Dissertation Research: Office Automation and the Construction of Computerization as Productivity in Britain, 1945 to 1975

本科学与社会科学技术哲学论文改进基金分析了从第二次世界大战结束到20世纪70年代中期办公室计算机技术在英国的引入，以显示文化特殊性对历史变化的重要性。本研究将以政府部门为主要研究对象，将科技史与英国的政策、经济、社会和文化史相结合，同时将自己置于国际计算机贸易的大背景中。第二次世界大战后，英国见证了专门用于自动化文书工作的计算机市场的巨大增长。新的计算机器首先被认为是生产力的福音。虽然许多政府部门安装的电脑并没有提高生产力，但这并没有减少政府的开支。鉴于政府提高生产率和降低成本的主要理由很少（如果有的话），本项目的目的是深入了解这种变化是如何以及为什么发生的。这种转变的一个尚未被研究的方面是劳动力在这种转变中的作用。由机器操作员和数据输入人员组成的女性劳动力填补了办公室电脑化所创造的重复性、技术性工作，导致工资较低、工会组织较少、人员流动率高的办公室劳动力。该项目将通过对技术、劳动、性别和经济等领域的历史研究，重新构建有关计算生产力的争论，从而将部署技术的人的历史与使用技术的工人的历史结合起来。该项目将促进对一系列历史领域的认识和理解。来自科学技术研究和妇女研究的方法有助于构建项目的目标，即阐明具体的技术变革是如何以社会、文化和经济为基础的，但有意采用历史而非社会学的方法。通过将来自多个领域的见解带入彼此之间的对话，该项目将改变当前计算历史的轨迹，从主要关注设计师和美国产品的国际成功，转变为将工人和国家特殊性结合起来。除了在计算机领域工作外，他还从事技术史、欧洲史和科学技术研究方面的研究和教学。这个项目讲述了令人信服的主题，远远超出了学院。它扩大了对自动化影响的一般理解，表明性别分析是获得对体制变化更大理解的关键因素。就电子数据处理而言，技术发展压倒体制和国家变革。这个项目展示了这些技术发展是如何以经济问题为双重前提的，比如提高生产力，以及在公共和私人领域平等产生的关于工人身份的文化谈判。此外，该研究鼓励更深入地研究从二战到现在这段时期，国家乌托邦式技术官僚理想的新兴作用。资金将用于支持英国各档案馆的数据收集，包括伦敦的国家档案馆和曼彻斯特大学的国家计算机历史档案馆，以及公务员工会记录。

This Science and Society Dissertation Improvement Grant in the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology analyzes the introduction of office computing technologies in Britain from the end of the Second World War to the middle of the nineteen-seventies in order to show the importance of cultural specificity to historical change. Taking government offices as its main example, this study will integrate the history of technology with the histories of British policy, economics, society, and culture, while simultaneously situating itself within the larger context of the international trade of computers. After the Second World War, Britain saw enormous growth in the market for computers designed specifically to automate clerical tasks. New computing machinery was hailed, first and foremost, as a boon for productivity. While many of the computers installed in government service did not enhance productivity, this did not deter government spending. The objective of this project is to provide insight into how and why this change occurred, given that the government's primary justification of increasing productivity and lowering costs was rarely, if ever, reached. One aspect of the changeover that has not been studied is the role of the labor force in the change. A female workforce of machine operators and data entry personnel filled the repetitive, deskilled jobs created by office computerization, leading to a lower-paid, less unionized office workforce with high turnover. The project will re-frame the debate on computing productivity using historical research in technology, labor, gender and economics As a result, it will integrate the history of those who deployed the technology with the history of the workers who used the technology. The project will advance knowledge and understanding across a range of historical fields. Methods from science and technology studies and women's studies help frame the project's goal of elucidating how specific technological changes are grounded socially, culturally, and economically, but a historical, not sociological methodology intentionally prevails. In bringing insights from multiple fields into conversation with each other, the project will change the current trajectory of the history of computing from a narrative that is focused primarily on designers and the international success of American products to one that incorporates workers and national specificity. The researcher has researched and taught within the history of technology, European history, and science and technology studies, in addition to having worked in the computing field. This project speaks to cogent themes that extend well beyond the academy. It expands the general understanding of automation's impacts by showing that a gendered analysis is a crucial ingredient in attaining a greater understanding of institutional change. In the case of electronic data processing, technological developments overarch institutional and national change. This project shows how these technological developments are dually predicated upon economic concerns, such as increasing productivity, and cultural negotiations over workers' identities arising equally out of the public and private sphere. Furthermore, the study encourages deeper engagement with the burgeoning role of national, utopian technocratic ideals in the period from World War Two to the present. Funds will support data collection at various archives in Great Britain, including the National Archives in London and the National Archive for the History of Computing at the University of Manchester, as well as civil service workers union records.