Abstract
As administrators in the so-called information age, we are experiencing the transforming power of information and the rapidly developing techniques for its processing. As scholars, we are intrigued by the strong and manifold interaction that takes place between information, communication, technology, and administration. The entwined history of information and communications technology (ICT) and administration gives rise to a series of issues that are of interest both from a perspective of technology and administrative history, and from a more general social and cultural science viewpoint.
Information processing is key to the efficient functioning of almost every institution, be it private or public. Institutions, such as firms or public agencies, are characterized by their more or less hierarchical organization, which is held together and reconstituted in daily practice by information and the communication of information. At the same time, institutions are also interconnected with their environment by information. Given that information is so crucial for internal structure and external dynamics, it is to be expected that growing information needs, increased information processing capacity, and faster communication flows will have far-reaching consequences for these information-dependent institutions.
Behind this macro correlation connected with digitization, subtler effects are at work, affecting the form and character of information, that is, changing the materiality of the information handled by machines, persons, institutions, and networks in daily practice. This cultural-material aspect is crucial for a deeper understanding of the historical processes connected with the digitization of institutional information processing and has to be considered together with techno-political macro trends.
In a hierarchical organization, it is the administrative units that are responsible for effective information processing. Historically, these “information machines” underwent thoroughgoing changes, in particular from the mid-19th century onward, when office technology began to mechanize clerical tasks. With the digitization of information processing after World War II, the rhythm of change intensified and its scope broadened. Bureaucratization and technological innovations enhanced the administrative capacity of information processing considerably, with information becoming ever more important as a key factor for day-to-day government functions. Mechanization, automation, and digitization changed the character of institutionally relevant information profoundly. They changed the forms in which information was available and processed. They sped up the velocity of information processing and communication, increased the amount of information to be considered, and eased access to information. At the same time, administration had to deal with new support and storage media for information and adopted new technological devices to handle them. All this changed the administrative processes within institutions and their interactions with the outside world. Market relations between firms and clients, and power relations between state and citizens were affected by new methods of information processing.
This general account of the evolving relationship between administration and digital information technology raises a series of questions. How did new needs for information and technological innovation affect each other? What were the effects of mechanization, automation, and digitization of information on the role of public administration toward the executive, legislative, and judicial bodies and the citizenry? How did enhanced information processing capacities and technological constraints, such as requirements for standardization, technical skills, and collaboration with private firms, affect public administration? What were the strategies to make people trust in new technologies and to endow them with the attributes of power? What are the effects of the deployment of data generating retrieval systems?
The focus of this special issue is on the evolution of ICT and administrative practice in the 20th century. That is, it embraces both the accelerated mechanization and the later digitization of administrative information processing. Whereas the development of mechanization has been studied intensively for a long time, the study of the causes, effects, and ways of digitization within public administration have begun only relatively recently. So, it is intentional, when these digital changes will be in the foreground. Still, adopting a long-term perspective, the history of mechanization will help us to see more clearly what is really new in digitization.
James W. Cortada opens the discussion by considering, how ICTs and administration are entwined, providing an historical overview of trends concerning administrative practice, use of ICTs, and the role of information, which sets the backdrop for the other contributions. Martin T. Adolf and Nico Stehr argue in their paper on the return of the 19th century concept of “Social Physics” that the debate about Big Data is based upon faulty assumptions regarding the societal role of information. They maintain that the enthusiasm for “social engineering” is likely to fail because of the complexity of social behavior. The paper by Sebastian Gießmann on U.S.-originated digital payment techniques discusses “payment” as a media practice, which depends on complex bureaucratic arrangements. It argues that mutual trust is a central factor for the functioning of procedures designed to digitally interconnect things. Larry Frohman’s case study on Germany provides a detailed analysis of the intricacy of population registration practices and the implications of centralized digital data processing on privacy. The case studies by Guido Koller and Jérôme Brugger on Switzerland deal, respectively, with the introduction of a centralized foreigners’ register and the discussions about the general purpose use of the Old Age and Survivors number as a unique personal identifier. Both emphasize the different administrative dynamics which shaped these developments to a great extent. The concluding paper on digitization and administrative information processing by Peter Fleer provides a conceptual framework for the integration of the diverse approaches and situates them within the broad field of interaction between administrative practice and social dynamics.