ABSTRACT
Electronic data processing evolved from virtually nothing 50 years ago to its virtual omnipresence in the industrialized societies of the world today. The technologies that have been harnessed to manipulate data converted to its lowest common denominators (zeros and ones) have made nothing short of a huge impact on the lives of people throughout the world. Digitized information, or data, are being used to enable everything from live conversations between continents via satellite to the advancement of scientific discoveries and research, to controlling the temperatures of different rooms in a home. The recently emerged raft of on-line services provides not only the links to communicate with personal computers, but provides access to oceans of information to navigate, capture, and use by anyone with a computer. Businesses like banks and credit card companies use massive computing systems to provide everyday conveniences such as easier and faster access to money, in turn making it easier to bill or manage accounts. Even supermarkets and retail department stores are using powerful data-intensive information systems to do everything from managing inventories to monitoring consumer spending habits. The applications list goes on and on; everyone in virtually all walks of life is exposed in some manner or form to the impact of the ongoing revolution we call the Information Age.
