The Impact of Information Technology on Work and Society

The aim of this report is to provide a brief summary of some of the main technological developments that have taken place in information technology and how these developments have had an influence on the way we work and on society in general, in the last thirty years.

It would be useful to outline some “working definitions” for some of the terms, which have been introduced in the opening paragraph. These definitions will help define the scope of this report.

 

Definitions of Terms used in the Aim

The first definition is of “information technology”. Information technology is the technology used to store, manipulate, distribute or create information. The type of information or data is not important to this definition. The technology is any mechanism capable of processing this data.

Kathleen Guinee wrote, “By information technology, I mean the tools we use to perform calculations, to store and manipulate text, and to communicate. Some of these twentieth century tools include: the adding machine, slide rule, and calculator for performing calculations, the typewriter and word processor for processing text, and the telephone, radio, and television for communicating.”

The report will examine how advances in constructing and designing these mechanisms have affected the general society.

The second definition is of “the way we work”. The elements of this phrase can be split up into two main considerations, e.g. what we mean by the way and how we define work. The “way” will be defined for the purposes of this report as the processes that are used by individuals or organisations. “Work” shall be defined as when we apply the processes to accomplish some arbitrary task.

The third definition is of “general society”. Society can be defined as “a community, nation, or broad grouping of people having common traditions, institutions, and collective activities and interests.” The report will examine how the technological developments which have occurred in information technology have influenced a “broad grouping of people” in their “common traditions, institutions and/or collective activities”. This broad grouping of people will primarily be those in the industrialised world of where “information technology” is commonly available.

The fourth and final working definition in this introduction is “technological developments”. For the purpose of this report this phrase has been defined with a reference to the previous definition of “information technology”. A development in information technology is any improvement to the mechanism used to “store, manipulate, distribute or create information”. This report aims to provide a brief summary of these developments. This will be achieved by highlighting only those developments that have influenced “general society”.
Having provided a few “working definitions” for some of the words in the initial paragraph the aim and scope of the report has been more clearly delimited.

 

How the report will achieve the aim

The report will provide a summary of the main developments that have occurred in the last thirty years of information technology.

After presenting this list the report will then justify each which has been identified primarily in terms of it’s advancement of technology.

After the technological justification the report will then examine what influence if any these advances have had on society.

 

Identification of main developments

The identification of significant developments begins chronologically in 1969. It was decided to arrange the developments in a chronological order. The advantages of this approach for this section of the report are that the developments are presented in a logical order. A development in the sphere of information technology often was dependent upon other developments that preceded it.