TYPES OF INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY
Information technology is a conglomerate of equipment that
provides information to the management of an organization to assist them
perform their function organization to assist them perform their function
organizations use information technology (II) to
- Process data
- Store data and information
- Produce output for operational use or for management reports
- Communicate information.
IT systems
are computer systems, which consists of
1. Hard ware
2. Software and
3. Communication links, including links
to the internet
These are
the three types of information technology.
1.
Hardware.
The
term hardware is used to describe the equipment in a computer system, including
the computer system, including the computer itself. They are the physical
components of the computer system that occupies space, that can be seen and
touched.
Hardware
includes
- Input Devices
- Output Devices
- Secondary Storage Devices
- Central processing unit, comprising of the control unit, Arithmetic and logic unit and the memory unit.
- Communication Devices which facilitates the transmission of information from one point to another.
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Hard Wares |
Peripherals
are hardware devices other than processors or networks. The term peripherals
commonly refers to input, output, secondary storage and communication
devices.
2. Software.
Computer
software is the term used to describe collections of program instructions to
the computer hardware. They are program instructions that directs the computer
hardware to perform some defined tasks.
There
are different types of software, namely operating systems, language translators
transient utilities, application packages and bespoke systems.
3.
Communication Devices:
Are
the types of information technology that facilitates the transmission of
information from one point to another.
Where
an organization has several locations, it may be effective to process data
locally rather than at one central installation. By doing this, individual
managers will be able to schedule their own processing and will have more
control over the contents of their database systems. Any system that requires
computers to communicate with each other will need specialized hardware and
software such as:
ü Modems, broadband or network
connections.
ü Communication programs.
ü Network circuits and software.
ü
No cash changes hands
4.
Touch screen
A
touch screen is another form of point of sale device which might be used in a
cafeteria or restaurant. The screen displays a range of items that are
available for sale, and the salesperson in puts the customer’s order by
touching the appropriate icon in with a finger. The screen recognizes the
instruction and converts it into an electronic command for the computer.
5.
Optical mark reading (OMR)
Optical
mark reading (OMR) involves making marks, usually with a pencil or pen, on a
standard document. The document is then read by an optical mark reader, and the
positioning of the mark or marks on the document can be interpreted as data for
processing by the computer.
6. Optical character recognition (OCR)
With
optical character recognition (OCR), a reader can recognize hand writing
characters from their shape, and convert them into electronic data format.OCR
applications have includes meter reading forms for electricity and gas meters.
The person reading the meter records the meter reading in boxes on a standard
form, and the form is then input into the processing system through an OCR reader.
7.
Magnetic Ink Character Recognition
(MICR)
With
MICR, a special reader can detect characters on a standard form in magnetic ink
characters. The use of MICR is uncommon, although its most well-known use is
the automatic reading of characters on bank cheques.
8. Scanners
A
scanner is a device that can read only any form of image and convert it into an
electronic form for acceptance by a computer system.
Scanners
can therefore be used to input diagrams and pictures, signatures and other
visual images, as well as images of text.
Scanners
are widely used in the publishing industry, for the processing of diagrams and
other pictures in books, magazines and newspaper.
9. Plastic Cards (Magnetic Strip And Chip & Pin)
Plastic
Swipe cards hold data in electronic form an a magnetic strip on the card.
Plastic
cards or other items might hold data in electronic form in an electronic chip.
These can be read in by a special reading device (either reading the magnetic
strip on the card or the chip in case of a chip & pin card) and fed into
the computer system.
Plastic
cards are used in banking systems, credit cards, security passes e.t.c.
10. Smart Cards
The
next generation of plastic cards will have funds actually on the card itself
(rather than simply providing online authorization to transfer funds). The card
will be read in the same way as chip & pin cards, but funds then
transferred direct from the card to the super markets (or other seller’s) bank
account. The smart card will be recharged with money at specialist ATMs.
11. Voice Recognition
Voice
recognition systems receive input as the spoken word. They are currently used
in limited number of situations such as routing calls within call centres
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