Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Thus, direct human labor primarily becomes semantic labor, and the
transformation applies similarly to description and search labor— both
aspects of selection labor.
The concepts of selection power and labor, and of semantic and syntac-
tic labor and processes—all components of the model developed—have
been abstracted out from historical and current information practice
and from ordinary discourse, rather than imposed. In such a process of
abstraction, there is an analogy with the construction of models of the
computational process, not as ends themselves, but as aids to understand-
ing. After grasping the fundamental matters, we can bring understanding,
“which we could never obtain while immersed in inessential detail and
distraction” (Minsky 1967, 2-3), back to the practical world. Automata
theory develops models of the computational process partly as ends in
themselves rather than as an endeavor that might inform practical under-
standing and has often become increasingly technical (Boolos and Jeffrey
1989). The challenge here is to show that the determining forces identified
for information systems really do influence real-world systems.
Decision Practice
Although producers of major information systems would not formulate
their policies and activities according to the concepts identified here, their
activities are constrained and guided by the determining forces we have
discussed. The effect of the determining forces can vary with the inten-
tions and the producer's market.
A common and largely unvarying characteristic of the movements pro-
duced by motivating forces involves transferring direct human labor to
technological processes. Under premodern conditions, the description
processes (for instance, creation of indexes from records) were accom-
plished by human syntactic labor. Today those tasks are accomplished
most frequently by technology, strongly implying a desire to avoid the
costs of direct human labor. Description processes used previously to cre-
ate certain description products in fixed media (for instance, different
orders for indexes or records) are effectively moved from description to
potential instantiation in searching, economizing on product creation and
enabling a greater variety of orders.
