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In The third volume of <em>The Digital Hand, James W. Cortada completes his sweeping survey of the effect of computers on American industry, turning finally to the public sector, and examining how computers have fundamentally changed the nature of work in government and education. This book goes far beyond generalizations about the Information Age to the specifics of how industries have functioned, now function, and will function in the years to come. Cortada combines detailed analysis with narrative history to provide a broad overview of computings and telecommunications role in the entire public sector, including federal, state, and local governments, and in K-12 and higher education. Beginning in 1950, when commercial applications of digital technology began to appear, Cortada examines the unique ways different public sector industries adopted new technologies, showcasing the manner in which their innovative applications influenced other industries, as well as the U.S. economy as a whole. He builds on the surveys presented in the first volume of the series, which examined sixteen manufacturing, process, transportation, wholesale and retail industries, and the second volume, which examined over a dozen financial, telecommunications, media, and entertainment industries. With this third volume, <em>The Digital Hand trilogy is complete, and forms the most comprehensive and rigorously researched history of computing in business since 1950, providing a detailed picture of what the infrastructure of the Information Age really looks like and how we got there. Managers, historians, economists, and those working in the public sector will appreciate Cortada's analysis of digital technology's many roles and future possibilities.
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The DIGITAL HAND This page intentionally left blank JAMES W. CORTADA The DIGITAL HAND Volume III How Computers Changed the Work of American Public Sector Industries 1 2008 1 Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright © 2008 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cortada, James W. The digital hand. Volume 3, How computers changed the work of American public sector industries / James W. Cortada. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-19-516586-9 1. Information technology—Economic aspects—United States—Case studies. 2. Technological innovations— Economic aspects—United States—Case studies. 3. Business—Data processing—Case studies. I. Title: How computers changed the work of American public sector industries. II. Title. HC110.I55C67 2005 338'.064'0973—dc22 2004030363 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States on acid-free paper To three visionaries who have done so much to help young historians study the history of information technology: Erwin Tomash Arthur L. Norberg William Aspray This page intentionally left blank PREFACE The object of government is the welfare of th