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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Information technology
Not to be confused with Informatics."IT" redirects here. For other uses, see IT (disambiguation)."Infotech" redirects here. For the Indian company, see Infotech Enterprises.

Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to store, retrieve, transmit, and manipulate data,[1] or information, often in the context of a business or other enterprise.[2] IT is considered to be a subset of information and communications technology (ICT). (IT) is the use of computers to store, retrieve, transmit, and manipulate data,[1] or information, often in the context of a business or other enterprise.[2] IT is considered to be a subset of information and communications technology (ICT). (IT) is the use of computers to store, retrieve, transmit, and manipulate data,[1] or information, often in the context of a business or other enterprise.[2] IT is considered to be a subset of information and communications technology (ICT).

Humans have been storing, retrieving, manipulating, and communicating information since the Sumerians in Mesopotamia developed writing in about 3000 BC,[3] but the term information technology in its modern sense first appeared in a 1958 article published in the Harvard Business Review; authorsHarold J. Leavitt and Thomas L. Whisler commented that "the new technology does not yet have a single established name. We shall call it information technology (IT)." Their definition consists of three categories: techniques for processing, the application of statistical and mathematical methods todecision-making, and the simulation of higher-order thinking through computer programs.[4]Sumerians in Mesopotamia developed writing in about 3000 BC,[3] but the term information technology in its modern sense first appeared in a 1958 article published in the Harvard Business Review; authorsHarold J. Leavitt and Thomas L. Whisler commented that "the new technology does not yet have a single established name. We shall call it information technology (IT)." Their definition consists of three categories: techniques for processing, the application of statistical and mathematical methods todecision-making, and the simulation of higher-order thinking through computer programs.[4]Sumerians in Mesopotamia developed writing in about 3000 BC,[3] but the term information technology in its modern sense first appeared in a 1958 article published in the Harvard Business Review; authorsHarold J. Leavitt and Thomas L. Whisler commented that "the new technology does not yet have a single established name. We shall call it information technology (IT)." Their definition consists of three categories: techniques for processing, the application of statistical and mathematical methods todecision-making, and the simulation of higher-order thinking through computer programs.[4]

The term is commonly used as a synonym for computers and computer networks, but it also encompasses other information distribution technologies such as television and telephones. Several products or services within an economy are associated with information technology, including computer hardware, software, electronics, semiconductors, internet, telecom equipment, and e-commerce.[5][a]television and telephones. Several products or services within an economy are associated with information technology, including computer hardware, software, electronics, semiconductors, internet, telecom equipment, and e-commerce.[5][a]television and telephones. Several products or services within an economy are associated with information technology, including computer hardware, software, electronics, semiconductors, internet, telecom equipment, and e-commerce.[5][a]

Based on the storage and processing technologies employed, it is possible to distinguish four distinct phases of IT development: pre-mechanical (3000 BC – 1450 AD), mechanical (1450–1840), electromechanical (1840–1940), and electronic (1940–present).[3] This article focuses on the most recent period (electronic), which began in about 1940.electromechanical (1840–1940), and electronic (1940–present).[3] This article focuses on the most recent period (electronic), which began in about 1940.electromechanical (1840–1940), and electronic (1940–present).[3] This article focuses on the most recent period (electronic), which began in about 1940.

Computer History 



Zuse Z3 replica on display at Deutsches Museum inMunich. The Zuse Z3 is the first programmable computer.Main article: History of computing hardware

Devices have been used to aid computation for thousands of years, probably initially in the form of a tally stick.[7] The Antikythera mechanism, dating from about the beginning of the first century BC, is generally considered to be the earliest known mechanical analog computer, and the earliest known geared mechanism.[8] Comparable geared devices did not emerge in Europe until the 16th century, and it was not until 1645 that the first mechanical calculatorcapable of performing the four basic arithmetical operations was developed.[9]

