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Technologies of Consumer Labor

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Technologies of Consumer Labor Synopsis

This book documents and examines the history of technology used by consumers to serve oneself. The telephone's development as a self-service technology functions as the narrative spine, beginning with the advent of rotary dialing eliminating most operator services and transforming every local connection into an instance of self-service. Today, nearly a century later, consumers manipulate 0-9 keypads on a plethora of digital machines. Throughout the book Palm employs a combination of historical, political-economic and cultural analysis to describe how the telephone keypad was absorbed into business models across media, retail and financial industries, as the interface on everyday machines including the ATM, cell phone and debit card reader. He argues that the naturalization of self-service telephony shaped consumers' attitudes and expectations about digital technology.

About This Edition

ISBN: 9780815364740
Publication date:
Author: Michael Palm
Publisher: Routledge an imprint of Taylor & Francis
Format: Paperback
Pagination: 174 pages
Series: Routledge Research in Cultural and Media Studies
Genres: Media studies
News media and journalism
Sociology: work and labour
Cultural studies
Communication studies
Political economy
History

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