A change is as bad as a rest

Pages163-164
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/eb045461
Published date01 February 1996
Date01 February 1996
AuthorPeter Kruger
Subject MatterInformation & knowledge management,Library & information science
Industry Musings
A
change
is
as bad as
a
rest
Peter Kruger
Steinkrug Publications
Ltd,
20 Leaden
Hill,
Orwell,
Royston,
Herts.
SG8 5QH,UK
E-mail:
flames@flames.cityscape.co.uk
http://www.gold.net/flames/
Change within our lives . . .
Change is
an
important feature of the natural
world.
Everything is
in a state
of flux.
The simplest organisms mutate. Social structures alter, periodically fragmenting
and
reassembling in alternative
forms.
By failing to evolve, an organism lays itself
open to threats which
exist
within
a modified environment. However there
is,
work-
ing
in
opposition
to a natural
desire
for
change,
an
equally
strong
desire
for
stability
and
continuity. How often
do
we
hear the
expression 'what we
need now
is
a
period
of stability'? Politicians call for it, as do economists and industrialists.
At a personal level, stress can arise
for the strangest of reasons. People
who have endured violent upbringings
have the constant desire to reproduce
the environment they grew up
in.
They
may be under more stress living in a
family where there is no violence than
one where it is rife. It usually only
takes the application of external pres-
sure to force people to seek refuge in
the family structure in which they
grew up.
. . . in society . . .
What is true for the individual also
holds for society in
general.
The media
preaches the virtues of stable family
life,
and secure and orderly social
structures, but at the same time it pro-
motes violent conflict and casual rela-
tionships. As a consequence we feel
that society is about to descend into an
anarchic orgy of sex, violence and
revolution. The good times are as bad
as
the bad
times.
While the case for the
miners taking to the streets in the
1980s to protect their jobs is an obvi-
ous one, the student riots of the 1960s
are a little more difficult to justify:
however, both have their origins in the
same conflict. It seems that there is
more to improving life than just mak-
ing things better.
The most orderly and structured
part of our
society,
one with which we
are in day to day contact, is the work-
place.
The
workplace thrives on stabil-
ity. We do today what we did yester-
day because it worked yesterday, will
also work today and tomorrow
as
well.
But each day which passes puts an or-
ganisation, and those within it, under
more stress there is a feeling that it
should be doing something different, it
should be evolving. What a godsend
technology has been for industry and
commerce now it is able to resolve
the conflict with stress-free progress.
Automation has provided virtual evo-
lution a way of appearing to alter
things while keeping everything the
same. The structures stay in place; the
organisation may have a few less staff
but these just move off
to
work
in
other
organisations.
. . . and in technology
High technology has the added advan-
tage of being synonymous with pro-
gress.
The marketing of PC hardware
and software is based around the
widely held belief that
130
MHz
is
bet-
ter than 90 MHz, and that version 1.2 is
better than 1.1. Things are improving
all the time, and
at the
same time noth-
ing
is
changing. We are watching more
things on bigger screens, but the rea-
son we are watching them and what we
do with them appears not to have al-
tered. Nevertheless, while industry
and commerce have managed to kid
themselves that they have been adapt-
ing to deal with a changing environ-
ment, their trick of running fast but
standing still may be about to cost
them dear.
To the information technologist
and the physiologist there is little
dif-
ference between an advertisement and
a training video: one is training the
consumer to consume, the other
is
sell-
ing
the idea that work
is
a good thing to
do.
At the most basic level they are
identical both are screen-based and
both are in the business of persuasion.
Twenty years ago the difference be-
tween the two pieces of media was
clear both were confident in their
approach. There was little room for
Marxist discourse within a training
video, and television advertisements
promoted conspicuous consumption
with gay
abandon.
But today's training
videos look more like corporate pro-
motions; and Anita Roddick-style ad-
vertisements almost apologise for en-
couraging the viewer to buy anything.
This shift in attitudes is a hint of wider
and deep rooted change a solitary
red LED flashing a warning that all
may not be well beyond the virtual re-
ality, head up display.
The Electronic Library, Vol. 14, No. 2, April 1996 163

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