Accessible IT Frequently Asked Questions

Let's start with the definition of Information Technology. Electronic and information technology includes any product used to acquire, store, manipulate, or transmit information. This includes software applications and operating systems; web-based information and applications such as distance learning; telephones and other telecommunications products; video equipment and multimedia products that may be distributed on videotapes, CDs, DVDs, or the World Wide Web; office products such as photocopiers and fax machines, calculators, and computer hardware.

A more formal definition is provided within the Access Board's Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards, written in accordance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998:

"Electronic and information technology [includes] information technology and any equipment or interconnected system or subsystem of equipment, that is used in the creation, conversion, or duplication of data or information. The term electronic and information technology includes, but is not limited to, telecommunications products (such as telephones), information kiosks and transaction machines, World Wide Web sites, multimedia, and office equipment such as copiers and fax machines. The term does not include any equipment that contains embedded information technology that is used as an integral part of the product, but the principal function of which is not the acquisition, storage, manipulation, management, movement, control, display, switching, interchange, transmission, or reception of data or information. For example, HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) equipment such as thermostats or temperature control devices, and medical equipment where information technology is integral to its operation, are not information technology.

Information technology [is] any equipment or interconnected system or subsystem of equipment, that is used in the automatic acquisition, storage, manipulation, management, movement, control, display, switching, interchange, transmission, or reception of data or information. The term 'information technology' includes computers, ancillary equipment, software, firmware and similar procedures, services (including support services), and related resources."

Our Accessible Information Technology Initiative promotes the use and aquisition of Accessible Information Technology in educational settings.

Portion excerpted from Access IT's "What is electronic and information technology?"