Societal impact of IT

Contents…… A brief introduction to IT Daily use of IT

› In business› In education› In government› At home

Advantages Disadvantages

A brief introduction to IT Information technology (IT) is the use of any

computers, storage, networking and other physical devices, infrastructure and processes to create, process, store, secure and exchange all forms of electronic data.

Typically, IT is used in the context of enterprise operations as opposed to personal or entertainment technologies. The commercial use of IT encompasses both computer technology and telephony.

The term information technology was coined by the Harvard Business Review, in order to make a distinction between purpose-built machines designed to perform a limited scope of functions and general-purpose computing machines that could be programmed for various tasks.

As the IT industry evolved from the mid-20th century, it encompassed transistors and integrated circuits -- computing capability advanced while device cost and energy consumption fell lower, a cycle that continues today when new technologies emerge.

Daily use of IT……..

IN BUSINESS For one, it allows businesses to break the

boundaries of location and language. Take, for example, a retail store. If the store sticks to merely doing physical transactions from its brick and mortar store, it limits the possible clientele to the people within its location. But by using the internet, the store can be part of a national—and even global—marketplace. This is the basic concept that makes websites such as eBay and Amazon a success.

Of course, Information Technology also works in the physical business set-up. Information Technology in business allow companies to store product information on virtual databases (rather than physical ones), allowing for easier retrieval of data when needed. It makes internal communication easier, thanks to email, telephone linking, and other similar methods of communication.

IN EDUCATION Students have many

opportunities to learn the basic computer skills to facilitate their learning.

Online learning opportunities and the use of open educational resources and other technologies can increase educational productivity by accelerating the rate of learning; reducing costs associated with instructional materials or program delivery; and better utilizing teacher time.

Multimedia learning centre (MMLC) in secondary school

IN GOVERNMENT› UID project/Aadhar card

Contains personal data, templates of thumb prints and photograph of card holder

Information stored is encrypted with high security

› Railway Bookings Helps in booking the tickets

online› Bill payments

Reduces the physical movement of people for paying bills.

At home…… Personal comuter

› For entertainment› For communication

E-mail Video conference Social networking Others

› For calculation› For work

Cost effectiveness - Information technology has helped to computerize the business process thus streamlining businesses to make them extremely cost effective money making machines.

Bridging the cultural gap - Information technology has helped to bridge the cultural gap by helping people from different cultures to communicate with one another

Creation of new jobs - the best advantage of information technology is the creation of new and interesting jobs.

Communication - With the help of information technology, communication has also become cheaper, quicker, and more efficient

DISADVANTAGES

Dominant culture - While information technology may have made the world a global village, it has also contributed to one culture dominating another weaker one. For example it is now argued that US influences how most young teenagers all over the world now act, dress and behave.

Unemployment - While information technology may have streamlined the business process it has also crated job redundancies

example- a lot of lower and middle level jobs have been done away with causing more people to become unemployed.