologies relevant for rural development are presented in brief.
Compact Disc-Read Only Memory (CD-ROM):
Compact Disc-Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) is a storage medium that, together with a microcomputer, offers rapid access to a very large volume of data, including text, sound, computer graphics, animation, slides and a limited amount of motion video.
CD-ROM is used across all sectors, including agriculture, natural resource management, medicine and social sciences. Most applications involve storage of large amounts of material which can be easily retrieved. For example, CD-ROMs can provide ready access to a vast amount of information on local pests and plant diseases, which can be used to support decision making in crop management and integrated pest management.
With text, maps, illustrations, and other easy-to-understand material, the CD-ROM can deliver crop protection information efficiently and effectively to extension agents and other intermediaries, as well as to farmers themselves.
Computer Networks:
The increase in accessibility to computers worldwide and the new computer communication software packages makes it possible to use the computer as a means for communication and information retrieval. For example, a computer user can now communicate to other users worldwide with the help of a reliable modem and a telephone line.
Computer users with such connections can also dial up a large number of local, national or international computer networks which provide access to immense databases on a wide variety of subjects or to millions of other computer users having connections to these networks.
Computer communications are used for a variety of purposes, from personal messages to peer group communication, teleconferencing, access to electronic news bulletin boards and hotlines, electronic journals, subject databases, experts in different areas etc. With access to global networks, rural development agencies, research institutes, scientists and field workers can gain access to a vast array of information very quickly.
Desktop Publishing (DTP):
The design and production of teaching aids and learning materials is a difficult, expensive and time consuming task that requires skills, equipment and physical facilities, usually unavailable in rural areas of developing countries. Desktop Publishing (DTP) offers many new opportunities. DTP combines typesetting, graphics production, in a low- cost, user-friendly package.
Decision Support Systems:
Decision Support Software enhances the users capability of making timely and knowledgeable planning, management and analysis decisions. These applications can automate routine decision activities, or organize collected information in a more meaningful manner.
Expert Systems provide advice to field users or aid in organizing complex activities. The potential for using this software in the rural development context encompasses primary health care, crop protection, pollution control, extension, various agricultural applications etc. It’s user-friendly nature permits use by all levels of management, field workers and farmers.
Software has been developed for crop and livestock management. For example, the calculation of nutritional intake of a cow based on the animal’s weight, calculation of pregnancy probability based on weight at breeding, and forecasting calf weight. Programmers can determine how much fertilizer to use, how often and how much to irrigated crops, how much pesticides to use, the expected value of harvests and the best marketing or storage strategy for crops.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS):
GIS is a systematically designed, spatially indexed approach for organizing information about places or regions in order to facilitate analysis of relationships between different social, economic and environmental variables.
The main applications of GIS include: land use analysis, thematic mapping (e.g. soil type), site selection, socio-economic studies, demographic analysis, physical analysis and include-Agriculture: micro-watershed planning, Education: poverty and transition rates, Community planning: land use analysis, Health: changes in fertility and infant mortality, Environment: analysis of biodiversity etc.
Interactive Multimedia:
Multimedia means many media text, video, narrated sound, music, graphics, animations, special effects etc. which are controlled, coordinated and integrated by a computer. Special software enables users to interact with multimedia material using keyboard, mouse, touch screen etc. Hence the term Interactive Multimedia (IMM). IMM permits the storage of massive amounts of data, graphics, text, still and moving images, and sound on a compact disc, which can be run on a PC.
The advantages of IMM are:
(i) It shifts from passive to active learning; and
(ii) Empower learners who can learn at their own pace. There are two aspects of IMM, the creation and use of IMM products.
Since the interactive multimedia communication systems have the facility for learners to see, hear and interact with it, it is an ideal tool for educators for teaching and training. Multimedia enhances both the comprehension of information and retention to a significantly higher level than the traditional training in the user’s mind. Its self-study feature saves both time and money. The learner can control the pace, sequence and strategy of learning.
Need for Information Technology in Extension Education:
In the present scenario of Indian agriculture, the public extension possibly cannot provide additional qualified manpower to adequately address the complex demand of the farmers by reaching the millions of farmers.
