Welcome to this Introduction of Information Technology course at SUNY IT!
This class is described as follows in the course catalog:
“Assesses the development and social impact of information and communication
technologies. Focuses on emerging technologies of the 21st century and the
convergence of traditional with new media. Examines the technical features and
characteristics of information and communication technologies, and assesses the
evidence for significant social impact associated with their diffusion.”
Right now some of that description just sounds like a bunch of big words
someone threw together to make it sound nice. So lets break that down a bit
into some key definitions.
• Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) - These include computers,
telephones, and all of the associated infrastructure.
•Social Impact - The effect (or impact) that something (in this case, ICT) has on the
community around us (society).
• Convergence - The process of coming together or meeting at a common point.
• Emerging Technologies - New technologies that are currently being developed.
• Development of ICT - The progression of ICT from its infancy stage to today.
• Traditional Media - Media in the form of newspapers, magazines, television and radio.
• New Media - Media in electronic form such as web magazines and newspapers, pod
casts, digital music, etc.
Information Technology is a very broad topic......
Throughout this presentation, we will be narrowing down the broad definitions of
Information Technology that one always seems to stumble across when they
attempt to define Information Technology into a clearer definition that follows
along with what we will cover in the course. In an attempt to pin down a specific
definition of the term ‘information technology’ I did a Google search. Just to give
you an idea of what an undertaking that task is you can follow the link below to a
scrap booked Google page showing search results for the phrase ‘information
technology’. While looking over the search results presented to me by Google, I
tried to figure out what each link was about. Originally, I had 4 categories
(Professional Organizations, College Courses / Degree Programs, Commercial Businesses
and Technical Definitions).The highlighted links (on the scrapbook entry of the
Google search page) are those which are used later in this presentation. The
pages that I chose fit into one of two categories, Professional Organizations or
Higher Education.
http://people.sunyit.edu/~aupperc/Scrapbook1-25/data/20060125212230/index.html
Even dictionary.com does not give a clear definition
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=2&q=information%20technology
So lets begin to form our definition of Information Technology by a more in depth
exploration of the terms outlined on the first slide.
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
•
•
Infrastructure:
• Satellite TV/Internet
• Cable TV/Internet
• Phone lines / Dial – up Internet
• Cell phone towers
• Electrical power grid
Devices:
• Phone
• Mobile (cell) phone
• Land line
• Fax machine
Computers and computer equipment:
• Laptop
• Desktop
• Hand held
• Modem
• Network switches
Societal impact of ICT

There are four main ways that ICT has an impact on our society:
– 1) Individual
• This is how ICT is effecting the every day life of the average person in our
society. It seems as if we are surrounded by computers everywhere we
go and that is not going to change any time soon.
– 2) Groups
• Technology supports communication of groups of people. Current
technology allows them to pool their shared knowledge and
experiences, store it in a common place and allow access to all
members of the group.
– 3) Organizations
• It is widely predicted that telecommuting will be common place in the
near future. Many businesses are becoming global organizations and
are able to reach new customers and business contacts through the
Internet. There are also some businesses that only exist on the Internet.
– 4) Networks
• Networks are currently being designed with allow for increased
information mobility. Current ICT will be further developed and become
more integrated in our society.
Emerging Technologies


Some emerging technologies are the result of convergence. Examples of this
include:
– Cell phones and hand held computers with web browsers
– Camera phones
– Telecommuting
– Online learning
Some emerging technologies are products that we already have, however others
are still in the planning phases.
 Development of ICT


I would like to illustrate Development of ICT using 2 excerpts from this
communication technology timeline on Wikipedia . This first group relates to the
development of the telegraph.
– 1793 - Claude Chappe establishes the first long-distance semaphore
telegraph line
– 1831 - Joseph Henry proposes and builds an electric telegraph
– 1835 - Samuel Morse develops the Morse code
– 1843 - Samuel Morse builds the first long distance electric telegraph line
This group relates to the development of the Internet.
– 1969 - The first hosts of ARPANET, Internet's ancestor, are connected.
– 1989 - Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau built the prototype system which
became the World Wide Web at CERN
Defining Information Technology

