Mildred L. G. Shaw
ABSTRACT
Computer systems provide a new technology that is very significant to human society and culture. However, computer science operates primarily within the technology and does not aid an understanding of the sociocultural impact of the computer as a mind-tool. This paper proposes to regard computers as providing a new medium for communication that can encode expertise and reproduce it through conversation. This model may be used to analyse the potential long-term effects of computer systems by analogy with the effects of past media developments on our sociocultural system. In particular, the Japanese fifth-generation computer development program may be seen as completing just those aspects of computer technology necessary to enable it to compete with other media.
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