The general name of various technologies mainly used for managing and processing information. It mainly uses application of computer science and communication technology to design, develop, install and implement information systems and application software.
It is also often called information and communication technology (ICT). It mainly includes sensing technology, computer and intelligence technology, communication technology and control technology.
Information technology in a broad sense refers to the sum of various methods, tools and skills that can fully utilize and expand the functions of human information organs. This definition emphasizes the philosophical exposition of the relationship between information technology and human nature.
In Chinese, information technology refers to the sum of various technologies for collecting, transmitting, storing, processing and expressing information. This definition emphasizes people's general understanding of the functions and processes of information technology.
In a narrow sense, information technology refers to the sum of technologies that use computers, networks, radio, television and other hardware devices, software tools and scientific methods to acquire, process, store, transmit and use various information such as words, images and sounds. This definition emphasizes the modernization and high-tech content of information technology.
Extended data
Formal social gathering
1, information industry
With the rapid progress of world informatization, the demand for information in the world is growing rapidly, and information products and services are essential for all countries, regions, enterprises, units, families and individuals. Information technology has become the cornerstone of economic activities and social life. In this case, the information industry has become a strategic industrial sector that all countries in the world, especially developed countries, compete for investment and focus on development.
In the past 10 years, the global information equipment manufacturing and service industry grew twice as fast as the corresponding gross national product (GNP), and became the key industries to stimulate economic growth. Among them, in the past 10 years of sustained and rapid growth, the average annual GDP growth was 3.6%, while the contribution of electronic information industry to GDP growth was 1.4 percentage points.
It is no exaggeration to say that the sustained growth of American economy benefits from the support of information technology and the promotion of information industry. After years of rapid growth, the information industry itself has become one of the largest industries in the world.
In the mid-1990s, the growth of information economy in some developed countries exceeded 50% of GNP, while that in the United States exceeded 75%. In 2000, the output value of global information product manufacturing industry reached 654.38+0.5 trillion US dollars, which became an important pillar industry of the world economy.
During the Ninth Five-Year Plan period, China's information industry developed at a speed three times that of the national economy. The sales volume of major products increased rapidly, structural adjustment achieved initial results, and some key technologies made breakthroughs, ranking fourth in the world in terms of industrial scale.
By the end of 2000, the total output value of information product manufacturing industry reached 654.38+0 billion yuan, and the sales revenue reached 580 billion yuan, making it the first pillar industry of the national economy. The added value of the information industry accounts for 4% of the national GDP, and the export value of electronic products accounts for about 1/5 of the total national exports, and the contribution rate of the information industry to the national economy has increased significantly.
2. Information technology
Information technology represents the development direction of advanced productive forces today. The wide application of information technology makes information, an important factor of production and strategic resource, play a role, enabling people to optimize resource allocation more efficiently, thus promoting the continuous upgrading of traditional industries and improving social labor productivity and social operation efficiency. As far as traditional industrial enterprises are concerned, information technology promotes enterprise upgrading at the following levels:
Embedding information technology into traditional mechanical products
Computer aided design technology and network design technology can significantly improve the technological innovation ability of enterprises;
Use information system to realize scientific management of enterprises, and unify and allocate human, material and financial resources of enterprises.
Using Internet to Develop E-commerce
3. Labor force
With the development and utilization of information resources, people's employment structure is changing from agricultural population and industrial population to information-related work.
Take the United States as an example From 65438 to 0956, the number of "white-collar workers" in the United States exceeded that of "blue-collar workers" for the first time. From 65438 to 0980, the employment ratio in the United States was: agriculture, forestry and fisheries accounted for 3.38% of the total employment, mining and construction accounted for 7.23%, manufacturing accounted for 22.09%, and service accounted for 67.2%.
This trend has further developed. By 1997, agriculture, forestry and fisheries accounted for 2.63% of the total employment, mining and construction accounted for 6.88%, manufacturing accounted for 16.08%, and service industry expanded to 73.34%.
In the service industry, the vast majority are engaged in occupations related to information processing and information services. For this trend, American scholars concluded: "From farmers to workers to employees, this is a brief history of the United States.
Information technology has promoted the progress of human civilization
The wide application of information technology in the world not only profoundly affects the economic structure and efficiency, but also profoundly affects the social culture and spiritual civilization as the representative of advanced productive forces.
Information technology has caused profound changes in traditional education methods. The diversity of computer simulation technology, multimedia technology, virtual reality technology, distance education technology and information carriers enables learners to overcome the obstacles of time and space and arrange their own learning time and speed more actively.
In particular, distance education with the help of the Internet will open up a global knowledge dissemination channel and realize the mutual dialogue and exchange between learners and instructors in different regions, which will not only greatly improve the efficiency of education, but also provide learners with a relaxed and rich learning environment.
The development of distance education will trigger a revolution in the field of traditional education and promote the general improvement of human knowledge.
Internet has become an indispensable tool for scientific research and technological development. With more than 600 large libraries, more than 400 document repositories and 1 10,000 information sources, the Internet has become a treasure house for researchers to access and obtain the latest scientific and technological trends at any time, greatly saving the time and cost of consulting documents.
The rapidity and interactivity of information transmission on the Internet enable researchers anywhere in the world to become research partners, conduct real-time discussions and collaborative research online, and even use online hosts and software resources to complete their own research work.
Information network provides a more convenient channel for the spread of various ideas and cultures. A large amount of information permeates every corner of society through the network and becomes an important means of cultural communication today. Various forms of electronic publishing, such as CD-ROM, disk and online publishing, have broken the situation that paper media dominated the world in the past.
The application of multimedia technology and the adoption of interactive interface have opened up broad prospects for the popularization of culture, art and technology. New information media, such as the Internet, provide new possibilities for the inheritance and dissemination of excellent cultures of all ethnic groups and for the exchange and blending of cultures of all ethnic groups.
The network is changing the way of communication between people, changing people's working methods and lifestyles, which will inevitably have a far-reaching impact on the development of culture, and a new advanced culture that adapts to the network era and information economy will gradually take shape.
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