Search results

The transition of computers from "number-crunching devices" to tools of mass communication is traced. Pertinent actions & theories in the careers of four individuals pivotal to computing's evolution are recounted. There is citation of Vannevar Bush's groundbreaking 1945 article on the memex device & of key elements in his thinking. J. C. R. Licklider's futuristic vision of computing, along with Robert W. Taylor's early enactment of his ideas, are reviewed. There is discussion of ARPANET's inception & of Douglas C. Engelbart's synchronous innovations. History of Xerox PARC, developments by Intel Corp & Apple Computer, & early communications, including BITNET & READMAIL, prefaces an outline of network expansion. A section on interactive computing methods & politics considers the Berkeley (CA) Community Memory Project, among other early interactive systems. A time-line of communicative computing is given. Concluding comments cite significant factors in computer development & issues of political participation. 1 Table, 31 References. M. C. Leary

Drawing from interviews with agents, trainers, managers, and CEOs at call centers in Bangalore and Mumbai, Answer the Call shows that workers in call centers are not quite in India or America but rather in a state of "virtual migration." Encouraged to steep themselves in American culture, the agents come to internalize and perform Americanness for Americans-and each other