The growth and spread of new information and communication technology in rural India in recent years provide a viable alternative to overcome the physical barriers of face-to-face interpersonal communication. With economic liberalization and unprecedented development of new information and communication technology and educational infrastructure to create large pool of technical manpower in information communication technology, wide range of information and communication technology options are becoming available even to remote and difficult areas, Appropriate choice and adaptation of new information communication technologies in different rural areas to communicate and educate millions of farm families will make all the difference in addressing challenges of agriculture in this millennium.
Farmers need varieties of information other than technology alone from the research, public and private institutions. They need information about agriculture as a business, about the systems and sub-systems including administration, initiatives of other farmers, market information and other unlimited partners known and unknown affecting the agricultural production systems they practise.
Farmers and those who serve them must balance three formidable objectives of productivity, profitability, and sustainability. There is a need to increase productivity to meet the growing demand of food for their own household; responding to the demand of fast changing market opportunities for quality and value added products for increasing profits; and managing natural resources including water, soils, and organic byproducts in a more sustainable manner.
The Web:
The web is the largest and richest Agricultural Information System in the world. Its massive holdings, covering all aspects of world agricultural, natural resources, and food systems, enable farmers to locate needed information to improve yields, plan for weather contingencies, access, research, calculate treatments and runoff, simulate the growing season, visualize precision data, manage finances, buy inputs and sell outputs, and monitor prices in local as well as world markets. The web is surely the most promising way of extension services to reach more farmers with better services.
The Internet is now finding its way into the lives of people living in rural India. The emerging shift in extension strategy toward knowledge-intensive services, has created a climate more conducive to addressing enterprises, domestic infrastructure, education and use of information communication technology to meet developmental needs.
Application of Information Technology:
According to Bhatnagar (2000), information technology applications may be classified into several categories.
These are:
Decision support to public administrators:
Decision support systems for public administrators focus on improving planning and monitoring of development programmes. These include the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to plan the location of rural facilities or to identify disaster prone areas.
Provision of Personal Computers (PCs) in the District Rural Development Agencies was primarily intended to improve the monitoring of the Integrated Rural Development Programme. Information technology could enable field level workers to better plan their activities and for their supervisors to more effectively monitor their performance.
Improving services to the people:
Here, the focus is on automating the process of delivering services to the people, and, in the process, bring in transparency. This reduces waiting time in receiving payments and in obtaining receipts and documents. Computerization of land records, adoption of information technology at milk collection centres, to mention a few, have made things easy for the people.
Empowering people to access information and knowledge:
Access to information about markets is crucial for rural producers of all varieties of goods and services. Use of IT can provide current information on markets to producers, thus increasing their bargaining power. In spite of many development programmes, the people are often unaware of free and priced services that institutions are expected to offer to them.
They are also not aware of the expenditure that different agencies are expected to incur in their village/region and, therefore, have no way of auditing the performance of development departments. IT may be used to deliver such information through kiosks located in rural areas.
Rural communities can also be helped through access to knowledge that will improve productivity in their work, health practices, and enable them to learn about their environment. A large number of innovations in farm practices, tool design and use of indigenous medication do not diffuse beyond local boundaries because of the isolation of the rural communities.
Much indigenous knowledge passed down from generations is also becoming extinct due to lack of presentation efforts. IT and Web technologies could make such information/knowledge visible to large cross-sections of rural communities.
Support to training:
According to Lynton and Pareek (2000), an array of electronic and multimedia devices are available to trainers, for displaying information and for recording sessions, also for copying materials and accessing materials stored elsewhere.
Possibilities of distance learning have multiplied, and more are in the offing. They offer great promise for massive programming of training and retraining. What is important is to be in touch with these developments and use them wherever appropriate.
Opportunities from Information Technology:
Despite increasing recognition of the importance of ‘two-way’ communication for successful development efforts, there are few channels providing ‘feedback’ from the diverse groups in a rural community to agriculture researchers, extension agencies, development assistance organizations and Government offices. Furthermore, difficulty in coordinating and monitoring local organizations has contributed to Government reluctance to delegate authority for rural development activities to local groups.