Now we will come back to the categories given on slide two:
– Professional Organizations
– College Courses / Degree Programs
– Commercial Businesses
– Technical Definitions

All of those broad categories have been further narrowed down to two
categories:
– 1) Professional Organizations
– 2) Higher Education

The reasons for narrowing down the categories that there were many College
Courses / Degree Programs links underneath the column that Google labeled as
‘sponsored links’. However, I soon noticed that on most pages, it looked as if the
phrase “information technology” was thrown in there merely so that they could
get hits on their website. This was especially true for the ‘sponsored links’.

I feel that the pages I have under the categories Professional Organizations and
Higher Education demonstrate concrete examples of what ‘Information
Technology’ means.
Professional Organizations:
 a) ITAA (Information Technology Association of America) – trade
organization, focusing on ‘business development, networking and
public policy leadership for today’s IT industry’. It does not say if
students can join the ITAA.
–
http://people.sunyit.edu/~aupperc/Scrapbook125/data/20060125213934/index.html
 b) AITP (Association of Information Technology Professionals) –
professional organization that has chapters for students and those
working in industry. One goal of the organization is to put students in
touch with IT professionals. It also gives IT professionals a chance to
know each other.
–
http://people.sunyit.edu/~aupperc/Scrapbook125/data/20060125215330/index.html
 c) ITIC (Information Technology Industry Council) – This is a group of
lobbyists working for the Information Technology Industry. It appears as
if their main purpose is to let Congress know what Information and
Communication Technologies are available and how they affect
current laws and bills which may or may not become laws. They also
get involved in World Trade Organization negotiations.
–
http://people.sunyit.edu/~aupperc/Scrapbook125/data/20060125222513/index.html
Higher Education:
 a) The Chronicle of Higher Education – Information Technology Section,
Jan. 25, 2006 – This features some of the ‘headlines’ in Information
Technology for Jan. 25, 2006 and also provides links to more in depth
articles. There is a headline and brief paragraph featured in the ‘news’
section at the top of the page.
–
http://people.sunyit.edu/~aupperc/Scrapbook125/data/20060125221414/index.html
 b) The Center for Women & Information Technology – (part of the
University of Maryland, Baltimore County) The center allows staff to
work with female students to encourage and prepare them for carriers
in the Information Technology Field. One recent accomplishment of the
center includes going to WSIS (World Summit on the Information
Society).
–
http://people.sunyit.edu/~aupperc/Scrapbook125/data/20060125224042/index.html
(And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for...) Information
Technology is.... (everything we have seen in this presentation...)

The application of current and emerging ICT to distribute information.
Information Technology encourages the free flow of information (that is no cost
access to information, such as an Internet browser computer in a library). There
are places on the Internet where anyone can share and receive information
about anything at any time. Professional organizations and intuitions associated
with Higher Education help to encourage further growth of Information
Technology. Our lives become more and more dependant on Information
Technology with each passing day. Our world will undoubtedly be reshaped by
Information Technology.
 Presentation References:
–
Article on Information and Communication Technologies: Perspectives and
their Impact on Society
Dietrich Brandt, Klaus Henning. AI & Society. London: Sep 2002. Vol. 16, Iss. 3;
p. 210
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=3&did=686887021&SrchMode=5&Fmt=
6&retrieveGroup=0&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1
137610203&clientId=12687
– My scrap book, (references for this presentation are in the folder ‘Web
Observation Module 2’) http://people.sunyit.edu/~aupperc/Scrapbook125/tree/
– Wikipedia, Timeline of Communication Technology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_communication_technology
For further reading... (These items were not included as references in the
presentation, however, they are relevant to our topic.)
 My blog for the Information Technology course
–
http://infotech507.blogspot.com/
 Wikipedia, timeline of Information Technology
–
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_and_Communications_Technology
 As We May Think Bush, Vannevar. The Atlantic Monthly. Boston, July
1945.
–
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/194507/bush
Cheryl Aupperle
January 31, 2006