IT101

1
IT-101

• Introduction to Information Technology

Lecture 1 Spring 2005
2
Overview

• Basic course information
• Course objectives
• Course content
• Definition of IT
• Historical perspective
• The information age

3
Course Description

• Syllabushttp//teal.gmu.edu/ececourses/it101/spri
  ng2005/IT101-005.htm

4
Introductions

• Instructor Rick Reo
• Background
• Contact Information rreo_at_gmu.edu
• Office Hours Mondays 600-700 p.m. in OB-232
• Student Questionnaire
• Name and class year
• Major full or part time status employment
• Math background
• Reason for taking IT 101
• If applicable, reason for minoring/majoring in IT

5
Course Objectives

• IT-101 aims to provide information on the
  following subjects
• Evolution of IT
• Components of IT
• Quantitative aspect of IT
• State-of-the-art technologies
• Role of IT in society

6
Course Content

• Introduction to IT and binary representation of
  information
• Definition of IT
• Historical perspective
• Examples of information systems
• Comparison of analog and digital representation
  of information
• Numbering systems and conversions (decimal,
  binary, octal, hex)
• Binary representation of alphanumeric characters
• Mathematics of storage and transmission
• Digitizing gray scale and color images
• Digital video
• Image and video compression techniques
• Compressing binary data streams
• Error detection/correction coding
• Properties of audio signals
• Digitizing audio signals

7
Course Content

• Telecommunications
• The telephone system
• Principles of wireless communication
• Cellular telephony
• Satellite communications and applications
• Transmission media
• Computing
• History of computing
• General computer architecture
• Hardware components of a computer system
• Introduction to computer software

8
Course Content

• Computer Networking
• Networking fundamentals
• Types of computer networks
• Network topologies
• LAN basics
• MANs, WANs
• Internet principles
• VoIP and convergence
• Network security issues

9
Information and Technology

• Information (Latin idea, conception)
• Knowledge communicated or received concerning a
  particular fact or circumstance
• Quantity needed by a system to complete a task
• Technology (Greek systematic treatment)
• The practical application of knowledge in a
  particular area (ex Engineering, science, etc..)
• The human process of applying resources to
  satisfy our wants and needs to extend our
  capabilities

http//www.cobb.k12.ga.us/durham/FacultyandStaff/
Staff/Exploratory/TechEd/Technologydef.html
10
Information TechnologyAccording to WhatIs.com

• IT (information technology) is a term that
  encompasses all forms of technology used to
  create, store, exchange, and use information in
  its various forms.
• It is a convenient term for including both
  telephony and computer technology in the same
  word. It is the technology that is driving what
  has often been called The Information
  Revolution."

11
The Various Forms of Information

• Images
• Sound
• Text
• Numbers
• Business data, voice conversations, still images,
  motion pictures, multimedia presentations, and
  other forms, including those not yet conceived.

Alphanumeric Characters
12
Historical Perspective

• Information and its uses have always been an
  integral part of mankind
• Mankind initially utilized non-verbal
  communication methods to convey information
  (gestures, etc.)
• The very first indication of information
  communication/storage/retrieval is considered to
  be through cave drawings
• Words and subsequently languages were later
  developed to efficiently communicate with each
  other
• Information sharing across a wide audience was
  made possible by the invention of the printing
  press in the early 1450s by Johannes Gutenberg
  through the process of printing and distributing
  manuscripts

13

• The printing press is widely thought of as the
  origin of mass communication. It marked Western
  culture's first viable method of disseminating
  ideas and information from a single source to a
  large and far-ranging audience (Jones telecom
  multimedia encyclopedia)
• Some significant developments in IT include
• The telegraph by Samuel Morse in 1837
• The telephone by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876
• Black and white TV in the 1940s
• The Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) between
  1937-1942
• The ENIAC (first electronic digital computer)
  during WW-II
• The transistor by Bell lab scientists, replacing
  the vacuum tube in 1947
• The integrated circuit by Jack Kilby in the late
  1950s
• ARPANET in the 1960s
• The personal digital computer in the 1970s
• The world wide web in 1991

14
Information Technology Timeline
Egyptian Book of the Dead
1500 B.C. Alphabetic Writing
lt4000 B.C. Hieroglyphics
1876 Telephone
1835 Photography
1895 Silent Movies
75,000 B.C. Rock Carvings
2200 B.C. Papyrus
1450 A.D. Printing Press
1840 Telegraph
1876 Phonograph
1894 Wireless Telegraph
15
Information Technology Timeline (cont.)
1991 World Wide Web
TODAY
1922 Radio Broadcasts
1947 Transistor
1970s VCR
1977 Apple II Home Computers
1983 CDs
1965 Local Cable TV
1973 Fax Machines
1980s Cell Phones
1990 Digital Photography
1940 Black and White TV
1998 MP-3 (Compressed Sound Files)
1942 ABC
16
The Information Age

• Information technology impacts every aspect of
  our lives
• Work IT industry-has become a major economic
  sector
• Home Information appliances, information
  utilities
• Leisure audio/video, gaming
• Social Web communities
• Financial on-line trading and banking
• And so on

17
The Information Age
Today, information technology touches every
aspect of our lives.

• Day-to-Day Living Online shopping, virtual
  education, telecommuting, online banking and bill
  payment, online course registration, airline
  reservations.
• Entertainment Television, movies, radio, CDs,
  video cameras, computer games, web surfing.
• Social Life Web communities, online dating,
  instant messaging, email, cell phones, personal
  communication devices.
• Economics IT use in business and government has
  engendered significant productivity increases.
  The IT industry itself (dot-com implosion not
  withstanding) has become a major economic sector.

18
Benefits of Information Technology

• Increased productivity
• Information flow
• Access to information (ex the Internet)
• Access to personnel
• Data entry
• Personal flexibility
• Virtual workplaces
• Recreation
• Gaming

19
Costs of Information Technology

• Equipment expense
• Equipment obsolescence. Ex personal computers
  and CPUs
• Social costs
• Increased unemployment
• Job elimination
• Reduction in middle management
• Personal costs
• Relearn new techniques and technologies
• Career obsolescence

20
Comments for next class

• Go over syllabus
• Visit course web site
• Go over todays lecture notes
• Download and print lecture notes
• Obtain textbook
• Read chapters 1 and 3 from textbook