Computers in the Human Context: Information Theory, Productivity, and People

Our technical knowledge about computers is not matched by a knowledge of their social consequences and possibilities. Computers in the Human Context provides a challenging reappraisal of the information technology revolution. It shows that many companies and organizations are using computers ineffectively, wasting much of the over $300 billion that is being spent each year on computer and communications hardware and software.

It is clear from the studies reported here that the economic payoff from the information technology revolution has been slow in coming. The euphoria that greeted the arrival of the microchip in the 1970s has been displaced by a more critical assessment of the social benefits of computerization.

Several contributors debunk popular notions such as artificial intelligence, the electronic cottage, teledemocracy, and postindustrial society. Others describe the growing ethical problems of the information technology revolution, including computer crime, workplace surveillance, intellectual property rights, and government control of information.

Together these contributions are a major statement of the increasing awareness that what decides the success or failure of computer systems in all contexts in the human factor.

Tom Forester, Lecturer and Director of the Foundation Programme, in the School of Computing and Information at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia, is the author or editor of five books on technology and society.