information technology

• Information Technology is the term used to describe the hardware and software that enables a person to access, retrieve, convert, store, organize, manipulate, and present data and information
• Computer Engineering


  Concerns the design and development of digital hardware and devices that contain computers
• Computer Science


  The science of computing hardware and software. Refers to the designing and building of software and development of effective ways to solve computing problems
• Computing


  The process of using computer technology to complete a given goal-oriented task
• Information Systems


  Concerned with the information that computer systems and other devices can provide to help a person or an organization in defining and achieving its goals
• Software Engineering


  Concerned with developing and maintaining software systems
• Information Processing


  • Manipulation of digitized information by computers and other digital electronic equipment to produce useful information
  • Includes acquisition, recording, assembly, retrieval or dissemination of information
• An automated information system utilises information technology tools (hardware/software) with minimum human intervention to process data
• Advantages of automated information processing


  • Increased efficiency level
  • Save cost in long run
  • Add value to the organisation
• Disadvantages/negative impacts of automated information processing

  • Costly to install and maintain
  • Loss of jobs/displacement of staff
  • Time taken to train employees
  • Increase in IS usage - perception of over reliance on systems and human privacy is compromised
  • Open organisations to computer fraud/cybercrime
  • System malfunction - time and money involved - incorrect output/poor decision making
• History of Information Technology

  1. Punch card tabulating and sorting machine by Herman Hollerith

  2. First high speed general purpose computer using vacuum tubes - ENIAC

  3. Generations of computers - First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth
• History of the Internet and telecommunication

  1. Trends associated with the internet

  2. History of Software Development
• Characteristics of information


  • Clear and not distorted
  • Unambiguous and not disguised
  • Complete
  • Reliable
  • Consistent
  • Comprehensible
  • Able to stand up to interpretation
  • Valuable
• Reliability


  Information should be credible and trustworthy as information is used to make critical decisions
• Reliability - Is the source or method of transmission reliable?


  Eg. Novice/expert, textbook/internet, knowledge/hearsay, news broadcast/personal knowledge
• Consistency


  Information should be consistent since the same piece of information can be used at different levels of an organisation to make decisions
• Comprehensible


  Information has to be clear and not difficult or impossible to understand, otherwise the information will be useless
• Interpretation


  Information should be able to stand up to interpretation. Do you understand the information or know what it means? Is the information subjective or objective?
• Valuable


  The information should be important to its owner. For instance information is useful to facilitate problem solving and decision making and to enable organizations to gain advantage over its competitors
• Relevant


  Information should be appropriate and meaningful and relevant and formatted to suit the user's needs
• Confidentiality


  Information should be treated with confidentiality since it is useful and valuable. Hence securing information via physical and software means must be determined to ensure its confidentiality and maintain its value for decision making purposes
• Timeliness


  Information needs to be available when it is needed and up-to-date as it may render valuable one day and useless the next
• Security


  The protection of information and security mechanisms regulates who has access to information. Information should be available to authorized users
• Share-ability


  Information should be shared easily with others who are in need of such information and be accessible. Information is needed at different levels of an organization. Copyright and other legally binding matters are considerations for this aspect of information
• Lifespan


  Refers to the existence of information for a specific period
• Information as a commodity

  Information can be seen as a saleable commodity when its of value. People will pay for information because of its usefulness and value eg. Business secrets, credit history, health records, financial records
• Format and medium


  Information may be presented on different media – flash drive, CD, tape, book, newsletter, e-mail, blogs, radio, television, internet and in a variety of formats – video, text, graph, chart, audio
• Ways of representing data and information

  • Character - a number, symbol, letter
  • Text - human readable docs which comprises string and characters
  • String - a group of characters
  • Tables - information organised in rows and columns
  • Numeric - numbers
  • Graphics - images - no sound, no text
  • Aural -music notes, symbols, morse code
  • Sound - music, audio/voice
  • Visual - each slide/frame of presentation/movie/digital story, fingerprint
  • Special purpose notation - musical notation, math & scientific operators
• Graphical representation


  Illustrations such as graphs and charts
• Charts


  Represents one qualitative and one quantitative variable (visual)
• Graphs


  Represents two quantitative variables (numeric)
• All Graphs are a type of Charts, but not all Charts are Graphs
• Types of Information Sources

  • Websites
  • Online libraries
  • Journals - published regularly
  • Blogs
  • CDs & DVDs
  • Electronic databases - organised collection of data - search efficiently
  • Wiki
  • Newspapers
  • Books
  • People
  • Catalog - a list of items in a systematic order
  • Magazines
• Availability


  Information needs to be available when it is needed, not some time later
• Cost


  The cost for information may be expensive depending on the source of information
• Currency


  Information should be relevant to the purpose for which it is required
• Detail


  The amount of details gives the comprehensive description of information required for problem solving
• Coverage


  Apart from the source providing detailed information, does it cover the scope of information required to solve the problem
• Format and medium


  Information may be presented on different media such as flash drives, diskette, CD, tape, book, newsletter, email, social media and in a variety of formats such as tables, graph, chart, text, video, audio