Introduction to

Information Technology
LESSON 1
Topics
1.1 Information Technology & Your Life
1.2 Information Technology Is Pervasive: Cellphones, Email, the Internet, & the E-World

1.3 The Practical User: How Becoming tech Smart Benefits You
1.4 The “All-Purpose Machine”: The Varieties of Computers
1.5 Understanding Your Computer
1.6 Where Is Information Technology Headed?

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UNIT 1A: The Mobile World, Information,
& Your Life
• As the result of developments in information technology,
smartphones and tablet computers are changing nearly
everything we do.
• Information technology refers to any technology that helps
produce, manipulate, store, communicate, and/or
disseminate information.

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1.1 Information
Technology & Your Life

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Two Parts of IT: Computers & Communications
Information technology affects almost all aspects of our lives,
including education, health, finance, recreation and entertainment,
government, jobs and careers, and your personal life.

• Part 1: Computer Technology

A computer is a programmable, multiuse machine that accepts data—raw facts

and figures—and processes, or manipulates, it into information we can use.

• Part 2: Communications Technology

Communications technology, also called telecommunications technology, consists of

of electromagnetic devices and systems for communicating over any distance.

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Education: The Promise of More
Interactive & Individualized Learning
Education has become heavily involved in information technology.
• Information technology can be used for:
◦ Personalizing students’ education
◦ Automating tedious and routine tasks and managing classes
◦ Reducing instructors’ workload (course-management software)
◦ Graphical presentations (e.g., PowerPoint)

• What is misuse?
◦ Text messaging or emailing friends during class
◦ Surfing the Internet for entertainment
◦ Doing assignments for other classes
◦ Sharing answers

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Education: The Promise of More Interactive
& Individualized Learning
• Online Learning, or distance learning, is becoming common.
◦ Not all online schools/courses are accredited; students should check.
◦ Online courses are less expensive than traditional courses.
◦ Distance learning is available to students in rural areas.

• Tutoring, simulation, and avatars are also aspects of IT in education:

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Health: High-Tech for Wellness
Computers are playing important roles in our personal lives.

• Telemedicine: Medical care via telecommunications lets doctors treat patients from far
away.
• 3D Computer models allow accurate tumor location inside a skull.
• X rays, MRIs, CT scans can be done remotely.
• Robots—automatic devices that perform functions ordinarily performed by human
beings—permit precise microsurgery.
• Health websites provide medical information. (https://www.mayoclinic.org,
https://www.webmd.com, etc.)

• Many health records are stored electronically.

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Money & Business: Toward the Cashless
Society?
Information technology is reducing the use of traditional money.
• Virtual means something that is created, simulated, or carried on by means of a computer or
a computer network.
• Virtual money includes cash-value cards, automatic transfers, and digital money
◦ “Electronic wallets” (e.g., PayPal)
◦ Electronic payroll deposit
◦ Online bill paying via debit and credit cards
◦ Micropayments for online products and to help charities

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Money & Business: Toward the Cashless
Society?
• Smartphones are used for “showrooming” and shopping.
• Technology can also be used to telecommute (e-work) and to start businesses and earn
money.

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Government & Electronic Democracy:
Participating in the Civic Realm
Information technology is helping governments to deliver services and is
affecting political activism.
• IT can help governments to improve services, including police services, which use databases (computer
systems with a collection of interrelated files).

• Online voting is becoming common.

• Information is easier to disseminate.
• Watchdog websites are growing.
• Easier fund raising from small donors.
BUT:

• Gerrymandering is becoming easier—redrawing voting districts for partisan advantage.

• Voting machine problems can occur.
• Invasion of privacy is becoming an important issue.

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Jobs & Careers
People now use computers to post résumés and find jobs.
• IT is used in starting new business ventures.
• IT is used to prepare résumés and find jobs on many websites.
• To help find jobs, participate in social media and write comments on blogs (weblogs),
frequently updated sites on the web intended for public consumption that contain a writer’s
observations, opinions, images, and links to other websites. (But be aware of privacy issues
and DON’T POST inappropriate pictures or text!) (Internet postings live forever!)

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Jobs & Careers
• Basic computer skills are needed for most jobs:
◦ Know how to use a keyboard.
◦ Use email.
◦ Be able to use a word processor (usually Microsoft Word).
◦ Know basic spreadsheet and database software skills.
◦ Understand the basics of file sizes, computer memory limitations, and network arrangements.
◦ Know what the basic computer system components are.

Discussion Question: Can anyone think of a career that does not require computer skills at all?

