Why Introduction to Information Technology? (7301) Technology is the driving force of the future – (Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility) It’s up to us as Information Professionals to do the driving Where we came from to know how we got to today and plan for tomorrow

Who are WE?

WHAT MAKES US MORE ALIKE THAN NOT Approachable Interested in others Willing to listen and share Expectation of follow-up & follow-through Passionate about providing quality access to our resources & services

Get to know the 7301 Blackboard site –

Our Webspace ~knottsb bengal.missouri.edu/ ~yourpawprint WE WILL BE FILLING THIS SPACE SOON!

ETHICS Ethics address right and wrong. People learn ethics. Because use of computers is new to many people and purposes, ethics are not always clear OR learned properly. Today’s information professionals are leaders in information technologies. We need to be informed about computer ethics and its related issues.

Overlap between ethics and policies We use rules, policies, laws procedures, punishments, training, certification, etc. to communicate and instruct ethics. In information organizations, products and services, written policies communicate what is right and wrong, allowed and disallowed, believed and avoided.

Just what is IT? Information Technology refers to a collection of products and services that turn data into useful, meaningful, accessible information. Put another way IT includes – Hardware/Software – Systems – Telecommunications/Networks – INFORMATION

IT services can be Informational Educational Recreational Or any combination of the above

ITs importance in today’s world Everyone’s a publisher Communication patterns in constant change Links come and go No one is quite sure about authorship, access, copyright

ITs importance in today’s world – there’s more Wealth created more by information than manufacturing & services Convergent technology (this is huge) Changing role of information professional – ARE YOU READY????

More change in past 50 years than since time that language began AND Next 10 years will make those last 50 years appear to be standing still

Who will we serve? Today’s college student First computer they touched was Apple II – now in a museum  Never twisted a phone cord  Believe is too slow  Come to college awash with technology, yet not able to distinguish information from technology

What do ‘THEY’ expect Expectations for you to consider: – Prefer web access from anyplace/anytime – Want assistance from anyplace/anytime – Want access regardless of who owns/manages content Check out PEW to stay current -- let’s see who besides college students we need to plan forPEWwho

Change means Opportunity With new technologies, we’ve tended to do the same thing more efficiently when what we need to do is different things more effectively. That’s what 7301 can help you accomplish

History of Computing Getting to today – Faster, Smaller, Cheaper

Computing Periods or Eras Pre-Automation Era (mechanization 1880s-1940s) Focus on Host/Systems (1930s-mid ‘60s) Focus on Networks (1960s- early ‘90s) User Centric Periods (1980s to today) – Focus on Desktop Movement (mid-’80 to today) – Focus on End Users (mid- ‘80s to today)

Pre-Automation Era – 1880s-1940s Advances were centered around mechanical Automate existing tasks H. Hollerith invented punch card system for US Census Bureau

Host Centric Period – 1930s – mid-1960s Focus on ‘better computers’ – processing, memory, storage Used vacuum tubes until tube based and transistors appeared Programming languages 1964 DEC’s minicomputer Large distributed networks on a shared ‘host’

Network Centric Period 1960s – early 1980s Focus on connecting and communicating between systems Beginning of Internet Connecting computers across geographic distances Beginning of LANs (local area networks)

User Centric (part 1) – 1980s - today We get desktops Move from dumb terminal & mainframes Faster, smaller, cheaper Do you know the stories of these early desktops Don’t miss reading Nerds

User Centric (part 2) mid 1980s - today Let’s hear it for GUI – no more command lines PCs to the masses Killer apps – word processing and dbs The web goes commercial (and mobile) Rising expectations of end users (all of us)

Looking at hardware/software Examples of hardware you use Examples of software you use – System (Windows 7; XP...) – Applications Examples of versions and formats – are we as ‘convergent’ as we would like to be?