The Beginning
When people hear the words "Information Technology," the first things that come
to mind are computers and the Internet. It may also bring up words like "network,"
"intranet," "server," "firewall," "security," as well as more arcane expressions such
as "router," "T-1," "Ethernet," or the mysterious and exotic-sounding "VoIP"
(pronounced "voyp").
In fact, information technology is all of these things, and more. It's hardly new,
however. Information technology is as old as the brain itself, if you think of the
brain as an information processor. As far as I.T. being a science, even that goes
back as far as the earliest attempts to communicate and store information.
And that is essentially what information technology is: the communication and
storage of information, along with the ability to process and make use of the
information stored. In this chapter, we'll begin with a brief history of I.T., what it
comprises today, and the different major types of I.T. systems available today.
A Short History of Information Technology
As human societies have grown in size and complexity, so has the need to collect,
store and transmit information. While it could be argued that brains represent a
form of “bio-information technology,” the Greek word “ ” - from which we
get the word “technology” – really refers to scientific or mechanical knowledge,
particularly that which involves the use of tools. Therefore, we’ll begin our journey
with human’s first attempts to record and transmit knowledge through mechanical
means.
might think of as “information technology.” Using a combination of tools that
included manganese “crayons” and clay that was colored with various pigments,
early humans left these images on the walls of a cave near Lascaux, France and on
cliffs in the Algerian Sahara. These have been dated as being approximately 18,000
and 8,000 years old respectively. Unfortunately, there is no way to be certain
exactly what message was being communicated (a problem our own descendants
15,000 years from now may very well encounter!)
Since the images depict animals that were commonly hunted at the time, and given
the importance of game animals to a hunting-gathering culture, it’s possible that
such images were attempts to present information about such game, or part of a
rite designed to ensure a successful hunt.
The invention of writing systems – including pictograms such as hieroglyphics,
alphabetic writing and “syllabic” systems – seems to have taken place almost at the
same time as the development of agriculture. Agriculture introduced such formerly
unknown concepts as land ownership, advanced trade and the accumulation of
wealth, which in turn led to more complex societal structures. As you might expect,
this necessitated more detailed and efficient record-keeping. Alphabetic writing has
a substantial advantage over pictograms (hieroglyphs), because a relatively limited
number of symbols (letters) can be used over and over in infinite combination to
communicate nearly anything. (As you will see later, modern I.T. uses only two of
these symbols!)
Preserving and storing such information posed certain challenges; information
either had to be inscribed on stone or clay tablets (which were heavy) or animal
skins, wax tablets or papyrus (which weren’t durable).
