Information Technology (IT) is broad to define. Some said it is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications. IT is the area of managing technology and spans wide variety of areas that include but are not limited to things such as processes, computer software, information systems, computer hardware, programming languages, and data constructs. In short, anything that renders data, information or perceived knowledge in any visual format whatsoever, via any multimedia distribution mechanism, is considered part of the domain space known as Information Technology.
Can you imagine yourself using flying cars? How about flying all by yourself, by just using a single machine? Using 0.001mm screen of PC?
If you can imagine yourself doing and using that thing, I can just simply say that you’re also saying that learning in terms of Information Technology is not a dead end journey.
Time flies so fast, isn’t it? Just before, we welcomed the 21st century and at the same time, feel the new era- the third millennium. We are now standing eleven-and-a-half years after that grandiose celebration. The time goes fast forward that we haven’t even stuck longer to those reminiscent moments we have had cherished for years.
Speaking of the 21st century, we often wonder what fortune lies ahead of us since we have to spend most of our life in this period. We tend to be skeptical on the circumstances that might occur as we journey through every moment of this era.
Talk to every person in his sixties or seventies and he will tell you how fortunate generation X is. As we enter the portals of the third millennium, we begin to feel the comforts that nobody from Napoleon’s epoch can. Imagine living with the whole new dimension of gadgets and handy-dandy paraphernalia, along with personalized addictive machines! It is hard to spell out the things that we superbly enjoy right now: 3G cellular phones, I- pods, wireless internet connection, compact home appliances, and so much more. For sure, majority of us consider living with these as supreme heaven.
Pondering about this current situation, there is one common word that fits within this period- modernization. We just roughly started the 21st century, but as we look back, we realized that every second we track down becomes more modernized than the previous one. Due to increasing innovative exploration of the present Homo sapiens, life never gets the same as before. If our ancestors need extreme effort to build fire and produce smoke to pass the message, ours is just a text (or a press-Enter-key) away. If people long ago have to sweat it out and sacrifice their most precious possessions in order to attain their basic necessities, ours is only to browse E-bay website to search through what we need from millions of products available. If nomads from the past have to struggle against the vast and torrential seas for a couple of months to build territory in newly-explored lands, we are far, far luckier: just buy a ticket, ride a plane or a cruise, and then voila, your dream destination is right under our noses! See how fortunate we are living in this kind of world.
To top it all, without the toils and effort of our beloved researchers, programmers, technicians, IT professionals and others who display exceptional expertise in computer and etc., life would have been very unproductive. And so, IT is everywhere in these days. It plays myriad and significant roles in today’s societies: it is much as like as the water piping system that carries pressured and treated waters to the houses and buildings; an electrical lining system that brings current, electricity and lighting; a printing press and a telephone that gives and/or used in giving an up-to-date information to the public. IT- based programs and equipments bear services like these. It gives fast and reliable data and information which can be stored, used and reused. It helps people keep in contact easily by use of email and chat rooms such as MSN messenger which have made a huge impact to our lives. People do no longer need to leave their houses to find what they want.
In general, it manages technology and spans wide variety of areas that are not limited to things such as processes, computer software, information systems, computer hardware, programming languages, and data constructs. In short, anything that renders data, information or perceived knowledge in any visual format and whatsoever are taken cared by the IT specialists which means, the inevitable demand of people for data and information makes the career of IT experts on going.
However, it can have a downside in the fact that we could lose valuable skills in face-to-face communication. It is easier to send an email to someone than pick up the telephone, therefore we don’t speak to people as we used to. If we shop online we don’t get out as much as we used to and don’t have the casual contact with people that we had before. If we work from home we don’t see other people that we work with. Do we face losing our social skills through lack of contact? Because information is so vast and instantly available, how do we distinguish between what is genuine and what is not?
Well, it isn’t that bad that we are able to face through the majesty of this century, but like other things in life, it proves to be disadvantageous sometimes, especially if taken in excess and in a slipshod manner. Yes, it is just OK to explore further our curiosity in thinking of new ways of improving life, but as usual, a limit is necessary. If we like to be continuously happy then we must be careful in every step we make before this era brings total adversity.
