APPLICATION OF ICT IN ENTERTAINMENT

APPLICATION OF ICT IN ENTERTAINMENT

CHAPTER ONE

BACKGROUND OF STUDY 

This presentation is coming from a background of involvement and exposure to the leisure industries of entertainment, media and tourism at a national, regional and international level. The benefit of extensive travel and interaction with local, regional and international operators in the entertainment and media industries is in entertainment. Through research, report writing, participation in meetings and conferences and direct business interaction with producers and marketers of leisure products and services particularly music, a body of information has been accumulated which influences this presentation. The presentation is in a sense a case study or the story of an experiment with ICTs in entertainment.

Introduction to Information and Communications Technology

Stands for "Information and Communication Technologies." ICT refers to technologies that provide access to information through telecommunications. It is similar to Information Technology (IT), but focuses primarily on communication technologies. This includes the Internet, wireless networks, cell phones, and other communication mediums.

In the past few decades, information and communication technologies have provided society with a vast array of new communication capabilities. For example, people can communicate in real-time with others in different countries using technologies such as instant messaging, voice over IP (VoIP), and video-conferencing. Social networking websites like Facebook allow users from all over the world to remain in contact and communicate on a regular basis. Modern information and communication technologies have created a "global village," in which people can communicate with others across the world as if they were living next door. For this reason, ICT is often studied in the context of how modern communication technologies affect society.

It is also the hardware and software that enables data to be digitally processed, stored and communicated. ICT can be used to access, process, manage and present information; model and control events; construct new understanding; and communicate with others.

CHAPTER TWO

ICT IN ENTERTAINMENT

ICT has impacted entertainment and leisure by enhancing the different ways in which we casually spend our time. With the use of these technologies, they ways in which we can entertain ourselves has dramatically increased.
The development of these technologies has meant that many people stay inside, watch TV, play online games etc. Therefore you could say that the amount of leisure activities that people do have decreased, with respect to the wide range of entertainment technologies.

ICT provides a variety of entertainment and leisure activities that can be accessed easily from the comfort of one's home. One can watch movies and listen to music directly from the Internet. ICT also supports playing games over the Internet during leisure time. Entertainment material can be stored using ICT products like compact discs and memory cards for future use. ICT has improved the quality of entertainment and leisure activities by developing better graphics for music and movies.

ICT has improved communication during entertainment and leisure by introducing instant and interactive chatting using social sites. There are modern social media platforms powered by ICT that allow people to interact directly during their leisure time without meeting physically. Social media platforms also allow for exchange of entertainment material in visual and audio form.

ICT aids the wide distribution of music through download websites. This helps in disseminating content to many people at the same time. ICT has improved the organizing of entertainment and leisure activities. There are new programs that allow people to enjoy shared activities from the comfort of their homes.

ICT provides a variety of entertainment and leisure activities that can be accessed easily from the comfort of one's home. One can watch movies and listen to music directly from the Internet. ICT also supports playing games over the Internet during leisure time. Entertainment material can be stored using ICT products like compact discs and memory cards for future use. ICT has improved the quality of entertainment and leisure activities by developing better graphics for music and movies.

ICT has improved communication during entertainment and leisure by introducing instant and interactive chatting using social sites. There are modern social media platforms powered by ICT that allow people to interact directly during their leisure time without meeting physically. Social media platforms also allow for exchange of entertainment material in visual and audio form.

Our data indicates that ICT fulfils a very wide range of entertainment functions for children in the case study families. Television, video and DVD players are virtually universal features in the homes of the children in our case studies. All the children had extensive experience of watching television programmes, cartoons and films on screen. They also listen to music, particularly nursery rhymes and other songs aimed specifically at young children. Some children have their own cassette or CD players at home, and have collections of cassettes or DVDs (in addition to access to the collections of other family members). Learning songs and singing along with the presenter is also a feature of children’s television programmes, videos or DVDs. Several families possessed cassette players with microphones, which enable children to sing along, and in one family, a full-sized karaoke machine had been purchased as a Christmas present for the four-year-old boy participating in the study.

The range of computer and video game playing equipment which families possess differs considerably from household to household and, as a consequence, the opportunities which children have to play games, and the kinds of games they play, are very varied. In this context, young children with older siblings or, on occasion, fathers who retain an interest in game playing, are privileged compared with those who are the oldest children in the family and those whose parents are not interested in game playing. This kind of equipment is very rarely bought specifically for children of this age, and therefore, to gain expertise, young children need to have access to equipment belonging to others, and support in learning how to play games from older and more experienced family members.

CHAPTER THREE

USES OF ICT IN ENTERTAINMENT

Computers started as very simplistic machines for storing and transferring data. Most of these files were text-based reports used in a work environment. As technology advanced, computers became increasingly versatile in what they could do. With the creation of the Internet and faster processors, file sharing and entertainment became a popular use for personal computers everywhere. Computers have endless uses in the entertainment industry by directly marketing products to users.

Music

• Computers now have almost unlimited access to any song by any artist. Many website services allow users to purchase individual tracks or albums directly to their computer. Most record labels take advantage of these services to make up for lost revenue from illegal downloading. Although, if users do not wish to purchase music, they can still stream music from many websites free but with advertisements. Computers also open a venue for many amateur musicians in the music industry to record their own music without a professional studio. Computers also allow musicians to create artificial instruments to record with, called MIDI instruments.

Television and Movies

• With the advancement of video card and Internet speeds, movies and streaming television are now at the click of a mouse button. Many website services offer free-to-stream movies with the cost of a monthly subscription fee. Some websites even offer free streaming episodes of certain TV series with Internet commercials. With the use of newer HD televisions and computers, the option of sending your computers video feed to a full-screen television is possible. In some cases, users may not even need to pay for cable service or television because of all the free available video content online.

Art

• Art is something that is readily available online at any moment. Pictures, paintings, poetry and more are just a click away. Popular browsers offer specific image search options to quickly browse through art with a single keyword. Besides general use, computer photo editing programs and animation programs are also the sources behind most movies and professional photographs.

Games

• Computer games are a quickly growing market just like all other forms of video games. However, computer games offer a very wide array of possibilities. Computers have access to many peripheral devices such as keyboards, mouses, joysticks, controllers and more. Computer games also are highly customizable because computers can manipulate game files. Examples of this would be creating new levels, characters or graphic files for specific games. In fact, computers are absolutely necessary for programming any sort of new video game.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF ICT IN ENTERTAINMENT

Computers today are becoming as important part of our lives as pen and paper were about fifty years ago. There can be no denying that this is because of many benefits we get from using computers.

THE ADVANTAGES OF ICT IN ENTERTAINMENT

It allows you to have many ways of listening to music, on the move or through our living room.

THE DISADVANTAGES OF ICT IN ENTERTAINMENT

The disadvantages of computer in entertainment are:

1.  Computers have made many tasks of modern life like buying and banking more convenient. We can shop and bank from our homes any time of the day and night.

2.  Computers have given easy access to lot of useful information through the Internet.

3.  Computers have made it easy for us to communicate and keep in touch with others.

4.  Computers have made available to us many new form of entertainment like computer games.

Recommendation

Call for the establishment of an interest group to carry discussions and formulate strategies for dealing with ICTs in entertainment industry development.

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