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Your Personal Life
Computers are playing important roles in our personal lives.
• Online relationship sites, or online dating sites, provide electronic forums that people may
join in the hope of meeting compatible companions or mates.
• “Digital is embedded into the fiber of every aspect of our culture and our personal lives”–
public safety and security; in the home; entertainment; finance; communications; traveling;
shopping; medical care; and so on.

Discussion Question: Can anyone think of an area of life NOT affected by IT?

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1.2 Information
Technology Is Pervasive
CELLPHONES, EMAIL, THE INTERNET, & THE E -WORLD

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The Phone Grows Up
The telephone is not what it used to be.
• 1973: First cellphone call
• Today’s smartphones can:
◦ Make voice calls
◦ Connect to Internet and web for all sorts of activities
◦ Send and receive text messages
◦ Take and send pictures and download music and video
◦ Obtain news and TV programs
◦ Scan special barcodes that take users to a website
◦ Provide maps
◦ Do research
◦ Pay for products and services
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Email’s Mass Impact
Email revolutionized communication, and has many benefits, but in many
areas it is being supplanted by texting.
• Introduced in 1981
• Reached 10 million users in about one year
• 1998 surpassed hand-delivered mail
• In 2013 about 144 billion messages per day
• In business, at least, email requires writing skills
• For personal activities, texting is replacing email
◦ Texting, or text messaging, is sending and receiving short written messages between mobile phones
or other portable or fixed devices

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The Internet, the World Wide Web, & the
“Plumbing” of Cyberspace
The net, the web, and cyberspace are not the
same things.
• Cyberspace
◦ Term coined by William Gibson in his Novel Neuromancer (1984) to describe a futuristic computer
network people “plugged” into directly with their brains

• Now the term cyberspace encompasses not only the online world and the Internet in
particular but also the whole wired and wireless world of communications in general.

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The Net & Web Defined

• The Internet (the “Net” or “net”) is a worldwide computer

network that connects hundreds of thousands of smaller
networks. These networks link educational, commercial, nonprofit,
and military entities, as well as individuals.
• The World Wide Web (the “Web” or the “web”) is an
interconnected system of Internet computers (called
servers ) that support specially formatted documents
in multimedia form. (The word multimedia, from “multiple media,”
refers to technology that presents information in more than one
medium, such as text, still images, moving images, and sound.)
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1.3 The Practical User
HOW BECOMING TECH SMART BENEFITS YOU

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The Practical User
• Being informed about information technology has practical payoffs.
◦ Know how to make better buying decisions
◦ Know how to fix ordinary computer problems
◦ Know how to upgrade equipment and integrate it with new products
◦ Know how to use the Internet effectively
◦ Know how to guard against online dangers
◦ Know how computer knowledge can advance your career

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1.4 The “All-Purpose
Machine”
THE VARIETIES OF COMPUTERS

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All Computers, Great & Small: The
Categories of Machines
Computers come in different sizes; they also function as clients and/or
servers.
There are five basic computer sizes.
1. Supercomputers
2. Mainframes
3. Workstations
4. Microcomputers
5. Microcontrollers
1. Supercomputers
Supercomputers are used in very special situations.
• Priced from $1 million to over $350 million.
• High-capacity machines with thousands of processors that can perform more than several
quadrillion calculations per second.
• Faster and largest computer available.
• Used for government census, weather forecasting, designing aircraft, scientific projects, etc.
• The Titan (U.S.A.) computer is currently the largest supercomputer.
• The next supercomputer generation may use nanotechnology.

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2. Mainframes
Mainframe computers are used in many large businesses.

◦ Priced from $5,000 to $5 million

◦ Process billions of instructions per second
◦ Size is dependent on the use
◦ Water-cooled or air-cooled
◦ Used to be called midsize computers
◦ Used by banks, airlines, colleges, and the like for
millions of transactions

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3. Workstations
Workstations are used for graphics, special effects, and
certain professional applications.
◦ Expensive, powerful personal computers
◦ Used for scientific, mathematical, engineering, computer-aided
design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) applications
◦ Used for designing cars, drugs, movie special effects
◦ Are usually connected to a network

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4. Microcomputers
Microcomputers are used by individuals as well as businesses, and
they can be connected to networks of larger computers. There are
many types of microcomputers.
◦ Personal computers that cost $500 to over $5,000
◦ Used either stand-alone or in a network
◦ Types include: desktop, tower, notebooks (laptops), netbooks,
tablets, mobile devices, personal digital
assistants (PDAs), and e-readers

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Types of Microcomputers (1)
• Desktop and tower PCs
Desktop PC Tower PC

• Notebooks & netbooks

• Tablets
Types of Microcomputers (2)
• Mobile devices & PDAs

• E-readers

• Microcontrollers (embedded computers) are tiny, specialized

microprocessors inside appliances and automobiles They are in
microwaves, programmable ovens, blood-pressure monitors, air bag
sensors, vibration sensors, MP3 players, digital cameras, keyboards,
car systems, etc.
Servers
• The word server describes the way a computer—
whether mainframe, workstation, or PC—is used.
• A server, or network server , is a central computer that holds collections of data (databases)
and programs for connecting or supplying services to PCs, workstations, and other devices,
which are called clients. These clients are linked by a wired or wireless network. The entire
network is called a client-server network.
• Purpose: Hold data and programs for clients to access and to supply services for clients.

