- What is
information technology?
Information technology, or IT as it is commonly referred to,
is a branch of engineering. It involves the use of computers and software to
manage information.
Information
technology deals with the storage, retrieval, transmission
and manipulation of data.
The term ‘information technology’
is used not only with reference to computers and computer networks, but also
for other technologies that are used to distribute information such as
telephones, television, and telecommunication equipment in general.
- Who used the term information technology first?
The term ‘information technology’
is commonly used today, but before 1958, such a term did not exist.
It was first used by Leavitt and
Whisler in an article published in the Harvard Business Review in 1958, to
describe a new technology that was emerging.
By the 1980’s the world had moved
into the information technology became a very important branch of engineering.
- Why is the period between 2000 BC and 1450 AD considered the pre-mechanical
age of information technology?
You may think that information
technology, is a new technology but the fact is that Man has been sharing
information for thousands of year.
The pre-mechanical phase was from
3000 BC to 1450 AD. During this period, human beings communicated shared
information first through simple drawings, and later , through writing.
Writing began as just marks on wet
clay, but with the invention of paper, what was written could be stored, and
passed on more easily.
When numbers were created, people
wanted ways to add, subject, and work with them. This led to the invention of
the first simple calculator, the abacus.
- Why is the mechanical age of information Technology significant?
The mechanical phase of information
technology was the period between 1450 and 1840.
During this period, many new
technology was developed. These included the slid rule, and a mechanical
computer invented by Blaise pascal.
An inventor named Charles Babbage
designed two machines that were able to do mathematical calculations. One of
them, the analytical engine had many elements similar to the modern digital
computers.
In fact ,
many machines were invented during the
mechanical age of IT, but generally speaking, most of them were huge and unwieldy,
and capable of doing only one task at a time.
- Why the period between 1840 and 1940 is called the electromechanical
age of IT?
The period between 1840 and 1940 is
known as the electromechanical age of IT, because it witnessed the discovery of
ways to harness electricity.
This was an important step forward,
because knowledge and information could now be converted into electrical
impulses.
This Period saw the beginnings of
telecommunications with the invention of the telegraph, Morse code, telephone,
and radio.
One of the exciting advances made
during this period was the Atanasoff-Berry computer, the first electronic
digital computing device, conceived by John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford
Berry in 1937.
- Why is the present age of IT called the electronic age?
We are at present living in the
electronic age of IT, which began in 1940.
ENIAC, the first electronic general
purpose computer capable of solving a full range of computing problems, was
designed for the US Army at the beginning of this age. This machine was as big
as a room, and weighed 30 tonnes. ENIAC was conceived and designed by john
Mauchly and J.Presper Eckert in 1946.
Gradually, the huge computers of
the 1940’s and 1950’s were replaced by smaller and faster models. This was
possible because several advances were made in this field.
Personal computers become sleeker
and lighter, and today, computers have memory, logic, and control circuits all
on a single chip. Laptops and net books have made it possible for you to carry
your computer with you wherever you go and computers can be so small, that they
can fit in the palm of your hand!
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