In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power
Author: Shoshana Zuboff
List Price: $32.00
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ISBN: 0465032117
Publisher: Basic Books (September, 1989)
Sales Rank: 65,928
Average Customer Rating: 5 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 5 out of 5
14 years and still looking good
I re-read this book again this year (2002) after a decade of its first publication in 1988, it still looks amazingly current, especially consider internet's wide adoption since 1995.It was as though the smart machines and their relationships with human workplace has not changed since 1988. Even in silicon valley where I work, with so many tech companies with managers trained in technology background, their orgazniations keeps failing by repeating the single-minded strategy - replace human with technology.
As long as corporate America keep ignoring the main advice of t this book - that to fully utilize technology you have to understand the non-technical aspects of it (historical, psychological, social) - real productivity gain might be limited, until maybe we move everything to Bangalore, India.
Rating: 5 out of 5
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Rating: 5 out of 5
Zuboff explains congnative styles and computers
I first read this book back in 1989 when I was working for NeXT computer, and it has remained in my mind as a landmark book. I heard a presentation from a person from Allegeny college that referenced this book. He was discussing the fact that when people are given different tools they solve problems in different ways. If all you have is DOS you abiltiy to solve information problems will be based on what you can do with DOS. But if you had a NeXT... Since reading this book I have tried to apply these concepts to my teaching object-oriented programming and high reuse problem solving techniques. This book really helped me understand that using advanced computers is a lot more then just teaching people a different windowing system. It is about getting them to rethink they WAY they solve thier problems using the cognative styles enabled by advanced software systems. Tim Berners-Lee could never have drempt of the web from a DOS system. But from a NeXT... Similar Products
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Book Index