Information Technology (IT)
What is Information Technology?
Information Technology (IT) is a term that encompasses all forms of
technology used to create, store, exchange and use information in its
various forms such as business data, motion pictures and multimedia.
It’s termed to include both telephone and computer technology and
is often called “the information revolution.”
Many universities, such as the University of Florida, the University
of Minnesota, Cornell University and Arizona State University, to name
a few, have an office and committee for IT. For instance, UF employs
educational resources like the acquisition, development and maintenance
of data and information, computers, computer systems and networks that
are considered part of IT. The University of Florida’s Office
of Information Technology (OIT) oversees all resources related to IT
implements security measures to ensure a safe way for students to use
IT security measures abide by federal and state laws, university rules,
and the terms of software licenses. Some rules OIT must abide by include
copyright laws and the laws of obscenity and child pornography. The
OIT must also abide by the Florida Computer Crimes Act, the Electronic
Communications Privacy Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. These
laws outline the legal use of the internet and outlaw hacking or illegal
The OIT is responsible for establishing external network connections
for their network. The OIT is also responsible for reporting any
violation of network use or security incident. The IT staff ensures
for all the workstations and web servers on the network.
What is a network?
In information technology, a network is a series of points that interconnect
by communication paths. They can interconnect with other networks and
contain subnetworks. The most common configuration of networks (topology)
include the bus, star and token ring topologies.
Want to know more about university network security?
The University of Florida and the Office of Information Technology sponsors
an annual Information Technology Security Awareness Day (ITSA). This
October, UF will hold its eighth annual ITSA day to help students, faculty
and staff who use the university network be aware of the technology of
the network and the dangers lurking about.
For more information, contact: