The document discusses how computers are used in various industries and workplaces. It describes how computers have transformed entertainment, publishing, medicine, airlines, and science. It also discusses how computers are used in automated factories, offices, and telecommuting. The document considers how computerization has led to both de-skilling and up-skilling of jobs as well as issues around monitoring workers and "electronic sweatshops." It examines predictions about future employment trends in relation to new technologies.

1. Chapter 15 Computers at Work

6. Entertainment The production of television programs and movies involves computer technology at every stage of the process. Virtual newscaster Ananova delivers on-demand newscasts over the Web.

8. Medicine High-tech equipment plays a vital role in the healing arts. Medical students and professionals use this virtual emergency room to simulate processes of collecting vital signs and other patient data.

10. Science From biology to physics, every branch of science has been changed by the computer. In Argonne’s CAVE, a scientist can interactively study the relationships between the nucleic acids of the molecule. A botanist can enter and analyze data in remote locations.

16. The Automated Office Distributed computing integrates all kinds of computers, from mainframes to PCs, into a single, seamless system.

19. The Automated Office Experts have also predicted the paperless office - an office of the future in which magnetic and optical archives will replace reference books and file cabinets, electronic communication will replace letters and memos, and Web publications will replace newspapers and other periodicals

26. Management by Computer A management information system is defined as a computerized system that includes procedures for collecting data, a database for storing data, and software tools for analyzing data and producing a variety of reports for different levels of management.

31. Computers and Jobs De-skilling Up-skilling When jobs become more technical requiring the worker to have more skills. When a job is transformed so that it requires less skill.

37. Employment and Unemployment “ My father had worked for the same firm for 12 years. They fired him. They replaced him with a tiny gadget this big that does everything that my father does only it does it much better. The depressing thing is my mother ran out and bought one.” --Woody Allen