IT PROFESSIONALS

The principles of information technology

Principle is a fundamental rule, guideline or motivating idea that, when applied to a situation, produces a desirable result.

The first principle of information technology describes the purpose of IT: Information technology’s great usefulness is as an aid in solving problems. In Unlocking creativity and making people more effective than they would be if they did not apply IT to their activities.

Another principle is, Always fit information technology to people rather than asking people to adjust to information technology.

The Functions of Information Technology

What exactly can IT do? It performs six information-handling functions: captures, processing, generation, storage and retrieval and transmission. The way these functions are applied determines the impact IT will have.

CAPTURE: It is often useful to compile detailed records of activities. This process, called data capture, is performed when it is expected the data will be useful later.

Here are some common examples of data capture:

·      Whenever a book is checked out of the library, the name (or identification number) of the borrower and the title (or call number) of the book are captured.

·      The theater box office records the assignment of every seat to an attendee as it is sold.

·      A monitor records the pulse, heart rate, and white blood cell count of a hospital patient.

·      When Madonna performs live her singing is some times captured and transferred to a cassette tape or a compact disc (CD) for listening at a later time.

·      The voice and data recorders in aircrafts cockpits capture the pilot’s conversation and record flight data about the aircraft’s location and performance.

PROESSING: The activity most often associated with computers, processing, is usually the purpose for which people and organization purchase computers. The processing function entails converting, analyzing computing and synthesizing all forms of data or information.

       Once of the earliest business applications of computers, data processing focuses on taking data (raw, numbers, symbols and letters) and transforming them into information. An example of data processing is calculating the balance in a checkbook by taking the starting balance for the month, adding all deposits and subtracting all checks written (that is, the data), and determining the current balance.

Information processing is the transformation of any type of information into a different type of information. Text (reports, correspondence), sound (voice, music, tones), and images (visual information such as charts, graphs, drawings and animated drawings) can all be processed. Multimedia systems, which are one type of information processing, have recently captured interest. These systems process multiple types of information simultaneously--- for example, an animated presentation displayed on computer screen will use information retrieved from within the computer, perhaps accompanied by music, voice or other types of sound.

Other types of processing include these:

· Word processing--- the creation of text-based documents, including reports, newsletters, and correspondence. Word processing systems allow people to enter data, text and images into a computer and transform them into a useful and attractive format.

 ·Image processing--- converting visual information (graphics, drawings and photos) into a format that can be managed within a computer system or transmitted between people and other computers. A process called scanning converts a print or film image into a form that a computer can use.

        ·Voice processing--- the transformation and transmission of spoken information. Currently, voice information is most frequently entered into a computer system through a telephone, but other systems that enable people to speak directly into a computer system to instruct it to take specific actions are emerging.