信息技术的诞生
With recording technologies, transmission, and early computers, it didn’t take very long for scientific advances to merge everything together. Information technology is the use of technology to enhance the speed and the efficiency of the transfer of information.
At first, computers were big, costly, and available only to universities and big corporations. Before the 1990s, most discoveries in information technology were driven by full time researchers having access to the high priced equipment. In the late 1980s however, small computers started to become available, such as the early Apple Computer systems, and Personal computers. International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) developed the first open standard Personal Computer (IBM PC launched in US markets 1981 first deliveries to European markets 1982 and 1983), which standardized the software development. For the first time in the world history we had PCs that used the similar operating systems that allowed the computers users to communicate by using the same platform. IT-industry was revolutionized.
Soon after, we saw the birth of what we know as current information technology: personal computers in our own homes, using communication devices known as modems, to access information on remote servers. The first incarnation of those were BBS servers, setup by education facilities or even individual people, to store both information and allow discussion with chat and messages.
信息时代带来大量与信息产业相关的工作机会
The breadth of new work in the information age is immense. New workers can be seen in traditional industries (old workers renewed), in new ICT-related services and content provision (the information workers), in infrastructure development and maintenance of the information economy (information managers and entrepreneurs) and in a host of related areas.
Among the most in-demand and sought-after workers are information technology (IT) professionals.
According to a 1999 US Commerce Department study for more than 15 years, employment in the core IT occupations—computer scientists, computer engineers, system analysts and computer programmers—has grown at an astounding pace. The growth rate for computer scientists and system analysts has even accelerated in recent years.
The recent downturn has not changed this trend; it has only slowed down the demand.
But it is not only IT professionals who will thrive. What Robert Reich calls “symbolic analysts”—engineers, attorneys, scientists, professors, executives, journalists, consultants and other “mind workers” who engage in processing information and symbols for a living—will occupy a privileged position in that they can sell their services in the global economy. In an economy where information is critical, symbolic analysts or “knowledge workers” will constitute an elite group.
信息时代带来的变化
In the Information Age, it’s easy to forget that just 10 years ago, the Information Age was stuck on its launching pad. The Internet was unknown to nearly everyone except university researchers; TV was still patting itself on the back over cable success; films were searching for the next big thing; music was sold at record stores. Now, television and computers are colliding and millions of channels are on the horizon; films are bigger, clearer and cheaper to make; and music, more than any other industry, is using the Internet to market itself. HDTV will soon be rolling into homes, delivering a wider screen and digital picture. Television is on the brink of major changes that may forever alter the way we live. It should all happen with the inevitable switch from analog to digital technology. The world of television and entertainment is poised for explosion, and that explosion comes about because television becomes digital. It’s one of the premiere technology think tanks in the world.
对信息技术的政策回应
Studies have shown that technology diffusion is slow and costly and developing countries cannot assume that relevant new technologies will flow easily to them across international borders.
Governments play a vital role in bridging the digital division. This is particularly true in developing national information infrastructures that will increase Internet access among the population. Specifically, governments should develop a policy and legal regulatory environment conducive to the creation of a robust national information infrastructure, including a regulatory environment that would increase competition and keep prices down. Government should also consider lowering or removing import duties and/or sales taxes on IT goods and services. This would contribute towards increasing PC penetration rates. Finally, governments’ own use of technology to enhance efficiency, effectiveness and transparency (e-government) could stimulate growth in the private ICT sector.
Governments should also encourage alternative access to the Internet. If, in the developed world, the PC through the telephone or cable networks is the main mode of accessing the Internet, developing countries should seriously consider the use of wireless technologies and devices to connect to the Internet.