Information technology can significantly alter this situation, forging better linkages between farmers, rural institutions, voluntary organizations, agricultural research centres, marketing organizations, private firms, and Government agencies. In doing so, IT can provide new opportunities for the rural poor to have input into decision-making.
IT use by development agencies can facilitate information gathering from the rural population, and application of that input into the design and implementation of project activities. IT also provides new means for helping the rural poor (and their advocates) bypass obstructing agents and go directly to the source of the information they need.
Inequalities and Information Gap:
According to Singhal and Rogers (2001), the adopters of new communication technologies tend to be highly educated and of higher socio-economic status. This widens the information gap between the information-rich and the information-poor, at least in the initial stages of computer diffusion. Once public access to computers becomes more widespread through cyber cafes, Internet community centers, and public schools, the digital divide will eventually be crossed.
Connecting People: A Pioneering Effort in Bangladesh:
Making modern telephone facilities accessible to the rural mass is essential, but a difficult, costly and time consuming affair. The manner in which the problem has been tackled in Bangladesh is a good guide on how the benefits of modern information technology can be made available to millions of people in the developing countries.
In 1997, Yunus (1998) established Grameen (Rural) Telecommunications, which provided a nationwide cellular network throughout Bangladesh. One borrower of the Bangladesh Grameen Bank in each village becomes the ‘telephone lady’ for her village. She operates a mobile pay-phone business with a cheap cellular rate. Her ‘mobile’ presence means that all village residents can receive and make telephone calls, obviating the need to install expensive, large-scale telephone exchanges.
Another telecommunications technology venture is the Village Internet Programme (VIP), a pilot project in which Grameen (rural) borrowers obtain loans to purchase and operate ‘cyber kiosks’ for profit. The purpose of cyber kiosks is to provide Grameen borrowers with increased access to agricultural and market information for business use, to provide distance and virtual education through remote classroom facilities, and to provide, computer-based employment in rural areas as an alternative to massive migration to the cities.
Eventually, the plan is to have cyber kiosks that run on solar power and connect to the Internet. Each cyber kiosk will be run as an independently owned and operated franchise of Grameen Communications, in which the borrower will earn money by selling Internet, telephony, and other computer-related services.
In response to the criticism that the poor do not need the luxury of a telephone or of the Internet services, Yunus pointed to contributions made by the ‘telephone ladies’ of Grameen Telecom in accelerating village- level business and in increasing their efficiency.
e-Governance:
Governance is a concept that encompasses the State’s institutional arrangements, decision – making process, implementation capacity and the relationship between government officials and the public. E-GOVERNANCE is the use of information communication technology (ICT) by the government, civil society and political institutions to engage citizens through dialogue and feedback to promote their greater participation in the process of governance of these institutions.
Increasingly, governments in the developing countries seek to tie e-government with their overall economic and social development goals. For example, in India, alleviation of poverty is an important goal and, therefore, many applications that deliver services online in rural areas are being tried out in spite of numerous infrastructure constraints. These applications have an effect on empowerment, poverty reduction and improving government responsiveness to poor communities who have had little prior access to public services.
e-Government can have a direct impact on:
1. Reducing the number of intermediaries that citizens need to interact with in order to get a government service;
2. Improving government ability to monitor; and
3. Disclosing information about government processes and public budget spending to citizens.
Increasingly, governments would like to use e-government as a tool to enhance transparency and reduce corruption.
e-Government Applications:
A few case studies that have demonstrated some impact on poverty alleviation, empowerment of citizens, and increased transparency and lowered corruption in service delivery through e-government applications, are presented following Bhatnagar (2000, 2004).
Bhoomi project, Karnataka:
A computerized land record Kiosk (Bhoomi Centre) has been set up in all the 177 taluks in Karnataka. At these taluk offices a farmer can obtain a copy of an RTC (Record of Rights, Tenancy and Crops) online by paying a nominal fee.
Improving the land record delivery system has a significant social and economic impact in rural areas. Departments such as forestry, animal husbandry, sericulture and cottage industries could create content in their own domain for delivery to rural areas.
