Article by Aniekan Ekah

INTRODUCTIONInformation Technology (IT) is a driving factor in the process of globalization. Improvements in the early 1990s in computer hardware, software, and telecommunications have caused widespread improvements in access to information and economic potential. These advances have facilitated efficiency gains in all sectors of the economy. IT provides the communication network that facilitates the expansion of products, ideas, and resources among nations and among people regardless of geographic location. Creating efficient and effective channels to exchange information, IT has been the catalyst for global integration. Recent advances in our ability to communicate and process information in digital form – a series of developments sometimes described as an “IT revolution” – are reshaping the economies and social lives of many countries around the world.

Products based upon or enhanced by information technology are used in nearly every aspect of life in contemporary industrial societies. The spread of IT and its applications has been extraordinarily rapid. Just 20 years ago, for example, the use of desktop personal computers was still limited to a fairly small number of technologically advanced people.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND GLOBALIZATIONThe Information Technology (IT) revolution has been driven by the extraordinarily rapid decline in the cost and rapid increase in the processing power of digital technologies. The digital device whose technological advance has perhaps been most crucial to the IT revolution is the microprocessor, the collections of millions of tiny circuits that serve as the “brains” of personal computers and that are being embedded in an ever-expanding number of products, from video games to cars to refrigerators. Over the past two decades, the processing power of microprocessors has doubled roughly every six months. Fiber optics technology enables data, including voices captured in digital form, to be converted into tiny pulses of light and then transmitted at high speeds through glass fibers wrapped into large capacity telecommunication cables. Hundreds of thousands of miles of these cables have been installed over the past ten years, boosting the speed and capacity of telecommunications networks. Another set of advances that has been critical to the IT revolution has occurred in fiber optics. Fiber optics technology enables data, including voices captured in digital form, to be converted into tiny pulses of light and then transmitted at high speeds through glass fibers wrapped into large capacity telecommunication cables. Hundreds of thousands of miles of these cables have been installed over the past ten years, boosting the speed and capacity of telecommunications networks. Advances in microprocessors, fiber optics, and a number of other complementary technologies, such as telecommunications switching devices and memory chips, have dramatically increased the speed, processing capacity, and storage space of computers and dramatically increased the speed and carrying capacity of telecommunications networks. THE SPREAD OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY AND GLOBALIZATIONThe spread of digital technologies has also been spurred by several unique attributes of information, the principal input and product of many IT industries. In contrast to more tangible products, like consumer goods, one person’s “consumption” of a piece of information does not necessarily reduce or eliminate the possibility that another person might benefit from the same piece of information. Furthermore, networks built upon the exchange of information, like the Internet, tend to become more valuable to existing participants as new participants link up with them. Finally, the cost of using digital technologies, such as Internet service providers, decreases as the number of users increases. All of these factors have worked together to promote rapid growth in the demand for and supply of IT products and services. During the second half of the 1990s, as more people bought computers and went on-line, the average cost of the equipment and services necessary to access the Internet declined. In contrast to more tangible products, like consumer goods, one person’s “consumption” of a piece of information does not necessarily reduce or eliminate the possibility that another person might benefit from the same piece of information. Furthermore, networks built upon the exchange of information, like the Internet, tend to become more valuable to existing participants as new participants link up with them. A network is simply a set of interconnected nodes. It may have a hierarchy, but it has no centre. Relationships between nodes are asymmetrical, but they are all necessary for the functioning of the network—for the circulation of money, information, technology, images, goods, services, or people throughout the network.

ADVANCES IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGYAdvances in IT are producing many changes in our society. These changes have produced many benefits, but they have also raised several concerns. Innovations in IT have created new jobs, promoted the growth of new markets, and increased international trade and investment. However, the expansion of IT also introduces costs. Workers in certain sectors of the economy lose their jobs as innovations in IT create a greater demand for high-tech workers and introduce efficiencies that make jobs obsolete. Another negative consequence of the IT revolution is the inequitable distribution of access to IT, called the digital divide. If the new technologies are to fulfill their promise, these costs and concerns will need to be addressed. Experience with previous technologies suggests that prudent policies can help us effectively manage the risks associated with new technologies without harm to their benefits. Experience also suggests that the required policies must be developed through close consultation between government and private sector experts and stakeholders.

