Unit:
Κατεύθυνση Ιστορία των Επιστημών και της ΤεχνολογίαςLibrary of the School of Science
Author:
Malisova Polyxeni
Supervisors info:
Αριστοτέλης Τύμπας, Καθηγητής, ΙΦΕ, ΕΚΠΑ
Original Title:
"Αυτές οι κάρτες δεν είναι νεκρές": Περιπτώσεις από την ιστορία της εισαγωγής μηχανών διάτρητων καρτών στην Ελλάδα
Translated title:
"Those cards are not dead cards": historical cases of punched card machinery introduction in Greece
Summary:
The master thesis focuses οn specific historical cases of punched card machinery introduction in Greece. Punched card machines were introduced in Greece in 1920, by the Department of Statistics of the Ministry of Economics, in order to process the data of the national census which took place in December 1920. After ten years of consecutive wars, in 1920 the Greek State had almost doubled its territory, therefore the national census was of great significance. Τhe thesis focuses on the secret social character embedded in the punched card and argues about the dynamic connections between the aims of the Greek State (the homogenization of its new territory and its inhabitants) and the mechanical processing of the census data. It also examines various malfunctions during the processing of data at the Department of Statistics and during the collection of census forms throughout the country.
The master thesis also examines specific uses of punched card machines during the postwar period in Greece, mainly at the public sector. Here, emphasis is given on the work of card punching and the gender division of labor. The close relationship between gender bias and the mechanization of the office is examined through the case of women employees in Greece who worked as keypunch operators. A general description of their laborious work is supplemented by references to their strikes during the 1970’s.
The history of the introduction of punched card technology in Greece is a rarely studied subject. Topics for further research are suggested in the epilogue.
Main subject category:
Science
Keywords:
punched card machinery, census, labor, computation, gender
