This early 1980s film is from an Information Management series that shows how computers can be used in an office environment (:14). The film talks about "word processing specialists" and hints at a future where electronic mail and voice-to-text might become reality.
The film opens with shots of older office equipment and computers such as the Dual Display and Alpha Word 3 (:30). As the world and technology progressed, a need to reach people faster developed and to move words more efficiently (1:40). Word processing, a concept borrowed from the German language (2:02) is what this picture will center on. Pictures on cave walls represent the early beginnings of communication (2:11) and from here it progressed to symbols (2:26) and later, moveable type was invented by Gutenberg (2:42). The first writing machine was the Nickerson Automatic Typewriter (2:45). Until recently, the ways in which office paper work has been handled had not progressed much (3:33). Word processing was the new development, however, which was able to increase the flow and accuracy of information in the office space (4:25). It had the ability to complete four times as much work and print over two hundred lines per minute (4:48). This process combined new procedures, new equipment and newly trained employees (5:38). The First National Bank of Chicago utilized an extensive 53 system operation (6:29). Scholarly studies, one titled “Secretary’s average day” showed they were only able to produce four to six words per minute (7:16). The updated system included a console attached to the typewriter that recorded everything typed on a magnetic card (8:02). This corrected mistakes easily and created perfect copies at 180 words per minute (8:38). Some machines included internal memory and other microcomputers a display screen (8:46). Some of the larger systems in use included the installation at Blue Cross which turned out as many as 4,000 letters a day (9:02) and the giant computer that served the 42 word processors in Wisconsin state government (9:10). Small and large, all were able to do the same job and were utilized in every field (9:20).
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