Office Technology and Socio-Economic Change 1870-1955

The fact that office work (word processing, data processing, telecommunications, and information management) is in a period of major change has been widely commented upon. This paper describes a previous period of such change between 1870 and 1929, which was followed by a period of relative stability in the nature and technology of office work prior to the coming of the computer. The central theme of the paper is the complex interaction between advances in information technology and the social and economic environment in which they occur; thus, attention is paid to marginal and unsuccessful inventions as well as to successful ones.