What is the origin of the expression "Information Technology" (IT)?
When this term began to be used, who use it for the first time?

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 10 Dec 2004 17:35 PST

A check of newspaper databases shows the term popping up all of a
sudden around 1960, even to the formation of "information technology"
divisions in some companies.  The usage suggests the term was made
popular by an a particular source -- a speech or article that captured
the imagination of the day.

The best candidate I can come up with is a 1958 article in the Harvard
Business Review:

H. J. Leavitt and T. L. Whisler
"Management in the 1980's" 
November-December, 1958, pp 41-48


I don't have the actual text of the HBR article, but I can provide
text from some of the newspaper uses, if that would serve as an answer
to your question.

Let me know.

pafalafa-ga

http://www.relocate-america.com/states/PA/cities/germantown.htm

[quote]Philadelphia is also the birthplace of Information Technology.
In 1946, The University of Pennsylvania developed ENIAC, the world?s
first computer. The city now boasts 87 degree- granting institutions
within 11 surrounding counties, including 5 law schools, 6 medical
schools and 24 teaching hospitals.[/quote]

ENIAC - the World's first computer?

Bah!

Collosus was THE FIRST ... Developed at Bletchley Park during WWII to
crack the German codes.

WWII ran from 1939 to 1945.

Paf is right (Bryan too, of course): 

"The term Information Technology (IT) was first used by Leavitt and Whisler 
(1958) to emphasize the role of computers to support decision making
and organizational information processing." (1)

"Leavitt and Whisler first used the term ?information technology?  in 1958." (2) 

(1)  Raquel Benbunan-Fich, MANAGING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN
ORGANIZATIONS: PARADIGMS AND METAPHORS, Baruch College,
<http://cisnet.baruch.cuny.edu/papers/cis200201.pdf> (PDF document).

(2)  Vincentius Martinus Franciscus Homburg 1999. _The political
economy of information management [Online Resource] : a theoretical
andempirical analysis of decision making regarding interorganizational
information systems)_ Ch. 2: "Variety in Information Management",
Online copy at the University Library Groningen
<http://www.ub.rug.nl/eldoc/dis/management/v.m.f.homburg/c2.pdf>
(PDF).

There is also a case for the Lyons Leo
http://www.kzwp.com/lyons/leo.htm

There is a difference between a dedicated number cruncher or an
experimental machine - and something that was designed and used for
business.

The Oxford English Dictionary is the considered the authoritative
source for answers to questions like this.