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Essay on Information Technology Center
Information Technology: An Introduction
The relationship between information technology (IT) and efficiency has become a source of discussion. In the 1980s and early 1990s, empirical research usually did not major productivity improvements associated with IT investments. Lately, as new data are identified and new methodologies are applied, several researchers have found evidence that IT is related not only with improvements in productivity, but also in intermediate measures, consumer surplus, and economic growth.
From mainframes in the 1960s to microcomputers in the 1980s, to the Web and Internet II at present, higher education has hoped to use computers to improve educational outcomes on a large scale. However, history has exhibited a grim cycle. Each time a new technology has come into vogue, its advocates begged the institution to buy it, so as not to fall behind. Nevertheless, There has been noteworthy success in using information technology (IT) to teach technology-dependent content such as computer science, computer graphics in the arts, and data-intensive approaches to political science. (EDUCAUSE Review, 2002)
The ‘Productivity Paradox’ in I.T.
Over the past decade, both academics and the business press have occasionally examined the so-called "productivity paradox" of computers. Despite the enormous potential of information technology (IT) to effect "the biggest technological revolution men have known" (Snow, 1966), disappointment and dissatisfaction with the technology are obvious in headlines like "Computer Data Overload Limits Productivity Gains" (Zachary, 1991).
Interest in the "productivity paradox" has caused a large amount of research. While researchers analyzed statistics at length during the 1980s, they found little evidence that information technology significantly increased productivity.
Currently, after some researchers found firm-level evidence that IT investments earned hefty return, the media pendulum has swung in the opposite direction. Businessweek's announcement of "the productivity surge" caused by "information technology", and Fortune magazine's headline heralding the arrival of "technology payoff" represent the latest development. A growing number of academic studies also report encouraging effects of information technology on various measures of economic performance....
