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information - introduction
The fundamental shift to Electronic Technology is commonly described as the transformation from the Industrial Age to the Information Age.
One of the best examples of the shift from Industrial to Information and one of the key markers of this transformation, is the type of work that is being done by the majority of workers.
To state it simply, the primary job function of the majority workers today is no longer physical work (eg. digging a hole or making things), it is now, to manage information (or mental work). This may include: working on a computer, doing the accounts, planning and designing future events or negotiating contracts.
It has been estimated that the majority of our Gross National Product (the term used by economists to measure how much production of goods and services a country creates) is now information based.
As technology, IT (information technology) has found its way into every nook and cranny of our lives from our computers to our electronic diaries, through to programming your video recorder and using an Automatic Teller Machine (ATM). The symbol we have used for 'information' is the universal information symbol based upon the letter 'i' which is often seen at tourist attractions.
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