No Mention of Computers

I was amazed to find that in an otherwise thought-provoking symposium on knowledge management (November/December 1975) the computer was not mentioned yet alone discussed and analyzed. In 1976 is it really possible to talk about managing information without talking about electronic data processing? Perhaps this startling omission is due to the absence of practitioners in the symposium; for practicing public administrators constantly remind us that the information management problem centers on the computer in terms of both cause and solution. The misuse of the technology has cluttered the operating environment with irrelevant reams of data on computer print-out sheets. Yet the enlightened use of the computer seems to offer the best promise of managing the wealth of data available today. And, in fact, as Professor McCaffery must know, the computer is already used in many states for knowledge management of revenue forecasting and budgeting by both executive and legislative branches

Computer Science · E-Government and Public Services · Information Architecture and Usability