tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20417751.post7724014337777639436..comments2024-01-22T18:22:29.391-08:00Comments on hedera's corner: Training the Lab Techshederahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01696592301686568456noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20417751.post-81656633827397379072010-04-04T15:23:41.397-07:002010-04-04T15:23:41.397-07:00Moving procedures from paper to computer just move...Moving procedures from paper to computer just moves the work around. It's easier to <i>find</i> information in a computer, in general, than in a paper file; at least now that full-text search algorithms are available. But as you observe, it's harder to <i>enter</i> the information, because computers are quite dumb and have to have the information presented in a very specific way. (Ask me about it; I'm redesigning a database for the Oakland Symphony Chorus...)<br /><br />On the other hand, automated banking procedures did indeed put an entire employment class, the manual bookkeeper, essentially out of business (at least in banks); and online banking is sharply reducing the market for tellers, although I don't expect tellers to go away entirely until the Greatest Generation finally dies off, as they tend to be the ones who like to talk to the teller.hederahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01696592301686568456noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20417751.post-75065818403147802772010-04-04T09:53:33.997-07:002010-04-04T09:53:33.997-07:00When the federal government began to computerize, ...When the federal government began to computerize, in the 1970's, going forward there was the continual urge to justify staffing cuts by claiming that computers were the new short-hand, the labor-saving miracles of the future. But, as was soon discovered, it took two people to service a piece of computer data, where it had only taken one previously to do it on paper. The software was so difficult--what is commonly referred to as "user-unfriendly"--that a new hybrid expertise was needed ("computer literates"), requiring all kinds of advance training and time allotments. Where there had been "secretaries" we now had "technical units"--cadres of people whose only job was to "translate" raw data into computer-compatible language. Everyone made lots of mistakes, and the more mistakes we made, the worse the computer technology made it. And they were always "updating" and "revising" and "improving" the data-base, the hardware, the programming. Oh, joy, each month there'd be a new cycle of reminders and changes and warnings. And every time a case "excepted" from the system, it had to have special handling and exception processing. Pretty soon, there had to be special units to handle all these "exceptional" cases which the system had not been able to accommodate.<br /><br />What a headache!<br /><br />So we'd staff down and there'd be fewer folks to do more work, instead of less. And we'd all be working overtime, to make up the shortfall. Perish the thought! Overtime abuse! And the clientele getting fed up with the delays and excuses!<br /><br />Fancy equipment. Oh, yeah!...Curtis Favillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.com