Describe the historical background of your field of study ( Information Technology) . Select a person you feel made significant contributions to society, your field of study, and who has influenced you personally. In a Word document, in a minimum of 500 words, write a paper that includes the following:
Explain why you chose your degree program/chosen field.
Describe one of the common problems that an Information Technology professional would be working on.
Research a scientist who contributed to the advancement of the IT profession and describe their contributions within the discipline according to the Christian worldview.
Describe how your own view of vocation and how your future contributions would be informed by the values of the Christian worldview.
In bullet points, and chronological order, briefly describe the evolution of the Information Technology profession.
History of Information Technology
Student:
Institution:
History of Information Technology
Information technology deals with development, use of computer systems, maintenance as well as processing and sharing of data through networks. The major reason for choosing information technology as a career is because, being in the twenty-first century, technology is the most important aspect of human life. Information technology influence almost every activity including enhancing production in organizations (Arnold, Coombs, and Gubler, 2019). Knowledge in information technology Helps businesses and companies to achieve goals, improve efficiency and enhance good communication through skills and expertise acquired in classroom. Additionally, the field of study is flexible, among the highest paying job, high on demand and diverse.
Network security/data security is a common problem an information technology professional would be working for. Every organization both public and private are at a risk of being hacked. Hackers are targeting all companies asking for higher amounts of ransom affecting the company’s financial status (Sauls, and Gudigantala, 2019). Companies back down from business within the first months especially small businesses due to cyber-attacks. According to the pokemon research institute, fifty percent of companies have been hacked in six months since the year 2016.
Blaise Pascal (623-1662) was a religious philosopher, mathematician, writer and scientist who contributed to the information technology profession. Pascal made several contributions including the most famous Pascal’s theorem which dealt with geometric figures as the greatest discovery as a mathematician (Freiman, andRobichaud, 2018). Additionally, Pascal invented the world’s first mechanical calculator which carried out calculations by adding up one to nine on one dial. The mechanical calculator made computing easier and time-saving.
The modern theory of probability was founded by Pascal is useful to date especially in the field of economics and social sciences (Freiman, and Robichaud, 2018). The theory of probability enabled the formulation of other mathematical formulae such as calculus. Pascal, however, made several mathematical and physical science discoveries such as Pascal’s triangle, hydraulics and hydrostatic as well as atmospheric pressure concept.
According to philosophers and scientists in the recent past, modern science including information technology was born out of the Christian worldview. Christianity offers a positive justification for the use of technology because technology is believed to serve humanity and enhance development (Green, 2017). Pascal believed that human life is dependent on whether God exists or not and that human beings should live to seek and believe in God. Technology is evidence of God’s infinite gains presented to humanity, therefore, a blessing.
I view information technology as a liberator and an instrument of power where the vocation promotes better living standards to people through the production of new drugs as well as enhance industrialization. Availability of leisure time to both learners and workers because the use of computer systems and computing services have eliminated the loss of time, finances and monotony. With information technology, society will be post-industrial through better decisions made on technical grounds and social planning.
Technology as an instrument of power is wrongly interpreted where some believe that inventors and those who control technology have power over the society which affects societal social structures (Yeats, 2019). Nevertheless, according to the values of the Christian worldview, technology is a servant to human values where through technology human life is improved for instance Egbert Schuurman believes that information technology is a sign of God’s love for humanity as well as used as a source of salvation. The only way to embrace and use technology positively is through receiving God’s innovations with Joy and respond by using God-given gifts to serve God and adhering to ethics. Technology is however used to heal the broken parts of nature and society according to the Christian worldview.
• Information technology as a profession has evolved and changed over time beginning with the development of computer systems (Kawalec, 2017). Computer development began in the early forties and fifties starting with the abacus computer which switched yarns and used counters to save information according to instructions.
• Computers were used in computing by mathematicians, for instance, the analytic engine developed by Charles Babbage. The machines used a series of codes that enabled programs to communicate with computers.
• Earlier, individuals interested in computer programing were forced to first undergo a degree in mathematics and later to mechanical engineering where engineers and mathematicians had all the required skills in computer information technology (Moquin, Riemenschneider, and Wakefield, 2019). Mathematicians and engineers were hired for information technology jobs.
• The evolution of computers has led to the development of some of the basic concepts such as compile and interpret which transforms written programs into a set of instructions or rather an instruction code on the computer.
• The improvement in programming led to the development of complex instructions, keyboards, screens, and special languages which encouraged other carriers (Moquin, Riemenschneider, and Wakefield, 2019). Through time scientists developed computing where programmers, commissioning enterprises and business analysts developed information technology as a field.
• Jobs in information technology commenced in the seventies where business analysts required specialists to create, adapt and maintain computer systems in business.
References
Arnold, J., Coombs, C. R., & Gubler, M. (2019). Career anchors and preferences for organizational career management: a study of information technology professionals in three European countries. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 30(22), 3190-3222.
Freiman, V., & Robichaud, X. (2018). A Short History of Computing Devices from Schickard to de Colmar: Emergence and Evolution of Ingenious Ideas and Technologies as Precursors of Modern Computer Technology. In Computations and Computing Devices in Mathematics Education Before the Advent of Electronic Calculators (pp. 339-364). Springer, Cham.
Gati, I., Levin, N., & Landman-Tal, S. (2019). Decision-making models and career guidance. In International handbook of career guidance (pp. 115-145). Springer, Cham.
Green, B. P. (2017). The Catholic Church and Technological Progress: Past, Present, and Future. Religions, 8(6), 106.
Kawalec, A. (2017). Research trends in library and information science based on Spanish scientific publication 2000 to 2010. Malaysian journal of library & information science, 18(2), 1-13.
Moquin, R., K. Riemenschneider, C., & L. Wakefield, R. (2019). Psychological Contract and Turnover Intention in the Information Technology Profession. Information Systems Management, 36(2), 111-125.
Sauls, J., & Gudigantala, N. (2019). Preparing information systems (IS) graduates to meet the challenges of global IT security: Some suggestions. Journal of Information Systems Education, 24(1), 7.
Yeats, D. A. (2019). A Universe Full of Magical Things: A Cosmic View Beyond the Myths of Religion and Scientific Materialism. Outskirts Press.
