Punched card technology in Germany 1910 to 1939

What is it about?

The paper considers the punched card technology as part of the industry producing office machines and the conflicts between Powers and IBM in Germany. In the US some scholars speack of the leading role that the US assumes in application of office machinery. But the paper reveals that in Germany the application was on a comparative level. Describing various strategies of rationalisation the paper shows how the punched card technology in Germany developed. It showed how punched card technology leveled the peak load of office work at the ends of the months and further applications followed. Lars Heide introduced the keyword „informationexplosion“. The papers fills this keyword with content and provides quantitative indicators ( numbers of cards punched as time series) showing the extend of the informationexplosion. At the end the work of female key punch operators is integrated in the broader debate on female work in offices. Other than in England no influence of the rationalization movement in the 1920s on the introduction of punched card technology could be observed in Germany. This technology remained in the discretion of the firms Powers and IBM and was not accessible to consultants in the rationalization movement. The concept of informationexplosion can be applied to further steps in the development of information technology. An English translation of the paper can be provided as working paper under www.vahrenkamp.org/files/Punch_Cards_Vahrenkamp_WP1_2017.pdf

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