Computerization and changes to infrastructures for knowledge work

Abstract

This article analyzes the impact of information technologies, particularly an on‐line data bank for Greek textual materials, on one domain of knowledge work, classical scholarship. It discusses these impacts within a framework derived from Bateson's theory of learning, characterizing these impacts at three levels of conceptual complexity. The first level affects individual work practices and resource requirements; the second requires local renegotiation of resource allocation and other forms of policy setting. The third level affects the discipline as a whole, reconfiguring traditional boundaries and challenging assumptions. Problems at this level—and the political nature of their solution—hold key lessons for other applications of information systems developed to support broad bases of knowledge workers, as well as broader initiatives such as the U.S. National Information Infrastructure.