1 Information Technology and You

Information is knowledge you can use. Technology is any tool you can use to get and keep information. The most important information technology is you! Think about it … you know things already. You know how to learn more things. That’s why you yourself are the most important information technology! (From time to time we will use the abbreviation IT to stand for information technology.)

To learn more about information technology, you have to use the information technology you already have. Let’s start with you. What do you know already?

• What was the first language you ever learned?
• When did you first learn English?
• What other human languages have you learned?
• For each human language you have learned, how good is your ability to:
  • read?
  • write?
  • speak?
  • understand what you hear?

Answers to these questions will be different for each person. This course is in English. If you rate yourself highly on reading, writing, speaking, and understanding English, that will give you a head start. But don’t worry! Many IT people around the world speak English as a second language. You do not need perfect English to understand IT. You just need your English to be good enough. Keep working on your English!

For those whose first language is not English, much IT information has been published in world languages. Go find examples for your first language:

• can you find an IT website in your first language?
• can you find an IT book in your first language?
• can you find an IT video online in your first language?

Note to Teachers:

You can always help students by finding resources for them in languages other than English. You can also help them by finding online dictionaries, glossaries, and translation tools to help them understand difficult words in English.