Information Technology Reference
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communication. As such, they also served as a focus for opposition to
and criticism of the use of new information technologies. To many
observers of the computer revolution of the mid-twentieth century, it
seemed as if the computer boys were taking over—not just in the corpo-
rate setting but also in government, politics, and society in general. 26
By virtue of their control over the powerful new technology of elec-
tronic computing, however, computer specialists were granted an unprec-
edented degree of independence and authority. Their work brought them
into confl ict with established networks of power and authority. This was
particularly true in the corporate environment, where the incorporation
of new forms of information technology “placed stresses on established
organizational relationships.” 27 The systems they developed often
replaced, or at least substantially altered, the work of traditional white-
collar employees. 28 As the computer transformed from a tool to be
managed into a tool for management, computer specialists emerged as
powerful “change agents” (to use the management terminology of the
era). Faced with this perceived challenge to their occupational territory,
traditional white-collar employees attempted to reassert their control
over corporate computerization efforts. The result was a highly charged
struggle over the proper place of the programmer in traditional occupa-
tional and professional hierarchies.
Finally, this is topic about the invention of the computer user.
Historians have long suggested that technological innovators, including
the designers of electronic computers, also invent the kind of people they
expect to use their innovations. 29 The two acts of invention are in fact
inseparable: assumptions made about who will be using a technology,
how, and for what purposes inevitably infl uence its eventual design. This
means that the invention of the user, like the invention of the technology
itself, is a highly contested social process involving confl ict and negotia-
tion. The emergence and transformation of the computer boys as the
dominant group of computer users provides a fascinating glimpse into
the social and cultural history of the computer, the development of tech-
nical communities and distinctive subcultures, the relationship between
science and craft in engineering practice, and the role of technical elites
in modern corporate hierarchies. These are central research agendas in
the labor history, business history, and the history of technology to
which we as historians of computing are well suited to contribute.
Note that the principal group of computer specialists who this topic
deals with is computer programmers. Programmers were not, of course,
the only computer boys attempting to lay claim to the professional status
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