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 – http://blackboard.missouri.edu

Our Webspacehttp://bengal.missouri.edu/~knottsb

bengal.missouri.edu/~yourpawprint

• WE WILL BE FILLING THIS SPACE SOON!

7301 Topics• What we’ll be exploring (ideas for your final paper)

– History of Computing and Internet– Ethics, Intellectual Rights– HTML (including a bit on web design & content)– Information Retrieval– Search engines– Library Information Systems (LIS)

• Integrated Library Systems (ILS)• Online databases• Digital Libraries• E-Content

– New Technologies and Trends

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 policiesWe 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.

TECHNOLOGY TRUTHS (??)• Consider while we take a break– “Modern technology owes ecology an apology”

(A. M. Edison)

– “I like my new phone, my computer works fine, my calculator is perfect, but Lord I miss my mind” (Unknown)

– “The factory of the future will have 2 employees, a man and a dog. The man will be there to feed the dog. The dog will be there to keep the man from touching the equipment” (Warren Bennis)

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????

• Spenser speaks…

Who will we serve?

Today’s college student• First computer they touched

was Apple II–now in a museum Always reminded parents CDs

and DVDs are not ‘tapes’ Look for digital textbooks Come to college awash with

technology, yet not able to distinguish information from technology

More from Mindset

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 for

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 – get started by checking out TED and STEPHEN

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 Period1960s – 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/softwareExamples of hardware you useExamples of software you use

– System (Windows 8; 7; XP...)– Applications & Apps

Examples of versions and formats – are we as ‘convergent’ as we would like to be?

One last thought

• Think five years out

–Innovators Club