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1.5 Understanding Your
Computer

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How Computers Work: Three Key
Concepts
All computer users must understand three basic principles: (1) Data is
turned into information; (2) hardware and software have their own
specific functions; and (3) all computers involve input, processing,
storage, and output, plus communications.
1. Purpose of a computer: Turning data into information
◦ Data: the raw facts and figures
◦ Information: data that has been summarized or otherwise transformed
for use in decision making
2. Hardware vs. software
◦ Hardware = the machinery and equipment in a computer system
◦ Software (programs) = the electronic instructions that tell the computer
how to perform a task
(continued)
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How Computers Work: Three Key
Concepts
3. The basic operations of a computer: All computers use 4 basic
operations + communications:
◦ Input: What goes into the computer system
◦ Processing: The manipulation a computer does to transform data into information
◦ Storage:
◦ Primary storage, or memory, is temporary storage for data waiting to be processed
◦ Secondary storage is permanent storage: media such as hard disk, DVDs, and CDs
◦ Output: What comes out—the results of processing, such as on the screen, printouts,
sound
◦ Communications: Sending and receiving data

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Customizing a Desktop Computer
• What would you need?
◦ Keyboard & mouse (input hardware)
◦ Inside the system cabinet (processing & memory hardware)

◦ Case and power supply

◦ Processor chip – the central processing unit (CPU)
◦ Memory chips – random access memory (RAM) or primary storage
◦ Motherboard – the system board, the main circuit board, with expansion
slots to plug in components

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Customizing a Desktop Computer
• Storage Hardware: Hard Drive, CD/DVD Drive
◦ Storage capacity is represented in bytes
◦ 1 byte = 1 character of data
◦ 1 kilobyte = 1,024 characters
◦ 1 megabyte = 1,048,576 characters
◦ 1 gigabyte = over 1 billion characters
◦ 1 terabyte = over 1 trillion characters
◦ 1 petabyte = about 1 quadrillion characters

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Customizing a Desktop Computer
• Output hardware
◦ Video
◦ Sound cards
◦ Speakers
◦ Monitor
◦ Printer

• Communications hardware
◦ Modem

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Basic PC System

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Software
Computers use two basic types of software: system software and application
software.
• System Software—enables the computer to perform essential operating tasks and makes it
possible for application software to run.
◦ Most important part: operating system (OS)
◦ Some operating system options
◦ Windows
◦ Unix
◦ Linux
◦ Mac OS

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Software
• Application Software—enables you to perform specific tasks—solve problems, perform
work, or entertain yourself.
◦ Compatibility: Application software is specific to the system software you use.
◦ Linux applications won’t work on Windows.
◦ Windows applications won’t necessarily work on Linux.
1.6 Where Is Information
Technology Headed?

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WHERE IS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
HEADED?
Computers are headed in three basic directions—

miniaturization, faster speeds, and

greater affordability

—and communications are improving connectivity,

interactivity, and support of multimedia.

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When Computers & Communications
Converge: Five Results
Convergence—combination of several industries
◦ Computers
◦ Communications
◦ Consumer electronics
◦ Entertainment
◦ Mass media

1. Portability
2. Personalization
3. Collaboration
4. Cloud computing
5. Artificial intelligence

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• Cloud computing basically means that instead of storing your software and/or data on your
own PC or your own company’s computers, you store it on servers on the Internet.
• Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to a group of related technologies used for developing
machines to emulate human qualities, such as learning, reasoning, communicating, seeing,
and hearing. Much of AI is based on the use of algorithms, formulas or sets of steps for
solving particular problems. AI deals with Big Data, data that is so large and complex
that it cannot be processed using conventional methods,
Ethics
Many important ethical issues are involved in the use of information
technology.
• Ethics is the set of moral values or principles that govern the conduct of an individual or a
group.
3 ethical considerations resulting from development of IT:
◦ Speed & scale affect security and personal privacy
◦ Unpredictability—IT can be less predictable and reliable than other technologies
◦ Complexity—computer systems can be unmanageable

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