ABSTRACT
The initiation of information technology was through mathematical and scientific applications in the late 1940s. Business data processing applications, which came in later, extended the domain of applicability, brought in processes and gave rise to the discipline of information systems. In the 1990s, the reach of the technologies was furthered considerably through home and personal computer access. Issues concerning human interfaces, psychology and related topics became subjects of interest. The integration of communication technologies and networking combined with continuously decreasing cost of hardware and improved software development methodologies have enabled creation of global, national and local communication networks that provide the infrastructure for social and economic systems. Information and communication technologies now partner with social sciences, economics and political sciences in attempting to understand the multiple strands of the emerging information society.
