The chromium-plated tabulator: institutionalizing an electronic revolution, 1954-1958
Thomas Haigh · IEEE Annals of the History of Computing · 2001
The computer promised business of the 1950s an administrative revolution. What it delivered was data processing-a hybrid of new technology and existing punched card machines, people, and attitudes. The author examines how first-generation computers were sold and purchased, and describes the occupations (analyst, programmer, and operator) and departments that emerged around them. This illuminates claims of a more recent electronic revolution in business.