Title :
The chromium-plated tabulator: institutionalizing an electronic revolution, 1954-1958
Abstract :
The computer promised business of the 1950s an administrative revolution. What it delivered was data processing-a hybrid of new technology and existing punched card machines, people, and attitudes. The author examines how first-generation computers were sold and purchased, and describes the occupations (analyst, programmer, and operator) and departments that emerged around them. This illuminates claims of a more recent electronic revolution in business
Keywords :
DP industry; accounts data processing; business data processing; computer purchase; history; office automation; analyst; business; chromium-plated tabulator; data processing; departments; electronic revolution; first-generation computer purchase; first-generation computer selling; occupations; operator; programmer; Aerospace electronics; Business; Computer aided manufacturing; Consumer electronics; Data processing; Electronics industry; Industrial electronics; Programming profession; Rhetoric; Shape;
Journal_Title :
Annals of the History of Computing, IEEE
