From Shoshana Zuboff's In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power (BasicBooks, 1988).

This is a pioneering study of the sociological impact of computing on the workplace during the mainframe era of the 1960s through early 1980s before the advent of the personal computer and networking. The book is a unique blend of empirical sociological research (based on interviews with employees and managers at a variety of firms) and philosophical interpretation in the tradition that Zuboff identifies as phenomenology, which, as she puts it, concerns the interchange between "human responsiveness (feeling, perceiving, behaving)" and what phenomenological philosophers call the broader "life-world" or "life-field."

The following excerpts are assembled to highlight the metaphor of "vision" in discourse about computing—a metaphor that discloses contradictions in the way computing has been perceived by its users to enable or disable "overview," the big "picture," etc.

Zuboff:

The devices that automate by translating information into action also register data about those automated activities, thus generating new streams of information. For example, computer-based, numerically controlling machine tools or microprocessor-based sensing devices not only apply programmed instructions to equipment but also convert the current state of equipment, product, or process into data. [ . . . ] The same systems that make it possible to automate office transactions also create a vast overview of an organization's operations, with many levels of data coordinated and accessible for a variety of analytical efforts. [ . . . ] Information technology [ . . . ] introduces an additional dimension of reflexivity: it makes its contribution to the product, but it also reflects back on its activities and on the system of activities to which it is related. Information technology not only produces action but also produces a voice that symbolically renders events, objects, and processes so that they become visible, knowable, and shareable in a new way. (p. 9, italics added)

Employees and Managers Interviewed by Zuboff:

[1] We'll be able to see what's happening. Not only will we have numbers, but we'll be able to see the dynamics for yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Using the projection capability, you can see immediately the impact on earnings or the portfolio. We'll be able to see the business through the terminal. (p. 163)

[2] With the data-base environment, there is one information system for all to see. Tasks become more comprehensive. You can see the whole, not just the part. People will need a broader skill base to take more of a helicopter view (p. 202)

[3] The new technology makes you look at the whole. Tasks become more comprehensive as a result. You need to know where to look for what you need and how to get it. You need to see patterns in relation to the whole. (p. 169)

[4] The more I learn theoretically, the more I can see in the information. Raw data turns into information with my knowledge. I find that you have to be able to know more in order to do more. It is your understanding of the process that guides you. (p. 94)

[5] The best part about having this new system is knowing what is in the unit and being able to feel like I have control over the work. That is one of my responsibilities, but I never felt like I had that control before. We were constantly chewed out by management—"You should have done this or that." If I had known what was going on, if I had had a clear picture of it, I might have been able to do the right thing. Now that I can see the total functioning of the office, I feel more ownership towards all of the units, not just my own. [ . . . ] I am not just a record keeper, but I can really use my brain. (p. 157)

[6] There is a great opportunity for misinterpretation of data when everyone can see what is happening but their narrow perspective means that they can't tell why it is happening. Most people have a one-sided, functionally oriented sense when they look at the data. It gets worse in that the technology lets you look down that data tunnel at lightening speed—then the tunnel turns into a dot. You end up with one number, one reason, and you react to it. (p. 360)

[7] I can't see my men in the field now, because I look through the computer. If someone has a problem, I can't work it out with him like I used to. Does he need some time off? The computer doesn't know his problems. It doesn't want to know if his kid just passed away or if his wife has problems. Maybe I need to lay off him for a while and then later I'll know I can count on him. (p. 333)