What is Information Technology?

Ask people about IT, and most immediately think of their computer at work, but what actually falls under this banner?

Information technology (IT), as defined by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), is “the study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware.” IT deals with the use of electronic computers and computer software to convert, store, protect, process, transmit, and securely retrieve information.

This covers an ever increasing amount of ground: smartphones, MP3 players, games consoles, software for any platform, ATMs, and even the checkout at the supermarket are examples of the breadth of IT.

In my experience, IT means PCs, and mainly Windows, to most people. When these go wrong, it’s a work department called “IT” they expect to help… or not: hence the association.

The strange thing is that they don’t associate it with the mobile phone in their pocket, or any of the devices that have become ubiquitous at home. How long is it going to be before everything uses “electronic computers and computer software to convert, store, protect, process, transmit, and securely retrieve information”?