March towards globalizationInformation Technology [Archives:2003/639/Education]

Faiz Yehya Al-Haj
Aptech Institute, Sana'a,
Sikkim Manipal University
[email protected]

There is no doubt that we are living in the era of information. Information and communication are becoming two important factors to represent the rapidly growing global activity. It is highly essential in the modern age to obtain the right information at the right time in a suitable way so that it can broaden the horizons of business, research and industrial decisions. Nowadays we hear a lot about IT (Information Technology). What does this refer to?
IT refers to a term that encompasses all forms of technology used to create, store, exchange, and use information in its various forms (business data, voice conversations, still images, motion pictures, multimedia presentations, and other forms, including those not yet conceived). It's a convenient term that includes both telephone and computer technology. It is the technology that is driving what has often been called “the information revolution.” Basically IT is meant to produce information in a proper way, which assures the precision and speed combined together.
IT is a revolution sweeping across the world .It is interesting to know that 75% of all information generated in the entire history of mankind has been generated in the last 30 years.
Now after a cursory glance at IT, let's have a look at the information itself. Information is a stimulus that has meaning in some context for its receiver. When information is entered into and stored in a computer, it is generally referred to as data. After processing (such as formatting and printing), output data can again be perceived as information. When information is packaged or used for understanding or doing something, it is known as knowledge. This knowledge may relate to history – the near past ,the present ,the near future or the future .
Since the introduction of personal computers in the 1980s ,information has been gaining an enormous value. Another important feature of information is that its cost is coming down drastically as the cost of its most important constituents – the hardware and software cost – is coming down.
In a nutshell, Information Technology is of great importance because it deals primarily with the production and transformation of information which has an impact on the progress of any activity in the developing world.

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