Electronic computers, using either relays or valves, began to appear in the early 1940s. The electromechanical Zuse Z3, completed in 1941, was the world's firstprogrammable computer, and by modern standards one of the first machines that could be considered a complete computing machine. Colossus, developed during the Second World War to decrypt German messages, was the firstelectronic digital computer. Although it was programmable, it was not general-purpose, being designed to perform only a single task. It also lacked the ability to store its program in memory; programming was carried out using plugs and switches to alter the internal wiring.[10] The first recognisably modern electronic digital stored-program computer was the Manchester Baby, which ran its first program on 21 June 1948.[11]

The development of transistors in the late 1940s at Bell Laboratories allowed a new generation of computers to be designed with greatly reduced power consumption. The first commercially available stored-program computer, theFerranti Mark I, contained 4050 valves and had a power consumption of 25 kilowatts. By comparison the first transistorised computer, developed at the University of Manchester and operational by November 1953, consumed only 150 watts in its final version.[12]

Electronic data processing


Academic perspective

In an academic context, the Association for Computing Machinery defines IT as "undergraduate degree programs that prepare students to meet the computer technology needs of business, government, healthcare, schools, and other kinds of organizations .... IT specialists assume responsibility for selecting hardware and software products appropriate for an organization, integrating those products with organizational needs and infrastructure, and installing, customizing, and maintaining those applications for the organization’s computer users."[38]Association for Computing Machinery defines IT as "undergraduate degree programs that prepare students to meet the computer technology needs of business, government, healthcare, schools, and other kinds of organizations .... IT specialists assume responsibility for selecting hardware and software products appropriate for an organization, integrating those products with organizational needs and infrastructure, and installing, customizing, and maintaining those applications for the organization’s computer users."[38]Association for Computing Machinery defines IT as "undergraduate degree programs that prepare students to meet the computer technology needs of business, government, healthcare, schools, and other kinds of organizations .... IT specialists assume responsibility for selecting hardware and software products appropriate for an organization, integrating those products with organizational needs and infrastructure, and installing, customizing, and maintaining those applications for the organization’s computer users."[38]

Commercial and employment perspectiveEdit

Companies in the information technology field are often discussed as a group as the "tech sector" or the "tech industry".[39][40][41][42][39][40][41][42][39][40][41][42]

In a business context, the Information Technology Association of America has defined information technology as "the study, design, development, application, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems".[43][page needed] The responsibilities of those working in the field include network administration, software development and installation, and the planning and management of an organization's technology life cycle, by which hardware and software are maintained, upgraded and replaced.Information Technology Association of America has defined information technology as "the study, design, development, application, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems".[43][page needed] The responsibilities of those working in the field include network administration, software development and installation, and the planning and management of an organization's technology life cycle, by which hardware and software are maintained, upgraded and replaced.Information Technology Association of America has defined information technology as "the study, design, development, application, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems".[43][page needed] The responsibilities of those working in the field include network administration, software development and installation, and the planning and management of an organization's technology life cycle, by which hardware and software are maintained, upgraded and replaced.

The business value of information technology lies in the automation of business processes, provision of information for decision making, connecting businesses with their customers, and the provision of productivity tools to increase efficiency.

Ethical perspectives Edit


Main article: Information ethics

The field of information ethics was established by mathematician Norbert Wiener in the 1940s.[45]:9 Some of the ethical issues associated with the use of information technology include:[46]:20–21Norbert Wiener in the 1940s.[45]:9 Some of the ethical issues associated with the use of information technology include:[46]:20–21Norbert Wiener in the 1940s.[45]:9 Some of the ethical issues associated with the use of information technology include:[46]:20–21

