Information Technology, 20 Years of Innovation

            Over the past 20 years Information Technology, also known as IT, has become the core tool that governs most of the things that happen in our lives today. The biggest change would have to be computer networks and the internet. Computer networking and the internet have changed many things for both large and small organizations. These changes, good or bad vary from making life easier by allowing us to share information more efficiently, creating new problems such as the ethics of privacy, and how this new technology can be used to progress society.

The world would not be what it is today if it were not for computer networking and the internet.
Computer networking and the internet are the most significant and have been impacting change in IT over the past 20 years. Changing everything from how we communicate with each other, to how we share information, and even how we control our lives.  Every person uses computer networking and the internet for small business, large business, socially, even to turn on your living room lights from your smart phone. Computer networks control our traffic lights, security systems, printers, monitors, cell phones, email, and sharing of almost all office files in today’s world.

The implications of computer networks and the internet will last for the rest of mankind, we will never share or store information the same way again.

Information systems help organizations achieve their goals by providing essential information services, including recording and keeping track of transactions, assisting decision makers by providing them with needed facts and figures, and providing documentation needed by customers and suppliers. (Computers Are Your Future, 2012.)
There is almost no need to “write” a note, memo, or letter to a coworker anymore because now you can simply email, share, or message a fellow coworker any type of file needed.
There is almost no need to physically “re-write” information by hand from one paper to another as was once a normal practice in the business world because the files have all become digital and can easily be shared over computer networks. Additionally, accessing information from books or file cabinets that can take up a lot of physical space, has become an obsolete solution for the storage of information. This need to implement IT locally and globally have greatly impacted the way businesses as well as individuals function today and prepare for tomorrow.

Already schools have replaced penmanship curriculum for keyboarding, or woodshop for Computer Lab, and it will continue this way inevitably as we become even more dependent upon computer networks.

The internet and other new technology added by computer networking brings the topic of; organizational social responsibility. The practice of producing goods and services in a way that is not harmful to society or the environment. (English definition of “social responsibility” 2015.)

New social, professional, ethical, and legal responsibilities of organizations have needed to be defined and revised over the past 20 years to accommodate this idea of organizational social responsibility. A good example is the all too ignored “Terms of Service” agreement most users hurriedly click through on the internet or upon installation of new software.  
The Terms of service (also known as terms of use and terms and conditions, commonly abbreviated as ToS or TOS and TOU) are rules which one must agree to abide by in order to use a service. Terms of service can also be merely a disclaimer, especially regarding the use of websites. (“Terms of Service”. 2015.) is a practice employed by organizations to ensure the User agrees to use the website or software in an ethical and/or responsible manner.

Over the next ten years organization’s social, professional, ethical, and legal responsibilities will continue to have to change or be adapted to fit the new technology that is created.
A great example of how organization’s responsibilities will continue to have to change is Apples Touch ID security on iPhone and iPad. To utilize the technology to open your phone, files, or pay for something using your fingerprint. The technology (and thusly the company) must of course be able to store your fingerprint, this is where organizational social responsibility comes into play. Apple’s solution for this is their “Secure Enclave”. Touch ID doesn't store any images of your fingerprint. It stores only a mathematical representation of your fingerprint. It isn't possible for someone to reverse engineer your actual fingerprint image from this mathematical representation. The chip in your device also includes an advanced security architecture called the Secure Enclave which was developed to protect passcode and fingerprint data. Fingerprint data is encrypted and protected with a key available only to the Secure Enclave. Fingerprint data is used only by the Secure Enclave to verify that your fingerprint matches the enrolled fingerprint data. The Secure Enclave is walled off from the rest of the chip and the rest of iOS. Therefore, iOS and other apps never access your fingerprint data, it's never stored on Apple servers, and it's never backed up to iCloud or anywhere else. Only Touch ID uses it, and it can't be used to match against other fingerprint databases. (About Touch ID security on iPhone and iPad. 2015) 

 The past twenty years of innovation in the IT field is a vast subject of which the most important achievement could be subject to debate.
Keep in mind how many of those technologies, and our very way of life today, would not have been possible without the invention of the computer network, the invention that has brought the entire world closer and more accessible than ever before in human history.

Refrences

·         Cambridge University Press. (2015). English definition of “social responsibility”. Cambridge Business English Dictionary. http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/business-english/social-responsibility

·         Catherine LaBerta. (2012). Computers Are Your Future, 12th Edition. Prentice Hall. http://wow.coursesmart.com/9781256694007/?CSTenantKey=aiuniv

·         Dictionary.com (2015). Define “Terms Of Service” Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/terms+of+service

·         Apple Support. (2015). About Touch ID security on iPhone and iPad. Apple Inc. http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT5949