Thursday, March 5, 2009

Human Kind and Information Technology


By Brenda Williams

Human kind is the most intelligent and evolving species to have inhabited this world. It is therefore always seeking knowledge, convenient ways of communication and development in general.

It is the result of this quest that in the early 40's the precursor of modern day computing machines was first invented. Ever since there has been no letting in the pace of progress in this exciting field which has profound effects on almost all the aspects of the modern day human beings.

The most important and sought after offshoot of the computer or information technology is the internet. It opens up unlimited vistas of knowledge in a fraction of second for the user. The possibilities are literally limitless.

One major branch of internet is the E-commerce. In its early days, it existed simply as a form of facilitation for commercial and financial transactions. Since then it has really transformed.

Technologies such as electronic data interchange and electronic funds transfer were introduced and they allowed the freedom to the businesses to communicate documents such as invoices via electronic network systems, securely. The growth of telephonic banking, credit cards and automated teller machines are all too well known and form the back bone of e-commerce. There are many vistas in this regard which are growing as per the users need and information technology is providing an efficient and secure platform to them.

The major electronic payment systems that govern current online transactions are credit cards processing systems and electronic payment gateways. The electronic payment gateways facilitate financial transactions online by authenticating credit cards and online bank accounts authorizing transactions. They connect the merchant's website and the credit card companies. In doing so, the user has the liberty of doing such transactions from the safety of the home or office and avoiding the physical hassle of going to the financial institutions or the vendors.

E-banking and business of many sorts is now a normal occurrence and part of the daily routine of a sizable population.

The internet has eliminated the distances between friends and family. The internet provides web services of different sorts like, social networking services, chatting services with real time interaction and portals providing free lance business opportunities.

In the beginning no one had envisioned the growth spurt of the internet and its allied e-commerce. The web browsers are instruments which have the ability of finding and organizing the information quickly and thus have become indispensable tools in the hands of common people.

The web was lately considered a medium for sharing mere text files. Now with advanced user interface, animations, video and radio streaming the internet has really evolved.

It is professed that the computer technology especially the internet has a more profound effect on people's lives as compared to the radio or television. This magical box, the computer with its flexibility has become one stop solution to all the media needs of a modern day person.

So it can be safely said that the computers and the information technology are a part and parcel of the modern day man's life and in the years to come are going to flourish even more.


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