Information Technology

Information technology refers to the general term for the methods and equipment used to acquire, process, store, retrieve, and transmit text, numbers, images, and sound information. Introduction Including computer, communication, high-density storage, audio-visual, copying, printing and other broad technical fields and their applications in intelligence work.

Computer technology is the core of intelligence technology. The development of communication technology, especially data communication technology, provides conditions for the combination of intelligence work and mass media. High-density storage technologies, especially disk storage, microfilm, and optical disk technologies, provide conditions for the storage and retrieval of large-capacity information materials.

Printing and photocopying technologies provide conditions for the rapid and inexpensive transfer of information materials. Audiovisual technology provides conditions for the storage and transmission of audiovisual information. 

Intelligence technology is the basis and premise for modernizing intelligence work. In society, intelligence technology is also called information technology, and generally refers to the combination of computer and communication for information processing.


The punched card invented by H. Hollerith in the United States at the end of the 19th century was the initial application of modern intelligence technology and intelligence processing. In February 1946, Moore College of the University of Pennsylvania made the world's first ENIAC electronic computer, which laid the foundation for the development of intelligence technology.

In 1954, the US Naval Ordnance Test Station Library used the IBM701 computer to establish the world ’s first information retrieval system. In 1959, the US H.P. 
Lun used the IBM-650 computer to establish the world's first SDI system.

The information input and output equipments in this period were card punches and paper tape punches, and the storage equipment was tape storage, so the information retrieval system established was an offline batch processing system. After the 1960s, magnetic drums and magnetic disks began to be used as the main auxiliary storage. Small and medium-sized computers developed rapidly. 

Many document work organizations used computers to build document database tapes and used computers to edit and publish information journals.

In 1962, M.M. Kaiser of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology used the IBM709 computer and IBM2741 multi-channel console to conduct the world's first online information retrieval experiment.

Since the 1970s, the performance of various types of computers has improved rapidly, and all-digital communication networks have begun to be used. Various document-based, fact-based, numeric, and image-based databases with text, numerical values, graphics, images, and sound as carriers have been produced in large numbers.

On the basis of modern computer technology and data communication technology, international online information retrieval systems such as DIALOG and ORBIT have been established. The online terminals are all over the world. 

There are hundreds of databases that can be searched, and thousands of databases established in various countries. article. Since the 1980s, the development of intelligence technology has focused on three areas: microcomputer technology, high-density storage technology, and data communication technology.

The microcomputer is a rising star of the computer family and has experienced four generations of development in about 15 years. Since 1982, 16-bit microcomputers have become mainstream, and 32-bit microcomputers have also been marketed in large quantities.

Advanced 32-bit microcomputers have reached 8MIPS, which is higher than the speed of large computers 10 years ago, and the price is in the order of thousands of dollars. The development of microcomputers also includes the increase of memory, the emergence of warm plate technology, the emergence of various intelligent interfaces, the realization of Chinese character functions, the development of various application software, etc.

These powerful functions are the decentralization of information processing and storage The intelligence of all levels of the intelligence system provides important technical conditions.

The new development of data transmission technology is mainly the popularization of data communication network and the development of satellite communication and optical fiber transmission. In the late 1970s, a packet-switched data communication network that could only be established by a few developed countries has been popularized worldwide.

According to statistics, there are already hundreds of public and private packet-switched data communication networks in 35 countries and regions in the world, and there may be countless local area networks.

The combination of computer information processing and communication is the technical pillar of the information system.

The development of data communication technology provides technical conditions for the transmission of large amounts of information such as full-text transmission and image transmission and data communication between microcomputer groups.

Optical fiber transmission and satellite communication have become the two pillars of information transmission, providing conditions for the realization of high-quality, high-reliability, and low-cost information transmission.



Fundamental contents
The content of information technology is very extensive. According to the information processing process, using computers, communications and other equipment and technical means, it can be roughly divided into information input technology, information storage technology, information processing technology, information output technology, information transmission technology and document replication technology. several aspects.


Prospects
Information technology is one of the fastest growing fields in modern science and technology, and it is still evolving with each passing day.

The general trend is that computer technology, communication technology, and high-density storage technology will be further combined, the application of intelligence technology will be further socialized, and the price-performance ratio of technical products will be more improved. Various technologies and applications will be oriented to ordinary users and fully intelligent.

Foreign countries predict that the networking of microcomputer clusters and large-scale information centers will be the main form of future information systems.

Online information retrieval will be popularized throughout the world. Including developing countries, the number of online users will increase significantly. Centralized information systems will generally use large optical discs, and the database storage capacity will be in the order of million megabytes or more.

It will generally provide full-text and image information retrieval and circulation services, and will provide wholesale database services for small individual information retrieval systems. The processing and circulation of information will be further automated and fully electronic.

The author's writing, editorial department editing, publication and distribution, database, online search, full-text supply and other integrated "online chain" methods will become the future database production and circulation New model. Fact databases, especially full-text databases and numerical databases, will increase significantly.

"Fact retrieval" and "knowledge retrieval" type information retrieval systems and software will quickly spread. The retrieval system for small individuals will store frequently accessed information, including documents, images, and full-text databases, and provide services to ordinary end users through local networks.

Such systems will generally use optical discs with a capacity of less than 1000MB.
The result of the decentralization of information processing and services will greatly improve the production and utilization of various types of information. 

Users will generally use high-performance microcomputers as terminals, with intelligent, image, and expert system-type interfaces, making it easier to select databases, compile questions, transcribe databases up and down, analyze and evaluate information, and transfer information to other users or local print.

The further development of office automation will be the integration of personal computers, workstations and other local office networks to form an integrated office automation system that combines numerical and word processing, document transfer, electronic postal, machine translation, and voice and image transfer functions .

There will be free communication between computer terminals of different types and office automation equipment. The combination of computer, communication and database will further develop into an integrated information system (UIS), or integrated information digital communication network (ISDN) that integrates the circulation and utilization of voice, film and television images and text data. will