We should consider how we talk about computers


Franklin Becker suggests in Workspace: Creating Environments in Organizations,  (Praeger, 1981), that an environment operates at several levels simulatenously. Inspired by this distinction, I would suggest that computers operate at at least three levels:

Just as we need to consider what theories inform any discussion of technology, we also need to know at what level people are talking about technology. Otherwise, I fear that participants in a discussion on this issue could simply talk past one another.



Stuart Blythe
Purdue University
blythes@mace.cc.purdue.edu