Our earliest lecture, "Introduction to Technology and Culture", brings me to comment on my first experience with technology, specifically office technology and the digital. As I still consider myself 'technology challenged' I could not comment on this lecture early on in our class -- I had to learn how to blog. I have been getting better at it and still discovering features and what to do with them on www.blogger.com--my first blogging experience. For me, this has been a long journey with my start in office technology--my background (well, one of them). It took me from manual, to automatic/electric, and finally, the digital.
Manual:
By manual I refer to what was commonly called 'the manual typewriter'. I learned to type on an old 'clunker' called a Remington Typewriter. This manual machine was of an army-green color made of metal and was very heavy to lift. Our instructors were strict nuns, if we made a mistake on our exercises, we had to start from the beginning, we could not use 'whiteout', eraser, nor did we enjoy the luxury of that nice button what we now know as 'delete'. The keys were deep to push down on, and we had to use 'muscle' to make the type-letter strike on the roller/carriage--that was a challenge. By the time we were done, we were good typists, for the most part, and employable (also for the most part).
Automatic/Electric/Analogue:
Still in school we were fledgling bi-lingual secretaries and had internship jobs that took us out to various American corporations in Monterrey, Mexico and mine was the 7Up Bottling Company. They showed me to my desk which happened to have an 'automatic' typewriter--OMG! How do I work this thing? I had learned on an older generation Remington. I was given a short introduction and started to figure it out. The 'backspace' key (now the delete button), was a variable key, if one needed to correct a typographical error, one needed to count and remember how many 'backspaces' to strike so that the key would hit the typo using the correction tape (a white strip of paper lined with a white substance that would cover the typo to correct it when placed in between the paper and the key), this process varied depending on the letter on the keyboard, they were all different. I believe that was an IBM electric typewriter circa late 1960s early 1970s. It was amazing to see them in operation, our typing was faster on them. I was, however, relieved to go back to my manual Remington circa mid 1950s at school. In the ensuing years the manual phased out and I would find myself learning to use various automatic typewriters, happily to know that not all of them had the variable 'backspace' key. I remember using the IBM Selectric model and several of its offspring. My favorites were the IBM Selectric with the self-correcting tape feature and the IBM Wheelwriter with a recording feature.
From Electric to Digital:
I worked for a major international airline in several capacities, Secretary, Ticket Agent, Reservations Agent and Airport Operations; as Secretary in the Regional Sales office my function was, among other things, to take dictation in shorthand, in two languages, Spanish and English, a way of recording business correspondence, minutes of meetings, and whatever else was needed. I could take dictation at 60 words per minute, in both languages, then transcribe the dictation into texts exactly as it was dictated to me depending on the language. It has been many years since then, and I had many challenging dictation sessions--there is no such thing today! What has taken the place of this activity, I believe, is now called "Voice Recording Technology" minus the taking dictation part. The person only transcribes (independent of how fast or slow the person dictating speaks into the device) into text files from these audio recordings. It is so much easier now. My office had antiquated machines where I once again encountered the 'variable' backspace key and soon after I transferred to the Reservations Department, they had nice equipment. This was my first encounter with the digital.
Digital:
It was March of 1980 when I transferred to the Reservations Department and found myself wondering what a computer was as my new job required its use. I was to construct flight itineraries for passengers using this machine people called a computer. Initially, my introduction to this technology was short and I had to learn quickly. I had no time to ponder on what the machine was or how it stored the information I was telling it to save; however, I realized I was learning a computer reservations system that allowed me to book airline reservations, a system that gave me information by retrieving it, stored what I wanted it to store based on what the reservation called for, and helped me make transactions as I could collect payment via a credit card.
My first computer at work was a CRT, Cathode Raytheon Tube. It had green text and I looked at it all day, but I could make on average eighty reservations that contained several flights around the world, we called them segments. We learned several reservations systems as my airline changed systems a few times. One of these was called "SystemOne" used by the now defunct Eastern Airlines. Among these systems today, there is Sabre used by American Airlines. United Airlines used their Apollo system until March 3, 2012 due to the recent merger with Continental Airlines, I believe.
These computer reservations systems operated using vast networks that allowed reservations agents to book airline reservations simultaneously in different parts of the country and the world. If one was competing over a 'last' seat on a flight one had to be quick to grab it for the passenger because anyone could take the seat and book it for their purposes, especially during peak seasons like holidays. These systems were confined to airlines and one needed an "agent sign" issued by management in order to access the system. Every airline reservation had a history that the agent could look up for information. When the agent ended the transaction, the computer responded with a code called a 'passenger name record', 'PNR' for short. It usually consisted of letters and numbers and that would be the reference code for a particular reservation. This system allowed us to pull up airport codes, local times for cities worldwide, it gave us statistics of all the transactions we did throughout our work shift, like how many reservations we booked, how long it took us to make each reservation and at what time, it was a sophisticated system.
Manual:
By manual I refer to what was commonly called 'the manual typewriter'. I learned to type on an old 'clunker' called a Remington Typewriter. This manual machine was of an army-green color made of metal and was very heavy to lift. Our instructors were strict nuns, if we made a mistake on our exercises, we had to start from the beginning, we could not use 'whiteout', eraser, nor did we enjoy the luxury of that nice button what we now know as 'delete'. The keys were deep to push down on, and we had to use 'muscle' to make the type-letter strike on the roller/carriage--that was a challenge. By the time we were done, we were good typists, for the most part, and employable (also for the most part).
Automatic/Electric/Analogue:
Still in school we were fledgling bi-lingual secretaries and had internship jobs that took us out to various American corporations in Monterrey, Mexico and mine was the 7Up Bottling Company. They showed me to my desk which happened to have an 'automatic' typewriter--OMG! How do I work this thing? I had learned on an older generation Remington. I was given a short introduction and started to figure it out. The 'backspace' key (now the delete button), was a variable key, if one needed to correct a typographical error, one needed to count and remember how many 'backspaces' to strike so that the key would hit the typo using the correction tape (a white strip of paper lined with a white substance that would cover the typo to correct it when placed in between the paper and the key), this process varied depending on the letter on the keyboard, they were all different. I believe that was an IBM electric typewriter circa late 1960s early 1970s. It was amazing to see them in operation, our typing was faster on them. I was, however, relieved to go back to my manual Remington circa mid 1950s at school. In the ensuing years the manual phased out and I would find myself learning to use various automatic typewriters, happily to know that not all of them had the variable 'backspace' key. I remember using the IBM Selectric model and several of its offspring. My favorites were the IBM Selectric with the self-correcting tape feature and the IBM Wheelwriter with a recording feature.
From Electric to Digital:
I worked for a major international airline in several capacities, Secretary, Ticket Agent, Reservations Agent and Airport Operations; as Secretary in the Regional Sales office my function was, among other things, to take dictation in shorthand, in two languages, Spanish and English, a way of recording business correspondence, minutes of meetings, and whatever else was needed. I could take dictation at 60 words per minute, in both languages, then transcribe the dictation into texts exactly as it was dictated to me depending on the language. It has been many years since then, and I had many challenging dictation sessions--there is no such thing today! What has taken the place of this activity, I believe, is now called "Voice Recording Technology" minus the taking dictation part. The person only transcribes (independent of how fast or slow the person dictating speaks into the device) into text files from these audio recordings. It is so much easier now. My office had antiquated machines where I once again encountered the 'variable' backspace key and soon after I transferred to the Reservations Department, they had nice equipment. This was my first encounter with the digital.
Digital:
It was March of 1980 when I transferred to the Reservations Department and found myself wondering what a computer was as my new job required its use. I was to construct flight itineraries for passengers using this machine people called a computer. Initially, my introduction to this technology was short and I had to learn quickly. I had no time to ponder on what the machine was or how it stored the information I was telling it to save; however, I realized I was learning a computer reservations system that allowed me to book airline reservations, a system that gave me information by retrieving it, stored what I wanted it to store based on what the reservation called for, and helped me make transactions as I could collect payment via a credit card.
My first computer at work was a CRT, Cathode Raytheon Tube. It had green text and I looked at it all day, but I could make on average eighty reservations that contained several flights around the world, we called them segments. We learned several reservations systems as my airline changed systems a few times. One of these was called "SystemOne" used by the now defunct Eastern Airlines. Among these systems today, there is Sabre used by American Airlines. United Airlines used their Apollo system until March 3, 2012 due to the recent merger with Continental Airlines, I believe.
These computer reservations systems operated using vast networks that allowed reservations agents to book airline reservations simultaneously in different parts of the country and the world. If one was competing over a 'last' seat on a flight one had to be quick to grab it for the passenger because anyone could take the seat and book it for their purposes, especially during peak seasons like holidays. These systems were confined to airlines and one needed an "agent sign" issued by management in order to access the system. Every airline reservation had a history that the agent could look up for information. When the agent ended the transaction, the computer responded with a code called a 'passenger name record', 'PNR' for short. It usually consisted of letters and numbers and that would be the reference code for a particular reservation. This system allowed us to pull up airport codes, local times for cities worldwide, it gave us statistics of all the transactions we did throughout our work shift, like how many reservations we booked, how long it took us to make each reservation and at what time, it was a sophisticated system.
I have seen technology improve over the past quarter century, starting with my exposure with the airline industry. Airline reservations computer systems have expanded to include making one's own reservations using websites like Travelocity, Kayak, Priceline and many others. Initially this was good for consumers since prices would go lower than ever before because airlines were able to reduce their overhead. At one point a person could fly to Europe from San Francisco for about $600.00 on a roundtrip ticket. However, with mergers taking place among airlines, good prices might be difficult to find in today's world. What was once thought of as exclusively for airline reservations agents has now been extended to the general public in becoming more participatory in these transactions due to technology advancement of the digital. Today's consumers are savvy users of computer systems with user-friendly technology. People can look up their own medical records such as with the Veterans Administration: myhealthevet website. The veteran can keep track of their own medical appointments and their health.
Our lives have been impacted with the advancement of computer technology. We have come to depend on our laptops, our mobile phones, and our electronic mail for business and personal matters and I suspect we will continue to do so for a long time.
Our lives have been impacted with the advancement of computer technology. We have come to depend on our laptops, our mobile phones, and our electronic mail for business and personal matters and I suspect we will continue to do so for a long time.
Blanca, thank you for this trip down memory lane (now the memory superhighway?). I think it's great that others in the class can get a sense of how radically technology has changed over the past four to five decades, through your vocational training and workplace experience. Professor Bates reminded us that airline reservation systems were some of the first commercial applications of computing technology first developed under military and academic auspices; for a history, you can see this paper. You might also want to check out the work of my colleague Chris Schaberg, of Loyola University New Orleans, including this Salon piece.
ReplyDeleteI sort of went overboard, I apologize for the long-winded history of my experience, it's been a long journey from there to here.
ReplyDeleteI read your colleague's piece and I can't help but think how different it would be if we could "Drone" ourselves from one airport to another? That would be awesome, perhaps a better flying experience than what we now have? Drones are seeping into many areas of our lives, and it's plausible, in my view; just give it some time.