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- Eriksson, Sören
(author)
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Näringsliv
- 2007
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In: Jönköpings kommuns historia. - Lund : Historiska Media. - 9789185507207
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Book chapter (pop. science, debate, etc.)
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- Sjöblom, Gustav, 1976-
(author)
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Systemutveckling och långtidsplanering vid SAS Data i Stockholm, 1964–1982 : Transkript av ett vittnesseminarium vid Tekniska museet i Stockholm den 5 december 2007
- 2008
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The witness seminar ”Systemutveckling och långtidsplanering vid SAS Data i Stockholm, 1964–1982” [Systems development and long-range planning at SAS Data Services in Stockholm, 1964–1982] took place at Tekniska museet [The National Museum of Science and Technology] in Stockholm on 5 December 2007 and was led by Gustav Sjöblom. SAS was a pioneer in advanced computer systems development, beginning with the development of the reservations system in Copenhagen in the late 1950s. Computer systems development was initially carried out in the individual departments of SAS, but in 1963–64 SAS Data Services was established as a separate department directly under the CEO – rather than as a part of the financial department which was customary at the time – by bringing in staff with experience of rationalisation and computing from different departments within SAS. SAS Data Services was geographically divided with major offices in Copenhagen and Stockholm and a smaller office in Oslo. The theme of the witness seminar was the work carried out in Stockholm, where the department initially specialized in systems development and long-range planning, while operations and programming was based in Copenhagen. The Stockholm group soon embarked upon an ambitious and holistic plan for improving SAS operations by means of a large number of integrated computer systems such as MATS for Material Supply and Inventory Control, MOPS for Maintenance Overhaul and Planning, RES for Reservations, LOCS for Load Control and Planning and OPS for Operational Planning and Control. Although the individual systems were cutting-edge and considerable in size, what made SAS stand out was the consistency in systems planning and the integration of different systems into a long-range plan and into the core of SAS business management.
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- Sjöblom, Gustav, 1976-
(author)
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IT-konsultbranschens uppkomst och tillväxt, 1964–1985 : Transkript av ett vittnesseminarium vid Tekniska museet i Stockholm den 1 april 2008
- 2008
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The witness seminar ”The rise and expansion of IT consulting, 1964–1985” took place at The National Museum of Science and Technology in Stockholm on 1 April 2008 and was led by Gunnar Hesse. The panel consisted of representatives of many of the pioneers in Swedish IT consulting, including Lars Irstad, who founded the industry leader Programator in 1964; Lars Spångberg who founded RIAB as an offshoot of the Federation of Swedish Industry in 1968; Thord Wilkne, one of two founders of WM-data in 1969; Göran Garvner who founded Modulföretagen in 1972; Per Olof Persson, a leading figure in Statskonsult, the state-owned firm that was the biggest IT consultancy in Sweden in the 1970s; Kaj Green, the first CEO of Cap Gemini Sweden; Leif Nobel, CEO of Data Logic from 1979, and Hans G. Wahlberg, one of the founders of Enator in 1977. The seminar was divided in three parts. The first dealt with the period of early entrepreneurship up to c. 1975. It was agreed that there was no shortage of demand for consulting services and that the main challenge consisted in recruiting skilled personnel and managing them. The second part dealt with the expansion that set in from the mid-1970s. Here it was agreed that the management of knowledge workers still constituted the single biggest challenge, followed by the need to establish consistency in method. At this point a divergence in business strategy can be seen. WM-data became a provider of American standard applications in order to tie the customer base more tightly. Programator were successful in the minicomputing market and established joint ventures with several large companies, in effect taking over their IT departments. Enator moved up the value chain and aimed at integrating management consulting and IT consulting. By 1985 all the major companies were listed at the stock exchange and the industry may be described as well-established.
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- Sjöblom, Gustav, 1976-
(author)
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Standardekonomisystem för stordatorer – EPOK, EPOS & FACTS, 1969–1986 : Transkript av ett vittnesseminarium vid Tekniska museet i Stockholm den 29 januari 2008
- 2008
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The witness seminar ”Standardekonomisystem för stordatorer – EPOK, EPOS och FACTS, 1969–1986” [Standard accounting information systems for mainframe computers – EPOK, EPOS and FACTS, 1969–1986] took place at The National Museum of Science and Technology in Stockholm on 29 January 2008 and was led by Gunnar Hesse. In the early years of computing accounting information systems were tailor-made for each customer. In the early 1970s increased demand for financial knowledge coincided with new capabilities in database technology and the first standard applications appeared on the Swedish market. On the basis of the successful service bureau system Bore, IBM Sweden developed FACTS, launched in 1975 and later rebranded FMS for the international market. The second standard accounting information system to appear in Sweden was EPOS, developed by the consultancy RIAB in co-operation with the Swedish association of slaughterhouses and sold in the market from 1976. The third system, EPOK, was developed by the computing division of the building materials group Euroc by a group of controllers and computer technicians in close cooperation and marketed externally from 1977. A fourth actor represented in the seminar was the IT consultancy WM-data, which after a short attempt at in-house development settled in 1981 for importing American accounting systems to support their consulting business. Differences in systems design, customer orientation and business strategy were discussed at length. It was concluded that while the initial software development was very successful, all providers ran into a similar set of limitations of the market: the small number of companies capable of investing in a mainframe computer system, the divergent business interests and business cultures of different actors, the lack of de facto standardization because of customization of systems and a wide range of technical platforms, and the difficulty of expanding abroad in a fragmented market.
