The transformation of US business data processing during and beyond the 20th century
从社会技术视角研究20世纪美国商业数据处理的发展，强调实践驱动创新，而非技术冲击，并通过历史文档和就业数据分析说明两种视角的差异及其对当代数据处理的启示。
Abstract The development of business data processing during the 20th century is examined in this article from a socio-technical perspective that departs from the common techno-economic approach. The socio-technical perspective focusses on how practice drives innovation and long-term change in contrast to the techno-economic approach which takes innovation to be an external shock which drives adaptation and adjustment. The significance of these contrasting perspectives is illustrated drawing upon a qualitative analysis of historical documents to examine how rules governing behavior changed with evolutions of data processing and communications and an original quantitative analysis of the consequences for practice indicated by shifts in employment categories and levels. The socio-technical perspective is shown to open opportunities to shape the social and environmental consequences of data processing, while the techno-economic approach takes those consequences to be an inevitable result of innovation. The implications for contemporary developments in data processing are considered.