What Can Computers Offer?

1
What Can Computers Offer?

• The Perfect White Collar Assistant

2
Agenda

• Finding the perfect White Collar Assistant
• A Theory of White Collar Work
• What Computers Offer
• The Match

3
Finding the Perfect White Collar Assistant

• Define the work
• Determine the qualities
• Make the match

4
A Theory of White Collar Work

• Information-intensive, requires memory
• Repetitive, boring
• Done in real time, scheduled
• Can be broken up or analyzed into a structured,
  hierarchical set of tasks (Taylor)
• Errors propagate unseen
• Work moves around in space and time

5
Task Structure
This task consists of
This task and then
this task which consists of
this task and then
All of these tasks which consist of others, etc.,
etc.
Frederick Taylors idea, which is now termed
Taylorism.
Ford took this idea and focused on the sequential
links. His ideas are now called Fordism
6
Desired Qualities

• Can handle information tasks and can delegate to
  others
• Can remember lots of things
• Speedy
• Reliable in several senses
• Can do several things at once multitask
• Doesnt make errors
• Can take orders
• Hopefully doesnt require much supervision

7
Computer Qualities

• Can handle information tasks
• Can control other operations
• Speedy, operations in nanoseconds
• Reliable in several senses
• Can do several things at once
• Doesnt make many errors and corrects some
• Can take orders programmability
• Hopefully doesnt require much supervision
  operating systems

8
How does this happen?

• Programmability (A. Turing)
• The stored program concept (von Neumann)
• The law of large numbers
• Leverage

9
General Purpose Programmability

• Each task requires a specialized machine
• To do a number of different tasks requires a
  number of different machines (if people, read
  specialists)
• Information tasks have some commonalities,
  though, enabling the concept of a machine that
  can be rewired on the fly by changing its
  program
• Alan Turing demonstrated the feasibility
  mathematically in the 1930s.
• First programmable computers were built in the
  1930s and 1940s.

10
Stored Program Concept

• Earliest computers had to be reprogrammed using
  wires and jumper cables. Reprogramming took
  hours.
• John von Neumann set the stage with the stored
  program concept instructions are data, like any
  other data, so store them in the computers
  memory and have the computer fetch them in order
  and do them.
• Thus, reprogramming could be accomplished just by
  changing the computers memory

11
and more

• The process of changing the computers memory has
  become automated so that programs can be loaded
  in microseconds.
• People who create the programs are called
  programmers

12
The Way It Happens

• Fast operation, so can share among tasks and
  appears to be doing multiple things at once.
• Large memory, so can keep track of many
  operations simultaneously
• Stored programs, so can switch among many tasks
  easily
• Can control anything that can be switched