Information system

Information system (IS) is the study of complementary networks of hardware and software (see information technology) that people and organizations use to collect, filter, process, create and distribute data. Information Systems encompasses a variety of disciplines such as: the analysis and design of systems, computer networking, information security, database management, and decision support systems. Information Management deals with the practical and theoretical problems of collecting and analyzing information in a business function area including business productivity tools, applications programming and implementation, electronic commerce, digital media production, data mining, and decision support.

Any specific information system aims to support operations, management and decision making. In a broad sense, the term is used to refer not only to the information and communication technology (ICT) that an organization uses, but also to the way in which people interact with this technology in support of business processes. Several IS scholars have debated the nature and foundations of Information Systems which has its roots in other reference disciplines such as Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Management Science, Cybernetics, and others. Information systems also can be defined as a collection of hardware, software, data, people and procedures that work together to produce quality information.

Computer Software

 Computer software is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide instructions for a computer to decipher what to do and how to do it. It is a collection of computer programs, procedures and associated documentation that is concerned with the operation of the data processing system. The term can be contrasted to hardware, which is the physical devices that make up a computer. Computer software includes all computer programs regardless of their architecture; for example, executable files, libraries and scripts are computer software. Yet, it shares their mutual properties: software consists of clearly defined instructions that upon execution, instructs hardware to perform the tasks for which it is designed. Software is stored in computer memory and cannot be touched, just as a 3D model shown in an illustration cannot be touched.

Examples of Information Technology

Computer software

 Information systems

 

Programming languages

Computer hardware

Databases

A database is an organized collection of data. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality in a way that supports processes requiring this information. For example, modelling the availability of rooms in hotels in a way that supports finding a hotel with vacancies. Database management systems (DBMSs) are specially designed software applications that interact with the user, other applications, and the database itself to capture and analyze data. A general-purpose DBMS is a software system designed to allow the definition, creation, querying, update, and administration of databases. A database is not generally portable across different DBMSs, but different DBMSs can interoperate by using standards such as SQL and ODBC or  JDBC to allow a single application to work with more than one database.

Data Storage

 Data storage can refer to:

-Computer data storage; memory, components, devices and media that retain digital computer data used for computing for some interval of time.

-Any data storage device; that records (stores) or retrieves (reads) information (data) from any medium, including the medium itself.

 

 Early electronic computers such as Colossus made use of punched tape, a long strip of paper on which data was represented by a series of holes, a technology now obsolete. Electronic data storage, which is used in modern computers, dates from the Second World War, when a form of delay line memory was developed to remove the clutter from radar signals, the first practical application of which was the mercury delay line. The first random-access digital storage device was the Williams tube, based on a standard cathode ray tube, but the information stored in it and delay line memory was volatile in that it had to be continuously refreshed, and thus was lost once power was removed. The earliest form of non-volatile computer storage was the magnetic drum, invented in 1932 and used in the Ferranti Mark 1, the world’s first commercially available general-purpose electronic computer.

 

 

How it all began

 

 

 

 

 

 

History of Information Technology

Devices have been used to aid computation for thousands of years, probably initially in the form of a tally stick. The Antikythera mechanism, dating from about the beginning of the first century BC, is generally considered to be the earliest known mechanical analog computer, and the earliest known geared mechanism. Comparable geared devices did not emerge in Europe until the 16th century,and it was not until 1645 that the first mechanical calculator capable of performing the four basic arithmetical operations was developed.

Around 1980, computers with integrated circuits on a single chip started to become available as an affordable item, specifically designed for use by consumers. The first IBM (News- Alert) PC was released in 1981. Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs), which are the programs that enable users to look at screens with windows, clickable commands and color—appeared in the late 1980s. Windows was introduced in 1983, while the first Apple Macintosh came on the market in 1984. Fifteen years ago, a computer with 24 megabytes of random access memory (RAM (News – Alert)) was great amount of memory. Currently, most new computers boast a memory of one gigabyte, which is an increase of over forty times. Information technology  has also shifted from focusing on single computers to networks of computers, as the years have passed and technology has advanced. Networked computers allow many different users to have access to common databases, which has allowed databases to be where most business records for big companies are held. Software that implements these databases has quickly become a billion-dollar industry. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software drives business activities for many large enterprises who sells products across the world.

A brief idea about I.T

If you still aren’t sure what is information technology, this video might help you understand more.

Information Technology

Information technology (IT) is the application of computers and telecommunications equipment to store, retrieve, transmit and manipulate data, often in the context of a business or other enterprise. The term is commonly used as a synonym for computers and computer networks, but it also encompasses other information distribution technologies such as television and telephones.

Humans have been storing, retrieving, manipulating and communicating information since the Sumerians in Mesopotamia developed writing in about 3000 BC, but the term information technology in its modern sense first appeared in a 1958 article published in the Harvard Business Review; authors Harold J. Leavitt and Thomas L. Whisler commented that “the new technology does not yet have a single established name.

What is I.T?