  • Breaches of copyright by those downloading files stored without the permission of the copyright holders
  • Employers monitoring their employees' emails and other Internet usage
  • Unsolicited emails
  • Hackers accessing online databases
  • Web sites installing cookies or spyware to monitor a user's online activities
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
NotesEdit
  1. ^ On the later more broad application of the term IT, Keary comments: "In its original application 'information technology' was appropriate to describe the convergence of technologies with application in the broad field of data storage, retrieval, processing, and dissemination. This useful conceptual term has since been converted to what purports to be concrete use, but without the reinforcement of definition ... the term IT lacks substance when applied to the name of any function, discipline, or position."[6]
  2. ^ "Format" refers to the physical characteristics of the stored data such as itsencoding scheme; "structure" describes the organisation of that data.
CitationsEdit
  1. ^ Daintith, John, ed. (2009), "IT", A Dictionary of Physics, Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780199233991, retrieved 1 August 2012 (subscription required)
  2. ^ "Free on-line dictionary of computing (FOLDOC)". Retrieved 9 February2013.
  3. ^ a b Butler, Jeremy G., A History of Information Technology and Systems, University of Arizona, retrieved 2 August 2012
  4. ^ Leavitt, Harold J.; Whisler, Thomas L. (1958), "Management in the 1980s",Harvard Business Review, 11
  5. ^ Chandler, Daniel; Munday, Rod (2011-02-10), "Information technology", A Dictionary of Media and Communication (first ed.), Oxford University Press,ISBN 978-0199568758, retrieved 1 August 2012, (Subscription required (help)),Commonly a synonym for computers and computer networks but more broadly designating any technology that is used to generate, store, process, and/or distribute information electronically, including television and telephone.
  6. ^ Ralston, Hemmendinger & Reilly (2000), p. 869
  7. ^ Schmandt-Besserat, Denise (1981), "Decipherment of the earliest tablets",Science, 211 (4479): 283–85, doi:10.1126/science.211.4479.283,PMID 17748027, (Subscription required (help))
  8. ^ Wright (2012), p. 279
  9. ^ Chaudhuri (2004), p. 3
  10. ^ Lavington (1980), p. 11
  11. ^ Enticknap, Nicholas (Summer 1998), "Computing's Golden Jubilee",Resurrection (20), ISSN 0958-7403, retrieved 19 April 2008
  12. ^ Cooke-Yarborough, E. H. (June 1998), "Some early transistor applications in the UK", Engineering and Science Education Journal, 7 (3): 100–106,doi:10.1049/esej:19980301, ISSN 0963-7346, retrieved 7 June 2009,(Subscription required (help))
  13. ^ Alavudeen & Venkateshwaran (2010), p. 178
  14. ^ Lavington (1998), p. 1
  15. ^ "Early computers at Manchester University", Resurrection, 1 (4), Summer 1992, ISSN 0958-7403, retrieved 19 April 2008
  16. ^ Universität Klagenfurt (ed.), "Magnetic drum", Virtual Exhibitions in Informatics, retrieved 21 August 2011
  17. ^ The Manchester Mark 1, University of Manchester, archived from the original on 21 November 2008, retrieved 24 January 2009
  18. ^ Khurshudov, Andrei (2001), The Essential Guide to Computer Data Storage: From Floppy to DVD, Prentice Hall, ISBN 978-0-130-92739-2
  19. ^ Wang, Shan X.; Taratorin, Aleksandr Markovich (1999), Magnetic Information Storage Technology, Academic Press, ISBN 978-0-12-734570-3
  20. ^ Wu, Suzanne, "How Much Information Is There in the World?", USC News, University of Southern California, retrieved 10 September 2013
  21. ^ a b c Hilbert, Martin; López, Priscila (1 April 2011), "The World's Technological Capacity to Store, Communicate, and Compute Information",Science, 332 (6025): 60–65, doi:10.1126/science.1200970, PMID 21310967, retrieved 10 September 2013
  22. ^ "Americas events- Video animation on The World's Technological Capacity to Store, Communicate, and Compute Information from 1986 to 2010". The Economist. Archived from the original on 18 January 2012.
  23. ^ a b c Ward & Dafoulas (2006), p. 2
