What is Information Technology (IT): Do We Use it Everyday?

Information technology (IT) is any computer-based tool that people use to work with information and support the information and information-processing needs of an organization. IT has two categories: Hardware and software. Wireless game controllers, digital camera printers, iPods presentation software and anything that can facilitate the usage of technology and is an information-processing system can be considered IT. IT ranges and varies with different types of technology. Internet is the most famous of all. The internet actually started as a science-fiction comic called, "A Logic Named Joe." This comic was written by Murray Leinster and it showed all of the internet's strengths and weakness' but did not become a stitch of reality until a decade later. Leinster finished writing this comic in 1946 and after that the idea spun into reality a short while after.

As said before, hardware and software are the two basic categories that IT falls under. There are six types of categories hardware could fall under: Input devices, output devices, storage devices, central processing unit (CPU), RAM or random access memory, telecommunications device and connecting devices which include memory sticks such as a memory card that you can use in your camera or phone. The two main types of software are application and system software. Application software helps you solve for specific problems or perform specific tasks. For instance when you use Excel, you can label and create different types of graphs with the information that was input into the program. Another good example of application software would be Photoshop. This program allows you do adjust images to your liking allowing all sorts of options with your creativity. Software system handles specific tasks for technology management. It coordinates different interactions with all technology devices. For instant a good example of software system would be Microsoft Windows. In system software there are two categories that fall under it: Operating system software and Utility software.

IT is important in business today because information technology is everywhere in the business world. All of the devices that I have already named are all interrelated to one another. For instance, the internet, CPU, RAM and Microsoft can all be found in a computer. Computers have made the world a lot easier and now we are fortunate enough to have the world at our fingertips. Big business and small business all use technology it is important in every aspect. An online business would actually be made up entirely of technology because how else would it be able to function if there was no internet, and no computers that could tie the world together. The internet has expanded the world into a new field of development.

I find this subject very interesting due to the fact that our entire culture has adapted to the internet and growing technology. I do not think that we could ever go back to a world without it. As a society individuals have become so dependent on the internet, our cell phones, and computers that it would be hard to go back and look for in a phone book, or to have a question about something and not 'Google it."

A cell phone with wireless access is a good example of IT also because it can be seen as a personal digital assistant. Now a day's cell phones can do almost anything and a good example of that would be the T-Mobiles Wing and Sprints Mogul. These are two phones that can do everything that a computer can but more compact. My friends and I have owned the phones and the options that the phone offered was remarkable. I would never think that a cell phone could do so much.

Cell phones have been linked with the image of business since they were introduced. Starting out as big bulky brick sized phones with time have transformed into slimming fashionable fixtures with importance. Who would have thought that phones would someday be wireless and have the sleek intelligence of a computer. This piece of information technology it vital for everyday use. Individuals are attached to their phones by the hip, using it for text messaging to holding information like a powerpoint, or they could actually make a powerpoint on the way to work. Using a cell phone has become so simple and convenient that you can use Microsoft Office with: Excel, Word, Powerpoint, and Onenote.

In middle school when I was first able to obtain the tool to networking with my mom and friends I thought that the only two things it would be able to achieve, text message and complete calls. After I had switched phones a few times these devices soon had the fixture to take pictures. Technology is ever-growing; visually you can spot it everywhere. People are very use to their Blackberry's, iPhone's, and Moguls.