Because of its varying subtleties, globalization is often a difficult phenomenon to describe comprehensively. However, one aspect of globalization that tends to be most apparent in almost every facet of life is the emergence of technology – particularly the way in which technology is globally integrating the peoples of the world. The advent of the Internet in its unquantifiable shape and form has over the past decade provided a common platform upon which countries from all corners of the Earth are able to communicate and share information. Despite widespread usage and availability of new technology, the issue been brought to the forefront of the debate between advocates on both sides of the globalization aisle.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND GLOBALIZATION Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been implicated in the structuring and restructuring of human social relations since the days of cave paintings and fire signals. The development of the electrical telegraph and the telephone in the late 1800s marked a qualitative shift in the scope and power of ICTs, however. The new electrical communication systems brought disparate regions and peoples into an unprecedented, increasingly synchronous global network of information, trade, finance, and culture. In the 20th century, the emerging global telecommunication infrastructure was extended and its uses expanded by the development of radio transmission, satellite communications, and terrestrial broadband networks. More recently, digital encoding, storage, and transmission have allowed for data compression and the convergence of multiple formats into a common digital stream, further accelerating the speed and volume of global information and communication flows. At the same time, the diffusion of inexpensive personal computers, the development of the graphical user interface, and the establishment of common data exchange protocols have given users around the world direct access to an increasing mass of data, text, and multimedia documents-as well as the power to create and distribute such documents themselves.The integration and interdependence of global media and information systems have created new challenges and new opportunities. Globalization has facilitated positive forms of cross-cultural exchange, creating, for many, an unprecedented historical opportunity to learn about and benefit from the cultural diversity of the human species, but it has also smoothed the progress of cultural domination, threatening regional and national cultural self-determination and increasing the risk of global cultural homogenization and commercialization

CONCLUSIONMany issues remain unsettled, and the future shape of the global information and communication infrastructure remains largely undetermined, despite vigorous efforts by the dominant corporate, governmental, and inter-governmental players to secure a commercial, open-market model. And while the proponents of a more democratic and diverse New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) have lost ground significantly in the wake of the changes discussed above, new venues and voices are emerging in the form of global non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that take advantage of the new global network itself to connect disparate constituencies, share information and resources, and organize globally. This resource guide offers links to the principle policymaking organizations, corporate entities, and research programs shaping the new global infrastructure, and to the inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations seeking to influence the policymakers on a range of issues.

REFERENCESAlbrow, Martin. 1997. The Global Age: State and Society Beyond Modernity. Stanford: Stanford University Press

Beck, Ulrich. 1992. Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity. London: Sage

Commission on Global Governance. 1995. Our Global Neighborhood: The Report of the Commission on Global Governance. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press

Davidson, Basil. 1992. The Black Man’s Burden: Africa and the Curse of the Nation-State. New York: Times Books

Eisenstadt, Shmuel Noah. Tradition, Change, and Modernity. New York: Wiley

Article by Steve Hill

Information technology has been defined by the Information Technology Association of America, or the ITAA as being the study, design, development, implementation support and/or management of any computer based information systems. This relates particularly to software applications and computer hardware. Information technology deals with using electronic computers and software to convert, store, protect, process, retrieve with security or transmit any information. What began many years ago as a term that many had no awareness of to a term that has skyrocketed to include several aspects of computing and technology. Information technology is a wide based term and encompasses many areas. Professionals in information technology may perform a wide variety of tasks that range from installing computer applications to designing widely complex computer networks and information databases. Everything from data management, networking, engineering computer hardware, software design, database design and management and administration of systems is included in the term of information technology. When covering the aspects of information technology as a whole, the use of computers and information are typically associated. The history of information technology goes back several years. In order to perform the functions associated with the field of information technology the modern field will use computers, servers, database management systems and cryptography. It was not very long ago that the field of information technology only consisted of a single computer operator who stored data on a magnetic tape and then placed it in storage. Times have changed drastically in the field of information technology from its inception several years ago. The field today typically includes a Chief Information Officer and several individuals who work together to achieve their goals. Years ago there was simply a single operator who performed all the tasks related to information technology. Today the job outlook for people interested in this field is very good. With data security and server specialists among the highest paid in the field, those with the needed skills and a keen interest in information technology stand to earn a substantial annual income. With the increasing concern for data storage and management, along with the security issues that most companies and corporations are facing, a career in information technology is an excellent choice for those who possess mathematical and strategic planning skills. Since 1961 the Information Technology Association of America has been working to enhance the interests of US information technology and electronics industries. This association provides leadership training in areas relating to business development, public policy, market forecasting and standards of development to a large number of corporations. The ITAA provides a grassroots approach to global networking for companies, market and government from the smallest local level to a global audience. It currently represents more than 16,000 information technological related companies throughout the world. Based in Washington, DC, the Information Technology Association of American is the only organization of its kind that helps to unite local, state, national and global businesses in the area of information technology. While information technology today encompasses a wide range of individual focuses, it is becoming increasing clear that the information technology field of the future will include many more topics and more demand than ever before. For those interested in becoming part of this rapidly growing field the time is now. Getting in on new developments could prove to be a very exciting and lucrative choice.