An evaluation showed that:
1. Bhoomi kiosks were easy to use. Most users of the Bhoomi system found the system to be very simple, and were able to utilize it with no help.
2. Less complex procedures. Most users of Bhoomi kiosks did so without having to meet any official except the counter staff.
3. Error-free documents. Users indicated that the Bhoomi Kiosks provided error-free documents to more users.
4. Rectifying errors. Users had the confidence to complain and get timely rectification of errors.
5. Nominal cost of service. One could get a hard copy of the RTC at a nominal fee and receive a receipt for the same.
6. Low hidden costs. The hidden costs of time and effort to secure the certificates were very low as most users got the RTC at one visit.
7. Reduction of corruption. Paying of bribes to obtain the documents were greatly reduced.
8. Staff behaviour. Users perceived staff behaviour at the Bhoomi Kiosks as good.
Bhoomi empowers the small rural farmers in many ways. Armed with genuine certificates, farmers can raise loans for a variety of purposes and cannot be easily harassed by the officials. Now the records are in the public domain and can be easily verified by anyone.
The system generates various types of reports on landownership by size, type of soil, crops, owner’s sex etc. which could be useful for planning poverty alleviation programmes, supplying agricultural inputs and credit etc.
Gyandoot: community-owned rural Internet kiosks:
Dhar district in Central India is a poverty-stricken, tribal-dominated rural area of Madhya Pradesh. The Gyandoot project was launched on 1 January, 2000, with the installation of a low-cost rural intranet covering twenty village information kiosks in five blocks of the district. Later eleven more kiosks were set up.
The kiosks offered the following services:
1. Agriculture produce auction centre rates,
2. Copies of land records,
3. Online registration of applications,
4. Online public grievance redressal,
5. Village auction site, and
6. Transparency in government.
Other services offered at the kiosks include matrimonial advertisements, information regarding government programmes, a forum for school children to ask questions and talk to an expert, and e-mail etc. Twice each day, the person managing the server prints the complaints, applications and e-mails received and sends them to the appropriate authority.
The district is in the process of putting up a local area network (LAN), connecting major departments like health, education, tribal development, revenue, food, agriculture, public health engineering, district council and district magistrate etc. to the Gyandoot server. The entire expenditure for the Gyandoot network has been borne by panchayats and the community, with no expenditure burden for the State or national government.
CARD: computer-aided registration of deeds:
Land registration offices throughout Andhra Pradesh now operate computerized counters to help citizens complete registration requirements within an hour, instead of several days as earlier. The lack of transparency in property valuation under the old system resulted in a flourishing business of brokers and middlemen, leading to corruption.
Antiquated procedures such as manual copying and indexing of documents, and storage in paper forms in ill-maintained back rooms have all been replaced. The cost of the CARD project was funded entirely by the Andhra Pradesh government.
FRIENDS: online payments to the government in Kerala:
FRIENDS is the acronym for Fast, Reliable, Instant, Efficient, Network for Disbursement of Services. The project, initiated by the government of Kerala, comprises computerized centres that enable remittances of electricity, telephone and water bills and examination fees under single window. The project serves as an integrated electronic citizen-government interface that seeks to extend the benefits of full-fledged computerization of individual departments to the citizens.
IT in cooperative dairies:
The cooperative movement initiated by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has led to a substantial increase in milk production in India. The two main reasons for this increase are the efficient collection of milk and higher profit for the producers, both of which have, to some degree, been influenced by information technology.
The micro-processor based milk collection system facilitates speedy collection of milk, an efficient and accurate measurement of fat content and quick payment to the farmer. The system not only enhances the speed of services at each cooperative, but also increases the efficiency and reliability of overall operations.
Among other things, the system:
1. Stores individual milk collection details;
2. Facilitates complete financial accounting;
3. Maintains records of cattle feed, milk products etc.;
4. Monitors animal breeding, health and nutrition programmes; and
5. Maintains records of members, for instance, details of their landholdings and animals.
Perhaps most significantly, the farmers are now ensured of correct and honest payments.
