Study the following words and word combinations. Consult a specialized ICT dictionary or one of the following websites, if necessary.

• Free Online Dictionary of Computing: http://foldoc.org

• Tech Dictionary: www.techdictionary.com

• Tech Encyclopedia: www.techweb.com/encyclopedia

• Tech Terms Dictionary: www.techterms.com

• Free Online Dictionary of Computing: http://www.instantweb.com

 

access (n)	• entering a computer system; getting information from a storage device; means of access: to have ~ to more than 150,000 e-books;
computer(n)	• an electronic machine that can store, organize and find information, do calculations and control other machines: ~s perform many tasks; ~-generated unemployment;~ industry; to set up a ~; to restart a ~; to reboota ~;
data (n)	• a collection of factual knowledge about something; a body of facts; information: e-vote ~;
digital(adj)	• about an electronic system that has only two states, off and on: exchange ~ data; ~ citizens; ~ media extender; play ~ content onto TVs;Ant. analogue;
emoticon(n)	• an abbreviation or icon used on a network to indicate amusement: use ~s;
e-voting(n)	• a term encompassing several different types of voting, embracing both electronic means of casting a vote and electronic means of counting votes: ~ ballots; ~ voting machines;
Information Technology(n)	• (also Information Technologies) development, implementation, and maintenance of computer hardware and software systems to organize and communicate information electronically;
information society(n)	• a society characterised by a high level of information intensity: machine tools of the ~; a global ~;
Information Resources Management	• techniques of managing information as a shared organizational resource;
program(n)	• a series of instructions which can be put into a computer in order to make it perform an operation;
programme (n)	• a broadcast on television or radio: the government information ~ of the Republic of Belarus “e-Belarus”;
store (v)	• to save information in electronic form, for example in a computer’s memory: ~ gigabytes of music on a PMP;
transmit(v)	• to send out an electronic signal such as a radio, television or computer signal; to pass information to other people: ~ vote data.

Make sure you know what abbreviations, acronyms and blendings mean.

abbreviation(n)	• a shortened form of a written word or phrase used in place of the whole, such as ICT [ ai-si-ti ];
acronym(n)	• a word formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term, such as GNU [ gə`nu:];
blending(n)	• a word made up by mixing usually two parts of words, such as emoticon [ emotion+icon ].

Study the following abbreviations, acronyms and blendings.

IT(or Info-Tech)	• Information Technology or Technologies
ICT	• Information and Communication Technology or Technologies
IRM	• Information Resources Management
PMP	• portable music player
the Web, wwwor 3w	• World Wide Web
Emoticon	• emotion and icon
CIM	• Computer-Integrated Manufacturing
GPS	• Global Positioning Service
DVD	• Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc

Read the information about the use of British and American English in this textbook. Then learn the British and American spellings and variants of the words below.

NB! This practice-oriented textbook for students of ICT contains original texts on a variety of topics from different indigenous sources. Due to this fact the reader may come across both British and American variants of English. The teaching instructions are given in British English, the original texts, though abridged and adapted, have preserved their authentic spellings and variants for the students of English not to be taken aback with the two Englishes when surfing the Internet or reading in the original.

British Spelling / Variant	American Spelling / Variant
analogue	analog
analyse	analyze
behaviour	behavior
characterised	characterized
catalogue	catalog
centre	center
cheque	check
colour	color
disc	disk
encyclopaedia	encyclopedia
endeavour	endeavor
favourable / unfavourable	favorable / unfavorable
fibre	fiber
fulfill, fulfillment	fulfil, fulfilment
informatisation	informatization
licence	license
marvellous	marvelous
mneumonics	mnemonics
mobile phone	cellular phone
modelling	modeling
organisation	organization
standardised	standardized
telelabour	telelabor
utilise	utilize

Match the words with their definitions.