Article by liujianwu

Eleventh China (Dongguan) International Textile & Clothing Industry Fair and eleventh China (Dongguan) International Footwear Machinery and Material Plant Industry Fair, has Houjie Town in Dongguan City, Guangdong Modern International Exhibition Centre. According to organizers, seminar on information technology management is a major feature of this exhibition has attracted many businesses to participate. By the global financial crisis, in the past year years, most industries have encountered unprecedented difficulties, the industry in how to get rid of the current difficulties, seek times of financial crises following the road of development Er efforts to explore business transformation upgraded to become a major topic. The International Industry Fair, the industry has not only brought advanced industrial technology, information management technology industries are more favorable for all exhibitors.    It is understood that the information from the domestic garment enterprises, and sales of investment ratio is 85% of enterprises less than 1%, 10% of the company to reach 1% to 2%, 5% of the company to more than 2%. The foreign invested garment enterprises of information technology to reach at least 2% of sales, leading companies and even to 5% to 10%. Lower level of the decision into the domestic textile and apparel industry generally low level of information, and in the shoe industries, information technology is also not satisfactory condition. The status quo, the majority of enterprises are mainly the existence of several areas: information technology investment on the serious shortage; relevant aspects of the lack of qualified personnel; suitable for industry application software products less; information technology master plan is not perfect…… All these factors have hindered the development of enterprise information, which restricts the overall rapid growth itself.    Now, in the era of rapid development of information technology, enterprise development and the increasingly close relationship between information technology, accelerating business innovation, information, construction will undoubtedly become a business process innovation and development of the most important work is the development of enterprises propellant. Shows that information technology is critical for businesses, not only that, in accelerating the progress of the industry also plays an important role. Particularly in the footwear industries, the operation has been the traditional form of shoe production and the lack of advanced concepts and efficient technology and equipment, resulting in low efficiency in work, not to a strong core competitiveness foothold in the market. Therefore, the shoe need to actively complete information technology to enable enterprises of various business process can be orderly, and guide enterprises to achieve better and faster development.    The so-called information technology is the use of modern information technology companies to support business and brand management tools and processes. In computer technology, network technology and the rapid development of communications technology and a large number of applications today, information has become the enterprise to achieve sustainable development and improve the market competitiveness of important safeguards. So, how the shoe should be a proactive response measures to strive to promote the informatization construction process?    Shoe should be on the overall objectives of Zhanluejihua and detailed analysis, formulate a reasonable construction plan of information technology programs, according to the actual operation of enterprises in which Jigefangmian Mingque Zhongdian should invest money and energy, each targeted to complete the construction of a De details. In terms of hardware, shoe equipped to adapt through the requirements of modern enterprise management operations automation, intelligent basis for equipment and facilities, including network, communication tools and other kinds of information management systems to improve production management’s activities. On the software side, shoe to absorb all kinds of creative talents for building enterprise information backbone of the backing support. The treatment of specific conditions should be good, broad promotion of space to attract and retain people with lofty ideals to which enterprises, has been the best people to build elite teams, this set up with information technology-related institutions in order to achieve an effective division of labor and management, enhance employee sense of responsibility; develop more application software products, improve efficiency, a comprehensive help enterprise information construction.    Meanwhile, the shoe market to enhance their own insight on the variety, good at observing the market environment and competitive situation, forecast changes in industry trends, timely adjustment of information technology strategy. Domestic and foreign enterprises should learn from the successful experience of practical application of the information to the shoe construction, and give full play to the initiative to innovate, to make shoes with core competitiveness of enterprises. Shoe should start from the unique advantages of information technology, so that information technology can improve the success rate, and lay a solid foundation for the next step to enhance construction of information across the enterprise confidence. In addition, government agencies and related organizations, support is also essential, through policy support, technical guidance, etc., can also encourage enterprises to speed up the process of information construction.    Shoe emphasis on information technology is only truly multi-faceted production management input to the development of the overall vision to look at changes in the market, the times and learn to adjust and innovate strategic plan, under the guidance of Government Organization intensive so that when information Construction work achieved remarkable results and breaking through the bottleneck!