TUKESIGA EMMANUEL. 13/BSU/BSWSA/145.

Information technology (IT) is the application of computers and telecommunications equipment to store, retrieve, transmit and manipulate data. [1]The term is commonly used as a synonym for computers and computer networks, but it also encompasses other information distribution technologies such as television and telephones.[2]several industries are associated with information technology, such as computer hardware, software, electronics, semiconductors, internet, telecom equipment, e-commerce and computer services. In abusiness context, theinformation technology association of Americahas defined information technology (IT) as the study, design, development, application, implementation, support or management of computer- based information systems.[3] The business value of information technology is to automate business processes, provide information for decision making, connect business with their customers, and provide productivity tools to increase effiency. In an academic context, the Association for computing machinery defines it as undergraduate degree programs thatprepare students to meet the computer technology needs of business, government, healthcare, schools, and other kinds of organisations.IT specialists assume responsibility for selecting hardware and software products appropriate for an organization, integrating to those products with organizational needs and I infrastructureand installing, and customizing, and maintaining those applications for the organizations computer users. Examples of these responsibilities include the installation of communication compo nets; network administration and security; the design of web pages; the development of multimedia resources; the installation of communication components; the oversight of email systems; and the planning and management of the technology lifecycle by which an organizations technology is maintained, upgraded, and replaced.[4] Humans have been storing, retrieving, manipulating and communicating information since the SumeriansinMesopotamiadevelopedwritng in about 3000BC,[5] but the term Information Technologyin its modern sense first appeared in a 1958 article published in the Harvard Business Review;authors Leavitt and Whistler commented that the new technology does not yet have a single established name. We shall call it information technology (IT). [6]Based on the storage and processing technology employed, it is possible to distinguish four distinct phrases ofIT development: pre- mechanical (3000BC1450AD), mechanical (1450-1840), electromechanical (1840-1940) and electronic. [5]This article focuses on the latter of those periods, which began in about 1940.