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- Sjöblom, Gustav, 1976-
(author)
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Standardisering och integration av datasystem inom godstransportbranschen, 1970–1985 : Transkript av ett vittnesseminarium vid Flygfältsbyrån i Göteborg den 11 mars 2008
- 2008
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The witness seminar ”Standardisation and integration of computer systems in the freight transport industry, 1970–1985” took place at Flygfältsbyrån in Göteborg on 11 March 2008 and was led by Anders Svedberg. The panel consisted of providers of transport services (shipping, forwarding) as well as their customers (mainly Volvo) and representatives of academia and the Göteborg region. The seminar dealt with the rise of information systems in the transport business from a user perspective. The discussion centred on the difficulty of coordination and standardization in a business which needs to integrate a large number of actors with divergent interests. The computerization strategies of the two leading Göteborg shipping companies, Broströms and Transatlantic, were discussed in some detail, as was Volvo’s efforts to integrate the information systems in their supply chain A main theme was that logistical visions and the availability of information technology solutions were often out of step, the one sometimes being ahead of the other with interchanging roles over time. A second theme was the existence of practical obstacles to the implementation of open or integrated computer systems, or more generally to advanced logistical solutions: business strategies which often favoured unique solutions, lack of coordination, and a shortage of funds in a business which generally was not highly profitable. It was nevertheless concluded that as a result of a farsighted perspective among sellers and buyers of transport, academic experts and the public authorities, Sweden in general and the Göteborg region in particular, acquired a leading position in the development of materials administration and logistics and the concomitant information systems as well as education in these fields.
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- Sjöblom, Gustav, 1976-
(author)
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Varuhushandelns datorisering före 1980 : Transkript av ett vittnesseminarium vid Tekniska museet i Stockholm den 29 september 2008
- 2008
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The witness seminar ”The computerization of the department stores” took place at the National Museum of Science and Technology in Stockholm on 29 September 2008 and was led by Gustav Sjöblom. The panel was composed of representatives of four major Swedish department store chains (Turitz & Co, Åhléns, KF, and IKEA) as well as representatives of two suppliers of cash registers (IBM and ADS Anker). The seminar was divided into two parts, the first dealing with the initial period up to c. 1975, when mainframe computers were introduced to rationalize back office functions such as ordering, invoicing and the production of documents. The second part dealt with the development from the early 1970s, when computers were introduced into the stores. Turitz was an early and successful user of order systems and direct measurement at the counter. Åhléns was a pioneer in OCR-reading and the use of in-house terminals for ordering, which was deemed so successful that the computerization of the checkouts was delayed until the 1980s. KF appointed a group to deal with the department stores from 1968 and began full-scale computerization with the KAP system for furniture sales in 1975. IKEA was a late starter in the use of computers, but had a rapid and successful systems development from c. 1968, culminating in the KTS system developed between 1975 and 1977.
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- Lundin, Per, 1971-
(author)
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Documenting the Use of Computers in Swedish Society between 1950 and 1980 : Final Report on the Project “From Computing Machines to IT”
- 2009
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This final report contextualizes, describes, and evaluates the project “From Computing Machines to IT,” which was carried out during 2007–8 as a collaboration between the Swedish Computer Society, the Division of History of Science and Technology at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), and the National Museum of Science and Technology. The project aimed to create, collect, preserve, and disseminate sources on how computing shaped and transformed Swedish society between 1950 and 1980. For this purpose, it adopted a user-centered perspective on the history of computing. In the project, more than 160 interviews were conducted, almost 50 witness seminars were arranged, and about 230 autobiographies were acquired with the help of traditional questionnaires as well as an Internet-based collection of memories (the Writers’ Web). The created sources consist of more than eight thousand pages of text. All in all, nearly seven hundred people contributed with their stories. The contacts with these people generated, in turn, several donations of archival records, artifacts, movies, and photographs. In this final report, it is noted that a shift toward a more elaborated user perspective has followed with the growing interest in the recent historiography of computing to understand “how computing has changed the world.” Also discussed in the report is how the user concept has been understood by scholars, and it is pointed out that the literature on users fails to acknowledge two categories of users: those not involved in technological invention and innovation, and those empowered by government or corporations with the authority to adapt technology to fit their needs. It is argued that mainly the latter group, which is denoted “elite” users, has had the power to shape major historical transformations. It is concluded that the project mainly has aimed to document the actions of elite users. Earlier international documentation efforts in the history of computing are, furthermore, surveyed, and it is pointed out that these have mainly focused on documenting the role of pioneers in computing technology and largely ignored the users of computing technology. Thus, the research tools and methods that they have developed, used, and refined for documenting pioneering figures—in particular the oral history interview—cannot uncritically be adopted for documenting the activities of users. Lacking an obvious model to blueprint, the project “From Computing Machines to IT” chose to employ an ensemble of different methods for documenting the use of computers in Swedish society. Traditional oral history interviews and collections of autobiographies were used alongside new self-structuring and time-saving methods, such as witness seminars and the mentioned Writers’ Web site. Finally, it is stressed that the active interest of the communities of computer users was pivotal for realizing the project. In order to arouse their interest, two things were considered crucial: firstly, the importance of an active and continuous collaboration between historians and practitioners. This collaboration shaped the methods, the organization, and the theoretical approach of the project; and, secondly, the importance of creating events where practitioners are given the chance to gather for discussing and remembering their historical past and, at the same time, socialize. While witness seminars and the specially designed Writers’ Web were seen as pure intellectual ventures by historians, they were actually received as social events by practitioners.
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