  24. ^ Olofson, Carl W. (October 2009), A Platform for Enterprise Data Services(PDF), IDC, retrieved 7 August 2012
  25. ^ Ward & Dafoulas (2006), p. 3
  26. ^ Silberschatz, Abraham (2010). Database System Concepts. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. ISBN 9780077418007.
  27. ^ Pardede (2009), p. 2
  28. ^ a b Pardede (2009), p. 4
  29. ^ Kedar, Seema (2009). Database Management System. Technical Publications. ISBN 9788184316049.
  30. ^ van der Aalst (2011), p. 2
  31. ^ Dyché, Jill (2000), Turning Data Into Information With Data Warehousing, Addison Wesley, ISBN 978-0-201-65780-7
  32. ^ Weik (2000), p. 361
  33. ^ a b Pardede (2009), p. xiii
  34. ^ Lewis, Bryn (2003), "Extraction of XML from Relational Databases", in Chaudhri, Akmal B.; Djeraba, Chabane; Unland, Rainer; Lindner, Wolfgang, XML-Based Data Management and Multimedia Engineering – EDBT 2002 Workshops, Springer, ISBN 978-3540001300
  35. ^ Han, Kamber & Pei (2011), p. 5
  36. ^ Han, Kamber & Pei (2011), p. 8
  37. ^ Han, Kamber & Pei (2011), p. xxiii
  38. ^ The Joint Task Force for Computing Curricula 2005.Computing Curricula 2005: The Overview Report (pdf) Archived 21 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine.
  39. ^ "Technology Sector Snapshot". New York Times. Retrieved 12 January2017.
  40. ^ "Our programmes, campaigns and partnerships". TechUK. Retrieved12 January 2017.
  41. ^ "Cyberstates 2016". CompTIA. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  42. ^ Zuppo, Colrain M., Defining ICT in a Boundaryless World: The Development of a Working Hierarchy (PDF), International Journal of Managing Information Technology (IJMIT), p. 19, retrieved 13 February 2016
  43. ^ Proctor, K. Scott (2011), Optimizing and Assessing Information Technology: Improving Business Project Execution, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 978-1-118-10263-3
  44. ^ a b c d e Lauren Csorny (9 April 2013). "Careers in the growing field of information technology services : Beyond the Numbers: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics". bls.gov.
  45. ^ Bynum, Terrell Ward (2008), "Norbert Wiener and the Rise of Information Ethics", in van den Hoven, Jeroen; Weckert, John, Information Technology and Moral Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-85549-5
  46. ^ Reynolds, George (2009), Ethics in Information Technology, Cengage Learning, ISBN 978-0-538-74622-9
BibliographyEdit
  • Alavudeen, A.; Venkateshwaran, N. (2010), Computer Integrated Manufacturing, PHI Learning, ISBN 978-81-203-3345-1
  • Chaudhuri, P. Pal (2004), Computer Organization and Design, PHI Learning, ISBN 978-81-203-1254-8
  • Han, Jiawei; Kamber, Micheline; Pei, Jian (2011), Data Mining: Concepts and Techniques(3rd ed.), Morgan Kaufmann, ISBN 978-0-12-381479-1
  • Lavington, Simon (1980), Early British Computers, Manchester University Press, ISBN 978-0-7190-0810-8
  • Lavington, Simon (1998), A History of Manchester Computers (2nd ed.), The British Computer Society, ISBN 978-1-902505-01-5
  • Pardede, Eric (2009), Open and Novel Issues in XML Database Applications, Information Science Reference, ISBN 978-1-60566-308-1
  • Ralston, Anthony; Hemmendinger, David; Reilly, Edwin D., eds. (2000), Encyclopedia of Computer Science (4th ed.), Nature Publishing Group, ISBN 978-1-56159-248-7
  • van der Aalst, Wil M. P. (2011), Process Mining: Discovery, Conformance and Enhancement of Business Processes, Springer, ISBN 978-3-642-19344-6
  • Ward, Patricia; Dafoulas, George S. (2006), Database Management Systems, Cengage Learning EMEA, ISBN 978-1-84480-452-8
  • Weik, Martin (2000), Computer Science and Communications Dictionary, 2, Springer,ISBN 978-0-7923-8425-0
  • Wright, Michael T. (2012), "The Front Dial of the Antikythera Mechanism", in Koetsier, Teun; Ceccarelli, Marco, Explorations in the History of Machines and Mechanisms: Proceedings of HMM2012, Springer, pp. 279–292, ISBN 978-94-007-4131-7
Further readingEdit

Wikiversity has learning resources about Information technology

 

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