SATCOM for extension training:
Satellite communications technology (SATCOM) offers the unique capability of being able to simultaneously reach out to large numbers spread over large distances even in the remotest corners of the country.
It is a very strong tool to support development education. Satcom has been used both in broadcast mode and in interactive mode to reach out to rural audiences at large, and to conduct training programmes for extension staff as well as rural population who are participating in the implementation of development programmes.
The Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) has been using the satellite talkback communication system to conduct educational programmes that cut across a range of capacity building themes: organizing; leadership building; forestry; water conservation; health education; child development; panchayati raj system; and financial services. Using the Satcom facility, SEWA’s community groups and organizations have quick and easy communication with block and district level functionaries. This enables experience sharing and enriches knowledge bases.
e-Chaupal: farmer friendly networking technology:
ITC has promoted a network of e-chaupals to provide farmers access to infrastructure, improved physical logistics and virtual e-network. The e-chaupal provides relevant and real-time information on weather, prices and news, customizing information in terms of knowledge. In addition, the e-chaupal provides a direct marketing channel for farm produce.
The yields are better due to better information. The farmer also gains from improved quality and reduced transaction costs. It is a partnership model where the ITC, the farmers and the e-chaupal operators work on a win-win situation. To overcome the power shortage in rural areas, ITC has put up solar panels, batteries and UPS (uninterrupted power supply) for back up supply.
The farmers use the e-chaupal free of cost. The government does not subsidize it. The e-chaupal pays for itself, by eliminating latent inefficiencies in the supply chain. The value unlocked by the reduction of inefficiencies is utilized for the creation of infrastructure.
Within the e-chaupal, all selling happens at the farm gate. By avoiding losses like multiple legs of loading and unloading, wastage, quality differentials and time loss, the e- chaupal attains a net saving of about 3 percent of costs. While 0.5 percent goes to the sanchalak, 0.5 percent goes to the sanyojak. The ITC gains the remaining 2 percent, utilizing a fraction of it for infrastructure creation.
There are 4,200 e-chaupals in 25,000 villages across six States – Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. In 2003-04, transaction worth $100 million were conducted through the e-chaupal network. By 2010, ITC aims at setting up 20,000 e-chaupals in 15 States covering 100,000 villages. The chain would cover a large range of agri-commodities and a wider variety of goods and services.
Computer-based Explorations:
In agriculture and resource management, computer simulations are frequently used as a method for exploring future scenarios at the field, farm or regional level. Computer models are used, for example, to calculate likely and/or technically feasible options for future land use, using different sets of objectives.
For example, such models were used to calculate what agriculture could look like in different parts of Europe (in terms of area under cultivation, employment, use of pesticides, cropping systems, etc.) given a required level of overall production, and under various constraints posed by different policy orientations (e.g. striving at environmental protection, nature and landscape conservation, or free market and free trade). A potential strength is that modeling exercises may help to quantify the trade-offs between different goals and interests.
Expert System in Agricultural Extension:
Expert system in agricultural extension is essentially a decision support system for farmers and extension agents to obtain expert opinion and advice on field specific problems. Some models of Expert Systems in the field of agriculture are presented here.
Expert system developed by MANAGE:
The National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE) developed an expert system to diagnose pests and diseases for rice crop and suggest preventive/curative measures.
The brief logic flow of the expert system is as follows:
(i) The part of the plant where symptoms have been observed;
(ii) The basic symptoms are given as input;
(iii) Considering these symptoms the user is expected to give further information based on other visual symptoms;
(iv) At this step the diseases and pests are identified; and
(v) The user is then given the option to either stop or further diagnose other diseases/pests or get preventive or curative measures on these.
All these operations are done using a ‘mouse’. In this system, computer graphics, digitized pictures and text are being used following a ‘decision tree’ logic:
Expert systems developed by the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research:
Software for use by the grape cultivators, mushroom cultivators have been developed and are popular. A large number of growers are using them regularly for getting solutions to their problems. The institute has launched a programme to give comprehensive package of practices for a large number of horticultural crops.
