Module 1

• Four basic periods of Information Technology history

  1. Premechanical

  2. Mechanical

  3. Electromechanical

  4. Electronic
• Premechanical Age: 3000 B.C. - 1450 A.D.

  Characterized by a principal technology used to solve the input, processing, output and communication problems of the time
• Premechanical Age developments

  • Writing and Alphabets--communication
  • Paper and Pens--input technologies
  • Books and Libraries: Permanent Storage Devices
  • The First Numbering Systems
  • The First Calculators: The Abacus

  
• Mechanical Age: 1450 - 1840

  Characterized by a principal technology used to solve the input, processing, output and communication problems of the time
• Mechanical Age developments

  • The First Information Explosion
  • The first general purpose "computers"
  • Slide Rules, the Pascaline and Leibniz's Machine
  • Babbage's Engines
• Electromechanical Age: 1840 - 1940

  The discovery of ways to harness electricity was the key advance made during this period. Knowledge and information could now be converted into electrical impulses.
• Electromechanical Age developments

  • The Beginnings of Telecommunication
  • Electromechanical Computing
• Electronic Age: 1940 - Present

  Characterized by a principal technology used to solve the input, processing, output and communication problems of the time
• Electronic Age developments

  • First Tries
  • Eckert and Mauchly
  • The First Stored-Program Computer(s)
  • The First General-Purpose Computer for Commercial Use: Universal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC)
  • The Four Generations of Digital Computing

  
• First Generation of Digital Computing (1951-1958)

  • Vacuum tubes as main logic elements
  • Punch cards to input and externally store data
  • Rotating magnetic drums for internal storage
  • Programs written in machine language, assembly language, and require a compiler
• Second Generation of Digital Computing (1959-1963)

  • Vacuum tubes replaced by transistors as main logic element
  • Magnetic tape and disks began to replace punched cards as external storage devices
  • Magnetic cores as primary internal storage technology
  • High-level programming languages like FORTRAN and COBOL
• Third Generation of Digital Computing (1964-1979)

  • Individual transistors replaced by integrated circuits
  • Magnetic tape and disks completely replace punch cards as external storage devices
  • Magnetic core internal memories replaced by MOS memory
  • Operating systems and advanced programming languages like BASIC developed
• Fourth Generation of Digital Computing (1979- Present)

  • Large-scale and very large-scale integrated circuits (LSIs and VLSICs)
  • Microprocessors that contained memory, logic, and control circuits on a single chip
  • Home-use personal computers or PCs, like the Apple (II and Mac) and IBM PC
  • Fourth generation language software products like Visicalc, Lotus 1-2-3, dBase, Microsoft Word
  • Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) for PCs arrive in early 1980s

  
• When analysing markets, a range of assumptions are made about the rationality of economic agents involved in the transactions
• The Wealth of Nations was written

  1776
• Rational

  (in classical economic theory) economic agents are able to consider the outcome of their choices and recognise the net benefits of each one
• Rational agents will select the choice which presents the highest benefits
• Consumers act rationally by

  Maximising their utility
• Types of information sources

  • Books
  • Journals
  • Catalogs
  • Magazines
  • Newspapers
  • Online libraries
  • CD-ROMs
  • DVDs
  • Electronic databases
  • Web sites
  • People
  • Blogs
  • Wikis
• Producers act rationally by

  Selling goods/services in a way that maximises their profits
• Primary sources


  Firsthand, "direct from the source" information
• Secondary sources

  Analyses of primary sources
• Workers act rationally by

  Balancing welfare at work with consideration of both pay and benefits
• Examples of primary sources

  • Autobiographies
  • Literature by an author
  • Letters
  • Diaries
  • Contemporary accounts
• Examples of secondary sources

  • Reviews or criticism of autobiographies
  • Criticism of literature
  • Anything written after a historical event
• Governments act rationally by


  Placing the interests of the people they serve first in order to maximise their welfare
• Examples of primary sources in sciences


  • Original research articles
• Examples of secondary sources in sciences

  • Analysis or summaries of research done by others
• Monographic books

  Books that stand on their own, rather than being part of a series
• Rationality in classical economic theory is a flawed assumption as people usually don't act rationally
• Collected books

  Books that are a collection of essays or articles, written by different authors
• Bibliographies

  Books that cite sources of information on an issue
• Periodicals

  Any written information that comes out periodically
• Types of periodicals

  • Newspapers
  • Magazines
  • Journals
• Marginal utility

  The additional utility (satisfaction) gained from the consumption of an additional product
• Newspaper articles

  Factual accounts of events, or analysis of trends/issues, usually not written by experts
• Popular magazines

  Least scholarly, mainly for entertainment, offering general tips/advice or interviews
• If you add up marginal utility for each unit you get total utility
• Trade magazines

  Published by associations or aimed at practitioners in a particular field, offering practical, how-to articles or news
• News magazines

  Offer factual, current events news and analysis