The impact of electronics on humans and their work environment

ABSTRACT

The American industry experiences today the “Information Revolution”, a phenomenon which affects greatly the development of modern technology, and which follows a universal movement toward great scientific innovation and a tremendous increase in information processing needs. The backbone of this “Information Revolution” is the computer. As a result we find that the computer, so far restricted in the backstage of a secluded computer room, expands rapidly onto every work-station in the plant and the office environment. This expansion presents a serious concern to many sociologists, psychologists, environmentalists, computer scientists, designers, architects and industrial engineers.

Our concern emanates from the possible effects that this new intruder to the work environment will have on its human operators. An inkling of these effects is presented to us today when we visit a data center: wide open areas with huge display tubes planted like in a grove, is the first thing we see; behind them are the people working with them. They are slouching in front of a keyboard which is located on a standard height desk, and they are staring at a display tube through the hazy reflections of the ceiling lights and their own face. They are hiding from each other with the help of three-foot high piles of computer printouts located on their desk, on a chair, on the floor, in the waste paper basket. They are talking to the terminal, sometimes lovingly, sometimes cursingly. They are talking to each other with a confusing jargon. It is here where we can see that the side effects of this computer invasion have already created some problems with the interaction between the human and the computer.

Index Terms

• Applied computing

  • Physical sciences and engineering

    • Electronics

• Human-centered computing

  • Human computer interaction (HCI)