Accelerating digitization, algorithmic computation, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, along with the increasing automation of work, communication, and everyday life, are central to critical studies of technology and political economy, as well as to public discourse concerning technology's role in creating futures. Ongoing…

Everyone has an opinion about technology. Depending on whom you ask, it will either: a) Liberate us from the drudgery of everyday life, rescue us from disease and hardship, and enable the unimagined flourishing of human civilization; or b) Take away our jobs, leave us broke, purposeless, and miserable, and cause civilization as we know it to…

The second of two articles discusses topics relating to the development of CD-ROM technology: (1) new applications; (2) the image of what CD-ROM will become; (3) the properties of information, including timeliness, risk, and the relationship between message and medium; and (4) growth issues such as production, pricing, and user training and…

As the use of robots and microprocessors in industry grows, the authors see little need to worry about loss of employment through job obsolescence. Rather, they expect a trend towards higher standards of living and the emergence of new goods and services. (CT)

The state librarian of Michigan looks at how information technology has been used thus far and how it can be used more effectively in the future. Library automation is given as an example of how people can adapt. (JOW)

This article examines fiber optic technology, explains some of the key terminology, and speculates about the way fiber optics will change our world. Applications of fiber optics to library systems in three major areas--linkage of a number of mainframe computers, local area networks, and main trunk communications--are highlighted. (EJS)

Noting the increasing impact of office automation on the workings of both people and organizations, this paper purposes the need for implementation methodologies, termed "self-actualizing systems," to introduce automation technologies into the office environment with a minimum of trauma to workers. Such methodologies, it contends, allow users to…

Spectacular advances in microcomputers are forging new technological frontiers in robotics. For example, many factories will be totally automated. Economic implications of the new technology of robotics for the future are examined. (RM)

A satire on the use of computers in the classroom. (HB)

Outlines expected changes in information-handling technology and related activities. (PF)

Summarizes impact of the electronic age and role of the library focusing on the situation in Nigeria and concern for the new age; problems of Nigerian libraries and librarians (developing economy, responsibility for development, political situation, technological problems, lack of personnel); future prospects; and suggestions for present.…

Tomorrow's marketplace will undergo many changes, triggered by new technologies, new products to sell, and the demands of increasingly sophisticated consumers. Growth will be especially strong for off-price retail outlets, discount department stores, specialized mass merchandisers, and specialty stores with specific clienteles. Retailers must plan…

Uses the metaphor of the beehive as a well-ordered, each-in-his-own-niche society to represent the outcome of utopian thinking. Cites twentieth-century dystopia films and literature as explicit criticisms of overreliance on planning and technology. Examines "Star Wars,""Clockwork Orange," and the works of Huxley, Forster,…

Future emphasis in cataloging will be on the sharing of high quality bibliographic records through a national network. As original cataloging decreases, catalogers, rather than disappearing, will more likely be managers of the library's bibliographic control system. (Author/RAA)

This technological assessment, conducted by the Arthur D. Little organization, studied the technology of electronic funds transfer. Technology assessment analyzes the economic, social, environmental, and institutional consequences of the introduction or expansion of a technology into society and alerts decision makers to the possible future…