Computers in Knowledge-Based Fields.

Last in a series of research projects on the implications of technological change and automation, this study is concerned with the use of computers in formal education and educational administration; in library systems and subsystems; in legal, legislative, and related services; in medical and hospital services; and in national and centralized local data banks. The general implications of computers in all five fields are that: (1) busy specialists and professionals will be relieved of time-consuming, repetitive parts of their work; (2) people in these fields will be provided with computer-based programs in solving problems or advancing their knowledge; (3) computer-based systems may help to reduce shortages of specialists and professional personnel; (4) man-machine interaction systems will spread in these fields; (5) organizations will become more centralized in some of their functions, but decentralized decision making may also be strengthened; and (6) in each of these fields, resistance to changing traditional ways of working and traditional handling of information will continue unless systems designers find ways of explaining what they are trying to do and involving those affected in the design and implementation of computer-based systems. (MF)