AG REX:
Centre for Informatics Research and Advancement, Kerala has prepared an Expert System called AGREX to help the agricultural field personnel give timely and correct advice to the farmers. These Expert Systems find extensive use in the areas of fertilizer application, crop protection, irrigation scheduling, diagnosis of diseases in rice, and post- harvest technology of fruits and vegetables.
Farm Advisory System:
Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, developed the Farm Advisory System to support agri-business management. The conversation between the system and the user is arranged in such a way that the system asks all the questions from user one by one which it needs to give recommendations on the topic of farm management. The response from the farmers is good.
Kisan Call Centres:
The Ministry of Agriculture, Govt., of India has initiated a programme called, Kisan (farmers) Call Centres in which farmers from remote places in the country can call over telephone to the subject matter specialists (SMS) in the district headquarters (at agricultural departments, agricultural colleges, agricultural technology information centres etc.) and pose problems about their farming to get suitable solutions at various levels. Besides, agricultural information KOISKs and other service centres opened by agri-business companies and NGOs also provide the needed information to the farmers through electronic media.
Information Communication Technology in Rural Distribution:
Information Communication Technology (ICT) assists all elements of the value chain in bringing about a more efficient exchange of goods and services.
For example:
It enables marketers to access wider areas more effectively, thereby leading to better economies of scale. It enables retailers and other intermediaries to exchange relevant information with suppliers speedily, thereby minimizing stockholding costs and wastage in distribution and avoiding stock-outs for a particular brand or product.
It enables consumers to gather sufficient information in order to arrive at an optimum choice. ICT allows information to be integrated, packaged and shared in customized ways in accordance with the needs, ability and convenience of rural consumers.
Some Computer Based Communication Aids:
Computer based communication aids like Cell Phone, Laptop and Digital Camera have immense potential for use in extension work. These shall facilitate instant and interactive communication, eliminate time lag in communication and help to reduce the gap between the information-rich and the information-poor.
Cell Phone:
Cell phone is a sophisticated multipurpose telephone which contains a circuit board (the brain of the phone), an antenna, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a keyboard (like a TV remote control), a microphone, a speaker, and a battery. Some have digital camera device.
The geographical area the cell phone serves, is divided into smaller units called cells. Each cell has a base station that consists of a tower and a small building containing the radio equipment. Cell phones and base stations use low-power transmitters. As one moves from place to place, the signal is passed from cell to cell without any interruption.
Hence, these are called cellular phones or cell phones. The limitations of fixed telephones are obliterated in cell phone, and people get disturbance – free telephone service all the time, virtually from ‘anywhere’ to ‘anywhere’.
Because of this unrestricted mobility, cell phones are also called mobile phones or simply mobiles. Cell phones may be used for instant communication; to discuss certain issues; to get market information; to obtain supply and service; and to arrange buying or selling etc.
Laptop:
Laptop is a computer, set up in a thin briefcase, which is easy to carry and use. As the name implies, a laptop can be placed on the lap and can be used even when on journey. It can be operated by electricity or rechargeable battery.
Laptop does the same work as larger computers, but in much smaller packages. Laptop facilitates storage of collected information, their processing and transmission at great speed. Laptops are convenient for storing information and pictures; and carrying them to different places; small group training etc.
Digital Camera:
A digital camera allows a photographer to view the picture as it is taken, store the picture in a memory device, transfer the picture to a computer or a printer, and attach the picture to an e-mail message or post it to a Web page. Most digital cameras automatically set aperture and shutter speed for optimal exposure.
All digital cameras have a built-in computer, and all of them record images in an entirely electronic form. Conventional cameras, on the other hand, depend entirely on chemical and mechanical processes, which take much time in preparing the photographs and sending them physically. The key difference between a digital camera and a film-based camera is that the digital camera has no film. Instead, it has a sensor that converts light into electrical charges.
Essentially, a digital image is just a long string of 1s and 0s, the language that computers recognize, that represent all the tiny coloured dots – or pixels – that collectively make up the image. The amount of detail that the camera can capture is called the resolution, and it is measured in pixels. The more pixels the digital camera has, the more detail it can capture.
Digital camera is extremely convenient for use in photojournalism, exhibition, publication and documentation work.