MODERN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

◦ computers

◦ the Internet

◦ mobil telephones

One of the charasteristics of 20th and 21th century is rapid advance in informaton technology. Multimedia now enables a great integration of sound, text and picture. Users can go through various types of digital information.

Computers

A computer is usually used for writing documents or letters, making graphs, sending e-mails or finding information.

Each computer has a hardware and a software.

The hardware consits of a central processing unit (CPU), a sreen, a monitor, a keyboard and a mouse. Using

the mouse, we can do a lot of thinks by clicking on different icons.

For printing we use a laser printer. There are also portable computers called laptops.

The software means the programs needed to work the machines. These programs are on disks, e.g. hard disk inside the computer or on floppy disks.

More and more people are becoming computer-literete, it means they have experience of working with computers and know how to use them. Programs and machines are user-friendly as well, it means they are easy to use.

If the computer is slow it may need more memory. Sometimes the computer may crash (stop working) if there is not enough memory or if it has a bug. A bug is a software problem or also a virus. That´s why it´s better to make a back-up copy of our work.

The Internet

The Internet is a system which allows computers to connect using telephone lines and it is used for transmitting information from one to another place. It has become a new phenomenon in the world which is touching every person´s life and human society.

The history of the Internet was started in the early 1970s by the United States military and by the year 2003, the number of connected computers was more than 175 million.

The Internet uses a system of rules for sending data between computers. Around 1995 the new and powerful application – the World Wide Web = WWW or „the Web“ has appeared and become the most popular Internet application.

We usually work with the Internet to find information, sometimes to do shopping or to book e.g. tickets for a concert. Each Internet user needs a program called a browser to gather information from all over the world. Most information can be found on web pages.

Another very popular use of the Internet is E-mail. It is an easy, cheap and quick way to send messages.

Mobile telephones

The first person who use the mobile phone was Marty Cooper, it happened in 1973 in Manhattan. This mobile phone had been developed by Motorola, an American electronics firm.

Mobiles have some qualities which make them much more powerful than fixed-line phones. You could be reached anywere, you don´t have to wait somewhere for a phone call. It means mobiles enable people to stay in touch wherever and whenever.

In Britain mobile phone is called cellphone or celluar phone. The term mobile phone is usually used in North America and Australia.