Hicks ch. 3

British exceptionalism
computers as the next industrial revolution
meritocracy

Steps in British computers:

• Colossus destroyed after the war
• EDSAC research project at Cambridge University--first stored program computer
  
• LEO computer: the Lyons Company adapted the EDSAC computer to complex business management (bakery inventory, then payroll)

But adopting the new technology did not go smoothly

• even though EDSAC/LEO didn't need to be programmed with switches and cords, it still took a lot of work for the operators to keep it running
• few buildings had the necessary air conditioning, floors needed to be reinforced
  
• the growing welfare state meant many more accounts for the government to keep track of
• so much growth in need for computers that it was difficult to hire the necessary staff
• because of the growing need for recordkeeping, more jobs were created than computers replaced
  
• Britain tried to use colonial patterns to sell computers world-wide, but IBM dominated

Later in the 1960s women get more attention in advertisements

• focus on the computer operator as just another typist, not needing special training
• that women could operate computers made them look easy, not threatening

Computer operators vs. computer programmers

• operators needed to know how to debug programs, did not need college education
  
• men began to be hired to operate computers overnight
• women programmers were less restricted because they were often higher class
• labor shortages meant more opportunity for women
• jobs were increasingly being pitched to men and women promising career advancement
• women began to be able to be career oriented, but only if they never married

status of computer work rose late in the 1960s and hiring increasingly switched to men

• women's jobs became only typing punch cards
• computers were seen as the technology of the future so attracted male workers, and possibilities for promotion were then created for them

Overview:
In the 1960s the status of computer work in England is changing from de-skilled clerical work to exciting new technology that is going to save England

• government push that computing will be the area where England will become a leader again
• losing the empire means England is no longer a great power
• how to make England great again?
• a new industrial revolution, this one centered on computers
• what could the government do to help England become a leader
• government funded research--EDSAC at Cambridge was the first stored program computer that didn't have to be programmed with wires
• the government can buy lots of computers, and these are needed for the new recordkeeping for the new welfare state
• some very early enthusiasm from corporations
• what went wrong?
• too much government interference? not enough room for capitalist risk taking because the government was trying to run so much
  
• good at coming with innovative ideas, less good at innovation (getting from new invention to routine use)
• political and economic power in England were very tied up with the class system--if you didn't come from a good family people didn't give you a chance
• the system tended to stay the same rather than new people getting a chance in the new industries
• shortage of labor: not enough people with the new skills needed in the new industry
• many people of the key age died in the war
• women computer operators had key skills but weren't allow to advance to higher level jobs and grow those skills (unless the shortage of labor was severe)
• computers aren't being advertised as exciting new careers
• the education system was slow to introduce courses related to computers, and those weren't high prestige