Computerization Movements and Technology Diffusion: From Mainframes to Ubiquitous Computing

Citation

Yeates, R. (2008), "Computerization Movements and Technology Diffusion: From Mainframes to Ubiquitous Computing", Program: electronic library and information systems, Vol. 42 No. 4, pp. 448-450. https://doi.org/10.1108/00330330810912115

Computers can be very annoying. How is it that most of us have accepted them in so many areas of our lives? Does it matter what individuals want, or do very large companies subtly dictate to us what will be the next Big Thing? Do most people actually want to understand what is going on? Certainly people tend to have a lot to say about information technology when it goes wrong, but far less when it works properly.

This large textbook provides a great deal of substantiated evidence that it is useful to see the world of computing in terms of sociological movements that operate within specific contexts according to certain rules and parameters. If any librarians still read textbooks as well as reviews, this tome could give the reader a perspective which might help accurately predict the future of computing in libraries, although this work is actually much more general.

The term “computerisation movement” may not be well known to most librarians, but it has a respectable academic history deriving from the late Professor Rob Kling of University of California, Irvine, who died in 2003. He sought to explain how computing technologies evolve and why some are adopted by organisations and some are not. This book explains and amplifies his work through analysis of his ideas, reprints of key papers and new chapters with the benefit of hindsight. These cover specific technologies such as digital photography, intranets, free and open‐source software.

The opening chapter by the editors introduces the title concepts and is somewhat daunting for non‐sociologists, but there is much repetition in the opening remarks of later chapters, which may help newcomers. The concept of technological action frames is one example. These are “composite understandings about how a technology works and could be used” and are central to the theme of the work. Some key insights are that five such action frames have emerged from research: productivity, democratisation, death of distance, freedom/information rights and ubiquitious computing (I predict that “green computing” might take an additional place as a technological action frame as power efficiency and management tools for controlling wastefulness become more widespread).

Some ideologies are common to, and characterise, the five computerisation movements discussed here. They combine the technological action frames listed above with public discourse about them and organisational practices. These are:

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  Computer‐based technologies are central for a reformed world.

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  Improved computer‐based technologies can reform society.

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  More computing is better than less and there are no limits to appropriate computerisation.

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  No one loses from computerisation.

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  Uncooperative people are the main barriers to social reform through computing.

The Introduction, and the rest of the book proceed to look at reality in the light of methods of analysis based on these concepts.

If all this seems rather dry, a piece on the development of underwriting for mortgages at the US companies Freddie Mac and Fannie May suddenly seems more interesting now we are in a widespread credit crunch as a result of sub‐prime mortgage failures. Better understanding of computers might benefit not just corporate bottom lines but everyone's pocket.

Reading about the benefit of the analysis framework that is well presented here, many questions come to mind, such as whether grand visions of the Next Big Thing are growing in number, or whether we are becoming more realistic? Surveillance technology may be a case in point. Often the issues are less technical, more social. Librarians may well be already more aware of this than some, but the clarity and researched evidence here may be useful nonetheless.

It is not possible to cover the 20 chapters in detail, but sections cover all the technological action frames listed above, looking at examples from a historical longer‐term perspective and ending with a look at the possible predictive power of the computerisation movement approach to understanding technology diffusion. There is a lot to take in. One moment we are thinking about social advocacy and even activism (think, for example, of promoting methods of overcoming the digital divide); the next we grapple with the distinctions between free software (should that be freedom software?) and open‐source software. If you believe it will all “come out in the wash” there is even a discussion of the SPIN cycle, which suggests that “social movements are segmentary, polycentric and networked (SPIN), therefore heterogeneous and cyclic”. There is also an unusual and powerful analysis of often‐ignored assumptions behind bug fixing and the reliability of fixes (such as the monthly Microsoft Windows updates). But when it comes to examining the intersection of various movements, the complexity of both historical analysis and forecasting becomes clear. A significant concept such as 2.0 (Web 2.0, Library 2.0) might have helped simplify things a little but is not introduced here as a movement.

In the last chapters the concept of ubiquitous computing is examined, almost suggesting that miniaturisation can lead to the social “disappearance” of technology, whereby it is no longer noticed by people using it. In this context it seems ironic that ubiquity can lead to ever increasing desires for audit trails and the use of personal information that becomes subject to identity theft and increased surveillance. We are moving far beyond existing data protection concepts here. Chapter 19 introduces the notion of an “ecology of games”. This covers the less than playful “fun and games” many people have with computing technology, but actually suggests that many different social groups interact according to arrays of goals and objectives to shape the use of innovations, and it can be useful to research these and make them explicit. The question arises as to whether Utopian visions do not merely stand at the outset of innovation, but are actually required for a computerisation movement to exist? Too much realism may hold us back.

The indexing in this edition seems to have gone completely awry, making reference somewhat tricky. Additionally, many references are duplicated across chapters by the numerous authors.

However, this complex and elaborate work may be repetitive at times and may not actually help us to spot the “Next Big Thing” but it certainly provides an inspirational approach to understanding the all‐important “Big Picture” and is well worth reading for that as the technological world changes ever more rapidly and its complexity increases.