October 17, 2022 at 12:00 am
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Digital World Remaking the Analog One
October 17, 2022 at 2:30 pm
It's pretty amazing how this type of thing is actually an invasion of privacy, especially on the highways.
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
October 17, 2022 at 2:41 pm
Digital world remaking the analog world.
My most memorable episode of this was in 1974 when I became the new IT manager for a large food and supply distributor who was just anticipating moving into the digital age. All existing company systems and records had been entirely manual for decades. They had engaged a consulting firm to advise and oversee the effort that included my hiring. The company daily processed several hundred sales orders written by a mobile sales force, picked by union warehouse labor and loaded to trucks at night for next day delivery. Since clients such as hospitals, restaurants, and schools depended on a reliable food supply, there were many product substitutions made on orders.
The first effort for the new systems was to be order entry and invoicing. Invoices had to accompany the delivery truck because many were paid in cash.
An early discussion with the consultants revealed two items that I saw as very bad design decisions:
1. Orders were to be keyed into the system by CRT terminal operators and 3-part invoices printed in delivery sequence to be delivered to the warehouse workers from which to pick and load orders onto 25 or so trucks. 'Anaylsis showed' this to be the most efficient means because the few product substitutions could easily have the invoice returned to IT, the order modified, and the invoice reprinted before the trucks departed.
2. Products were to be identified via what was called 'slot code' which was the physical location in the warehouse (xx999) which was the aisle code and bin number, which would route the order pickers through the facility in efficient sequence. This had been the practice for decades and the sales force used 7" thick single-side printed cataloges that they daily maintained by hand-writing data from 'change sheets' they picked up when droping off the hand-written orders.
Following this discussion I met with my boss, one of the company owners, and told him these were very bad decisions.
1. Products needed unique, stable, check-digit-verified identification numbers independent of warehouse location which changed regularly as supplies and demand changed.
2. 'picking tickets' only should be printed and orders picked, then 'outs' and substitutions noted before printing an invoice.
I was promptly and forcefullly told 'we have paid these people lots of money to advise us and you will not interrupt the ongoing development with changes'.
When implementation of the systsem began, it was about 5-6 weeks until my boss pulled me aside and quietly asked 'how soon could you make those changes you talked about?'
Rick
Disaster Recovery = Backup ( Backup ( Your Backup ) )
October 17, 2022 at 3:27 pm
Perhaps, but I'm not sure that's the case. A lot of things we thought were private in the past, actually weren't private. What happened was the data was too hard to capture. Anyone could always sit and write down every license plate that went by on a public road, or even in private property.
We struggle with even more now as privacy is more of an issue when automation, or even things like drones, can capture information in a way that was never possible.
October 17, 2022 at 8:15 pm
Perhaps, but I'm not sure that's the case. A lot of things we thought were private in the past, actually weren't private. What happened was the data was too hard to capture. Anyone could always sit and write down every license plate that went by on a public road, or even in private property.
We struggle with even more now as privacy is more of an issue when automation, or even things like drones, can capture information in a way that was never possible.
Privacy through obscurity or in this case impracticality is better than no privacy at all 😛
October 18, 2022 at 5:49 am
Perhaps, but I'm not sure that's the case. A lot of things we thought were private in the past, actually weren't private. What happened was the data was too hard to capture. Anyone could always sit and write down every license plate that went by on a public road, or even in private property.
We struggle with even more now as privacy is more of an issue when automation, or even things like drones, can capture information in a way that was never possible.
It's really tragic that people, especially the ones we voted for, allow these multiple, continuously increasing, continuously invasive, onslaughts of our privacy. As you say in the title of this article, "The Digital World [is] Remaking the Analog One" and that's a huge change. Like it says in my signature line below, "Change is inevitable... change for the better is not".
Don't get me started on web access, On-Star (which I've disabled, which is the first thing a thief of my vehicle would do anyway), or Cell Phones.
As a bit of a sidebar, I've found that most drones are extremely susceptible to a 3 banded frozen pork chop launcher when birdshot and handheld EMP cannons are not allowed. 😀
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
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